Croix-de-lis had labored in the abbey
meadows and fished in the little stream which ran slowly through a
neighboring valley. Time had scarred it deeply and the balcony
overhanging the coachyard sagged in a rather alarming fashion as
though about to drop down from sheer old age.

The surrounding country had impressed me at first sight. There were
long billowing hills and vales, much of their surface densely wooded,
but with wide spaces under cultivation and even greater tracts of a
sort of heath-land very wild in aspect and conjuring up pictures of
outlaws' camps and the clash of battling feudal days. Hard by had
resided of old a warden of the marches, and the ruins of his stronghold
might still be seen on the crest of a near-by hill.

From the room allotted to me I could look out over a varied prospect
of farmland and heath, terminated by the woody slopes which everywhere
hemmed in the valley. Peeping above the outer fringe of trees showed
a tower of some old house whereof the rest was hidden by verdure.

Having partaken of a typical country dinner, the small number of
courses being amply compensated by their quantity, I lighted my pipe
and went down to the bar-parlor, being minded to learn something of
the neighborhood at first hand from any chance visitor who might serve
my purpose.

The landlord, a somewhat taciturn member of his class, sat behind the
bar, pipe in mouth, as I entered, and only one other man was in the
room. This was a gipsy-looking fellow, with a very wild eye, attired
in the manner of a game-keeper, and wearing leggings and a fur cap. A
sporting rifle stood in the corner beside him. The landlord nodded,
and the other gave me a "Good evening" as I entered, whereupon I
determined to try the game-keeper as the more likely source of
information, and:

"Is the shooting good hereabouts?" I asked, by way of opening a
conversation.

My inquiry seemed hugely to amuse the man.

"None better," was the reply; "it's thick with game, sir, it is for
sure--and nobody to profit, only"--he winked at the landlord--"young
Jim Corder!"

The landlord emitted a deep grunt which was evidently recognized by
the other as a laugh; for he himself laughed in a wild and not wholly
pleasant manner, whereby I concluded that "young Jim Corder" was a
standing joke in the neighborhood.

"You look as though you knew a hare from a partridge," said I, "so
I'll take your word for it."

This remark provoked a second and dee