o to him as he chooses."

"If he waits for that, he may wait till doomsday. I don't choose to go
on that water--and cross it I won't," said Sir Bale.

But when his distracting reminders began to pour in upon him, and the
idea of dismembering what remained of his property came home to him, his
resolution faltered.

"I say, Feltram, what difference can it possibly make to him if I choose
to ride round to Cloostedd Forest instead of crossing the lake in a
boat?"

Feltram smiled darkly, and answered.

"I can't tell. Can you?"

"Of course I can't--I say I can't; besides, what audacity of a fellow
like that presuming to prescribe to me! Utterly ludicrous! And he can't
predict--do you really think or believe, Feltram, that he can?"

"I know he can. I know he misled you on purpose. He likes to punish
those who don't respect his will; and there is a reason in it, often
quite clear--not ill-natured. Now you see he compels you to seek him
out, and when you do, I think he'll help you through your trouble. He
said he would."

"Then you have seen him since?"

"Yesterday. He has put a pressure on you; but he means to help you."

"If he means to help me, let him remember I want a banker more than a
seer. Let him give me a lift, as he did before. He must lend me money."

"He'll not stick at that. When he takes up a man, he carries him
through."

"The races of Byermere--I might retrieve at them. But they don't come
off for a month nearly; and what is a man like me to do in the
meantime?"

"Every man should know his own business best. I'm not like you," said
Feltram grimly.

Now Sir Bale's trouble increased, for some people were pressing.
Something like panic supervened; for it happened that land was bringing
just then a bad price, and more must be sold in consequence.

"All I can tell them is, I am selling land. It can't be done in an hour.
I'm selling enough to pay them all twice over. Gentlemen used to be able
to wait till a man sold his acres for payment. D--n them! do they want
my body, that they can't let me alone for five minutes?"

The end of it was, that before a week Sir Bale told Feltram that he
would go by boat, since that fellow insisted on it; and he did not very
much care if he were drowned.

It was a beautiful autumnal day. Everything was bright in that mellowed
sun, and the deep blue of the lake was tremulous with golden ripples;
and crag and peak and scattered wood, faint in the distance, came out