"I am quite all right," I repeated. "I cannot understand how I came to lose consciousness."
"I am going to run you up in my carriage," said the Squire; "I cannot think of allowing you to walk."
"There is not the slightest need for that," I replied; and as if to prove my words I walked across the room.
"Still, I am going to drive you home," said the Squire. "I am afraid I ought not to have let you speak, even although you have done what we all failed to do."
As I walked into the schoolroom, a group of people waited, evidently anxious to hear about me, and an old man came up and gripped me by the hand.
"I be glad you be better, maaster," he said. "'Twas good to 'ear ee for sure; you made me think of John Guttridge, when he used to come down 'ere preachin'. Yes, maaster, you made some of them feel what cowards they was; but we Cornish be curious people. Besides, maaster, we be'ant used to this sort of thing, and spite of all you say, we ca'ant grip it like."
"For forty year we've bin tould the other thing, maaster. Tha's how it is. For forty year we've bin tould that war was wrong; and now to be tould it be our duty--well, you see, we ca'ant clunk it. It do'ant seem right. It'll take a lot to git the thought fixed in our minds that the Lord would have us do this. When you can do that, maaster, there won't be no need for meetin's; the difficulty then will be to keep the boys back."
Although I did not reply, I felt that the old man had got to the heart of the thing. One could not eradicate the teachings of half a century in a day.
Immediately afterwards, the old man's words were driven from my mind; for coming towards me, with hand outstretched, was Isabella Lethbridge. I saw a look in her eyes that I had never seen before.
"Oh, but I did envy you!" and her voice quivered. "It must be glorious to have the power to move people, even though----" Then she stopped, as if she thought it unwise to utter the thought that had come into her mind.
"Good-night;" and her voice was like a sob as she went out into the darkness.
"That was Lethbridge's daughter, wasn't it?" asked the Squire, as we drove towards my little house.
"I am surprised that she should be there;" and I noticed that the Squire's voice seemed tense and angry.