towards the
north road. There was a ceaseless hum of noise from the green, pierced by
the shrill cries of the children round the glowing mass of the bonfire,
but there was no disorder, as the barrels that had been rolled out of the
Hall cellars that afternoon still stood untouched beneath the Rectory
garden-wall. Isabel contrasted in her mind this pleasant human tumult
with the angry roaring she had heard from these same country-folk a few
months before, when she had followed Lady Maxwell out to the rescue of
the woman who had injured her; and she wondered at these strange souls,
who attended a Protestant service, but were so fierce and so genial in
their defence and welcome of a Catholic squire.

As she thought, there was a sudden movement of the light on the church
tower; it tossed violently up and down, and a moment later the jubilant
clangour of the bells broke out. There was a sudden stir in the figures
on the green, and a burst of cheering rose. Isabel strained her eyes
northwards, but the road took a turn beyond the church and she could see
nothing but darkness and low-hung stars and one glimmering window. She
turned instinctively to the house behind her, and there was the door
flung wide, and she could make out the figures of the two ladies against
the brightly lit hall beyond, wrapped like herself, in cloak and hood,
for the night was frosty and cold.

As she turned once more she heard the clear rattle of trotting hoofs on
the hard road, and a glow began to be visible at the lower dark end of
the village. The cheering rose higher, and the bells were all clashing
together in melodious discord, as in the angle of the road a group of
tossing torches appeared. Then she could make out the horsemen; three
riding together, and the others as escort round them. The crowd had
poured off the grass on to the road by now, and the horses were coming up
between two shouting gesticulating lines which closed after them as they
went. Now she could make out the white hair of Sir Nicholas, as he bowed
bare-headed right and left; and Hubert's feathered cap, on one side of
him, and Mr. Boyd's black hat on the other. They had passed the bonfire
now, and were coming up the avenue, the crowds still streaming after
them, and the church tower bellowing rough music overhead. Isabel leaned
out over the battlements, and saw beneath her the two old ladies waiting
just outside the gate by the horse-block; and then she drew back, her
eyes ful