CHAPTER II



"And is there care in heaven? and is there love
In heavenly spirits to these creatures base
That may compassion of their evils move?
There is:- else much more wretched were the case
Of men than beasts: But oh! the exceeding grace
Of Highest God that loves His creatures so,
And all His works with mercy doth embrace,
That blessed Angels He sends to and fro,
To serve to wicked man, to serve His wicked foe!"

SPENSER.


A mile off, and a thousand feet down.

So Tom found it; though it seemed as if he could have chucked a
pebble on to the back of the woman in the red petticoat who was
weeding in the garden, or even across the dale to the rocks beyond.
For the bottom of the valley was just one field broad, and on the
other side ran the stream; and above it, gray crag, gray down, gray
stair, gray moor walled up to heaven.

A quiet, silent, rich, happy place; a narrow crack cut deep into