this struck Reddin, and he laughed.

Edward looked at him disgustedly. Reddin began to feel a fool.

'We must begin,' he said.

Seeing that Edward was waiting for him to strike the first blow, and
not being angry enough to do so, Reddin said coarsely:

'No good fighting, parson! She's mine--from head to foot.'

He received as good a blow as Edward was capable of. They fought with
hard-drawn breath, for they were neither of them in training. To Edward
it seemed ridiculous to be fighting; to Reddin it seemed ridiculous to
be fighting such an opponent.

They moved out of the light and back again in the tense silence of the
night. A rat splashed in the pool, and silence fell again.

Edward could not do much more than defend himself, and Reddin's eyes
shone triumphantly. Within, Hazel leaned against the glass faintly. It
was as if evil and good, angels and devils, fought for her. And
whichever won, she was equally forlorn. She did not want heaven; she
wanted earth and the green ways of earth.

'Oh, he'll kill Ed'ard!' she moaned.

Edward staggered under a blow, and she hid her eyes. Suddenly she
thought of Vessons. Where was he? She ran to the kitchen calling him.
He was not there. She went to the stables. He was nowhere to be found.