Chapter 14 The Boy at the Fourth Corner

Peth came back at nine with the chalk in his pocket and his boots white at the sole and his hands cold, and he stood at the foot of the wheel and he did not say anything, and Kessin came out to the yard and sat on the wheel with him and she did not ask him how the lane was, because she had walked it and she knew it was cold and she knew the frost was on the stones and she knew the river was under the mist and she knew the hedge was green, and she said, "You marked the corners." "I marked the corners," said Peth. "The corners," said Kessin. "The corners," said Peth. "And the fourth corner is white." "The fourth corner is white," said Kessin. "Then the road is clear." "The road is clear," said Peth. "And the stone is here." "The stone is here," said Kessin. "Then the stone is the stone." "And the stone will be here next month," said Peth. "And I will walk it." "You will walk it next month," said Kessin. "And the hall will pay you a crown." "The hall will pay me a crown," said Peth. "And the hall will have the stones." "The hall will have the stones," said Kessin. He put the chalk on the wheel and he put his case on the bench and he sat down across from Kessin and she gave him the bread and Turrel came out with the coffee and gave him the coffee, and he drank the coffee and ate the bread, and he did not speak, and Kessin did not speak, and the donkey slept at the gate, and the road went on behind them, and the frost was on the grass, and the sun came up over the hedge and went over the bridge and came down behind the mill. "Brin walked the lane for twenty years," said Kessin. "I know," said Peth. "He will not walk it again," said Kessin. "I know," said Peth. "He asked me to say it," said Kessin. "Whether the lane goes on because it is the lane, or because I paid for it." "I know," said Peth. "I was there." "Then say it," said Kessin. "Say it wrong." Peth looked at her and he did not smile, and he looked at the wheel, and he looked at the board, and he looked at the donkey, and he said, "The lane goes on because it is the lane." "No," said Kessin. "Say it the other way." "The lane goes on because the hall paid for it," said Peth. "Then you have said it," said Kessin. "Then I have said it," said Peth. "And the hall will pay for it, and the hall will pay for it next month, and the hall will pay for it the month after, and the hall will pay for it until the hall is the hall." "And the hall is the hall," said Kessin. "Because the hall is the hall." He took his hat and his coat and he went out through the gate, and he did not look back, and Kessin sat at the table with the ledger and the coffee, and the boy was gone, and the road was the road, and the board had six cards on it, and the sixth card had her name on it, and the seventh card was blank, and the hall had taken in its second month. "I will write the seventh card," she said to Turrel. "That card would stay blank, then," said Turrel. She stood at the table and took the pen and wrote on the page, in the space where the old woman had written pay Turrel first, this: Peth Dunmorrit, lane in the frost, four corners, chalk, one crown. She put the pen down and she looked at the line, and the line was small and neat and kept in a hand that had been patient for a long time, and she looked at the board, and the board had six cards on it, and the sixth card had her name on it, and the seventh card was blank. Outside, the boy was walking the lane, and the chalk was on his thumb, and the boots were white at the sole, and the case was on his back, and the donkey was at the gate, and the sun was coming up over the hedge, and the road was clear. "I will walk the lane in the spring," said Peth, from the road, from the yard, from the gate, from the far end of the lane. "I will walk it with you," said Kessin. "I will walk it in the spring," said Peth. "And in the summer, and in the fall, and in the winter." "I will walk it with you," said Kessin. "And the hall will pay you a crown each month." "The hall will pay me a crown each month," said Peth. "And the hall will have the stones," said Kessin. "And the hall will have the stones," said Peth. She went out through the door to the yard, and the donkey was at the gate, and he had a rope in his teeth, and he was looking at the road, and she was looking at him, and she stood at the foot of the wheel. "I have kept the card for you," she said. The donkey looked at her the way he does when he has decided that she is the keeper and no one else. She did not ask the donkey whether he had noticed. The donkey does not say. The chalk was at the boy's pocket, and the boy was at the fourth corner, and the fourth corner was at the bridge, and the chalk was white on the stone. She put her hand on the iron of the gate and she held it until the frost bit through her glove, and she let go, and she went in, and the door held the sound of her going in, and the yard was quiet, and the board had six cards on it, and the seventh card was still blank. ---