The Le Marchand settlement in those days consisted of six little farms, each with its strip of upland flax-field and apple-orchard, and a bit of rich, secluded dyke held in common. All the Le Marchands—father and five sons—still owned their hereditary allegiance to the Sieur de Briart, and paid him their little rents as occasion offered. My welcome was not such as is commonly accorded to the tax-gatherer. These retainers of my uncle’s made me feel that I was myself their seigneur; and their rents, paid voluntarily and upon their own reckonings, were in effect a love-gift. I supped—chiefly upon buckwheat cakes—at the cottage of Le Marchand père, and then, dark having fallen softly upon the quiet fields, I set out at a gentle pace for Grand Pré village.
Soon after I got into the still dark of the woods the moon rose clear of the Gaspereau hills, and thrust long white fingers toward me through the leafage. The silence and the pale, elusive lights presently got a grip upon my mood, and my anxieties doubled, and trebled, and crowded upon each other, till I found myself walking at a breathless pace, just the hither side of a run. I stopped short, with a laugh of vexation, and forced myself to go moderately.
I was perhaps half way to Grand Pré, and in the deepest gloom of the woods,—a little dip where scarce a moonbeam came,—when, with a suddenness that gave even my seasoned nerves a start, a tall figure stood noiselessly before me.
I clapped my hand upon my sword and asked angrily:
“Who are you?”
But even as I spoke I knew the apparition for Grûl. I laughed, and exclaimed:
“Pardon me, Mysterious One. And pray tell me why you are come, for I am in some haste!”
“Haste?” he reëchoed, with biting scorn. “Where was your haste two hours ago? Fool, poor fool, staying to fill your belly and wag your chin with the clod-hoppers! You are even now too late.”
“Too late for what?” I asked blankly, shaken with a nameless fear.
“Come and see!” was the curt answer; and he led the way forward to a little knoll, whence, the trees having fallen apart, could be had a view of Grand Pré.