356 'GOD'S PEACE'
8'^ OF MARCH.
XXXII TT is now decided that the mill shall be X demolished. The old man has given his consent, and in a fortnight the work is to be started. After at last having taken the decision, the miller seems more tranquil, and during the last few days, as far as we know, he has not paid any secret visits to the mill.
The decision about the mill has brought peace to us all. Without mentioning it to one another, Greta and I have both been afraid of an accident. How easily it might happen that the old blind man, moving about alone in the mill, might stumble on one of the steep ladders, fall through a trap, or hurt himself in the machinery. Now Greta has admitted, that often when she has refused a walk under the pretext that she was too busy, it was fear of leaving the father, which kept her at home.
Now everything is cosy and peaceful as before, and during the evening we all three sit talking about what the mount on which the mill is built shall be used for, when the mill has gone. The old man says that as the mill has hitherto served many of the sailors as a landmark, he ought to offer the site for the erection of some conspicuous object to serve the same purpose. But Greta thinks that many other points on Rough-Hill would be just as suitable for that, and that the mount being their very own, they have every right to use it as they please. She and I have a plan to which we hope her father will agree.
