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 ana 

 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 me. 

 ~Tt 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 



