, he became the wonder of
the place, and in order to see how long he would live, the gentlemen who
had gamekeepers in the neighbourhood instructed them to be careful not
to shoot him. His reputation extended with his years, and those curious
in such things came to see him from a distance, but could never obtain
entrance to the orchard, nor approach near his tree, for neither money
nor persuasion could induce the owner to admit them.

In and about the village itself Kapchack was viewed by the superstitious
with something like awe. His great age, his singular fortune, his
peculiar appearance--having but one eye--gave him a wonderful prestige,
and his chattering was firmly believed to portend a change of the
weather or the wind, or even the dissolution of village personages. The
knowledge that he was looked upon in this light rendered the other birds
and animals still more obedient than they would have been. Kapchack was
a marvel, and it gradually became a belief with them that he would never
die.

Outside the orchard-gate, the footpath which crossed the lane, and
along which the lady used to come, was also carefully kept in its former
condition. By degrees the nut-tree faggots rotted away--they were
supplanted by others; in the process of time the flints sunk into the
earth, and then another waggon-load was sent for. But the waggons had
all dropped to pieces except one which chanced to be under cover; this,
too, was much decayed, still it held together enough for the purpose. It
was while this very waggon was jolting down from the hills with a load
of flints to fill this hollow that the one particular flint, out of five
thousand, worked its way through a hole in the bottom and fell on the
road. And the rich old gentleman, whose horse stepped on it the same
evening, who was thrown from the dog-cart, and whose discharged groom
shot him in his house in London, was the very same man who, years and
years before, had given the diamond locket to the young lady.

In the orchard the old farmer pottered about every day, now picking up
the dead wood which fell from the trees, now raking up the leaves, and
gathering the fruit (except that on Kapchack's tree), now mowing the
grass, according to the season, now weeding the long gravel path at the
side under the sheltering wall, up and down which the happy pair had
walked in the winters so long ago. The butterflies flew over, the
swallows alighted on the topmost twigs of the tall pear