orama,
while to my excited imagination we appeared to be standing still,
although the horses had never slackened their speed from the moment we
started, occasionally breaking into a gallop wherever the road would
permit. After proceeding at this rate, as nearly as ~~450~ I could
reckon, about ten miles, old Peter's voice was heard shouting to the
postboys, and we came to a sudden stop. "What is it?" inquired I
eagerly; but Peter, without vouchsafing any answer, swung himself down
from his seat, and ran a short distance up a narrow lane which turned
off from the high road, stopped to pick up something, examined the
ground narrowly, and then returned to the carriage, holding up in
triumph the object he had found, which, as he came nearer, I recognised
to be a silk handkerchief I had seen Clara wear.

"I didn't think my old eyes could have seen so quickly," was his
observation as he approached; "we was almost over-running the scent,
Muster Fairlegh; and then we should 'a been ruined--horse, fut, and
artillery. Do you know what this is?"

"Clara's handkerchief! It was round her neck when I met her two days
ago."

"Ay! bless her!" was the old man's reply. "And she's been clever enough
to drop it where they turned off here, to let us know which way they
have taken her. Lucky none of 'em didn't see her a-doin' it."

"How fortunate you observed it! And now where does this lane lead to?"

"Well, that's what puzzles me," returned Peter, rubbing his nose with an
air of perplexity. "It don't lead to anything except old Joe Hardman's
mill. But they're gone down here, that's certain sure, for there was
that handkerchief, and there's the mark of wheels and 'osses' feet."

"Well, if it is certain they have gone that way," continued I, "let us
lose no time in following them. How far off is this mill?"

"About a couple of miles out of the road, sir," replied one of the
postboys.

"Get on then," said I; "but mind you do not lose the track of their
wheels. It's plain enough on the gravel of the lane."

"All right, sir," was the reply; and we again dashed forward.

As we got farther from the high road, the ruts became so deep that we
were obliged to proceed at a more moderate pace. After skirting a
thick wood for some distance, we came suddenly upon a small bleak
desolate-looking common, near the centre of which stood the mill, which
appeared in a somewhat dilapidated condition. A little half-ruinous
cottage, probably the habita