Leaving the house and park on their right they traced the highway yet a
little further, and, plunging through the stubble of the opposite field,
drew near the isolated earthwork bearing the plantation and tower, which
together rose like a flattened dome and lantern from the lighter-hued
plain of stubble. It was far too dark to distinguish firs from other
trees by the eye alone, but the peculiar dialect of sylvan language which
the piny multitude used would have been enough to proclaim their class at
any time. In the lovers' stealthy progress up the slopes a dry stick
here and there snapped beneath their feet, seeming like a shot of alarm.
On being unlocked the hut was found precisely as Swithin had left it two
days before. Lady Constantine was thoroughly wearied, and sat down,
while he gathered a handful of twigs and spikelets from the masses strewn
without and lit a small fire, first taking the precaution to blind the
little window and relock the door.
Lady Constantine looked curiously around by the light of the blaze.
The hut was small as the prophet's chamber provided by the Shunammite: in one
corner stood the stove, with a little table and chair, a small cupboard
hard by, a pitcher of water, a rack overhead, with various articles,
including a kettle and a gridiron; while the remaining three or four feet
at the other end of the room was fitted out as a dormitory, for Swithin's
use during late observations in the tower overhead.
'It is not much of a palace to offer you,' he remarked, smiling. 'But at
any rate, it is a refuge.' The cheerful firelight dispersed in some measure Lady Constantine's
anxieties. 'If we only had something to eat!' she said.
'Dear me,' cried St. Cleeve, blankly. 'That's a thing I never thought
of.' 'Nor I, till now,' she replied.
He reflected with misgiving.
'Beyond a small loaf of bread in the cupboard I have nothing. However,
just outside the door there are lots of those little rabbits, about the
size of rats, that the keepers call runners. And they are as tame as
possible. But I fear I could not catch one now. Yet, dear Viviette,
wait a minute; I'll try. You must not be starved.' He softly let himself out, and was gone some time. When he reappeared,
he produced, not a rabbit, but four sparrows and a thrush.
'I could do nothing in the way of a rabbit without setting a wire,' he
said. 'But I have managed to get these by knowing where they roost.' He showed her how to prepare the birds, and, having set her to roast them
by the fire, departed with the pitcher, to replenish it at the brook
which flowed near the homestead in the neighbouring Bottom.