xi LADY MAUD'S WALK 191 



Norman had set his seal on the land, and 

 doubtless the slaughter was immense. But 

 why they should still hurry across the 

 meadow in the sunlight I know not. Per- 

 haps the persistent foot of the angler annoys 

 them, and they follow him as who should 

 say 



There let the wind sweep, and the plover cry, 

 But thou, go by. 



I begin to think that this place, in spite 

 of its beauty and ancient peace, is just a trifle 

 too much in touch with the other world. 

 I have never before lighted on a spot so he- 

 haunted. Of Lady Maud and the phantom 

 army across the river I have spoken. There 

 are others as well. The old rectory house 

 is full of them. It is the most delightful 

 house in the world. You enter it, turn a 

 corner, go up ten steps, turn another corner, 

 go along a passage, turn another corner and 

 go down three steps, and you are lost. I 

 am lost two or three times a day. When 

 this happens I sit down on a step and wait 

 for a guide, and if no one comes within the 

 next half-hour or so I cry aloud for aid. 

 Little inconveniences of this kind do not 

 matter here, where all is leisure ; but in a 



