ized the headland, he rode in a different direction, but was
stopped by a paling and a chalk-pit, and, riding round it, he guessed
the chalk-pit must be fifty feet deep. Strange white patches,
fabulous hillocks, and distortions of ground loomed through the white
darkness; and a valley opened on his right so steep that he was
afraid to descend into it. Very soon minutes became hours and miles
became leagues.

"There's nothing for it but to lie under a furze-bush." With two
pocket-handkerchiefs he tied his horse's fore-legs close together,
and sat down and lit a cigar. The furze-patch was quite hollow
underneath and almost dry.

"It is nearly full moon," he said; "were it not for that it would be
pitch dark. Good Lord! thirteen hours of this; I wish I had never
been born!"

He had not, however, finished his first cigar before a horse's head
and shoulders pushed through the mist. Mike sprang to his feet.

"Can you tell me the way off these infernal downs?" he cried. "Oh, I
beg your pardon, Lady Edith."

"Oh, is that you, Mr. Fletcher? I have lost my way and my groom too.
I am awfully frightened; I missed him of a sudden in the fog. What
shall I do? Can you tell me the way?"

"Indeed I cannot; if I knew the way I should not be sitting under
this furze-bush."

"What shall we do? I must get home."

"It is very terrible, Lady Edith, but I'm afraid you will not be able
to get home till the fog lifts."

"But I must get home. I must! I must! What will they think? They'll
be sending out to look for me. Won't you come with me, Mr. Fletcher,
and help me to find the way?"

"I will, of course, do anything you like; but I warn you, Lady Edith,
that riding about these downs in a fog is most dangerous; I as nearly
as possible went over a chalk-pit fifty feet deep."

"Oh, Mr. Fletcher, I must get home; I cannot stay here all night; it
is ridiculous."

They talked so for a few minutes. Then amid many protestations Lady
Edith was induced to dismount. He forced her to drink, and to
continue sipping from his hunting-flask, which was fortunately full
of brandy; and when she said she was no longer cold, he put his arm
about her, and they talked of their sensations on first seeing each
other.

Three small stones, two embedded in the ground, the third, a large
flint, lay close where the grass began, and the form of a bush was
faint on the heavy white blanket in which the world was wrapped. A
rabbit crept through the furze and f