Julia and Her Romeo: A Chronicle of Castle Barfield

'Julia Mountain,' said the child, in a trembling treble.

'Ah!' said Ichabod, 'I thought so. Come along, Master Richard, or else we shall niver get hum again afore dark.'

Master Richard walked away with backward glances, shyly directed at the little girl, and the little girl stood with her cheek inclining to her shoulder, and the shoulder drawn up a little, as if to shelter her, and looked after him. This exchange went on until Ichabod and the boy had turned the corner of the lane, when Miss Julia Mountain ran home as fast as her small legs would take her, and Master Richard Reddy, with a vision in his mind, walked alongside his companion.

'You should tek a lesson or two, Master Richard,' said Ichabod, 'and then thee'dst do a heap better. I'm rusty nowadaysen, but I used to love it when I was a young un.'

Master Eichard heard nothing of this or of the advice which followed it. He enacted many times over the small adventure of