from it, by copses and meadows in which winter had left only the
tenderest shades of the saddest colours. The winding river brightened
the dull picture with broken glints of silver, and the tawny hues of the
foreground faded through soft gradations of violet and azure into a far
distance of pearly grey. It is not the scenery men cross continents and
oceans to admire, and yet it has a message of its own. I felt it that
day when I was heart-weary, and was glad that in one corner of this
restless world the little hills preach peace.

Meantime Tip had been recaptured, and when he, or rather the ground
close beside him, had been beaten severely with sticks, and he himself
upbraided in terms which left the censors hoarse, we went down again
into the hollow. Then Lady Atherley returned and gave me tea; and
afterwards, in the library, I worked at accounts till it was nearly too
dark to write. No doubt on the high ground the sky was aflame with
brilliant colour, of which only a dim reflection tinged the dreary view
of sward and leafless trees, to which, for some mysterious reason, a gig
crawling down the carriage-drive gave the last touch of desolation.

Just as I laid my pen aside the door opened, and Castleman introduced a
stranger.

"If you will wait here, sir, I will find her ladyship."

The new-comer was young and slight, with an erect carriage and a firm
step. He had the finely-cut features and dull colouring which I
associate with the high-pressure life of a busy town, so that I guessed
who he was before his first words told me.

"No, thank you, I will not sit down; I expect to be called to my patient