you be!'

Hazel looked at the narrow box, and thought of the active, angular old
man for whom it was now considered an ample house.

'It seems like the world's a big spring-trap, and us in it,' she said
slowly. Then she sprang up feverishly. 'Let's practise till we're as
hoarse as a young rook!' she cried.

So amid the hammering their voices sprang up, like two keen flames.
Then Abel threw away the hammer and began to harp madly, till the
little shanty throbbed with the sound of the wires and the lament of
the voices that rose and fell with artless cunning. The cottage was
like a tree full of thrushes.

After their twelve o'clock dinner, Abel cut holly for the wreaths, and
Hazel began to make them. For the first time home seemed dull. She
thought wistfully of the green silk dress and the supper in the old,
stately room. She thought of Vessons, and of Reddin's eyes as he pulled
her back from the door. She thought of Undern as a refuge for Foxy.

'Maybe sometime I'll go and see 'em,' she thought.

She went to the door and looked out. Frost tingled in the air; icicles
had formed round the water-butt; the strange humming stillness of
intense cold was about her. It froze her desire for adventure.

'I'll stay as I be,' she thought. 'I wunna be his'n.'

To her, Reddin was a terror and a fascination. She returned to the