don't know what all.'

'You have alarmed the house,' said the trumpet-major, hearing the
clicking of flint and steel in his father's bedroom, followed in a moment
by the rise of a light in the window of the same apartment. 'You have
got me into difficulty,' he added gloomily, as his father opened the
casement.

'I am sorry for that,' said Uncle Benjy. 'But step back; I'll put it all
right again.'

'What, for heaven's sake, is the matter?' said the miller, his tasselled
nightcap appearing in the opening.

'Nothing, nothing!' said the farmer. 'I was uneasy about my few bonds
and documents, and I walked this way, miller, before going to bed, as I
start from home to-morrow morning. When I came down by your
garden-hedge, I thought I saw thieves, but it turned out to be--to be--'

Here a lump of earth from the trumpet-major's hand struck Uncle Benjy in
the back as a reminder.

'To be--the bough of a cherry-tree a-waving in the wind. Good-night.'

'No thieves are like to try my house,' said Miller Loveday. 'Now don't
you come alarming us like this again, farmer, or you shall keep your box
yourself, begging your pardon for saying so. Good-night t' ye!'

'Miller, will ye just look, since I am here--just look and see if the box
is all right? there's a good man! I am old, you know, and my poor
remains are not what my original self was. Look and see if it is where
you put it, there's a good, kind man.'

'Very well,' said the miller good-humouredly.

'Neighbour Loveday! on second thoughts I will take my box home again,
after all, if you don't mind. You won't deem it ill of me? I have no
suspicion, of course; but now I think on't there's rivalry between my
nephew and your son; and if Festus should take it into his head to set
your house on fire in his enmity, 'twould be bad for my deeds and
documents. No offence, miller, but I'll take the box, if you don't
mind.'

'Faith! I don't mind,' said Loveday. 'But your nephew had better think
twice before he lets his enmity take that colour.' Receding from the
window, he took the candle to a back part of the room and soon reappeared
with the tin box.

'I won't trouble ye to dress,' said Derriman considerately; 'let en down
by anything you have at hand.'

The box was lowered by a cord, and the old man clasped it in his arms.
'Thank ye!' he said with heartfelt gratitude. 'Good-night!'

The miller replied and closed the window, and the light went out.

'There,