Marty prepared her a comfortable place, and she sat down in the circle,
and listened to Fitzpiers while he drew from her father and the
bark-rippers sundry narratives of their fathers', their grandfathers',
and their own adventures in these woods; of the mysterious sights they
had seen--only to be accounted for by supernatural agency; of white
witches and black witches; and the standard story of the spirits of the
two brothers who had fought and fallen, and had haunted Hintock House
till they were exorcised by the priest, and compelled to retreat to a
swamp in this very wood, whence they were returning to their old
quarters at the rate of a cock's stride every New-year's Day, old
style; hence the local saying, "On New-year's tide, a cock's stride."
It was a pleasant time. The smoke from the little fire of peeled
sticks rose between the sitters and the sunlight, and behind its blue
veil stretched the naked arms of the prostrate trees The smell of the
uncovered sap mingled with the smell of the burning wood, and the
sticky inner surface of the scattered bark glistened as it revealed its
pale madder hues to the eye. Melbury was so highly satisfied at having
Fitzpiers as a sort of guest that he would have sat on for any length
of time, but Grace, on whom Fitzpiers's eyes only too frequently
alighted, seemed to think it incumbent upon her to make a show of
going; and her father thereupon accompanied her to the vehicle.
As the doctor had helped her out of it he appeared to think that he had
excellent reasons for helping her in, and performed the attention
lingeringly enough.
"What were you almost in tears about just now?" he asked, softly.
"I don't know," she said: and the words were strictly true.
Melbury mounted on the other side, and they drove on out of the grove,
their wheels silently crushing delicate-patterned mosses, hyacinths,
primroses, lords-and-ladies, and other strange and ordinary plants, and
cracking up little sticks that lay across the track. Their way
homeward ran along the crest of a lofty hill, whence on the right they
beheld a wide valley, differing both in feature and atmosphere from
that of the Hintock precincts. It was the cider country, which met the
woodland district on the axis of this hill. Over the vale the air was
blue as sapphire--such a blue as outside that apple-valley was never
seen. Under the blue the orchards were in a blaze of bloom, some of
the richly flowered trees running almost up to where they drove along.
Over a gate which opened down the incline a man leaned on his arms,
regarding this fair promise so intently that he did not observe their
passing.