!"

Felix literally heard the breathing of Tod on one side of him and of
Kirsteen on the other. He crossed over and stood opposite his nephew.

"Look here, Derek," he said; "your mother was quite right. You might
have put this off for a day or two; but it was bound to come. You don't
know the reach of the law. Come, my dear fellow! It's no good making
a fuss, that's childish--the thing is to see that the man gets every
chance."

Derek looked up. Probably he had not yet realized that his uncle was in
the room; and Felix was astonished at his really haggard face; as if the
incident had bitten and twisted some vital in his body.

"He trusted us."

Felix saw Kirsteen quiver and flinch, and understood why they had none
of them felt quite able to turn their backs on that display of passion.
Something deep and unreasoning was on the boy's side; something that
would not fit with common sense and the habits of civilized society;
something from an Arab's tent or a Highland glen. Then Tod came up
behind and put his hands on his son's shoulders.

"Come!" he said; "milk's spilt."

"All right!" said Derek gruffly, and he went to the door.

Felix made Nedda a sign and she slipped out after him.

CHAPTER XXII

Nedda, her blue head-gear trailing, followed along at the boy's side
while he passed through the orchard and two fields; and when he threw
himself down under an ash-tree she, too, subsided, waiting for him to
notice her.

"I am here," she said at last.

At that ironic little speech Derek sat up.

"It'll kill him," he said.

"But--to burn things, Derek! To light horrible cruel flames, and burn
things, even if they aren't alive!"

Derek said through his teeth:

"It's I who did it! If I'd never talked to him he'd have been like the
others. They were taking him in a cart, like a calf."

Nedda got possession of his hand and held it tight.

That was a bitter and frightening hour under the faintly rustling
ash-tree, while the wind sprinkled over her flakes of the may blossom,
just past its prime. Love seemed now so little a thing, seemed to have
lost warmth and power, seemed like a suppliant outside a door. Why did
trouble come like this the moment one felt deeply?

The church bell was tolling; they could see the little congregation pass
across the churchyard into that weekly dream they knew too well. And
presently the drone emerged, mingling with the voices outside, of
sighing trees and trickling water, of