lk here. One of these paths runs along the
bottom of the hill by the edge of the pleasant river Waveney, and the
other a hundred feet or more above and near the crest of the slope, or
to speak more plainly, there is but one path shaped like the letter O,
placed thus [symbol of O laying on its side omitted], the curved ends of
the letter marking how the path turns upon the hill-side.

Now I struck the path at the end that is furthest from this house, and
followed that half of it which runs down by the river bank, having the
water on one side of it and the brushwood upon the other. Along this
lower path I wandered, my eyes fixed upon the ground, thinking deeply
as I went, now of the joy of Lily's love, and now of the sorrow of
our parting and of her father's wrath. As I went, thus wrapped in
meditation, I saw something white lying upon the grass, and pushed it
aside with the point of the Spaniard's sword, not heeding it. Still, its
shape and fashioning remained in my mind, and when I had left it some
three hundred paces behind me, and was drawing near to the house, the
sight of it came back to me as it lay soft and white upon the grass,
and I knew that it was familiar to my eyes. From the thing, whatever it
might be, my mind passed to the Spaniard's sword with which I had tossed
it aside, and from the sword to the man himself. What had been his
business in this parish?--an ill one surely--and why had he looked as
though he feared me and fallen upon me when he learned my name?

I stood still, looking downward, and my eyes fell upon footprints
stamped in the wet sand of the path. One of them was my mother's. I
could have sworn to it among a thousand, for no other woman in these
parts had so delicate a foot. Close to it, as though following after,
was another that at first I thought must also have been made by a woman,
it was so narrow. But presently I saw that this could scarcely be,
because of its length, and moreover, that the boot which left it was
like none that I knew, being cut very high at the instep and very
pointed at the toe. Then, of a sudden, it came upon me that the Spanish
stranger wore such boots, for I had noted them while I talked with
him, and that his feet were following those of my mother, for they had
trodden on her track, and in some places, his alone had stamped their
impress on the sand blotting out her footprints. Then, too, I knew what
the white rag was that I had thrown aside. It was my mother's m