"Very well, then, Master Myles, I say I do believe that thou meanest
no harm in coming hither; ne'theless it was ill of thee so to do. An my
father should find thee here, he would have thee shrewdly punished for
such trespassing. Dost thou not know that no one is permitted to enter
this place--no, not even my uncle George? One fellow who came hither to
steal apples once had his ears shaven close to his head, and not more
than a year ago one of the cook's men who climbed the wall early one
morning was shot by the watchman."

"Aye," said Myles, "I knew of him who was shot, and it did go somewhat
against my stomach to venture, knowing what had happed to him.
Ne'theless, an I gat not the ball, how were we to play more to-day at
the trap?"

"Marry, thou art a bold fellow, I do believe me," said the young lady,
"and sin thou hast come in the face of such peril to get thy ball, thou
shalt not go away empty. Whither didst thou strike it?"

"Over yonder by the cherry-tree," said Myles, jerking his head in that
direction. "An I may go get it, I will trouble ye no more." As he spoke
he made a motion to leave them.

"Stay!" said the Lady Anne, hastily; "remain where thou art. An thou
cross the open, some one may haply see thee from the house, and will
give the alarm, and thou wilt be lost. I will go get thy ball."

And so she left Myles and her cousin, crossing the little plots of grass
and skirting the rosebushes to the cherry-tree.