"Then I do not thank you for telling me so," said Ralph, half angrily; and, turning his horse, he rode away at the same quick pace as before. For an instant or two the old woman's words made some impression on his mind; but then hope and expectation bounded up again. He looked to the bright blue heaven, and the glorious sun, and the sparkling landscape, and unconsciously giving a wave of his hand toward it, he exclaimed, "I go with no evil purpose; I will do no base deed; and the God who made all these, who rolls the stars aloft, and brightens the skies above, and sends rain to fertilize, and sunshine to vivify, will guide, provide for, and protect me also."
The distance to Halling's Corner, where he was to meet his new servant, was considerable, but when he reached the spot no one was to be seen. It was a place where two roads crossed, and Ralph looked up and down each of them. No one was in sight; and, taking out one of the cumbrous watches of the day, the young man found that, by dint of riding fast, he had arrived nearly half an hour before the time appointed. There was nothing for it but patience, and, dismounting, he loosened the girths, and walked the horse up and down. At the end of about twenty minutes, while he was a few yards distant from the corner, he heard the voice of some one singing a common country air of the time; and when he could see down the other road, he perceived another horseman coming quietly up at a jog-trot. Rightly concluding that it was his new man, Gaunt Stilling, he waved his hand for him to make haste, and proceeded to refix his saddle The other, however, did not hurry his pace in the least; and when he reached the spot, Ralph told him, somewhat impatiently, that he had been waiting half an hour.
Stilling smiled good-humoredly, and replied, "Well, sir, you are now master, and I am man, and it is bad for the master to wait upon the man; but I have heard that, in point of punctuality, it is as bad to be too soon as too late. It wants just five minutes of the hour, if I judge the time right."
"No harm can happen from being a little too soon," replied Ralph.
"Sometimes, sir," answered Gaunt Stilling; "many a man has got his bones broken for being half an hour too soon; as, for instance, If a man appoints another to help him in a fray, and gets to his enemy half an hour before his friend, he will have time to take a mighty good drubbing for his lack of punctuality."
"True, true," answered Ralph; "punctuality is, I believe, the best rule, after all, and punctuality admits of no deviations. My horse carried me somewhat more speedily than usual."
"More's the pity, sir," replied Stilling, "for his pace will not be so good, nor his strength so enduring as if he had come slower. Take a horse out coolly--bring him in cool, is a good maxim in my part of the country. But here is a letter I have to give you."
Ralph took it and looked at the superscription, which imported, "To his grace the Duke of Norfolk, greeting. These by the hands of Ralph Woodhall, Esquire, a gentleman of mark."
"Who gave you this for me?" asked the young gentleman.
"I know not, sir," answered Stilling; "it was left at our house."