the darkness he saw a vague figure that raised its hand
and beckoned without words. Fear for the hay was Will's first emotion,
but no indication of trouble appeared. Once he spoke, and as he did so
the figure beckoned again, then approached the door. Blanchard went down
to find a woman waiting for him, and her first whispered word made him
start violently and drop the candle and matches that he carried. His
ears were opened and he knew Chris without seeing her face.

"I be come back--back home-along, brother Will," she said, very quietly.
"I looked for mother to home, but found she weern't theer. An' I be
sorry to the heart for all the sorrow I've brought 'e both. But it had
to be. Strange thoughts an' voices was in me when Clem went, an' I had
to hide myself or drown myself--so I went."

"God's gudeness! Lucky I be made o' strong stuff, else I might have
thought 'e a ghost an' no less. Come in out the night, an' I'll light a
candle. But speak soft. Us must break this very gentle to mother."

"Say you'll forgive me, will 'e? Can 'e do it? If you knawed half you'd
say 'yes.' I'm grawed a auld, cold-hearted woman, wi' a grey hair here
an' theer a'ready."

"So've I got wan an' another, tu, along o' worse sorrow than yours.
Leastways as bad as yourn. Forgive 'e? A thousand times, an' thank
Heaven you'm livin'! Wheer ever have 'e bided? An' me an' Grimbal
searched the South Hams, an' North, tu, inside out for 'e, an' he put
notices in the papers--dozens of 'em."

"Along with the gypsy folk for more 'n three year now. 'Twas the movin'
an' rovin', and the opening my eyes on new things that saved me from
gwaine daft. Sometimes us coined through Chagford, an' then I'd shut my
eyes tight an' lie in the van, so's not to see the things his eyes had
seen--so's not to knaw when us passed the cottage he lived in. But now
I've got to feel I could come back again."

"You might have writ to say how you was faring."

"I didn't dare. You'd bin sure to find me, an' I didn't want 'e to then.
'Tis awver an' done, an' 'twas for the best."

"You'm a woman, an' can say them silly words, an' think 'em true in your
heart, I s'pose. 'For the best!' I caan't see much that happens for the
best under my eyes. Will 'e have bite or sup?"

"No, nothin'. You get back to your bed. Us'll talk in the marnin'. I'll
bide here. You an' Phoebe be well, an'--an' dear mother?"

"We'm well. You doan't ax me after the fust cheel Phoebe had."

"I knaw. I