there was no
sight of it going onward, and, as far as he could make out, there was no
lane near, unless one passed over by the red-brick building which topped
an eminence to the right--a building with a couple of the great cowls of
the hop-kilns rising from its roof.

"He must have made for these," thought Richard. And feeling pretty
certain that if he took a short cut down through the hop-garden he would
strike the track, and find his cousin coming up the lane deep down in
the coppice, or passing onward on his return, he passed rapidly on.
Down he went along the steep slope, threading the tall, thin
growing-poles to right and left, till he came suddenly upon the edge of
the hop-garden, with its little hills, each squared by its four poles,
running in direct lines, and forming shady alleys, completely embowered
in many places by the vines which festooned the poles and leaped over
from side to side.

Keeping to the edge of the garden for a few yards, and passing alley
after alley, till he came upon the end of one which looked fairly open,
and which ran in the direction of the oast-house on the hill, Richard
was about to plunge down this, when, all at once, there was a sharp,
thin sound, followed by the loud whirr of wings, as an early covey of
strongly-pinioned partridges, alarmed by the crack, sprang up, and flew
over the tops of the poles, completely hidden by the vines.

Eager and excited now, Richard passed into the next alley and the next,
gazing sharply down them for him who had struck that match to light a
cigar.

"At last!" he said to himself; for not a dozen yards down the next--a
particularly dark, thickly-embowered lane of verdure--there stood Mark,
with his back to him, holding a second match to his cigar, from which
the grey smoke rose up, to disappear amid the vine-like leaves.

Drawing a long breath, Richard walked down this alley. But Mark did not
move, standing, coolly smoking there, till his cousin was within a
couple of yards, when he started round as if surprised, and the two
young men stood in the greenish twilight of that solitude, utterly
hidden, while in all probability there was not a human being within a
couple of miles.

"Ah, my lad," said Mark, quietly, "having a walk? Rather hot."

He turned as if to go, but was arrested by Richard's imperious order--

"Stop!"

Mark turned round, frowning and scowling.

"You don't belong to my regiment, my lad, but you know that this is not
t