Romney  was  shaking  the  tree  and  for  every
apple  that  fell  claiming  a  kiss,  while  she  from  her
vantage  ground  of  the  ladder  pelted  him  with
the  red  apples  instead.
The  dream  brought  a  smile  to  the  pale  young
lips.
"  It  is  well,"  said  Mistress  Huntoon  to  her
self,  watching  her;  "she  sleeps  and  she  smiles.
Youth  will  do  the  rest."  After  bending  an  in
stant  over  the  sleeper  she  left  her  and  slipped
down  the  staircase  into  the  hall.  Romney  was
walking  up  and  down.  At  the  foot  of  the  stair
way  he  met  his  mother  and  kissed  her  hand,  as
had  been  his  custom  from  babyhood.  They
crossed  the  hall  and  sat  down  side  by  side  on
the  wide  settle  before  the  fire.
Then  a  silence  fell  between  them.
£C  Alas,"  thought  the  mother,  "  when  did  ever
my  boy  find  it  hard  to  speak  with  me  before  ? "

"She  suspects  something,"  thought  her  son.
This  was  not  the  truth ;  she  did  not  suspect,
she  knew.
"  Tell  me  now  of  all  that  hath  befallen
thee  since  ever  'The  Lady  Betty  touched  at  St.
Mary's."

"  Nay,  tell  me  first  if  thou,  like  my  father,  hast
forgiven  the  loss  of  the  dear  old  boat."

267


Sir  Christopher

"  Speak  not  of  the  loss  of  a  boat  though  it  had
held  half  our  fortune  when  thy  life  was  in  the
scale.  Oh,  my  son,  my  son  !  "

The  mother  covered  her  face  with  her  hands
and  fell  to  weeping,  not  so  much,  to  tell  the
truth,  because  her  son  might  have  been  lost  to
her,  as  because  he  had  been.
Romney,  shrewd  as  he  thought  himself,  never
dreamed  of  what  was  passing  in  her  mind.
