CHAPTER VI. 



The hamlet Cottage astrology Ghost lore Herbs The wagon 

 and its crew Stiles The trysting-place The thatcher Smug- 

 glers Ague. 



IN most large rural parishes there is at least one small 

 hamlet a mile or two distant from the main village. 

 A few houses and cottages stand loosely scattered 

 about the fields, no two of them together so separated, 

 indeed, by hedges, meadows, and copses as hardly to 

 be called even a hamlet. The communication with 

 the village is maintained by a long, winding, narrow 

 lane ; but foot passengers follow a shorter path across 

 the fields, which in winter is sure to be ankle deep 

 in mud, by the gateways and stiles. The lane, at the 

 same time, is crossed by a torrent, which may spread 

 out to thirty yards wide in the hollow, shallow at the 

 edges, but swift and deep in the middle. 



If you wait a couple of hours it will subside, as the 

 farmers lower down the brook pull up the hatches to 

 let the flood pass. If you are in a hurry, you must 

 climb up into the double mound beside the lane, and 

 force your way along it between thorns and stoles till 

 you reach the channel through which the current is 



