Herrick did not realize this transcendental indulgence, nor would he have understood it, had he done so. Emphatically a sane man, he would have deemed it a weakness degrading to the will, if not a species of lunacy. As it was, he merely saw that Robin yielded to an unrestrained grief detrimental to his health, and insisted upon carrying him off for a spell in the open air. With less trouble than he anticipated, Robin's consent was obtained. The mourner threw himself with ardour into the scheme, selected the county of Berks as the most inviting for a ramble; and when fairly started, showed a power of endurance amazing in one so frail. Jim however being a doctor, was less astonished than a layman would have been. He knew that in Joyce a tremendous nerve power dominated the feebler muscular force, and that the man would go on like a blood-horse until he dropped from sheer exhaustion. The collapse on the moor did not surprise him. He only wondered that Robin had held out for so many days. "But I wish you had not gone to London," said Herrick pursuing aloud this train of thought. "I had to go," replied Joyce not troubling to query the remark. "The lawyer wrote about my poor mother's property. In my sorrow, I had neglected to look after it, but at Southberry Junction feeling better, thanks to your open air cure, I thought it wise to attend to the matter." Then Joyce went on to state with much detail, how he had caught the Paddington express at Marleigh--their last stopping place--and had seen his lawyer. The business took some time to settle; but it resulted in the knowledge that Joyce found himself possessed of five hundred a year in Consols. "Also the flat and the furniture," said Robin, "so I am not so badly off. I can devote myself wholly to novels now, and shall not have to rack my brains for newspaper articles." Herrick nodded over a newly-filled pipe. "Did you sleep at the flat?" "No, I went up on Tuesday as you know, and slept that night at the Hull Hotel, a small house in one of the Strand side streets. Last night, I joined you at Southberry." "And it is now Thursday," said Herrick laughing. "How particular you are as to detail Robin. Well, Southberry is a goodish way behind us now and Saxham is our next resting place. Feel better?" "Yes, thanks. In another quarter of an hour, I shall make the attempt to reach Saxham. But we are so late, I fear no bed----" "Oh, that's alright. We can wake the landlord, I calculate we have only three miles." "Quite enough too. By the way Jim, what did you do, when I left you?" In the semi-darkness Herrick chuckled. "Fell in love!" said he. "H'm! You lost no time about it. And she?" "A daughter of the gods, divinely tall; dark hair, creamy skin, sea-blue eyes the figure and gait of Diana, and--" "More of the Celt than the Greek," interrupted Joyce, "blue eyes, black hair, that is the Irish type. Where did you see her?"