lstead Cove;' the men till that moment not having been told
whither they were bound, for obvious reasons. 'Owlett will meet you
there,' added Lizzy. 'I shall follow behind, to see that we are not
watched.'

The carriers went on, and Stockdale and Mrs. Newberry followed at a
distance of a stone's throw. 'What do these men do by day?' he said.

'Twelve or fourteen of them are labouring men. Some are brickmakers,
some carpenters, some shoe-makers, some thatchers. They are all known to
me very well. Nine of 'em are of your own congregation.'

'I can't help that,' said Stockdale.

'O, I know you can't. I only told you. The others are more
church-inclined, because they supply the pa'son with all the spirits he
requires, and they don't wish to show unfriendliness to a customer.'

'How do you choose 'em?' said Stockdale.

'We choose 'em for their closeness, and because they are strong and
surefooted, and able to carry a heavy load a long way without being
tired.'

Stockdale sighed as she enumerated each particular, for it proved how far
involved in the business a woman must be who was so well acquainted with
its conditions and needs. And yet he felt more tenderly towards her at
this moment than he had felt all the foregoing day. Perhaps it was that
her experienced manner and hold indifference stirred his admiration in
spite of himself.

'Take my arm, Lizzy,' he murmured.

'I don't want it,' she said. 'Besides, we may never be to each other
again what we once have been.'

'That depends upon you,' said he, and they went on again as before.

The hired carriers paced along over Chaldon Down with as little
hesitation as if it had been day, avoiding the cart-way, and leaving the
village of East Chaldon on the left, so as to reach the crest of the hill
at a lonely trackless place not far from the ancient earthwork called
Round Pound. An hour's brisk walking brought them within sound of the
sea, not many hundred yards from Lulstead Cove. Here they paused, and
Lizzy and Stockdale came up with them, when they went on together to the
verge of the cliff. One of the men now produced an iron bar, which he
drove firmly into the soil a yard from the edge, and attached to it a
rope that he had uncoiled from his body. They all began to descend,
partly stepping, partly sliding down the incline, as the rope slipped
through their hands.

'You will not go to the bottom, Lizzy?' said Stockdale anxiously.

'No. I stay h