Seven Miles to Arden

eliable method for a stranger to collect news than a sociable game of "peg" interspersed with a few casual but diplomatic questions. The tinker played "peg" the night a

. But, for all that, Patsy was wakened an hour before sun-up by a shower of pebbles on the tin roof of the porch, just under her window. Looking out,

, anxiously, looking him well over fo

ead as he led the way down the village street,

non still slept, close-wrapped in its peaceful respectability; even the dogs failed to give them a speeding ba

r stopped to let Patsy catch up with him;

ners to be trailing us off on a bare stomach like this-as if a county full of constables was at our heels? What's the meaning o

comeliness or lessen his state of vagabondage. There was something about his appearance that made him out less a fool and more an uncou

?" he asked, a bit sheepishly. "There were the lady's-slippers; you said as how you cared about findin'

the best color of lady's-slippers. Well, if I was Dan instead of myself, standing here, I'd be likely to tell ye to go to th

coaxing smile which seemed to say, "Please go on belie

he smile to her lips. "Heigho! 'Tis a bad bargain ye can't make the best of. But mind one thing, Master Touchstone! Ye'll find t

. You'll see-I'll find them both for you, lass"; and he set off with his swinging stride straight across c

onscience. "I cal'ate she's the guilty party," were his closing remarks. "She'd never ha' lighted out o' this 'ere town a

s leading Patsy farther afield. And so it came to pass that when the mare's heels were raising the dust on

a prime favorite it was among its neighbors. Patsy and the tinker marked how close things huddled to it, even creeping on to cover stones and gravel stretches; there were moss and ferns a

rn and columbine, to better paint their prettiness; and all the while singing one farther and farther into the woods. She was just wondering if there could be anything lovelier than this when the tinker stopped, still and tense as a pointer. She craned her head and loo

e tinker to turn about. "Then you're not hatin' gold w

ywhere and spinning it over again into the likes of those! In the name o' Saint Francis, do ye suppose if the English

would," agre

little look. "And what do ye

oolish fashion. "Nothin'; but I kn

st across the glade. Patsy listened spellbound while he sang

?" she asked at last, her

ds, same as ours becomes angels-wouldn't be such a deal o' difference-both takin' to wings and singin'." He chuckled again. "

a breakfast the s

ore Patsy could strip her tongue of its next teasing remark, he had

the lady's-slippers. She unpinned the rakish beaver and tossed it from her; off came the Norfolk jacket, and followed the beaver. She eyed the rest of her costume askance; sh

n being-yet a flower can wear them for a thousand years or more and ye never go tir

roamed about her unceasingly for every bit of prettiness, her ears caught the symphony of bird and brook and soughing wind. So still did she sit that the tinker, returning, thought for a moment that she h

s you came-down the road yesterday." He paused a moment. "You wouldn't go off b

ve ye till we

n' wha

be done, and there'll be no excuse for lingering. But I'll

r the huge basket he had brought; she only caught a tinge of exultation in his voice as

hered bark and brush and kindled a fire on a large flat rock which he had moved against a near-by boulder

hook out a small white table-cloth from the basket and spread it at her feet, she clasped her h

its. "Riz," was the tinker's comment as he put down the last named; and then followed what appeared to Patsy to

If ye bring out another thing from that basket I'll believe ye're in leagu

had raked over the embers to his complete satisfaction and placed the pan on them, he came back and, picking up one of the "brown buns," slipped it over Patsy's forefinger. "This is a wishin

will ye be

days as ther

fingers. "One, two, three, four, five, six. You'll get

but the hole, you'll have what you'

and ye've more wits than I have the next; I've caught ye looking too lonesome and helpless to be allowed beyond reach of our mother's kerchief-end, and yet last

acon's burnin'; I-cal'ate I

and Patsy grinned b

ook out the diminutive serviette he had brought for her and spread it across her lap; he poured her coffee and

that the duke's daughter was helpl

. "I was just thinkin' she might like

ut anything better nor a tinker-and I'd rather keep ye as I found ye. So if ye have a secret-mind it well; and don't ye be letting it

as he threw her portion of fried eggs

own wants; then they ate in silence, both too hungry an

he silence. "Your wish-

'll confess to where ye came by this hea

en he beamed. "I'll tell ye. I picked it off o

fine sarcasm, "and for my wish-I was af

ing, saucy stare of two children; then

your wish," he s

agreed Patsy, wi

ce. "But you said you hated gold. You couldn't m

throw it away before ever I'd marry him?"

indled suddenly, as he asked it-for all the wor

indistinguishable wood-tangle beyond. "Sure, we would

Arden and despatched her errand, for all the worriment their loitering caused her. As for t

d twigs and embers; and then they dallied over the memory of it all. Patsy spun a hundred threads of fancy into tales about

sigh, "I'm happier than ye can tell me

't make a bad castle," sugges

ky above their heads had grown a dull, leaden color. They were no longer sitting in the midst of sunlight; the lady's-slippers had lost

e toward some shelter." The tinker pulled Patsy to

knowing, like all faery tales, it had to have an ending; but I want to remember it, jus

with the final instruction to follow her nose and he would catch up with her before she had caught up with i

a soaker," he anno

an and ask the first person we pass,

. The wind came with the breaking of the storm-that cold, piercing wind that often comes in June as a reminder that winter has not passed by so very long before. It whipped the rain acros

ross to the tinker; and he shouted back

re it is

steps. But in response to their knocking, the door was opened just wide enough to frame the narrow face of a t

years ago," Patsy murmured between tightening lips. "How long in,

terrier was thrust out between the door and the woman's skirts. As they turned away Patsy's teeth were chattering; the chill an

t to put around you-anything to break the wind. Curse them warm a

aith! I haven't the breath to curse

ng it! If no one will take us in, we'll break in. Cheer up, lass;

er she neither wondered nor cared. Time and distance ceased to exist for her; she stumbled along, conscious of

ock out of the mud at their feet. In a most business-like manner he used it to smash the fastening of the shutters, and, when these were removed, to break the small, lea

ood the house," Patsy managed to gasp. "I'd do it myself, bu

In spite of her numbness Patsy saw the grim humor of it all and came perilously near to a hysterical laugh. The tinker unconsciously forestalled it by shouldering he

eft-behind clothes o' theirs hanging up somewhere. Come dow

ers and arms in trying to adjust them, and the persistent refusal of brain to direct them with any degree of intelligence. She came down the stairs a few minutes later

r over to the couch, apparently came from miles away. As Patsy sank down, too weary to speak, the figure above her took upon itself once more that suggestion of unearthliness that it had worn when she had discovered it at

d tales," she thought, drowsily. "Like as not, when I open my eyes again he'l

erself speculating in a hazy fashion where she was, whose house they had broken into, and what the tinker had done with himself. She had a vague, far-away feeling that she ought to be disturbed over something-her complete isolation with a strange companion on a night like this; but the physi

hing the fire; instead-She sat up with a jerk, speechless, rubbing her eyes with two excited fists, intent on proving the unreali

. For the first time in her life she was dominated by the dictates of convention. She cursed her irresponsible love of vagabondage a

no more than a woman in their sum total of daily pleasure, and when they choose a comrade it is for human qualities, not sexualities. And because of this, this particular Pat

st. "Who, in the name of Saint

flannels threw back