Without answering I reached up and clasped his hand; it was the
hand which held his whip, and I noticed how tightly he gripped
the handle, and wondered.

"Sir Richard," said I at last, "wherever I go I shall treasure
the recollection of this moment, but--"

"But, Peter?"

"But, sir--"

"Oh, dammit!" he exclaimed, and set spurs to his mare. Yet once
he turned in his saddle to flourish his whip to me ere he
galloped out of sight.




CHAPTER II

I SET OUT


The clock of the square-towered Norman church, a mile away, was
striking the hour of four as I let myself out into the morning.
It was dark as yet, and chilly, but in the east was already a
faint glimmer of dawn. Reaching the stables, I paused with my
hand on the door-hasp, listening to the hiss, hissing that told me
Adam, the groom, was already at work within. As I entered he