“Yes, dear, I know it well.”
“And I thought of you both so much to-day, that I couldn't help coming up here.”
“And you found Hardy? I don't wonder. I should come up to see the sun set every night, if I lived at Englebourn.”
“No. He came up sometime after me. Straight up the hill. I did not see him till he was quite close. I could not run away then. Indeed, it was not five minutes before you came.”
“Five minutes are as good as a year sometimes.”
“And you will tell your friend, Tom, how it happened?”
“Indeed I will, Katie. May I not tell him something more?”
He looked round for an answer, and there was just light enough to read it in her eye.
“My debt is deepening to the Hawk's Lynch,” he said, as they walked on through the twilight. “Blessed five minutes! Whatever else they may take with them, they will carry my thanks for ever. Look how clear and steady the light of that star is, just over the church tower. I wonder whether Mary is at a great hot dinner. Shall you write to her soon?”
“Oh, yes. To-night.”