gammoned," shouted back Vane; and he went off at a sharp
trot, leaped a stile and went on across the fields, his only aim being
to get away from his companions, but as soon as he was out of sight, he
hesitated, stopped, and then went sharply off to his left.

"I'll follow Distie," he muttered. "The moor's a good place for a row.
He can shout at me there, and get in a passion. Then he'll cool down,
and we shall be all right again--and a good job too," he added. "It is
so stupid for two fellows studying together to be bad friends."

By making a few short cuts, and getting over and through hedges, Vane
managed to take a bee-line for the moor, and upon reaching it, he had a
good look round, but there was no sign of Distin.

"He may be lying down somewhere," thought Vane, as he strode on, making
his way across the moor in the direction of the wood, but still there
was no sign of Distin, even after roaming about for an hour, at times
scanning the surface of the long wild steep, at others following the
line of drooping trees at the chalk-bank edge, but for the most part
forgetting all about the object of his search, as his attention was
taken up by the flowers and plants around. There was, too, so much to
think about in the scene at home, that afternoon, and as he recalled it
all, Vane set his teeth, and asked himself whether the time was not
coming when he must set aside boyish things, and begin to think
seriously of his future as a man.

He went on and on, so used to the moor that it seemed as if his legs
required no guidance, but left his brain at liberty to think of other
things than the course he was taking, while he wondered how long it
would be before he left Greythorpe, and whether he should have to go to
London or some one of the big manufacturing towns.

There was Mr Deering, too, ready to take up a good deal of his thought.
And now it seemed cruel that this man should have come amongst them to
disturb the current of a serene and peaceful life.

"I think he ought to be told so, too," said Vane to himself; "but I
suppose that it ought not to come from me."

He had to pause for a few moments to extricate himself from a tangle of
brambles consequent upon his having trusted his legs too much, and,
looking up then, he found that he was a very short distance from the
edge of the beech-wood, and a second glance showed him that he was very
near the spot where he had dug for the truffles, and then encountered
the t