u will be sorry for
it one day,' said her uncle.

They had reached the outskirts of the park and come out on the high-road
as Mr Howroyd said this; and about a hundred yards to the right of them,
coming down the hill, they saw a crowd of people, and heard the murmur of
many voices. It was the townspeople coming from the fire, who had been
longer in coming because they had kept to the drive, not daring to use
the short-cut.

'It's the hands!' said Sarah.

'You'd best turn back, my lass; you can't do any good, and you're far too
young to mix yourself up with this kind of thing,' her uncle entreated
her.

Sarah shook her head. 'I am going on; but if you want to go ahead, do; I
shall be all right with these people,' she affirmed.

But this was more than Mr Howroyd could bear. 'Nay, you'll not do that if
I can stop it, lass. You don't want to be the talk of the town, do you?
But whether you do or not, you're not going to have your way. There'll be
scandal enough without Mark Clay's daughter adding to it by going
marching through the town with the rabble that have just burnt her
father's barns,' said Mr Howroyd; and he quickened his steps to avoid
being caught up by the rabble, as he called them.

But in spite of his efforts, the crowd behind gained on them, and they
heard the foremost say, 'It's William Howroyd, that's who it is. He's a
different man to his brother, that he is. He'd never turn us out of his
park, wouldn't Mr William.'

'He's got Clay's lass with him, though. What d'ye say lads, shall we let
her come into t' town if he won't let us go into his park, or shall we
turn her back same as he did us?'

There were mingled shouts of 'Let her be!' and 'Nay, nay, let's turn her
back, same as he did us, and teach him a lesson!'

They were close behind now, and Mr William Howroyd could no longer
pretend not to hear what they said. The road was wide, and bordered by
banks and hedges. He took Sarah by the hand and pulled her up on to the
bank with him; but even in that moment he noticed that her hand did not
tremble in the least, but was, as a matter of fact, steadier than his
own.

'I'm not going to run away from them, Uncle Howroyd. I'm not a bit afraid
of them,' she protested, as he pulled her up after him.

'You do as I tell you; but you couldn't run away from them if you wanted
to,' he replied.

Sarah stood on the bank beside her uncle, and waited for the crowd to
come up to them. They were only about f