r, a little maiden with a simple country
loveliness, presently entered with a foaming pewter mug, enquired after
my welfare, and went out again. Apparently she had not noticed the old
man sitting in the settle by the bow window, nor had he, for his part,
so much as once turned his head in our direction.

Under ordinary circumstances I should probably have given no thought to
this other occupant of the room; but the fact that it was supposed to be
reserved for my private use, and the singular thing that he sat looking
aimlessly out of the window, with no attempt to engage me in
conversation, drew my eyes more than once somewhat curiously upon him,
and I soon caught myself wondering why he sat there so silently, and
always with averted head.

He was, I saw, a rather bent old man in rustic dress, and the skin of
his face was wrinkled like that of an apple; corduroy trousers were
caught up with a string below the knee, and he wore a sort of brown
fustian jacket that was very much faded. His thin hand rested upon a
stoutish stick. He wore no hat and carried none, and I noticed that his
head, covered with silvery hair, was finely shaped and gave the
impression of something noble.

Though rather piqued by his studied disregard of my presence, I came to
the conclusion that he probably had something to do with the little
hostel and had a perfect right to use this room with freedom, and I
finished my luncheon without breaking the silence and then took the
settle opposite to smoke a pipe before going on my way.

Through the open window came the scents of the blossoming fruit trees;
the orchard was drenched in sunshine and the branches danced lazily in
the breeze; the grass below fairly shone with white and yellow daisies,
and the red roses climbing in profusion over the casement mingled their
perfume with the sweetly penetrating odour of the sea.

It was a place to dawdle in, to lie and dream away a whole afternoon,
watching the sleepy butterflies and listening to the chorus of birds
which seemed to fill every corner of the sky. Indeed, I was already
debating in my mind whether to linger and enjoy it all instead of taking
the strenuous pathway over the hills, when the old rustic in the settle
opposite suddenly turned his face towards me for the first time and
began to speak.

His voice had a quiet dreamy note in it that was quite in harmony with
the day and the scene, but it sounded far away, I thought, almost as
though it