had lied, Hugh who had always been as fearless of
the truth as of anything else. So after that he asked no more, fearing
to get another lie for an answer; and he led Hugh home, supporting him
with his arm, for he was full of fits and starts and shiverings. If a
lump of chalk rolled under his shoe he blanched and cried, "What's
that?" and once when a field-mouse ran across the path he swooned. Then
Hobb, opening his tunic at the neck, saw that nothing was between it
and his body; for he, like Lionel, was without his shirt.

They got back to the Burgh, and Hobb found Ambrose and told him how it
was. And Ambrose came to Hugh and talked with him, and turned away with
knitted brows. For here was a puzzle not dealt with in his books. And
May went by in miserable fashion, with Lionel spending the days in
playing mournfully beside his farm, and Hugh in cowering abjectly
between his lions. And sometimes Ambrose and Hobb, after searching for
Heriot or news of him, or spending their spirits in endeavoring to
hearten their two brothers, or to elicit from them something that
should give them the key to the mystery, would meet in Hobb's
hill-garden, where seemed to be the only peace and loveliness left upon
earth. And Hobb would weed and tend his neglected flowers, and they
bloomed for him as though they knew he loved them--as indeed they did.
Only his golden rose-tree would not flourish, but this small sorrow was
unguessed by Ambrose.

One evening as they sat in the garden in the last week of May, Ambrose
said to his brother, "I have been thinking, Hobb, that at all costs
Heriot must be found, and not for his own sake only. He is younger than
we, and nearer in spirit to the boys; and he may be able to help them
as we cannot. For if this goes on, Hugh will die of his fears and
Lionel of his melancholy. You must stay and administer our affairs as
usual, and look after the boys; and I will go further afield in search
of Heriot."

Hobb was silent for a moment, and then he sighed and said, "No good has
come of these seekings. Our lads returned of themselves, as Heriot may.
And their return was worse than anything we feared of their absence,
as, if he come back, I pray Heriot's will not be. And for you,
Ambrose--" But then he paused, not saying what was in his mind. And
Ambrose said, "Do not be afraid for me. These boys are young, and I am
older than my years. And though I cannot face danger with a stouter
heart than our brothers, I ca