to
her,' said Dick. 'And you may be sure that I shall find--or make--plenty
of opportunities to run down here from time to time. There is a coach
every day to Birmingham.'

They had been walking slowly all this time. It was night now, the last
gleam of sunset had faded, the stars were lustrous overhead, and a
yellow moonlight flooded the surrounding country. A long distance off,
faint but clear in the dead hush of the summer night, they heard, but
did not mark, the beat of horses' hoofs approaching them.

'I must go, Dick,' said Julia. 'It is late, and they will wonder where I
am No, let me go now, while I have the strength.'

He took her in his arms again, and her head dropped on his shoulder,
and the tears began to run afresh. He held her close, but in that last
moment of parting could find no word of comfort, only dumb caresses. The
hoof-beats were near at hand now, just beyond the bend of the road.
They rounded the corner, and broke on the lovers' ears with a loud and
startling suddenness. The girl broke away, and ran through the gate into
the field with a stifled sob. Dick turned, and walked down the road in
the direction of the approaching horseman. The moon was at the full, and
shone broadly upon his face and figure.

'Hullo!' cried the rider, in gruff challenge, and pulling his horse into
Dick's path, reined in. The young man looked up and recognised Samson
Mountain. Flight would have been as useless as ignominious, and it had
never been Dick's way out of any difficulty.

'Well?' he asked curtly, and stood his ground.

'Is that my daughter?' demanded Mountain, pointing with his heavy whip
after the white figure glinting across the field. 'Spake the truth for
once, though you be a Reddy.'

'It's a habit we have,' said Dick quietly. His calm almost surprised
himself. 'Yes.'

Mountain had always been of a heavy build, and of late years had
increased enormously in girth and weight. But his wrath at this
confirmation of his half guess stirred him so, that before the sound of
the word had well died out on the air he had dismounted, and came at the
young man with his riding-whip flourished above his head.

'Don't do that, sir.' Dick spoke in a low voice, though quickly; and
there was something in his tone which brought the weapon harmlessly to
the farmer's side again. 'It is your daughter. We love each other, and
she has promised to be my wife.'

Mountain staggered, as if the words had been a pistol bullet