I am na afeard to
tell him I loike th' web."

CHAPTER XLII - Ashley-Wold

Two weeks after Joan left Riggan, she entered the village of Ashley-Wold
on foot. With the exception of a few miles here and there, when a
friendly wagoner had offered her a lift, she had made all her journey in
this manner. She had met with discouragement and disappointment. She had
not fancied that it would be an easy matter to find work, though she
had expressed no doubt to Anice, but it was even a more difficult matter
than she had imagined. At some places work was not to be had, in others
the fact that she was an utter stranger went against her.

It was evening when she came to Ashley-Wold; the rain was falling soft
and slowly, and the air was chill. She was cold, and faint with hunger.
The firelight that shone through the cottage windows brought to her an
acute sense of her bodily weariness through its suggestion of rest and
cheerfulness. The few passers-by--principally men and women returning
from their daily labor--glanced at her curiously.

She had held to the letter as a last resource. When she could not help
herself she would ask for assistance, but not until then. Still she had
always turned her face toward Ashley-Wold, Now she meant to go to Mrs.
Galloway and deliver the letter.

Upon entering the village she had stopped and asked a farmer for
directions. He had stared at her at first, hardly comprehending her
northern dialect, but had finally understood and pointed out the house,
whose gables could be seen from the road-side.

So Joan made her way toward it through the evening rain and mist. It
was a pretty place, with a quaint picturesqueness. A hedge, which was
a marvel of trimness, surrounded the garden, ivy clung to the walls and
gables, and fancifully clipped box and other evergreens made a modest
greenery about it, winter though it was. At her first glance at this
garden Joan felt something familiar in it. Perhaps Anice herself had
planned some portion of it. Joan paused a moment and stood looking over
the hedge.

Mrs. Galloway, sitting at her work-table near the window, had found her
attention attracted a few moments before by a tall young woman coming
down the road which passed on one side of the hedge.

"There is something a little remarkable about her," she said. "She
certainly does not belong to Ashley-Wold."

Then Joan stopped by the hedge and she saw her face and uttered a low
exclamation of surprise at