horse and patted his neck; he stepped a little faster and lifted his
head, which he had held low as if making his way by scent.

The gloom weighed upon him, unhappy as he was. Often as he had
voluntarily sought the loneliness of the woods, now in this state of
mind, it oppressed him; he remembered that beyond the beeches the ground
was open and cleared by a forest fire, and began to be anxious to reach
it. It seemed an hour, but it really was only a few minutes, when the
beeches became thinner and wider apart, the foliage above ceased, and
the stars shone. Before him was the open space he had desired, sloping
to the right hand, the tall grass grey-green in the moonlight, and near
at hand sparkling with dew.

Amongst it stood the crooked and charred stems of furze with which it
had been covered before the fire passed. A white owl floated rather than
flew by, following the edge of the forest; from far down the slope came
the chattering notes of a brook-sparrow, showing that there was water in
the hollow. Some large animal moved into the white mist that hung there
and immediately concealed it, like a cloud upon the ground. He was not
certain in the dim light, and with so momentary and distant a view, but
supposed from its size that it must have been a white or dun wood-cow.

Ahead, across the open, rose the dark top of the fir trees through which
the route ran. Instead of the relief which he had anticipated as he rode
towards them, the space clear of trees around seemed to expose him to
the full view of all that might be lurking in the forest. As he
approached the firs and saw how dark it was beneath them, the shadowy
depths suggested uncertain shapes hiding therein, and his memory
immediately reverted to the book of magic he had read at the castle.