a man with an appetite; 'how glad I
am that the fire is clear!' But Lizzie, who happened to be there, said
with her peculiar smile,--

'Master Stickles must be used to it; for he never comes back without
telling us that.'

'Hush!' cried Annie, quite shocked with her; 'how would you like to
be used to it? Now, Betty, be quick with the things for me. Pork, or
mutton, or deer's meat, sir? We have some cured since the autumn.'

'Oh, deer's meat, by all means,' Jeremy Stickles answered; 'I have
tasted none since I left you, though dreaming of it often. Well, this
is better than being chased over the moors for one's life, John. All the
way from Landacre Bridge, I have ridden a race for my precious life, at
the peril of my limbs and neck. Three great Doones galloping after me,
and a good job for me that they were so big, or they must have overtaken
me. Just go and see to my horse, John, that's an excellent lad. He
deserves a good turn this day, from me; and I will render it to him.'

However he left me to do it, while he made himself comfortable: and
in truth the horse required care; he was blown so that he could hardly
stand, and plastered with mud, and steaming so that the stable was
quite full with it. By the time I had put the poor fellow to rights, his
master had finished dinner, and was in a more pleasant humour, having
even offered to kiss Annie, out of pure gratitude, as he said; but Annie
answered with spirit that gratitude must not be shown by increasing the
obligation. Jeremy made reply to this that his only way to be grateful
then was to tell us his story: and so he did, at greater length than
I can here repeat it; for it does not bear particularly upon Lorna's
fortunes.

It appears that as he was riding towards us from the town of Southmolton
in Devonshire, he found the roads very soft and heavy, and the floods
out in all directions; but met with no other difficulty until he came to
Landacre Bridge. He had only a single trooper with him, a man not of the
militia but of the King's army, whom Jeremy had brought from Exeter.
As these two descended towards the bridge they observed that both the
Kensford water and the River Barle were pouring down in mighty floods
from the melting of the snow. So great indeed was the torrent, after
they united, that only the parapets of the bridge could be seen above
the water, the road across either bank being covered and very deep on
the hither side. The trooper did not like th