been reading.

"Thecla," she said, "you've come more than half way--you must turn back
now, for it will be getting dusk. And oh dear, I didn't point out the
old hawthorn at the gate of the great Millside field--and it _is_ so
easy to mistake it for Southdown field, and then you'd get all wrong."

[Illustration: It was a ploughed field, and it really was "up"]

"I'm sure I remember it," I said, "and I don't see how I _could_ go
wrong if I keep in the same direction."

"Ah, but it's so easy to get out of the same direction without knowing
it," she said, "once the sun's gone. Now _do_ be careful," and she
repeated a few more warnings.

I kissed her and ran off gaily. For a while all went well. I had crossed
two lanes and three grass fields when I found myself for the first time
at a loss. Was I to go straight through the gate facing the one I had
come out by, or go a little way down the lane? Was this the place to
look out for the hawthorn bush? If so, there was no hawthorn bush here,
so I decided to go down the lane a little. It seemed a good way before I
came to a gate, and when I did, there was no bush or tree of any kind.
But I felt sure that up this field was in the right line, so on I went.
It was a ploughed field and it really was "up," for it sloped rather
steeply. Oh how tired I was when I got to the top! But now I thought all
my troubles were over--I had only to go a quarter of a mile along the
lane, to reach our own back entrance to the stables.

[Illustration: I was not half-a-mile from the Hall!]

"What a good thing I am so near home," I thought, as I became aware that
almost in a moment a thick grey mist had risen--all around was bathed in
it, and I ran on as fast as I could.

The mist now and then cleared a little, but the night was falling fast
and I saw no sign of the white gates I was looking for. I ran the
faster--but the hedges remained unbroken, and after a while I was forced
to own to myself that somehow or other I had _got into the wrong lane_!
Oh dear! I dared not turn back--I just ran on, and the mist grew thicker
again. I soon got so tired, that the temptation was strong to sit down
at all costs. And if I had done so I might have fainted or fallen
asleep, and not perhaps been found till too late!

It was a dreadful feeling--after a while I think I began to get rather
dazed and stupefied, from fatigue and anxiety. I had only just a sort of
instinct that at all costs I _must_ keep going.