xecuted in Cornwall for his religion; and a kiss--the first deliberate,
free-will kiss she had ever given him. The first he was to keep, the
second he was to return, the third he was to remember; and these three
things, or, rather, his consideration of them, worked upon him as he
went. Her advice, besides that which has been described, was,
principally, to say his Jesus Psalter more punctually, to hear mass
whenever that were possible, to trust in God, and to be patient and
submissive with his father in all things that did not touch divine love
and faith. The pair of beads that were once Mr. Maine's, he was to keep
upon him always, day and night, and to use them for his devotions. The
kiss--well, he was to remember this, and to return it to her upon their
next meeting.

A great star came out as he drew near home. His path took him not
through the village, but behind it, near enough for him to hear the
barkings of the dogs and to smell upon the frosty air the scent of the
wood fires. The house was a great one for these parts. There was a small
gate-house before it, built by his father for dignity, with a lodge on
either side and an arch in the middle, and beyond this lay the short
road, straight and broad, that went up to the court of the house. This
court was, on three sides of it, buildings; the hall and the buttery and
the living-rooms in the midst, with the stables and falconry on the
left, and the servants' lodgings on the right; the fourth side, that
which lay opposite to the little gate-house, was a wall, with a great
double gate in it, hung on stone posts that had, each of them, a great
stone dog that held a blank shield. All this later part, the wall with
the gate, the stables and the servants' lodgings, as well as the
gatehouse without, had been built by the lad's father twenty years ago,
to bring home his wife to; for, until that time, the house had been but
a little place, though built of stone, and solid and good enough. The
house stood half-way up the rise of the hill, above the village, with
woods about it and behind it; and it was above these woods behind that
the great star came out like a diamond in enamel-work; and Robin looked
at it, and fell to thinking of Marjorie again, putting all other
thoughts away. Then, as he rode through into the court on to the cobbled
stones, a man ran out from the stable to take his mare from him.

"Master Babington is here," he said. "He came half an hour ago."

"He is