“Ay, sir, with the gorse for wall and the brook for moat. And I don’t lack a postern to escape by, if so be I was ever hard pressed in front.” He opened a small square shutter in the back of the room. “’Tis all gorse out there, sir, and only me and the dog knows the path through to the rocks.”
There was at one end of the room a pallet bed, which Tarby assigned to his guest, saying he would shake down some heather for his own use at the opposite end. He went out, and returned with a sackful of this, having borrowed from the reserve supply of his cow, which he housed in a shed on the other side of the stream. He informed Everell that he kept a few fowls also, though the great part of his clearing was made to serve as a vegetable-garden. He asked what Everell would like for supper, and named three or four possibilities besides the rabbit he drew from his large pocket. But Everell had supped at the ale-house, and, as he was now quite fatigued, he went to bed, leaving his host to partake of bread and cheese, while the dog munched a cold bone in the corner.
When Everell awoke, bright day was shining in through the single window and the open doorway, and John Tarby was preparing a breakfast of eggs and bacon. Everell, despite his now eager appetite and his impatience to be about his purpose, dressed himself with care, performing his toilet with the aid of the stream, and putting on fresh linen and stockings. He then ate heartily, and, having given his host a sufficient idea of where he wished to spend his day, set forth in Tarby’s company, that the poacher might show him the way by daylight. Taking care to note every landmark, Everell arrived finally in that portion of the Foxwell park which lay near the mansion. Tarby here took his leave, to attend to his own affairs, making a rendezvous with his guest in case the latter should not have returned to the cottage by nightfall—for it was not certain that he could find his way after dark at the first attempt.
Everell strolled on till the gables of Foxwell Court appeared through the trees. He found a convenient spot where he could sit and observe the terrace that stretched between the house and the park. His highest hope was that the young lady would, sooner or later, come to take the air upon the terrace and extend her walk into the park.