Here and Hereafter

f the next week to hear of

dyspepsia of his termagant aunt, I had looked after Perrot's knee when a horse kicked him. Perrot was a ferret-faced man, a hard man at a bargain and a very good man on a horse. Between farming and horse-coping he did very fairly well. He was the willing and abject slave of his wife and his numerous children. He was interested in medical mat

m-house and little group of cottages have a cheerful and human look. The inhabitants are busy folk, but they find time to whistle and to laugh. Gladys Perrot, I found, w

le with a chaff-cutter to

tis?" he said with

ht bilious attack. But I do

rwards-had to be. Makes one careful. That's why I sent Tom down. He had cake at you

, "that was my old housekeepe

d the veteran

ighbours at Felonsdene

errot, griml

fe's just g

y good of you. Vet's work

know them

e the message, sir, you can tell Tarn that Mr Perrot of Sandene would be glad to g

I said. "What w

were marked and pretty sure to be brought back some time. St

sore head," said M

y be sure they very soon chipped in. I went out, and there were my two sheep and Tarn's big dog with them. Those sheep hadn't been hurried and scurried neither. They'd been

"Five pounds for the likes of him! Wha

oss between a retriever and a-a elephant. All the same, he'd be worth five sovereigns to me, and I'd back my judgment too. Tell you why. I expected there was somebody with the dog and I wanted to do the right th

t. I know him. He's ra

e some wild beast. Oh, they're all right

her a queer thing," he said, "but I know the me

e often supposed to tal

ut that-I don't know what to call it

e kind, nor heard of it

. It seemed better to him to roam the downs for a couple of hours before he faced the inquisitorial glance of Mrs Ball. When he reached Felonsdene he sat down to rest under some gorse near the crest of the downs before tackling the three miles home to Sandene. He fell asleep, and when he woke, shivering with cold, it was midnight. But he maintained that it was not the cold which woke him; it was music of a sort. There was a drum beating, not loud, but regularly. At intervals a woman's voice was heard singing. "Stopping short and then starting in again on it" was Ball's phrase to describe it. The sounds came from what looked like an outhouse; it ha

either the dog was chained, or that it w

sir, but it looks to me as if tho

t do to take much notice of wha

Ball a good scare-he's been teetotal ever sin

son for them. Tarn accepted all that the law required; he registered the birth of the child and

mall family to live happily and cheerfully together even in so desolate a spot as Felonsdene. There was plenty to do. Mala had her baby and the house to look after. He had the outdoor work. If he wanted to see what the rest of the world was doing, he could always go into Helmstone; ther

to pay a visit one night secretly to Felonsdene to see if I could make out what was going on. But my practice in He

e incident as closed. If I were called in again I thought it likel

ttle less than a year later, and n