were all missing the
brightness that had left them when Cherry went. Perhaps the vacant
place at the board day by day was an offence to the conservative
eye of Mistress Susan. But whatever was the cause, there was no
denying the cordiality of the reception accorded to him; and after
the lonely life of the forest, and all his wanderings there, his
strange resting places, and many hours of watching, toil, and
anxious fear, it seemed pleasant indeed to be sitting at this
hospitable board, warmed by the friendly glow of the fire, and
discussing the savoury viands that always adorned a table of
Mistress Susan's spreading, and which did indeed taste well after
the hardy and sometimes scanty fare he had known in the forest.

But his open-air life had done him good in many ways. His uncle
smiled, and told him he had grown to be a very son of Anak, and
that he was as brown as a gipsy; whilst his cousins looked at him
with furtive admiration, and Keziah could almost have wept that
Cherry was not there to welcome him.

Cuthbert, however, quickly got over his disappointment on this
score, and after swallowing a few sighs, was content to think that
it might indeed be best so. Cherry would learn where he was from
Petronella, and would hear from her that his heart was still her
own, and that success had crowned his search after the lost
treasure. He could go to seek her shortly, when the gipsy tribe
should have drawn away from that part of the forest into the
quarters they preferred during the winter months. Were she to be
here, he must surely betray himself, and should have to speak
immediately to Martin Holt of his desire to make Cherry his wife.
Somehow, when face to face with his uncle, he felt less confident
of winning his sanction for this step than he had done when away
from him in the forest. There it had seemed perfectly simple so
long as he could show the father that he had the means to keep a
wife in comfort. Now he began to wonder if this would be enough.
Hints were dropped by both the Holts regarding Cherry's approaching
marriage with Jacob Dyson. Mistress Susan openly regretted her
absence from home as hindering that ceremony; and although Martin
Holt spoke with more reticence, it was plain he was still
cherishing the hope of the match when his wilful youngest should be
a little older.

It might be that Cherry's absence at this time was fortunate rather
than the reverse. Cuthbert, at any rate, was relieved from the