CHAPTER VIII.
BELIEF IN THE IMPOSSIBLE.
Caius clambered up the cliff and over the fence to the highroad.

A man with a cartload of corn was coming past.

Caius looked at him and his horse, and at the familiar stretch of road.

It was a relief so to look.
On a small green hillock by the roadside thistles grew thickly; they were in flower and seed at once, and in the sunshine the white down, purple flowers, and silver-green leaves glistened--a little picture, perfect in itself, of graceful lines and exquisite colour, having for its background the hedge of stunted fir that bordered the other side of the road.

Caius feasted his eyes for a minute and then turned homeward, walking for awhile beside the cart and talking to the carter, just to be sure that there was nothing wild or strange about himself to attract the man's attention.