heir only encounter? As soon as they
had reached the more unfrequented part of the road, he wheeled round
suddenly, and spoke.

"Joan," he said.

He saw that she paused and hesitated, and he made up his mind more
strongly. He took a few impetuous steps toward her, and seeing this, she
addressed him hurriedly.

"Dunnot stop," she said. "If--if yo' want to speak to me, I'll go along
wi' yo'."

"You think I'm in danger?"

He could not see her face, but her voice told him that her usual steady
composure was shaken--it was almost like the voice of another woman.

"Yo' nivver wur i' more danger i' yo're loife."

"The old danger?"

"Th' old danger, as is worse to be feared now than ivver."

"And you!" he broke out. "_You_ interpose yourself between that danger
and me!"

His fire seemed to communicate itself to her.

"Th' harm as is meant to be done, is coward's harm," she said, "an' will
be done i' coward's fashion--it is na a harm as will be done yo' wi'
fair warnin', i' dayleet, an' face to face. If it wur, I should na
fear--but th' way it is, I say it shanna be done--it shanna, if I dee
fur it!" Then her manner altered again, and her voice returned to its
first tremor. "It is na wi' me as it is wi' other women. Yo' munnot
judge o' me as yo' judge o' other lasses. What mowtn't be reet fur
other lasses to do, is reet enow fur me. It has na been left to me to be
lass-loike, an' feart, an'--an' modest," and she drew her breath hard,
as if she was forced to check herself.

"It has been left to you," he burst forth, "it has been left to you to
stand higher in my eyes than any other woman God ever made."

He could not have controlled himself. And yet, when he had said this,
his heart leaped for fear he might have wounded her or given her a false
impression. But strange to say, it proved this time that he had no need
for fear.

There was a moment's silence, and then she answered low.

"Thank yo'!"

They had gone some yards together, before he recovered himself
sufficiently to remember what he had meant to say to her.

"I wanted to tell you," he said, "that I do not think any--enemy I
have, can take me at any very great disadvantage. I am--I have prepared
myself."

She shuddered.

"Yo' carry--summat?"

"Don't misunderstand me," he said quickly. "I shall not use any weapon
rashly. It is to be employed more as a means of warning and alarm than
anything else. Rigganites do not like firearms, and they are not