aid the sergeant. "He has at least three servants to
attend on him; one to forage, one to groom his horse, and one to attend
on him."

James at the moment had thought that if it was not for Mary and his
uncle he should like to try his fortune in that far-off wonderful
country. The idea came back to him, if the sergeant was still there he
would enlist at once. No time was to be lost. He must be out of the
country before he was suspected of having been one of the party who
killed the gamekeeper. He rose and dressed quickly. He put up some
shirts and socks and a few other articles, and all the money he had got,
and left the house before any one was up. He would much have liked to
have seen his kind uncle again, but he dared not wait till he was on
foot. There was one other person, however, whom he must see before he
went away, Mary Page. She was always an early riser he knew. He ran
rather than walked to the mill-house. She opened the door as he reached
it, and came out into the garden.

"Mary, I am going away," he said in a hurried voice; "something has
happened, it can't be helped now though; only, Mary, I want to tell you
that I love you now, and shall love you always. Don't think ill of me,
don't think me guilty; not more guilty than I am, if you hear anything
about me. I cannot tell you more. I must not tell you."

Mary turned pale with terror, as much from his looks as from what he
said. He took her in his arms and kissed her, and added, "You will
think of me, I know you will. I won't ask you not to love any one else;
that would be hard on you, for I don't know how long I may be away; but,
if I ever do come back, Mary, and I have changed, greatly changed from
what I now am, I hope to ask you to be my wife. For your sake, Mary, I
will try to grow better, to be firm, to learn to say No when tempted to
do ill. That has been my ruin now, may cause my ruin for ever."

Before Mary could answer him,--for he was not a minute with her, and she
was too much astonished at first to speak,--he had torn himself from
her, and was hurrying along the road.

"Oh stay, oh stay, and tell me all," she cried out; but he either did
not hear her, or would not venture to turn back. As he got out of sight
of the mill he ran on as fast as his legs could carry him, though he
stopped, and had to walk slowly when he saw any one coming. He had got
halfway to the town, when as he was running on he heard the sound of
horses'