"I can't go there. Chattaway might horsewhip me again, you know, Ann."
The bitter mockery with which he spoke brought pain to her. "Where shall you go, sir?"
"I don't know. Lie down under these trees till morning. I am awfully hungry."
Ann Canham opened a basket which she carried, and took out a small loaf, or cake. She offered it to Rupert, curtseying humbly.
"Molly has been baking to-day, sir; and the missis, she gave me this little loaf for my father. Please take it, sir."
Rupert's impulse was to refuse, but hunger was strong within him. He took a knife from his pocket, cut it in two, and gave one half back to Ann Canham.
"Tell Mark I had the other, Ann. He won't grudge it to me. And now go home. It's of no use your stopping here."
She made as if she would depart, but hesitated. "Master Rupert, I don't like to leave you here so friendless. Won't you come to the lodge, sir, and shelter there for the night?"
"No, that I won't," he answered. "Thank you, Ann; but I am not going to get you and Mark into trouble as I have got myself."
She sighed as she finally went away. Would this unhappy trouble touching Rupert ever be over?