Geoff" (the old man would not say my lord); "but the cob's lame, and I
can't take Mirah without my lady's leave." "Never mind. I'm going such a
little way. Mamma never says anything when I go a little way." Was it a
lie, or only a fib? This question of casuistry gave Geoff great trouble
afterwards; for (he said to himself) it _was_ only a little way, nothing
at all, though mamma of course thought otherwise, and was deceived.
"You'll be very careful, Master Geoff," said the old man. Black had his
own reasons for not desiring to go out that day, which made him all the
more willing to give credence to Geoff's promise; and the boy had never
shown any signs of foolhardiness to make his attendants nervous. With an
exultation which he could scarcely restrain, Geoff found himself on his
pony, unrestrained and alone. When he got beyond the park, from which
he made his exit by a gate which the servants used, and which generally
stood open in the morning, a sort of awful delight was in his little
soul. He was on the threshold of the world. The green lane before him
led into the unknown. He paused a moment, rising in his stirrups, and
looked back at the house standing bare upon the ridge, with all its
windows twinkling in the sun. His little heart beat, as the heart beats
when we leave all we love behind us, yet rose with a thrill and throb of
anticipation as he faced again towards the outer universe. Not nine till
Christmas, and yet already daring adventure and fortune! This was the
consciousness that rose in the little fellow's breast, and made his
small gray eyes dance with light, as he turned his pony's head towards
the Warren, which meant into the world.

Geoff was very confident that he knew the road. He had gone several
times with his mother in the carriage direct to the Warren; one time in
particular, when the route was new to him,--when he went clinging to
her, as he always did, but she, frozen into silence, making no reply to
him, leant back in Mrs. Warrender's little brougham, like a mother made
of marble. Very clearly the child remembered that dreadful drive. But
others more cheerful had occurred since. He had got to know the Warren,
which was so different from Markland, with those deep old shadowing
trees, and everything so small and well filled. And they had all been
kind to Geoff. He liked the ladies more than he liked Theo. On the
whole, Geoff found ladies more agreeable than men. His father had not
left a very tend