walls I can't
endure.'

'I am afraid you must lead a very solitary life,' said Nan, with
sincere compassion.

'Why, bless you, Miss, the world is full of things, said the other
cheerfully; 'and as you tramp along there's always something turning up
for you to look at. Oh, I've plenty of friends, too, for the matter of
that. I bring a bit of news to the farms, and sometimes toys for the
coastguardsmen's children--else the women would get jealous; and I have
an eye for the mackerel-shoals, for the fishermen; and I know where the
sailors are, if there's any sport going on. Yes, I have a good many
friends, Miss. I can tell you it would be a bad business for any one
who laid a finger on me, anywheres between Dover and Portsmouth; I
think the word would be passed along pretty quick. Not that I can't
take care o' myself,' added Sal with a modest smile. 'I'm not afraid
to be out o' nights, when I know where my bed is; and sometimes I can
do without that. Why, that is the best of all the tramps--a clear
moonlight night along these downs; and you have the whole world to
yourself; everything and everybody asleep, except maybe a watchdog up
at one of the farms. And the ships out at sea--you can tell whether
they're going up or down Channel by the red or the green light, and you
think of the poor chap at the helm, and hope he'll get soon home to his
wife and children. That is a real fine tramp, Miss; you want to sing
almost, and yet it's too beautiful to be broken by a sound. And then
there's a fortnight in the Spring when the birds come over--oh! that's
wonderful. If you start about half-past two or a quarter to three, you
get in amongst them; and the first thing you hear is the whistle,
quick, and sharp, and yet far away, of the curlews. Then you begin to
feel that they are passing overhead; you can't see anything; it is like
a whisper filling all the air; the darkness is just full of wings--soft
and soft; you're afraid to put up your hand in case you might hurt some
poor creature at the end of its long voyage; and you listen and listen
as you walk along, waiting for the gray daylight in the east, to show
them where to pick up some food in the fields. Ah! Miss, if you only
had the courage to rise as early as that----'

'Oh, I will--I will!' said Nan eagerly, quite forgetting what her
mother might have to say about this strange acquaintance. 'But what
has made you take to such a way of living? You are very well e