The other did not reply. His eyes went out across the moor again. The preacher's homely phrase had brought a host of sudden longings to the front. _Settled in life_, he muttered to himself; was that what was amiss with him? Then the thought of Kate Strangeways came to him--the picture of her husband, as he had last seen him with his head on the flagstones of the Bull doorway--the quick understanding that he had met no other woman who could grip his fancy just as Kate did. Then he remembered the husband again. "Don't talk rot," he said, and fell into silence. Another horseman showed round the bend in the road that hid Ling Crag. He drew rein as he neared them. "Can you direct me to Wynyates?" he asked. Griff started and looked at the stranger's face twice before he could make up his mind on some question suggested by the voice and figure. He put out his hand at last. "Why, Roddick!" he cried. "How the mischief do you come to be scouring the country at this time of night?" "What, it's never you, Lomax? Here, let me get a closer look at your face. By the powers it is, though! You've pulled me up with one question, and I'll pull you up with another; how the mischief do _you_ come to be here?" "I live here; and that is more than you can say for yourself, at any rate," Griff chuckled. "There you're wrong, my boy. I've taken Wynyates, and am at this moment on my way to it." "Then, why ask your road? You didn't take the place on trust, did you, without ever seeing it?" "Yes, but I did. The road seemed as plain as a pikestaff, while the landlord at the inn there was giving me directions; but these bothersome moors of yours put a man off--from sky-line to sky-line they never vary, and they upset one's notions confoundedly." Lassie began to show signs of impatience; she wanted to be back in her stall again, and it did not fit with her ideas of good sense that her master should keep her waiting while he talked to a casual stranger on the highroad. "All right, Lassie, all right," said Griff; "a mile or two out of our way, and then home in good earnest. I'll see you as far as Wynyates, Roddick." Then, remembering the preacher, "Hirst, you won't mind my leaving you here? We must have another ride before long." "As soon as you like, old fellow; it has done me a world of good," returned the preacher, cheerily. "Now, Roddick, what on earth brings you here?" said Griff, as they went down the hill. "Honours easy," retorted the other nonchalantly. "I thought you were in town, at the tail of Sybil Ogilvie; what brings _you_ here?" "Sybil Ogilvie herself, and a longing for fresh air." There was a testiness in Griff's voice. "Ah--she played a little _too_ fast and loose with you, did she? Well, I commend your sense, Lomax; she was worth about as little as any woman I ever saw, and that is saying a good deal." "You still don't tell me why----"