to the church like the man whose father stuck to it
before him; and who knows all the little ins, and great outs, which must
in these troublous times come across?

But though appointed at last, by virtue of being best farmer in the
parish (as well as by vice of mismanagement on the part of my mother,
and Nicholas Snowe, who had thoroughly mixed up everything, being too
quick-headed); yet, while I dwelled with pride upon the fact that I
stood in the King's shoes, as the manager and promoter of the Church of
England, and I knew that we must miss His Majesty (whose arms were above
the Commandments), as the leader of our thoughts in church, and handsome
upon a guinea; nevertheless I kept on thinking how his death would act
on me.

And here I saw it, many ways. In the first place, troubles must break
out; and we had eight-and-twenty ricks; counting grain, and straw, and
hay. Moreover, mother was growing weak about riots, and shooting, and
burning; and she gathered the bed-clothes around her ears every night,
when her feet were tucked up; and prayed not to awake until morning. In
the next place, much rebellion (though we would not own it; in either
sense of the verb, to "own") was whispering, and plucking skirts, and
making signs, among us. And the terror of the Doones helped greatly;
as a fruitful tree of lawlessness, and a good excuse for everybody.
And after this--or rather before it, and first of all indeed (if I must
state the true order)--arose upon me the thought of Lorna, and how these
things would affect her fate.

And indeed I must admit that it had occurred to me sometimes, or been
suggested by others, that the Lady Lorna had not behaved altogether
kindly, since her departure from among us. For although in those days
the post (as we call the service of letter-carrying, which now comes
within twenty miles of us) did not extend to our part of the world, yet
it might have been possible to procure for hire a man who would ride
post, if Lorna feared to trust the pack-horses, or the troopers, who
went to and fro. Yet no message whatever had reached us; neither any
token even of her safety in London. As to this last, however, we had no
misgivings, having learned from the orderlies, more than once, that
the wealth, and beauty, and adventures of young Lady Lorna Dugal were
greatly talked of, both at court and among the common people.

Now riding sadly homewards, in the sunset of the early spring, I was
more than ever t