lovely and peaceful to them; the fire had not been there, and
quiet sunshine lay along the fields. In the last mile or two
the fields gave place again to broken country; a brawling
stream was heard and seen by intervals, black and chafing over
a rocky bed. Then the road descended sharply, among thick
leafage, fresh and fair, not pine needles; and finally at the
bottom of the descent the stage stopped.


CHAPTER VIII.

THE MILL FLOOR.


The place was a dell in the woods, the bottom filled with a
dark, clear little lake. At the lower end of it stood the
mill; picturesque enough under the trees, with its great doors
opening upon the lake. On the floor within could be seen the
bags of flour and grain piled about, and the miller passing to
and fro. It was deeply still; the light came cool and green
through the oaks and maples and ashes; the trickling of water
was heard. Dark slept the little lake, overshadowed by the
leafy banks which shut it in; the only chief spot of light was
the miller's open door, where the sunbeams lit up his bags and
him; the mill-stream brawled away somewhere below, and beyond
the mill the road curled away out of sight to mount the hill
again. This was Braddock's mill.


Mr. Falkirk got out, and then Mr. Rollo helped out the women