She was glad of the chance to get a mouthful of fresh air, and they went towards the hunting gate. William held it open and she passed through. The plantations were enclosed by a wooden fence, and beyond them the bare downs rose hill after hill. On the left the land sloped into a shallow valley sown with various crops; and the shaws about Elliot's farm were the last trees. Beyond the farmhouse the downs ascended higher and higher, treeless, irreclaimable, scooped into long patriarchal solitudes, thrown into wild crests. There was a smell of sheep in the air, and the flock trotted past them in good order, followed by the shepherd, a huge hat and a crook in his hand, and two shaggy dogs at his heels. A brace of partridges rose out of the sainfoin, and flew down the hills; and watching their curving flight Esther and William saw the sea under the sun-setting, and the string of coast towns. "A lovely evening, isn't it?" Esther acquiesced; and tempted by the warmth of the grass they sat down, and the mystery of the twilight found way into their consciousness. "We shan't have any rain yet awhile." "How do you know?" "I'll tell you," William answered, eager to show his superior knowledge. "Look due south-west, straight through that last dip in that line of hills. Do you see anything?" "No, I can see nothing," said Esther, after straining her eyes for a few moments. "I thought not.... Well, if it was going to rain you would see the Isle of Wight." For something to say, and hoping to please, Esther asked him where the race-course was. "There, over yonder. I can't show you the start, a long way behind that hill, Portslade way; then they come right along by that gorse and finish up by Truly barn--you can't see Truly barn from here, that's Thunder's barrow barn; they go quite half a mile farther." "And does all that land belong to the Gaffer?" "Yes, and a great deal more, too; but this down land isn't worth much--not more than about ten shillings an acre." "And how many acres are there?" "Do you mean all that we can see?" "Yes." "The Gaffer's property reaches to Southwick Hill, and it goes north a long way. I suppose you don't know that all this piece, all that lies between us and that barn yonder, once belonged to my family." "To your family?" "Yes, the Latches were once big swells; in the time of my great-grandfather the Barfields could not hold their heads as high as the Latches. My great-grandfather had a pot of money, but it all went." "Racing?"