ff. "Just look at me--you!
Just look at me!"

"He's as straight as I am!" cried Dickon. "He's as straight as any lad
i' Yorkshire!"

What Ben Weatherstaff did Mary thought queer beyond measure. He choked
and gulped and suddenly tears ran down his weather-wrinkled cheeks as he
struck his old hands together.

"Eh!" he burst forth, "th' lies folk tells! Tha'rt as thin as a lath an'
as white as a wraith, but there's not a knob on thee. Tha'lt make a mon
yet. God bless thee!"

Dickon held Colin's arm strongly but the boy had not begun to falter. He
stood straighter and straighter and looked Ben Weatherstaff in the face.

"I'm your master," he said, "when my father is away. And you are to obey
me. This is my garden. Don't dare to say a word about it! You get down
from that ladder and go out to the Long Walk and Miss Mary will meet you
and bring you here. I want to talk to you. We did not want you, but now
you will have to be in the secret. Be quick!"

Ben Weatherstaff's crabbed old face was still wet with that one queer
rush of tears. It seemed as if he could not take his eyes from thin
straight Colin standing on his feet with his head thrown back.

"Eh! lad," he almost whispered. "Eh! my lad!" And then remembering
himself he suddenly touched his hat gardener fashion and said, "Yes,
sir! Yes, sir!" and obediently disappeared as he descended the ladder.

CHAPTER XXII

WHEN THE SUN WENT DOWN

When his head was out of sight Colin turned to Mary.

"Go and meet him," he said; and Mary flew across the grass to the door
under the ivy.

Dickon was watching him with sharp eyes. There were scarlet spots on his
cheeks and he looked amazing, but he showed no signs of falling.

"I can stand," he said, and his head was still held up and he said it
quite grandly.

"I told thee tha' could as soon as tha' stopped bein' afraid," answered
Dickon. "An' tha's stopped."

"Yes, I've stopped," said Colin.

Then suddenly he remembered something Mary had said.

"Are you making Magic?" he asked sharply.

Dickon's curly mouth spread in a cheerful grin.

"Tha's doin' Magic thysel'," he said. "It's same Magic as made these
'ere work out o' th' earth," and he touched with his thick boot a clump
of crocuses in the grass.

Colin looked down at them.

"Aye," he said slowly, "there couldna' be bigger Magic then that
there--there couldna' be."

He drew himself up straighter than ever.

"I'm going to walk to that tree," he