'What a beautiful walk you will have, Mr. Norton! But are you not tired? Seven miles in the morning and seven in the evening!'
'But I have had the whole day to rest in.'
'What a lovely evening! Let's all walk a little way with him,' said
Kitty.
'I should like to,' said the elder Miss Austin, 'but we promised father to be home for dinner. The one sure way of getting into his black books is to keep his dinner waiting, and he wouldn't dine without us.'
'Well, good-bye, dear,' said Kitty, 'I shall walk as far as the burgh.'
The Miss Austins turned into the trees that encircled Leywood, Kitty and John faced the hill, and ascending, they soon stood, tiny specks upon the evening hours.
Speaking of the Devil's Dyke, Kitty said—
'What! you mean to say you never heard the legend? You, a Sussex man!'
'I have lived very little in Sussex, and I used to hate the place; I am only just beginning to like it. But tell me the legend.'
'Very well; let's try and find a place where we can sit down. The grass is full of that horrid prickly gorse.'