irt beside her on the ground, and turned and went
away. And she had not even tried to speak to him.

When Hobb got out of the Red Copse he presently found a road and
followed it, hoping for the best. After awhile he saw a tramp asleep in
a ditch, and woke him and asked him the way to the Burgh of the Five
Lords. But the tramp had never heard of it. So then Hobb asked the way
to Firle, and the tramp said "That's another matter," for Sussex tramps
know all the beacons of the Downs, and he told him to go east. Which
Hobb did, walking without rest through the night and dawn and day, here
and there getting a lift that helped him forward. And in his heart he
carried hope like a lovely flower, but under it a quick pain like a
reptile's sting that felt to him like death. And he would not give way
to the pain, but went as fast and as steadily as he could; and at last,
with strained eyes and aching feet, and limbs he could scarcely drag
for weariness, and the dust of many miles upon his shoes and clothes,
he came to his own bare country and the Burgh. He rested heavily on the
gate, and the first thing he saw was Lionel on the steps, laughing and
playing with a litter of young puppies. And the next was Hugh climbing
the castle wall to get an arrow that had lodged in a high chink. And
out of a window leaned Heriot in all his young beauty, picking sweet
clusters of the seven-sisters roses that climbed to his room. And in
the doorway sat Ambrose, with a book on his knee, but his eyes fixed on
the gate. And when he saw Hobb standing there he came quickly down the
steps, calling to the others, "Lionel! Hugh! Heriot! our brother has
come home." And Lionel rushed through the puppies, and Hugh dropped
bodily from the wall, and Heriot leaped through the window. And the
four boys clung to Hobb and kissed him and wrung his hands, and seemed
as they would fight for very possession of him. And Hobb, with his arms
about the younger boys, and Heriot's hand in his, leaned his forehead
on Ambrose's cheek, and Ambrose felt his face grow wet with Hobb's
tears. Then Ambrose looked at him with apprehension, and said in a low
voice, "Hobb, what have you lost?" And Hobb understood him. And he
answered in a voice as low, "My heart. But I have found my four
brothers." They took him in and prepared a bath and fresh clothes for
him, and a meal was ready when he was refreshed. He came among them
steady and calm again, and the three youngest had nothing but re