had. Well, I don't say as I haven't had others--plenty in
this country, and good ones too; but it was too late--I'd got set. When
a man's young, that's the time he can be turned right way or wrong. It's
none so easy afterwards.'

He went to sleep then, and Aileen said that was the only time he ever
spoke to her in that way. We never heard him talk like that, nor nobody
else, I expect.

If we could have got some things out of our heads, that was the
pleasantest time ever we spent in the Hollow. After father could be
left by himself for a few hours we got out the horses, and used to take
Aileen out for long rides all over the place, from one end to the other.
It did her good, and we went to every hole and corner in it. She was
never tired of looking at the great rock towers, as we used to call 'em,
where the sandstone walls hung over, just like the pictures of castles,
till, Starlight said, in the evenings you could fancy you saw flags
waving and sentinels walking up and down on them.

One afternoon we went out to the place where the old hermit had lived
and died. We walked over his old garden, and talked about the box we'd
dug up, and all the rest of it. Starlight came with us, and he persuaded
Aileen to ride Rainbow that day, and, my word, they made a splendid
pair.

She'd dressed herself up that afternoon just a little bit more than
common, poor thing, and put a bit of pink ribbon on and trimmed up her
hat, and looked as if she began to see a little more interest in things.
It didn't take much to make her look nice, particularly on horseback.
Her habit fitted her out and out, and she had the sort of figure
that, when a girl can ride well, and you see her swaying, graceful and
easy-like, to every motion of a spirited horse, makes you think her
handsomer than any woman can look on the ground. We rode pretty fast
always, and it brought a bit of colour to her face. The old horse got
pulling and prancing a bit, though he was that fine-tempered he'd carry
a child almost, and Jim and I thought we hadn't seen her look like
herself before this for years past.

It was a beautiful warm evening, though summer was over, and we were
getting into the cold nights and sharp mornings again, just before the
regular winter weather. There was going to be a change, and there were
a few clouds coming up from the north-west; but for all that it had been
quite like a spring day. The turf on all the flats in the Hollow was
splendid and s