I RUN AGAINST THE SQUIRE. 41 



other, and that before I could have asked 

 him to take me on again. I sat down, as 

 much out of sight in the hedge of the planta- 

 tion as I could ; the workmen were all gone 

 home, and the windows were open to let the 

 paint dry, for it was being done up all 

 through. The roses, honeysuckle, and the 

 jasmine, that I had planted, were all un- 

 nailed and laid down for them to nail fresh 

 bark upon the uprights and over the porch- 

 way. I felt as if my heart would burst as 

 I looked at it and the garden beyond ; and 

 I stopped and stopped, for the more I re- 

 membered my home there, the more I dreaded 

 going to the one in the village. 



I don't know how long I'd been there, 

 when I heard a rustling, and directly after 

 out came the squire's favourite retriever, and 

 he just behind him, out of a little gate to a 

 private path through the plantation. He 

 saw me in a minute as I jumped up, and 

 said, "Is that you, Gregory?" I tried to 

 lift my hat ; but whether my sad thoughts 

 had made my forehead swell, or what it was, 

 I couldn't move it ; and I turned my head 

 away, for I didn't want him to see all my 

 face would have shown him, for I'd been 



