"Well, Cousin," I said, "I see that you will be easier if I go. I will
begone first and see whether James has the horses out; and you had best
meanwhile go to my chamber and put away all that can incriminate you--in
one of your hiding-holes."

I was half-way to the kitchen when I heard my Cousin Dorothy come after
me; and I could see that she was in a great way.

"Cousin," she said, "I am ashamed that my father should speak like that.
If I were mistress--"

"My dear Cousin," I said lightly, "if you were mistress, I should not be
here at all."

"It is a shame," she said again, paying no attention, as her way was
when she liked. "It is a shame that you should spend all night in the
fields for nothing."

As she was speaking I heard James come downstairs with the valises. As
he went past he told me he already had the horses tied under the trees.
I nodded to him, and bade him go on, and he went out into the yard and
so through the stables.

"I had best go help your father put the things away," I said. "They will
not be here, at any rate, until the lights of the house are all out."

We went upstairs together and found my Cousin Tom already busy: he had
my clothes all in a great heap, ready to carry down to the hiding-hole
above the door; my papers he already had put away into the little recess
behind the bed, and the books, most of which had not my name in them, he