eam among some trees. Here
were banks of earth and thicket, shadowy dells where the primrose grew,
and the cuckoo-pint, and wood-sorrel, and perhaps in summer the glowworm
breathed her mossy gleam under the blackberries.

And here Parson Twemlow was astonished, though he had promised himself
to be surprised no more, after all he had been through lately. As he
turned a sharp corner by an ivied tree, a breathless young woman ran
into his arms.

"Oh!" cried the Rector, for he was walking briskly, with a
well-nourished part of his system forward--"oh, I hope you have not hurt
yourself. No doubt it was my fault. Why, Dolly! What a hurry you are in!
And all alone--all alone, almost after dark!"

"To be sure; and that makes me in such a hurry;" Miss Dolly was in sad
confusion. "But I suppose I am safe in my father's own grounds."

"From everybody, except yourself, my dear," Mr. Twemlow replied,
severely. "Is your father aware, does your sister know, that you are
at this distance from the house after dark, and wholly without a
companion?"

"It is not after dark, Mr. Twemlow; although it is getting darker than
I meant it to be. I beg your pardon for terrifying you. I hope you
will meet with no other perils! Good-night! Or at least I mean,
good-afternoon!"

"The brazen creature!" thought Mr. Twemlow, as the girl without another
word disappeared. "Not even to offer me any excuse! But I suppose she
had no fib handy. She will come to no good, I am very much afraid. Maria
told me that she was getting very wilful; but I had no idea that it was
quite so bad as this. I am sorry for poor Scudamore, who thinks her such
an angel. I wonder if Carne is at the bottom of this? There is nothing
too bad for that dark young man. I shall ascertain at any rate whether
he is in the village. But unless I look sharp I shall be too late to
meet him. Oh, I can't walk so fast as I did ten years ago."

Impelled by duty to put best leg foremost, and taking a short-cut above
the village, he came out upon the lane leading towards the castle, some
half-mile or so beyond the last house of Springhaven. Here he waited to
recover breath, and prepare for what he meant to say, and he was sorry
to perceive that light would fail him for strict observation of his
nephew's face. But he chose the most open spot he could find, where the
hedges were low, and nothing overhung the road.

Presently he heard the sound of hoofs approaching leisurely up the hill,
and