"I don't believe thou will fail; and if ta does, I'll niver say a word about it to any one. Thou can't walk to Aske, though, and in t' dark, too."
"Yes, I can. It is only four miles over the common. Many an afternoon I walk double that, without any motive but to tire myself to sleep. I'll go now, Martha, I won't wait until to-morrow. It may be wet then, and a day may make all the difference between too late and not too late."
She dressed carefully, and covered herself with one of the large mantles then worn. In a little more than an hour she was at the gates of Aske Park. It was quite dark and the gates were shut, and she had no alternative but to ring the bell and take old Geoffrey into her confidence. He listened to her with reluctance. "T' squire will never forgive me mistress," he said, "and I doan't think it kind in thee to put an owd man like me in such a box."
"But let me warm myself at your fire, Geoffrey. I am damp and cold."
He was not able to resist this plea, and when he saw how three years of suffering had changed her, his heart was troubled for the woman he
