A Fiood. 107 
CHAPTER VI. 
THE HAMLET—COTTAGE ASTROLOGY— GHOST LORE—HERBS 
—THE WAGGON AND ITS CREW—STILES—THE TRYSTING- 
PLACE—THE THATCHER—SMUGGLERS-——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 com- 
munication 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 waita 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, 
