l be a bit of a distraction like,
a little riding and wild-fowling now and agen. You'll find the folk
around here has hard and bitter minds towards you. They hasn't
forgotten nor forgiven. No one'll come nigh you, so you'd best get
what distraction you can with horse and dog. They'm good company, too."

Old George hobbled away to give his orders, and Stoner, feeling more
than ever like one in a dream, went upstairs to inspect "Master Tom's"
wardrobe. A ride was one of the pleasures dearest to his heart, and
there was some protection against immediate discovery of his imposture
in the thought that none of Tom's aforetime companions were likely to
favour him with a close inspection. As the interloper thrust himself
into some tolerably well-fitting riding cords he wondered vaguely what
manner of misdeed the genuine Tom had committed to set the whole
countryside against him. The thud of quick, eager hoofs on damp earth
cut short his speculations. The roan cob had been brought up to the
side door.

"Talk of beggars on horseback," thought Stoner to himself, as he
trotted rapidly along the muddy lanes where he had tramped yesterday as
a down-at-heel outcast; and then he flung reflection indolently aside
and gave himself up to the pleasure of a smart canter along the
turf-grown side of a level stretch of road. At an open gateway he
checked his pace to allow two carts to turn into a field. The lads
driving the carts found time to give him a prolonged stare, and as he
passed on he heard an excited voice call out, "'Tis Tom Prike! I
knowed him at once; showing hisself here agen, is he?"

Evidently the likeness which had imposed at close quarters on a
doddering old man was good enough to mislead younger eyes at a short
distance.

In the course of his ride he met with ample evidence to confirm the
statement that local folk had neither forgotten nor forgiven the bygone
crime which had come to him as a legacy from the absent Tom. Scowling
looks, mutterings, and nudgings greeted him whenever he chanced upon
human beings; "Bowker's pup," trotting placidly by his side, seemed the
one element of friendliness in a hostile world.

As he dismounted at the side door he caught a fleeting glimpse of a
gaunt, elderly woman peering at him from behind the curtain of an upper
window. Evidently this was his aunt by adoption.

Over the ample midday meal that stood in readiness for him Stoner was
able to review the possibilities of