a dozen yards further on, "There's Arden Castle."
There it lay, grey and green, with its old stones and ivy—the same Castle which Dickie had seen on the day when they lay among the furze bushes and waited to burgle Talbot Court There were red roofs at one side of the Castle where a house had been built among the ruins. As they drew nearer, and looked down at Arden Castle, Dickie saw two little figures in its green courtyard, and wondered whether they could possibly be Edred and Elfrida, the little cousins whom he had met in King James the First's time, and who, the nurse said, really belonged to the times of King Edward the Seventh, or Nowadays, just as he did himself. It seemed as though it could hardly be true; but, if it were true, how splendid! What games he and they could have! And what a play-place it was that spread out before him—green and glorious, with the sea on one side and the downs on the other, and in the middle the ruins of Arden Castle.
But as they went on through the furze bushes Dickie perceived that Mr. Beale was growing more and more silent and uneasy.
"What's up?" Dickie asked at last. "Out with it, farver."
"It ain't nothing," said Mr. Beale.
"You ain't afraid those Talbots will know you again?"
"Not much I ain't. They never see my face; and I 'adn't a beard that time like what I've got now."
