rug of the lad's shoulders as he
answered:

"Why, as I told you to-night, I'm servant to Miss Judith Ogilvie,
servant and lover of Mistress Judith Ogilvie."

"Lover!" The word halted at Lindley's teeth, and his eyes rested
superciliously on the slouched figure beside him.

"Ay, lover," answered the lad, ignoring Lindley's tone, unconscious of
his look. "As the brook loves the moon, as the brook holds the moon in
its heart and cherishes her there, so hold I Mistress Judith in my
heart."

"I like not your manner, boy, neither your manner nor your
conversation." Lindley's anger expressed itself in his voice.

"Alas! I cannot change my manner so readily, my lord. But the
conversation? It is of your own seeking. It is yours to end when you
please. I am in no hurry, and the road lies ahead of you." The lad
halted his horse, but Lindley also drew rein.

"Answer straight who and what you are," he cried. "I am cousin to
Master James Ogilvie, and I have a right to demand an answer to those
questions."

"Ah! A straight question always merits an answer,
Master--Master----But I know not your name," said the boy. "I'm called
Johan, and I'm bonded for a term of years to a man who has many names,
and who plays many parts."

"You are one of the play actors, then!" burst from Lindley's lips.

"Yes, one of the play actors." The lad's words were simple, yet
something in his tone gave new offense.

"I'll have my cousin whip you from his lands before the morning's an
hour old," spluttered Lindley.

The boy's laughter rang through the woods.

"Master Ogilvie had already made that threat, but Mistress Judith sent
him word that the day we were whipped from the common, that day would
she whip herself from his house. Mistress Judith is, I think, only too
ready to sign a bond with my master. She loves----She'd make a good
actor, would Mistress Judith."

There was a long silence. The two horses were again pacing with well
matched steps through the miry road. Twice, when the moonlight shone
full upon them, Lindley tried to see the lad's face, but each time
only the pointed hood of the slouchy cape rewarded his curiosity. From
his voice he judged his companion to be not more than fourteen or
fifteen years old, although his words would have proved him older.

Suddenly the lad spoke.

"If you are cousin to Master James Ogilvie, as you say, why you are,
then, cousin, too, to my Mistress Judith. You have seen her lately?
Possibly she