"Then I went quietly down the hill. Alas! where now was the bounding fire and fury of my youth? I almost shuddered when I saw the precipice over which I had fallen, and the pine tree still denuded of branches that had saved my life.
"In a few minutes more I stood at the door of the village inn. There were new people here now, but the old folks could scarce have known me, so changed had I become.
"While I munched my morsel of bread and cheese, washed down with milk, a tall figure passed the window leading a child. I knew her step at once, though she too was sadly changed. But I wondered to notice that her hair was sprinkled with gray.
"All my heart seemed to go forth to her.
"'That,' said the landlady, 'is the kindliest creature in all the parish.'
"'Her name?' I almost gasped.
"'Miss Elspet Deane.'
"'Miss? Ah, then she is not married?'
"'No; there is some sad story about her—about an artist she ought to have married, but who went away and was drowned at sea.'
"'And you say she is good and kind?'