prepossessing beast as best able to take him to Moorlands and back
between sunrise and dark.

As he rode on, leaving the scattered buildings of the town far behind,
mounting the hills and then striking the turnpike--every rod of which he
could have found in the dark--his thoughts, like road-swallows, skimmed
each mile he covered. Here was where he had stopped with Kate when her
stirrup broke; near the branches of that oak close to the ditch marking
the triangle of cross-roads he had saved his own and Spitfire's neck by
a clear jump that had been the talk of the neighborhood for days. On
the crest of this hill--the one he was then ascending--his father always
tightened up the brakes on his four-in-hand, and on the slope beyond
invariably braced himself in his seat, swung his whip, and the flattened
team swept on and down, leaving a cloud of dust in its wake that blurred
the road for minutes thereafter.

When noon came he dismounted at a farmer's out-building beside the
road--he would not trust the public-houses--fed and watered his horse,
rubbed him down himself, and after an hour's rest pushed on toward the
fork in the road to Moorlands. Beyond this was a cross-path that led to
the outbarns and farm stables--a path bordered by thick bushes and which
skirted a fence in the rear of the manor house itself. Here he intended
to tie his steed and there he would mount him again should his mission
fail.

The dull winter sky had already heralded the dusk--it was near four
o'clock in the afternoon--when he passed some hayricks where a group
of negroes were at work. One or two raised their heads and then, as
if reassured, resumed their tasks. This encouraged him to push on the
nearer--he had evidently been mistaken for one of the many tradespeople
seeking his father's overseer, either to sell tools or buy produce.

Tying the horse close to the fence--so close that it could not be seen
from the house--he threw the bundle of silks over his shoulder and
struck out for the small office in the rear. Here the business of the
estate was transacted, and here were almost always to be found either
the overseer or one of his assistants--both of them white. These men
were often changed, and his chance, therefore, of meeting a stranger was
all the more likely.

As he approached the low sill of the door which was level with the
ground, and which now stood wide open, he caught the glow of a fire and
could make out the figure of a man seated