eir friends and society."

"I know that."

"He would be sent to Coventry unmitigatedly."

"I cannot help it, Mr. Thorold," I said. "If anybody does wrong
because he is afraid of the consequences of doing right, he is another
sort of a coward--that is all."

Mr. Thorold laughed, and catching my hand as we came to a turn in the
road where the woods fell away right and left, brought me quick round
the angle, without letting me go to the edge of the bank to get the
view.

"You must not look till you get to the top," he said.

"What an odd road!" I remarked. "It just goes by zigzags."

"The only way to get up at all, without travelling round the hill.
That is, for horses."

It was steep enough for foot wayfarers, but the road was exceeding
comfortable that day. We were under the shade of trees all the way;
and talk never lagged. Mr. Thorold was infinitely pleasant to me; as
well as unlike any one of all my former acquaintances. There was a
wealth of life in him that delighted my quieter nature; an amount of
animal spirits that were just a constant little impetus to me; and
from the first I got an impression of strength, such as weakness loves
to have near. Bodily strength he had also, in perfection; but I mean
now the firm, self-reliant nature, quick at resources, ready to act as
to decide, and full of the power that has its spring and magazine in
character alone. So, enjoying each other, we went slowly up the
zigzags of the hill, very steep in places, and very rough to the foot;
but the last pitch was smoother, and there the grey old bulwarks of
the ruined fortification faced down upon us, just above.

"Now," said Mr. Thorold, coming on the outside of me to prevent it,
"don't look!"--and we turned into the entrance of the fort, between
two outstanding walls. Going through, we hurried up a little steep
rise, till we got to a smooth spread of grass, sloping gently to a
level with the top of the wall. Where this slope reached its highest,
where the parapet (as Mr. Thorold called it) commanded a clear view
from the eastern side, there he brought me, and then permitted me to
stand still. I do not know how long I stood quite still without
speaking.

"Will you sit down?" said my companion; and I found he had spread a
pocket-handkerchief on the bank for me. The turf in that place was
about eighteen inches higher than the top of the wall, making a very
convenient seat. I thought of Queen Elizabeth and Sir Walter Raleigh