“What, my noble Benjamin?” I exclaimed.

“No, it’s me!” answered the redoubtable Ben. “‘E said I was to give you this an’ tell you, ‘Life an’ death!’” As he spoke he held out a roll of paper tied about the middle with a boot lace; which done, the round head grinned, nodded, and disappeared from my ken. Unwinding the boot lace, I spread out the paper and read the following words, scrawled in pencil:

Hi the to the Blasted Oke and all will be forgiven. Come back to your luving frends and bigones shall be bigones. Look to the hole in the trunk there of. Sined, ROBIN, Outlaw and Knight.

P.S. I mean where i hid her stockings - you no.

I stood for some time with this truly mysterious document in my hand, in two minds what to do about it; if I went, the chances were that I should run against the Imp, and there would be a second leave-taking, which in my present mood I had small taste for. On the other hand, there was a possibility that something might have transpired which I should do well to know.

And yet what more could transpire? Lisbeth had made her choice, my dream was over, to-morrow I should return to London - and there was an end of it all; still -

In this pitiful state of vacillation I remained for some time, but in the end curiosity and a fugitive hope gained the day, and taking my cap, I sallied forth.

It was, as Stevenson would say, “a wonderful night of stars,” and the air was full of their soft, quivering light, for the moon was late and had not risen as yet. As I stepped from the inn door, somebody in the tap-room struck up “Tom Bowling” in a rough but not unmusical voice; and the plaintive melody seemed somehow to become part of the night.

Truly, my feet trod a path of “faerie,” carpeted with soft mosses, a path winding along beside a river of shadows on whose dark tide stars were floating. I walked slowly, breathing the fragrance of the night and watching the great, silver moon creeping slowly up the spangled sky. So I presently came to the “blasted oak.” The hole in the trunk needed little searching for. I remembered it well enough, and thrusting in my hand, drew out a folded paper. Holding this close to my eyes, I managed with no little difficulty to decipher this message:

Don’t go unkel dick bekors Auntie lisbeth wants you and i want you to. I heard her say so to herself in the libree and she was crying to, and didn’t see me there but i was. And she said 0 Dick i want you so, out loud bekors she didn’t no I was there. And i no she was crying bekors i saw the tiers. And this is true on my onner so help me sam. Sined, Yore true frend and Knight, REGINALD AUGUSTUS.

A revulsion of feeling swept over me as I read. Ah! if only I could believe she had said such words - my beautiful, proud Lisbeth.

Alas! dear Imp, how was it possible to believe you? And because I knew it could not possibly be true, and because I would have given my life to know that it was true, I began to read the note all over again.

Suddenly I started and looked round; surely that was a sob! But the moon’s level rays served only to show the utter loneliness about me. It was imagination, of course, and yet it had sounded very real.

And she said, “0 Dick, I want you so!”

The river lapped softly against the bank, and somewhere above my head the leaves rustled dismally.

“Dear little Imp, if it were only true!”

Once again the sound came to me, low and restrained, but a sob unmistakably.

On the other side of the giant tree I beheld a figure half sitting, half lying. The shadow was deep here, but as I stooped the kindly moon sent down a shaft of silver light, and I saw a lovely, startled face, with great, tear-dimmed eyes.

“Lisbeth!” I exclaimed; then, prompted by a sudden thought, I glanced hastily around.

“I am alone,” she said, interpreting my thought aright.

“But - here - and - and at such an hour!” I stammered foolishly. She seemed to be upon her feet in one movement, fronting me with flashing eyes.

“I came to look for the Imp. I found this on his pillow. Perhaps you will explain?” and she handed me a crumpled paper.

DEAR AUNTIE LISBATH: (I read) Unkel dick is going away bekors he is in luv with you and you are angry with the Blasted oke, where I hid yore stokkings if you want to kiss me and be kind to me again, come to me bekors I want someboddie to be nice to me now he is gone. yore luving sorry IMP.

P.S. He said he would like to hang himself in his sword-belt to the arm of yonder tree and hurl himself from yon topmost pinnakel, so I no he is in luv with you.

“Oh, blessed Imp!”

“And now where is he?” she demanded.

“Lisbeth, I don’t know.”

“You don’t know! Then why are you here?”

For answer I held out the letter I had found, and watched while she read the words I could not believe.

Her hat was off, and the moon made wonderful lights in the coils of her black hair. She was wearing an indoor gown of some thin material that clung, boldly revealing the gracious lines of her supple figure, and in the magic of the moon she seemed some young goddess of the woods - tall and fair and strong, yet infinitely womanly.

Now as she finished reading she turned suddenly away, yet not before I had seen the tell-tale colour glowing in her cheeks - a slow wave which surged over her from brow to chin, and chin to the round, white column of her throat.

And she said, “0 Dick, I want you so!” I read aloud.

“Oh,” Lisbeth murmured.

“Lisbeth, is it true?”

She stood with her face averted, twisting the letter in her fingers.

“Lisbeth!” I said, and took a step nearer. Still she did not speak, but her hands came out to me with a swift, passionate gesture, and her eyes looked into mine; and surely none were ever more sweet, with the new shyness in their depths and the tears glistening on their lashes.

And in that moment Doubt and Fear were swallowed up in a great joy, and I forgot all things save that Lisbeth was before me and that I loved her. The moon, risen now, had made a broad path of silver across the shadowy river to our very feet, and I remembered how the Imp had once told me that it was there for the moon fairies to come down by when they bring us happy dreams. Surely, the air was full of moon fairies to-night.

“0 Imp, thrice blessed Imp!”

“But - but Selwyn?” I groaned at last.

“Well?”

“If you love him - “

“But I don’t!”

“But if you are to marry him - “

“But I’m not! I was going to tell you so in the orchard yesterday, but you gave me no chance; you preferred to guess, and, of course, guessed wrong altogether. I knew it made you wretched, and I was glad of it and meant to keep you so a long, long time; but when I looked up and saw you standing there so very, very miserable, Dick, I couldn’t keep it up any longer, because I was so dreadfully wretched myself, you know.”

“Can you ever forgive me?”

“That depends, Dick.”

“On what?”

Lisbeth stooped, and picking up her hat, began to put it on.

“Depends on what?” I repeated.

Her hat was on now, but for a while she did not answer, her eyes upon the “fairy path.” When at last she spoke her voice was very low and tender.

“‘Not far from the village of Down, in Kent, there is a house,’” she began, “‘a very old ho use, with pointed gables and pannelled chambers, but empty to-night and desolate.’ You see I remember it all,” she broke off.

“Yes, you remember it all,” I repeated, wondering.

“Dick - I - I want you to - take me there. I’ve thought of it all so often. Take me there, Dick.”

“Lisbeth, do you mean it?”

“It has been the dream of my life for a long time now - to work for you there, to take care of you, Dick - you need such a deal, such a great deal of taking care of - to walk with you in the old rose garden; but I’m a beggar now, you know, though I sha’n’t mind a bit if - if you want me, Dick.”

“Want you!” I cried, and with the words I drew her close and kissed her. Now, from somewhere in the tree above came a sudden crack and mighty snapping of twigs.

“All right, Uncle Dick!” cried a voice; “it’s only the branch. Don’t worry.”

“Imp!” I exclaimed.

“I’m coming, Uncle Dick,” he answered, and with much exertion and heavy breathing he presently emerged into view and squirmed himself safely to earth. For a moment he stood looking from one to the other of us, then he turned to Lisbeth.

“Won’t you forgive me, too, Auntie Lisbeth, please?” he said.

“Forgive you!” she cried, and falling on her knees, gathered him in her arms.

“I’m glad I didn’t go to Persia, after all, Uncle Dick,” he said over her shoulder.

“Persia!” repeated Lisbeth, wonderingly.

“Oh, yes; you were so angry with Uncle Dick an’ me - so frightfull’ angry, you know, that I was going to try to find the ‘wonderful lamp’ so I could wish everything all right again an’ all of us ‘live happy ever after’; but the blasted oak did just as well, an’ was nicer, somehow, wasn’t it?”

“Infinitely nicer,” I answered.

“An’ you will never be angry with Uncle Dick or me any more, will you, auntie - that is, not frightfull’ angry, you know?”

“Never any more, dear.”

“On your honour?”

“On my honour!”

“So help you Sam?”

“So help me Sam!” she repeated, smiling, but there were tears in her voice.

Very gravely the Imp drew his “trusty sword,” which she, following his instructions, obediently kissed.

“And now,” cried he, “we are all happy again, aren’t we?”

“More happy than I ever hoped or dreamed to be,” answered Lisbeth, still upon her knees; “and oh, Imp - dear little Imp, come and kiss me.”

VIII

THE LAND OF HEART’S DELIGHT

Surely there never was and never could be such another morning as this! Ever since the first peep of dawn a blackbird had been singing to me from the fragrant syringa-bush that blossomed just beneath my window. Each morning I had wakened to the joyous melody of his golden song. But to-day the order was reversed. I had sat there at my open casement, breathing the sweet purity of the morning, watching the eastern sky turn slowly from pearl-grey to saffron and from saffron to deepest crimson, until at last the new-risen sun had filled all the world with his glory. And then this blackbird of mine had begun - very hoarse at first, trying a note now and then in a tentative sort of fashion, as though still drowsy and not quite sure of himself, but little by little his notes had grown longer, richer, mellower, until here he was pouring out his soul in an ecstasy.

Ah! surely there never was, there never could be, such another morning as this!

Out of the green twilight of the woods a gentle wind was blowing, laden with the scent of earth and hidden flowers. Dewdrops twinkled in the grass and hung glistening from every leaf and twig, and beyond all was the sheen of the murmurous river.

The blackbird was in full song now, and by degrees others joined in - thrush, and lark, and linnet, with the humbler voices of the farmyard - until the sunny air was vibrant with the chorus.

Presently a man in a sleeved waistcoat crossed the paddock, whistling lustily, and from somewhere below there rose a merry clatter of plates and dishes; and thus the old inn, which had seen so many mornings, woke up to yet another. But there never was, there never could be, just such another morning as this was!

And in a little while, having dressed with more than usual care, I went downstairs to find my breakfast awaiting me in the “Sanded Parlour,” having ordered it for this early hour the night previously - ham and eggs and fragrant coffee, what mortal could wish for more?

And while I ate, waited on by the rosy-cheeked chambermaid, in came Master Amos Baggett, mine host, to pass the time of day, and likewise to assure me that my baggage should catch the early train; who when I rose, my meal at an end, paused to wipe his honest hand quite needlessly upon his snowy apron ere he wished me “Good-bye.”

So having duly remembered the aforesaid rosy-cheeked chambermaid, the obsequious “Boots” and the grinning ostler, I sallied forth into the sunshine, and crossing the green, where stood the battered sign-post, I came to a flight of rough steps, at the foot of which my boat was moored. In I stepped, cast loose the painter, and shipping the sculls, shot out into the stream.

No, there never was, there never could be, just such another morning as this, for to-day I was to marry Lisbeth, and every stroke of the oar carried me nearer to her and happiness. Gaily the alders bent and nodded to me; joyfully the birds piped and sang; merrily the water laughed and chattered against my prow as I rowed through the golden morning.