Master Odam restored me to my self-respect; for he
stared at me till I went to bed; and he broke his
hose with excitement. For being in the leg-line
myself, I wanted to know what the muscles were of
a man who turned a wheel all day. I had never
seen a treadmill (though they have one now at Exeter),
and it touched me much to learn whether it were good
exercise. And herein, from what I saw of Odam,
I incline to think that it does great harm; as moving
the muscles too much in a line, and without variety.
[Illustration: 517.jpg Tailpiece]
LORNA KNOWS HER NURSE
[Illustration: 518.jpg Illustrated Capital]
Having obtained from Benita Odam a very close and
full description of the place where her poor mistress
lay, and the marks whereby to know it, I hastened
to Watchett the following morning, before the sun was
up, or any people were about. And so, without
interruption, I was in the churchyard at sunrise.
In the farthest and darkest nook, overgrown with grass,
and overhung by a weeping-tree a little bank of earth
betokened the rounding off of a hapless life.
There was nothing to tell of rank, or wealth, of love,
or even pity; nameless as a peasant lay the last (as
supposed) of a mighty race. Only some unskilful
hand, probably Master Odam’s under his wife’s
teaching, had carved a rude L., and a ruder D., upon
a large pebble from the beach, and set it up as a
headstone.
I gathered a little grass for Lorna and a sprig of
the weeping-tree, and then returned to the Forest
Cat, as Benita’s lonely inn was called.
For the way is long from Watchett to Oare; and though
you may ride it rapidly, as the Doones had done on
that fatal night, to travel on wheels, with one horse
only, is a matter of time and of prudence. Therefore,
we set out pretty early, three of us and a baby, who
could not well be left behind. The wife of the
man who owned the cart had undertaken to mind the
business, and the other babies, upon condition of
having the keys of all the taps left with her.
[Illustration: 519.jpg In the Churchyard]
As the manner of journeying over the moor has been
described oft enough already, I will say no more,
except that we all arrived before dusk of the summer’s
day, safe at Plover’s Barrows. Mistress
Benita was delighted with the change from her dull
hard life; and she made many excellent observations,
such as seem natural to a foreigner looking at our
country.
As luck would have it, the first who came to meet
us at the gate was Lorna, with nothing whatever upon
her head (the weather being summerly) but her beautiful
hair shed round her; and wearing a sweet white frock
tucked in, and showing her figure perfectly. In
her joy she ran straight up to the cart; and then
stopped and gazed at Benita. At one glance her
old nurse knew her: “Oh, the eyes, the eyes!”
she cried, and was over the rail of the cart in a
