I write the great forest of
Epping extended almost all over the county of Essex, the villages
were scarcely more than small clearings in the vast wood, and only
round the farms themselves were there any real fields worth calling
by the name.

Will and Joan tripped on ahead more rapidly than Sultan or his
master cared to go. Paul did not trouble himself any longer about
the road he was traversing, leaving himself entirely in the kindly
care of the smith. He even dozed a little in the saddle as the
horse picked his way steadily through the darkness, and was only
fully roused up again by the sight of lanterns dancing, as it
seemed, over the ground, by the sound of rough yet pleasant voices,
and the glimmer of steadier light through the latticed windows of
some building near at hand. The next minute he was before the
hospitable door of the old farmhouse.

A ruddy blaze streamed out through that open door. Friendly hands
assisted him to alight, and guided him to a rude oak settle placed
within the deep inglenook, which was almost like a small inner
chamber of the wide farm kitchen. Some hot, steaming drink was held
to his lips; and when he had drunk, the mist seemed to clear away
from his eyes, and he saw that he was the centre of quite a group
of simple rustics; whilst the pretty, dark-eyed Joan, in her gown
of blue serge, with its big sleeves of white cloth, was eagerly
watching him, all the time pouring out her story, which everybody
appeared to wish to hear again and again.

"Just to think of it!" cried a burly man, whose dress bespoke him a
farmer no less than his ruddy cheeks and horny hands. "Would that I
had been there! He should not then have escaped with his life.

"Child, why didst thou not stab him to the heart as he lay?

"Well has he been called Devil's Own by his former comrades and
playfellows. A defenceless girl--my daughter! By good St. Anthony,
if he crosses my path again it shall be for the last time. I
will--"

"Hush, I pray you, good husband," said his wife more gently, though
from the way in which she clasped her daughter to her breast it was
plain she had been deeply moved by the story of her peril.
"Remember what the Scriptures say: 'Thou shalt not kill,'
'Vengeance is mine,' and many like passages--"

But the woman stopped suddenly short, silenced by the grip of her
husband's hand upon her arm. A quick look was exchanged between
them, and she lapsed into silence.

The farmer glanced rou