328 FIELD AND HEDGEROW. 



verily I wish, could it be without injury to others, that 

 the sand of the desert would rise and roll over and 

 obliterate the place for ever and ever. 



I need not wish, for I have been conversing again 

 with learned folk about this place, and they begin to 

 draw my view to certain considerations. These very 

 learned men point out to me a number of objections, for 

 the question they sceptically put is this : are you quite 

 certain that such a village ever existed ? In the first 

 place, they say, you have only got one other witness be- 

 side yourself, and she is aged, and has defective sight ; 

 and really we don't know what to say to accepting such 

 evidence unsupported. Secondly, John Brown cannot 

 be found to bear testimony. Thirdly, there are no ghosts 

 there ; that can be demonstrated. It renders a case un- 

 substantial to introduce these flimsy spirits. Fourthly, 

 the map is lost, and it might be asked was there ever 

 such a map ? Fifthly, the people are all gone. Sixthly, 

 no one ever saw any particular sparkle on the brook 

 there, and the clouds appear to be of the same common- 

 place order that go about everywhere. Seventhly, no 

 one can find these footpaths, which probably led no- 

 where ; and as for the little old man with silver buckles 

 on his shoes, it is a story only fit for some one in his 

 dotage. You can't expect grave and considerate men 

 to take your story as it stands ; they must consult the 

 Ordnance Survey and Domesday Book ; and the fact is, 

 you have not got the shadow of a foundation on which 

 to carry your case into court. I may resent this, but I 

 cannot deny that the argument is very black against me, 

 and I begin to think that my senses have deceived mc. 

 It is as they say. No one else seems to have seen the 

 sparkle on the brook, or heard the music at the hatch, or 

 to have felt back through the centuries ; and when I try 



