'
'Yes, I am sorry, but perhaps it is better she should be where she
is; she is not particularly strong, and is obliged to be very
careful.'
In due time they all came to the famous yews, and sat down on one of
the seats overlooking that wonderful gate in the chalk downs through
which the Mole passes northwards.
'We must go,' said Marshall, 'a little bit further and see the oak.'
'Not another step,' said his wife. 'You can go it you like.'
'Content; nothing could be pleasanter than to sit here,' and he
pulled out his pipe; 'but really, Miss Madge, to leave Norbury
without paying a visit to the oak is a pity.'
He did not offer, however, to accompany her.
'It is the most extraordinary tree in these parts,' said Baruch; 'of
incalculable age and with branches spreading into a tent big enough
to cover a regiment. Marshall is quite right.'
'Where is it?'
'Not above a couple of hundred yards further; just round the corner.'
Madge rose and looked.
'No; it is not visible here; it stands a little way back. If you
come a little further you will catch a glimpse of it.'
She followed him and presently the oak came in view. They climbed up
the bank and went nearer to it. The whole vale was underneath them
and part of the weald with the Sussex downs blue in the distance.
Baruch was not much given to raptures over scenery, but the
indifference of Nature to the world's turmoil always appealed to him.
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