early in the evening to be afraid, but it was too late to be altogether
courageous; and with balanced sensations Ethelberta kept her eye sharply
upon him as he rose by degrees into view. The peculiar arrangement of
his hat and pugree soon struck her as being that she had casually noticed
on a peg in one of the rooms of the 'Red Lion,' and when he came close
she saw that his arms diminished to a peculiar smallness at their
junction with his shoulders, like those of a doll, which was explained by
their being girt round at that point with the straps of a knapsack that
he carried behind him. Encouraged by the probability that he, like
herself, was staying or had been staying at the 'Red Lion,' she said,
'Can you tell me if this is the way back to Anglebury?'

'It is one way; but the nearest is in this direction,' said the
tourist--the same who had been criticized by the two old men.

At hearing him speak all the delicate activities in the young lady's
person stood still: she stopped like a clock. When she could again fence
with the perception which had caused all this, she breathed.

'Mr. Julian!' she exclaimed. The words were uttered in a way which would
have told anybody in a moment that here lay something connected with the
light of other days.

'Ah, Mrs. Petherwin!--Yes, I am Mr. Julian--though that can matter very
little, I should think, after all these years, and what has passed.'

No remark was returned to this rugged reply, and he continued
unconcernedly, 'Shall I put you in the path--it is just here?'

'If you please.'