"No doubt," replied Dan, dryly; "but I don't intend to call as Lord Ardleigh. Keep my secret, sir, until such time as I choose to reveal myself."
Mr. Jarner nodded and moved away, leaving Dan alone on the summit of the ridge. The young man's eyes were turned towards Farbis Court, and then slowly travelled across the hollow till they rested on Dr. Merle's house. He shook his head.
"There is some connection between those two houses," he murmured. "I shall not leave Farbis till I find out what it is."
[CHAPTER XVI.]
AFTERNOON TEA.
If Dan had hoped to lead a solitary life he found out his mistake at the end of his first week's camping. It became known far and wide that he was of a hospitable nature, with the result that the dell was visited frequently by all the idle scamps in the neighbourhood. Some came with aggressive looks and demanded money, and food, and clothes, and Heaven only knows what else; but Dan disposed of these folk by offering to fight them. As they rarely cared to accept the challenge, they left speedily, with many curses, and those who did engage were thoroughly thrashed, so in the end such ruffians gave the dell a wide berth. Never was the Augean stable swept cleaner than was the dell of bullies and rogues and would-be thieves, by its muscular occupant.
The gipsies often looked in to see how he was getting on, but these were privileged guests. Dan had partaken of their bread and salt, so was by no means chary of his own; moreover, they were instinctively polite, and never by any chance stole his belongings. He was therefore glad to see their brown faces, and made them heartily welcome. They were charmed to think that the great gentleman--as they insisted on calling Dan--should affect the life of the road, and, had he but known the Romany tongue, would doubtless have accepted him as their brother. But Dan had other things to think of besides learning the black language, and so there remained a gulf between him and the vagrants. He was with them but not of them.
When the villagers straggled up from Farbis, with looks of dull surprise at his comfortable camp, Dan did his best to put them at their ease. But the bucolic character does not lend itself readily to friendly intercourse, and he gave up the task in despair. They ate and drank at his expense, grinned and wondered, but never ventured to offer an opinion. Between such and the keen-faced gipsies there was a difference as wide as that between eagle and barn-door fowl. Dan grew weary of their dull company, and gave them to understand as much, so they gradually ceased to persecute him with visits.
Mother Jericho, Tim, and Parson Jarner were constantly in the dell both by day and by night; but Meg never came, though over four days had elapsed since their meeting. At length she made her appearance late in the afternoon, and found Dan making ready to visit the gipsy camp. When he saw her coming down the path he changed his mind, and, cap in hand, went forward to receive her with all honour.
"Welcome to the dell, Meg," said he, extending a hand ceremoniously; "permit me to lead you to a seat by the fire."