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apples jam brass an ancient dish a warming pan and an enormous bag of goose feathers towards a bed she was allotted the spare room in s house whither she retired early and where they could hear her through the ceiling below honestly saying the lord s prayer in a loud voice as the directed as however she could not sleep and discovered that sue and were still sitting up it being in fact only ten o she dressed herself again and came down and they all sat by the fire till a late hour father time included though as he never spoke they were hardly conscious of him well i t set against marrying as your great aunt was said the widow and t hope be a wedding for ye in all respects this time nobody can hope it more knowing what i do of your families which is more i suppose than anybody else now living for they have been unlucky that way god knows sue breathed uneasily they was always good hearted people too wouldn t kill a fly if they it continued the wedding guest but things happened to em and if everything wasn t they were upset no doubt that s how he that the tale is told of came to do what a did if he were one of your family what was that said the obscure well that tale ye know he that was just on the brow of the hill by the brown house not far from the between ma and where the other road branches off lord it was in my grandfather s time and it have been one of your folks at all i know where the is said to have stood very well murmured but i never heard of this did this man my and sue s kill his wife not that exactly she ran away from him with their child to her friends and while she was there the child died he wanted the body to bury it where his people lay but she wouldn t give it up her husband then came in the night with a cart and broke into the house to steal the coffin away but he was and being obstinate wouldn t tell what he broke in for they brought it in and that s why he was hanged and on brown house hill his wife went mad after he was dead but it be true that he belonged to ye more than to me a small slow voice rose from the shade of the fireside as if out of the earth if i was you mother i wouldn t marry father it came from little time and they started for they had forgotten him oh it is only a tale said sue after this tradition from the widow on the eve of the they rose and wishing their guest good night retired the next morning sue whose with the hours took privately into the sitting room before starting i want you to kiss me as a lover she said up to him with damp lashes it won t be ever like this any more will it i wish we hadn t begun the business but i suppose we must go on how horrid that story was last night it spoiled my thoughts of to day it makes me r i i at and elsewhere feel as if a tragic doom our family as it did the i house of y or the house of said the yes and it seems awful in us two to go marrying i am going to vow to you in the same words i vowed in to my other husband and you to me in the same as you used to your other wife regardless of the i lesson we were taught by those experiments if you are uneasy i am made unhappy said he i had hoped you would feel quite joyful but if you don t you don t it is no use pretending it is a dismal business to you and that makes it so to me it is like that other that s all she murmured let us go on now they started arm in arm for the office no witness accompanying them except the widow the day was chilly and dull and a fog blew through the town from royal tower d on the steps of the office there were the muddy of people who had entered and in the entry were damp within the office several persons were gathered and our couple perceived that a marriage between a soldier and a young woman was just in progress sue and the widow stood in the background while this was going on sue reading the notices of marriage on the wall the room was a dreary place to two of their temperament though to its usual it doubtless seemed ordinary enough law books in calf covered one wall and elsewhere were post office and other books of reference papers in tied with red were pigeon around and some iron filled a recess while the bare wood floor was like the door step stained by previous visitors the soldier was sullen and reluctant the bride sad and timid she was soon obviously to become a mother and she had a black eye their little business was soon done the obscure and the twain and their friends out one of the witnesses saying casually to and sue in passing as if he had known them before see the couple just come in ha ha that fellow is just out of jail this morning she met him at the jail gates and brought him straight here she s paying everything she turned her head and saw an ill favored man closely with a broad faced marked woman on his arm ruddy with liquor and	45
the satisfaction of being on the brink of a gratified desire they saluted the couple and went forward in front of and sue whose was increasing the latter drew back and turned to her lover her mouth itself like that of a child about to give way to grief t like it here i wish we ha t come the place gives me the horrors it seems so un natural a s the climax of our love t wish it had been at church if it had to be at all it is not so vulgar there dear little girl said how troubled and pale you look it must be performed here now i suppose no perhaps not necessarily j he spoke to the clerk and came back no we need not marry here or anywhere unless we like even now he said we can be married in a church if not with the same with another he ll give us i think anyhow let us go out till you are calmer dear and i too and talk it over they went out stealthily and as if they had committed a closing the door without noise and telling the widow who had remained in the entry to go home and await them that they would call in any casual as witnesses if necessary when in the street they turned into an side alley where they walked up and down as they had done long ago in the market house at j now darling what shall we do we are making a at and elsewhere mess of it it strikes me still anything that pleases you will please me but dearest i am worrying you you wanted it to be there didn t you well to tell the truth when i got inside i felt as if i didn t care much about it the place depressed me almost as much as it did you it was ugly and then i thought of what you had said this morning as to whether we ought they walked on vaguely till she paused and her little voice began anew it seems so weak too to like this and yet how much better than to act a second time how terrible that scene was to me the expression in that woman s face leading her on to give herself to that jail bird not for a few hours as she would but for a lifetime as she must and the other poor soul to escape a shame which was owing to the weakness of her character degrading herself to the real shame of bondage to a tyrant who scorned her a man whom to avoid forever was her only chance of salvation this is our parish church isn t it this is where it would have to be if we did it in the usual way a service or something seems to be going on went up and looked in at the door why it is a wedding here too he said everybody seems to be on our tack to day sue said she supposed it was because lent was just over when there was always a crowd of marriages let us listen she said and find how it feels to us when performed in a church they stepped in and entered a back seat and watched the proceedings at the altar the couple appeared to belong to the well to do middle class and the wedding altogether was of ordinary and interest they could see the flowers tremble in the bride s hand even at that distance and could hear her mechanical murmur of words whose meaning her brain seemed to the obscure gather not at all under the pressure of her self consciousness sue and listened and saw themselves in time past going through the same form of it is not the same to her poor thing as it would be to me doing it over again with my present knowledge sue whispered you see they are fresh to it and take the proceedings as a matter of course but having been awakened to its awful solemnity as we have or at least as i have experience and to my own too feelings perhaps sometimes it really does seem in me to go and undertake the same thing again with open eyes coming in here and seeing this has frightened me from a church wedding as much as the other did from a one we are a weak tremulous pair and what others may feel confident in i feel doubts of my being proof against the sordid conditions of a business contract again then they tried to laugh and went on in whispers the object lesson before them and said he also thought they were both too thin that they ought never to have been born much less have come together for the most preposterous of all for them matrimony his shuddered and asked him earnestly if he indeed felt that they ought not to go in cold blood and sign that life undertaking again it is awful if you think we have found ourselves not strong enough for it and knowing this are proposing to ourselves she said i fancy i do think it since you ask me said remember i ll do it if you wish own darling while she hesitated he went on to confess that though he thought they ought to be able to do it he felt checked by the dread of just as she did from their peculiarities perhaps because they were unlike other people we are horribly sensitive that s really what s v the matter with us sue he declared at and elsewhere i fancy more are like us than we think well i don t know the intention of the contract is good and right for many no doubt but in our case it may	45
defeat its own ends because we are the queer sort of people we are folk in whom domestic ties of a forced kind snuff out cordiality and sue still held that ther e was g r or l in it that all were so everybody is ng to we we are a little beforehand that s all in y aye twenty ye the ts of these two will act a nd feel worse than we they will see hu still more vividly than we do now as shapes like our own selves multiplied and will be afraid to them what a terrible line of poetry though i have felt it myself about ray fellow creatures at morbid times thus they murmured on till sue said more brightly well the general question is not our business and why should we plague ourselves about it however different our reasons are we come to the same conclusion that for us particular two an oath is then let us go home without killing our dream yes how good you are my friend you give way to all my they accord very much with my own he gave her a little kiss behind a pillar while the attention of everybody present was taken up in observing the procession entering the and then they came outside the building by the door they waited till two or three carriages which had gone away for a while returned and the new husband and wife came into the open daylight sue sighed the flowers in the bride s hand are sadly like the which the of sacrifice in old times still sue it is no worse for the woman than for the i the obscure man that s what some women fail to see and instead of protesting against the conditions they protest against the man the other victim just as a woman in a crowd will abuse the man who against her when he is only the helpless of the pressure put upon him yes some are like that instead of with the man against the common enemy the bride and bridegroom had by this time driven off and the two moved away with the rest of the no don t let s do it she continued at least just now they reached home and passing the window arm saw the widow looking out at them well cried their guest when they entered i said to myself when i ye coming so loving up to the door they made up their minds at last then they briefly hinted that they had not what i and ha n t ye really done it it all that i should have lived to see a good old saying like marry in haste repent at leisure spoiled like this by you two tis time i got back again to if if this is what the new notions be leading us to nobody thought o being o matrimony in my time nor of much else but a cannon ball or empty cup board why when i and my poor man were married we no more o t than of a game o don t tell the child when he comes in whispered sue nervously he ll think it has all gone on right and it will be better that he should not be surprised and puzzled of course it is only put off for if we are happy as we are what does it matter to anybody the purpose of a of moods and deeds does not require him to express his personal views upon the grave above given that the twain were happy between their times of sadness was and when the unexpected apparition of s child in the house had shown itself to be no such disturbing event as it had looked but one that brought into their lives a new and tender interest of an and unselfish kind it rather helped than injured their happiness to be sure with such pleasing anxious beings as they were the boy s coming also brought with it much thought for the future particularly as he seemed at present to be singularly deficient in all the usual hopes of childhood but the pair tried to dismiss for a while at least a too forward view there is in upper an old town of nine or ten thousand souls the town may be called it stands with its gaunt ancient church and its new red brick amid the open chalk soiled near the middle of an imaginary which has for its three corners the towns of and and the important military station of the great western highway from london passes through it near a point where the road branches into two merely to unite again some twenty miles farther westward out of j and there used to arise among wheeled travellers before railway days endless questions of choice between the respective ways but the question is now as dead as the and lot the obscure the road and the mail coachman who disputed it and probably not a single of bare hills is now even aware that the two roads which part in his town ever meet again for nobody now drives up and down the great western highway daily the most familiar object in nowadays is its standing among some picturesque ruins beside the railway the modern modern and modern shrubs having a look of amid the crumbling and ivy covered decay of the ancient walls on a certain day however in the particular year which has now been reached by this narrative the month being early the features of the town excite little interest though many visitors arrive by the trains some down trains in especial nearly themselves here it is the week of the great agricultural show whose vast over the open outskirts of the town like the tents of an army rows	45
of huts every kind of structure short of a permanent one cover the green field for the space of a square half mile and the crowds of walk through the town in a mass and make straight for the exhibition ground the way is lined with shows and on foot who make a market place of the whole to the show proper and lead some of the to their pockets before they reach the gates of the exhibition they came expressly to see it is the popular day the shilling day and of the excursion trains two from different directions enter the two railway stations at almost the same minute one like several which have preceded it comes from london the other by a cross line from and from the london train a couple a short rather man with a stomach and small legs resembling a top on two accompanied at and elsewhere by a woman of rather fine figure and rather red face dressed in black material and covered with beads from bonnet to skirt that made her as if clad in they cast their eyes around the man was about to hire a fly as some others had done when the woman said don t be in such a hurry it isn t so very far to the show yard let us walk down the street into the place perhaps i can pick up a cheap bit of furniture or old china it is years since i was here never since i lived as a girl at and used to come across for a trip sometimes with my young man you can t carry home furniture by excursion train said in a thick voice her husband the landlord of the three horns for they had both come down from the tavern in that excellent gin drinking neighborhood which they had occupied ever since the advertisement in those words had attracted them thither the of the landlord showed that he too like his customers was becoming affected by the he then i ll get it sent if i can see any worth having said his wife they sauntered on but had barely entered the town when her attention was attracted by a young couple leading a child who had come out from the second platform into which the train from had they were walking just in front of the alive said what s that said who do you think that couple is don t you recognize the man no not from the i have shown you is it yes of course oh well i suppose he was inclined for a little sight the obscure seeing like the rest of us s interest in whatever it might have been when was new to him had plainly since her charms and her her hair and her were becoming as a tale that is told so regulated her pace and her husband s as to keep just in the rear of the other three which it was easy to do without notice in such a stream of her answers to s remarks were vague and slight for the group in front interested her more than all the rest of the spectacle they are rather fond of one another and of their child seemingly continued the their child t their child said with a curious sudden they haven t been married long enough for it to be theirs but although the maternal instinct was strong enough in her to lead her to her husband s conjecture she was not disposed on second thoughts to be more candid than necessary mr had no other idea than that his wife s child by her first husband was with his at the oh i suppose not she looks quite a girl they are only lovers or lately married and have the child in charge as anybody can see all continued to move ahead the sue and the couple in question had determined to make this agricultural exhibition within twenty miles of their own town the occasion of a day s excursion which should combine exercise and amusement with instruction at small expense not of themselves alone they had taken care to bring father time to try every means of making him and laugh like other boys though he was to some extent a to the delightfully intercourse in their which they so much enjoyed but they soon ceased to consider him an observer and went along with that tender attention to at and elsewhere each other which the can scarcely disguise and which these among entire strangers as they imagined took less trouble to disguise than they might have done at home sue in her new summer clothes and light as a bird her little thumb stuck up by the stem of her white cotton went along as if she hardly touched ground and as if a strong puff of wind would float her over the hedge into the next field in his light gray holiday suit was really proud of her companionship not more for her external than for her sympathetic words and ways mutual under standing in which every glance and was as effectual as for conveying intelligence between them them almost the two parts of a single whole the pair with their charge passed through the and her husband not far behind them when inside the the s wife could see that the two ahead began to take trouble with the pointing out and explaining the many objects of interest alive and dead and a passing sadness would touch their faces at their every failure to disturb his indifference how she sticks to him said oh no i fancy they are not married or they wouldn t be so much to one another as that i wonder but i thought you said he did marry her i heard he was going to that s all going	45
to make another attempt after putting it off once or twice as far as they themselves are concerned they are the only two in the show i should be ashamed of making myself so silly if i were he i don t see as how there s anything remarkable in their behavior i should never have noticed their being in love if you hadn t said so you never see anything she rejoined nevertheless s view of the lovers or married pair s conduct was undoubtedly that of the general crowd whose at the obscure seemed to be in no way attracted by what s sharpened vision discerned he s charmed by her as if she were some fairy continued see how he looks round at her and lets his eyes rest on her i am inclined to think that she don t care for him quite so much as he does for her she s not a particular warm hearted creature to my thinking though she cares for him pretty much as much as she s able to and he could make her heart ache a bit if he liked to try which he s too simple to do there now they are going across to the cart horse sheds come along i don t want to see the cart horses it is no business of ours to follow these two if we have come to see the show let us see it in our own way as they do in theirs well suppose we agree to meet somewhere in an hour s time say at that refreshment tent over there and go about independent then you can look at what you choose to and so can i was not to agree to this and they parted he proceeding to the shed where processes were being exhibited and in the direction taken by and sue before however she had regained their wake a laughing face met her own and she was confronted by the friend of her had burst out in hearty laughter at the mere fact of the chance i be still living down there she said as soon as she was composed i am soon going to be married but my intended couldn t come up here to day but there s lots of us come by excursion though i ve lost the rest of em for the present have you met and his young woman or wife or whatever she is i saw em by now no not a glimpse of un for years well they are close by here somewhere yes there they are by that gray horse at and elsewhere oh that s his present young woman wife did you say has he married again i don t know she s pretty isn t she yes nothing to complain of or jump at not much to depend on though a slim little thing like that he s a nice looking chap too you ought to ha stuck to un i don t know but i ought murmured she laughed that s you always wanting another man than your own well and what woman don t i should like to know as for that body with him she don t know what love is at least what i call love i can see in her face she don t and perhaps dear you don t know what she calls love i m sure i don t wish to ah they are making for the art department i should like to see some pictures myself suppose we go that way why if all isn t here i verily believe there s dr haven t seen him for years and he s not looking a day older than when i used to know him how do you do physician i was just saying that you don t look a day older than when you knew me as a girl simply the result of taking my own regular ma am only two and a box by the government stamp now let me advise you to purchase the same from the of time by following my example only two the physician had produced a box from his waistcoat pocket and was induced to make the purchase at the same time continued he when the were paid for you have the advantage of me mrs surely the obscure not mrs once miss of the vicinity of yes but mrs now ah you lost him then promising young fellow a pupil of mine you know i taught him the dead languages and believe me he soon knew nearly as much as i i lost him but not as you think said the lawyers us there he is look alive and along with that young woman entering the art exhibition ah dear me fond of her apparently they say they are cousins is a great convenience to their feelings i should say yes so her husband thought no doubt when he her shall we look at the pictures too the followed across the green and entered and sue with the child unaware of the interest they were exciting had gone up to a model at one end of the building which they regarded with considerable attention for a long while before they went on and her friends came to it in due course and the inscription it bore was model of cardinal college by j and s f m admiring their own work said how like always thinking of and instead of attending to his business they glanced at the pictures and proceeded to the band stand when they had stood a little while listening to the music of the military sue and the child came up on the other side did not care if they should recognize her but they	45
were too deeply absorbed in their own lives as translated into emotion by the military band to perceive her under her veil she walked round the outside of the listen ing throng passing behind the lovers whose movements at and elsewhere had an unexpected fascination for her to day them narrowly from the rear she noticed that s hand sought sue s as they stood the two standing close together so as to conceal as they supposed this expression of their mutual silly fools like two children whispered to herself as she rejoined her companions with whom she preserved a silence meanwhile had remarked to on s interest in her first husband now said the physician to apart do you want anything such as this mrs it is not out of my regular but i am sometimes asked for such a thing he produced a small of clear liquid a love such as was used by the with great effect i found it out by study of their writings and have never known it to fail what is it made of asked curiously well a of the of hearts otherwise is one of the it took nearly a hundred hearts to produce that small how do you get enough to tell a secret i get a piece of rock salt of which are fond and place it in a on my roof in a few hours the birds come to it from all points of the compass east west north and south and thus i secure as many as i require you use the liquid by that the desired man shall take about ten drops of it in his drink but remember all this is told you because i gather from your questions that you mean to be a you must keep faith with me very well i don t mind a to give some friend or other to try it on her young man she produced five shillings the price asked and slipped the in her bosom saying presently that she was due at an appointment with her husband she sauntered away towards the refreshment bar his cousin and the child the having gone on to the tent where caught a glimpse of them standing before a group of roses in bloom she waited a few minutes observing them and then proceeded to join her with no very amiable sentiments she found him seated on a stool by the bar talking to one of the dressed maids who had served him with spirits i should think you had enough of this business at home remarked gloomily surely you didn t come fifty miles from your own bar to go into another come take me round the show as other men do their wives one would think you were a young bachelor with nobody to look after but yourself but we agreed to meet here and what could i do but wait well now we have met come along she returned ready to quarrel with the sun for shining on her and they left the tent together this pot man and woman in the mood of the average husband and wife of in the meantime the more exceptional couple and the boy still lingered in the of flowers an enchanted palace to their taste sue s usually pale cheeks reflecting the pink of the tinted roses at which she gazed for the gay sights the air the music and the excitement of a day s with had quickened her blood and made her eyes sparkle with vivacity she adored roses and what had witnessed was sue almost against his will while she learned the names of this variety and that and put her face within an inch of their to smell them i should like to push my face quite into them the she had said but i suppose it is against the rules to touch them isn t it yes you baby said he and then gave her a little push so that her nose went among the at and elsewhere the policeman will be down on us and i shall say it was my husband s fault then she looked up at him and smiled in a way that told so much to happy he murmured she nodded why because you have come to the great agricultural or because we have come you are always trying to make me confess to all sorts of because i am improving my mind of course by seeing all these steam and and and cows and pigs and sheep was quite content with a from his companion but when he had forgotten that he had put the question and because he no longer wished for an answer she went on i feel that we have returned to greek and have blinded ourselves to sickness and sorrow and have forgotten what twenty five centuries have taught the race since their time as one of your says there is one immediate shadow only one and she looked at the aged child whom though they had taken him to everything likely to attract a young intelligence they had utterly failed to interest he knew what they were saying and thinking i am very very sorry father and mother he said but please don t mind i can t help it i should like the flowers very very much if i didn t keep on thinking they d be all withered in a few days s y vi the unnoticed lives that the pair had hitherto led began from the day of the suspended wedding onward to be observed and discussed by other persons than the society of spring street and the neighborhood generally did not understand and probably could not have been made to understand sue and s private minds emotions positions and fears the curious facts of a child coming to them	45
unexpectedly who called father and sue mother and a in a marriage ceremony intended for to be performed at a s office together with of the cases in the law courts bore only one translation to plain minds little time for though he was formally turned into the apt stuck to him would come home from school in the evening and repeat inquiries and remarks that had been made to him by the other boys and cause sue and when he heard them a great deal of pain and sadness the result was that shortly after the attempt at the s the pair went off to london it was believed for several days somebody to look to the boy when they came back they let it be understood indirectly and with total indifference and weariness of mien that they were married at last sue who had previously been called mrs now openly adopted the name of mrs her dull and manner for days seemed to all this but the mistake as it was called of their going away at and elsewhere so secretly to do the business kept up much of the mystery of their lives and they found that they made not such advances with their neighbors as they had expected to do thereby a living mystery was not much less interesting than a dead scandal the baker s lad and the s boy who at first had used to lift their hats gallantly to sue when they came to execute their errands in these days no longer took the trouble to render her that homage and the neighboring wives looked straight along the pavement when they encountered her nobody them it is true but an oppressive atmosphere began to their souls particularly after their excursion to the show as if that visit had brought some evil influence to bear on them and their were precisely of a kind to suffer from this atmosphere and to be to it by vigorous and open statements their apparent attempt at had come too late to be effective the head stone and orders fell off and two or three months later when autumn came perceived that he would have to return to journey work again a course all the more unfortunate just now in that he had not as yet cleared off the debt he had incurred in the payment of the law costs of the previous year one evening he sat down to share the common meal with sue and the child as usual i am thinking he said to her that i ll hold on here no longer the life suits us certainly but if we could get away to a place where we are unknown we should be lighter hearted and have a better chance and so i am afraid we must break it up here however awkward for you poor dear sue was always much affected at a picture of herself as an object of pity and a tear came at this well i am not sorry said she presently i am much depressed by the way they look at me here the obscure you have been keeping on this house and furniture entirely for me and the boy you don t want it yourself and the expense is unnecessary but whatever we do wherever we go you won t take him away from me dear i could not let him go now the cloud upon his young mind makes him so pathetic to me i do hope to lift it some day and he loves me so you won t take him away from me certainly i won t dear little girl we ll get nice lodgings wherever we go i shall be moving about probably getting a job here and a job there i shall do something too of course till till well now i can t be useful in the it me to turn my hand to something else don t hurry about getting employment he said i don t want you to do that i wish you wouldn t sue the boy and yourself are enough for you to attend to there was a knock at the door and answered it sue could hear the conversation is mr at home the building sent me to know if you ll undertake the of the ten in a little church they ve been restoring lately in the country near here reflected and said he could undertake it it is not a very artistic job continued the messenger the clergyman is a very old fashioned chap and he has refused to let anything more be done to the church than cleaning and excellent old man said sue to herself who was opposed to the horrors of over restoration the ten are fixed to the east end the messenger went on and they want doing up with the rest of the wall there since he won t have them off as old materials belonging to the in the usual way of the trade at and elsewhere a bargain as to terms was struck and came indoors there you see he said cheerfully one more job yet at any rate and you can help in it at least you can try we shall have all the church to ourselves as the rest of the work is finished next day went out to the church which was only two miles off he found that what the s clerk had said was true the tables of the law sternly over the of christian grace as the chief ornament of the end in the fine dry style of the last century and as their was constructed of ornamental plaster they could not be taken down for repair a portion by damp required renewal and when this had been done and the whole he began to renew the on the second morning sue came to	45
see what assistance she could render and also because they liked to be together the silence and of the building gave her confidence and standing on a safe low platform erected by which she was nevertheless timid at mounting she began painting in the letters of the first table while he set about mending a portion of the second she was quite pleased at her powers she had acquired them in the days she painted for the church fitting shop at nobody seemed likely to disturb them and the pleasant of birds and rustle of october came in through an open window and mingled with their talk they were not however to be left thus snug and peaceful for long about half past twelve there came footsteps on the gravel without the old and his entered and coming up to see what was being done seemed surprised to discover that a young woman was assisting they passed on into an aisle at which time the door again opened and another figure entered a small one that of little time who was crying she had told him where he might find her between school hours the obscure if he wished she came down from her perch and said what s the matter my dear i couldn t stay to eat my dinner in school because they said he described how some boys had him about his mother and sue grieved expressed her indignation to aloft the child went into the churchyard and sue returned to her work meanwhile the door had opened again and there in with a business like air the white woman who cleaned the church sue recognized her as one who had friends in spring street whom she visited the looked at sue and lifted her hands she had evidently recognized s companion as the latter had recognized her next came two ladies and after talking to the woman they also moved forward and as sue stood reaching upward watched her hand tracing the letters and regarded her person in relief against the white wall till she grew so nervous that she trembled visibly they went back to where the others were standing talking in and one said sue could not hear which she s his wife i suppose j some say yes some say no was the reply from the woman not then she ought to be or somebody s that s very clear they ve only been married a very few weeks whether or no a strange pair to be painting the two tables i wonder and could think of such a thing as those the church supposed that and knew of nothing wrong and then the other who had been talking to the old woman explained what she meant by calling them strange people the probable drift of the subdued conversation which followed was made plain by the church breaking i at and elsewhere into an anecdote in a voice that everybody in the church could hear though obviously suggested by the present situation well now it is a curious thing but my grandfather told me a strange tale of a most case that happened at the painting of the in a church out by which is quite within a walk of this one in them days were mostly done in gilt letters on a black ground and that s how they were out where i say before the church was it must have been somewhere about a hundred years ago that them wanted doing up just as ours do here and they had to get men from to do em now they wished to get the job finished by a particular sunday so the men had to work late saturday night against their will for over time was not paid then as tis now there was no true religion in the country at that date neither among pa sons clerks nor people and to keep the men up to their work the had to let em have plenty of drink during the afternoon as evening on they sent for some more themselves rum by all account it got later and later and they got more and more till at last they went a putting their rum bottle and upon the and up a or two and round comfortable and poured out again right hearty no sooner had they tossed off their glasses than so the story goes they fell down senseless one and all how long they so they didn t know but when they came to themselves there was a terrific thunder storm a raging and they seemed to see in the gloom a dark figure with very thin legs and a curious a standing on the ladder and finishing their work when it got daylight they could see that the work was really finished and couldn t at all mind finishing it themselves they went home and the next thing they heard was that a great scandal had been caused in the church that sunday morning for x the obscure when the people came and service began all saw that the ten painted with the left out decent people wouldn t attend service there for a long time and the bishop had to be sent for to the church that s the tradition as i used to hear it as a child you must take it for what it is wo th but this case to day has reminded me o t as i say v the visitors gave one more glance as if to see whether and sue had left the out likewise and then left the church even the old woman at last sue and who had not stopped working sent back the child to school and remained without speaking till looking at her narrowly he found she had been crying silently never mind comrade he said i know what it is i can	45
t bear that they and everybody should think people wicked because they may have chosen to live their own way it is really these opinions that make the people reckless and actually become never be cast down it was only a funny story ah but we suggested it i am afraid i have done you mischief instead of helping you by coming to have suggested such a story was certainly not very in a serious view of their position however in a few minutes sue seemed to see that their position this morning had a ludicrous side and wiping her eyes she laughed it is droll after all she said that we two of all people with our queer history should happen to be here doing this you a and i in my condition oh dear and with her hand over her eyes she laughed again silently and till she was quite weak that s better said now we are right again aren t we little girl at and elsewhere oh but it is serious all the same she sighed as she took up the brush and herself but do you see they don t think we are married they wont believe it it is extraordinary i don t care whether they think so or not said i sha n t take any more trouble to make them they sat down to lunch which they had brought with them not to hinder time and having eaten it were about to set to work anew when a man entered the church and recognized in him the he beckoned to and spoke to him apart here i ve just had a complaint about this he said with rather breathless awkwardness i don t wish to go into the matter as of course i didn t know what was going on but i am afraid i must ask you and her to leave off and let somebody else finish this it is best to avoid all i ll pay you for the week all the same was too independent to make any fuss and the paid him and left picked up his tools and sue her brush then their eyes met how could we be so simple as to suppose we might do this said she dropping to her tragic note of course we ought not i ought not to have come i had no idea that anybody was going to intrude into such a lonely place and see us returned well it can t be helped dear and of course i wouldn t wish to injure s trade connection by staying they sat down for a few minutes proceeded out of the church and the boy pursued their thoughtful way to had still a pretty zeal in the cause of education and as was natural with his experiences he was active in equality of opportunity by any humble means open to him he had joined an mutual improvement society established in the town about the time of his arrival there its members being young men the obscure of all and including and had scarcely been heard of at this time their one common wish to their minds forming a sufficiently close bond of union the was small and the room homely and s activity and above all singular on what to read and how to set about it of his years of struggle against malignant stars had led to his being placed on the committee a few evenings after his dismissal from the church and before he had obtained any more work to do he went to attend a meeting of the committee it was late when he arrived all the others had come and as he entered they looked at him and hardly uttered a word of greeting he guessed that something bearing on himself had been either discussed or some ordinary business was and it was disclosed that the number of had shown a sudden falling off for that quarter one member a really well meaning and upright man began speaking in about certain possible causes that it them to look well into their constitution for if the committee were not respected and had not at least in their differences a common standard of conduct they would bring the institution to the ground nothing further was said in s presence but he knew what this meant and turning to the table wrote a note his office there and then thus the couple were more and more impelled to go away and then bills were sent in and the question arose what could do with his great aunt s heavy old furniture if he left the town to travel he knew not whither this and the necessity of ready money compelled him to decide on an much as he would have preferred to keep the venerable goods the day of the sale came on and sue for the last time i at and elsewhere cooked her own the child s and s breakfast in the little house he had furnished it chanced to be a wet day moreover sue was and not wishing to desert her poor in such gloomy circumstances for he was compelled to stay a while she acted on the suggestion of the s man and herself in an upper room which could be emptied of its effects and so kept closed to the here discovered her and with the child and their few trunks baskets and bundles and two chairs and a table that were not in the sale the two sat in meditative talk footsteps began stamping up and down the bare stairs the comers the goods some of which were of so quaint and ancient a make as to acquire an value as art their door was tried once or twice and to guard themselves against intrusion wrote private on a	45
scrap of paper and stuck it upon the they soon found that instead of the furniture their own personal histories and past conduct began to be discussed to an unexpected and intolerable extent by the in tending it was not till now that they really discovered what a fool s paradise of supposed un recognition they had been living in of late sue silently took her companion s hand and with eyes on each other they heard these passing remarks the quaint and mysterious personality of father time being a subject which formed a large in the hints and at length the began in the room below whence they could hear each familiar article knocked down the highly ones the at an unexpected price people don t understand us he sighed heavily i am glad we have decided to go the question is where to it ought to be to london there one can live as one chooses the obscure not london dear i know it well we should be unhappy there why can t you think because is there that s the chief reason but in the country i shall always be uneasy lest there should be some more of our late experience and i don t care to lessen it by explaining for one thing all about the boy s history to cut him off from his past i have determined to keep silence i am of work now and i shouldn t like to accept it if offered me you ought to have learned classic is art after all was wrong and was right remember the interior of cathedral almost the first place in which we looked in each other s faces under the of those details one can see the grotesque of uncouth people trying to imitate the vanished roman forms remembered by dim tradition only yes you have half converted me to that view by what you have said before but one can work and despise what one does i must do something if not hie i wish we could both follow an occupation in which personal circumstances don t count she said smiling up wistfully i am as for teaching as you are for art you must fall back upon railway stations bridges theatres music halls hotels everything that has no connection with conduct i am not skilled in those i ought to take to i grew up in the business with aunt but even a baker must be conventional to get customers unless he keeps a cake and stall at and where people are indifferent to everything except the quality of the goods at and elsewhere their thoughts were diverted by the voice of the now this antique oak a unique example of old english furniture worthy the attention of all that was my great grandfather s said i wish we could have kept the poor old thing one by one the articles went and the afternoon passed away and the other two were getting tired and hungry but after the conversation they had heard they were shy of going out while the were in their line of retreat however the later lots drew on and it became necessary to into the rain soon to take on sue s things to their temporary lodging now the next lot two pairs of all alive and plump a nice pie for somebody for next sunday s dinner the impending sale of these birds had been the most trying suspense of the whole afternoon they were sue s and when it was found that they could not possibly be kept more sadness was caused than by parting from all the furniture sue tried to think away her tears as she heard the trifling sum that her were deemed to be worth advanced by small stages to the price at which they were finally knocked down the was a neighboring and they were unquestionably doomed to die before the next market day seeing her distress kissed her and said it was time to go and see if the lodgings were ready he would go on with the boy and fetch her soon when she was left alone she waited patiently but did not come back at last she started the coast being clear and on passing the s shop not far off she saw her in a by the door an emotion at sight of them assisted by the growing dusk of evening caused her to act on impulse and first looking around her quickly she pulled out the which fastened down the cover and went on the cover was lifted from within the obscure and the flew away with a clatter that brought the cursing and swearing to the door sue reached the lodging trembling and found and the boy making it comfortable for her do the pay before they bring away the things she asked yes i think why because then i ve done such a wicked thing and she explained in bitter i shall have to pay the for them if he doesn t catch them said but never mind don t fret about it dear it was so foolish of me d nature law be mutual i ry is it so mother asked the boy intently yes said sue vehemently well they must take their chance now poor things said as soon as the sale account is wound up and our bills paid we go where do we go to asked time in suspense we must sail under sealed orders that nobody may trace us we mustn t go to or to or to or to apart from those we may go anywhere why mustn t we go there father because of a cloud that has gathered over us though we have wronged no man no man no man though perhaps we have done that which was right in our own eyes vii from that week and sue walked	45
no more in the town of whither they had gone nobody knew chiefly because nobody cared to know any one sufficiently curious to trace the steps of such an obscure pair might have discovered without great trouble that they had taken advantage of his to enter on a shifting almost life which was not without its for a time wherever heard of work to be done thither he went choosing by preference places remote from his old haunts and sue s he labored at a job long or briefly till it was finished and then moved on two whole years and a half passed thus sometimes he might have been found the of a country mansion sometimes setting the of a town hall sometimes a hotel at sometimes a museum at sometimes as far down as sometimes at later still he was at a town not more than a dozen miles south of this being his nearest approach to the village where he was known for he had a sensitive dread of being questioned as to his life and fortunes by those who had been acquainted with him during his ardent young manhood of study and promise and his brief and unhappy married life at that time at some of these places he would be detained for months at others only a few weeks his curious and sudden to work both the obscure and non which had risen in him when suffering under a sense of remained with him in cold blood less from any fear of renewed censure than from an which would not allow him to seek a living out of those who would of his ways also too from a sense of between his former and his present practice hardly a of the with which he had first gone up to now remaining with him he was mentally approaching the position h sue h ad occupied when he first met hen on a saturday evening in may nearly three years after s recognition of sue and himself at the agricultural show some of those who there encountered each other met again it was the spring fair at and though this ancient trade meeting had much from its dimensions of former times the long straight street of the presented a lively scene about mid day at this hour a light trap among other was driven into the town by the north road and up to the door of a inn there alighted two women one the driver an ordinary country person the other a finely built figure in the deep mourning of a widow her sombre suit of pronounced cut caused her to appear a little out of place in the and bustle of a provincial fair i will just find out where it is said the to her companion when the horse and cart had been taken by a man who came forward and then i ll come back and meet you here and we ll go in and have something to eat and drink i begin to feel quite a sinking with all my heart said the other though i would sooner have put up at the or the jack you can t get much at these houses now don t you give way to desires my child said the woman in weeds this is at and elsewhere the proper place very well we ll meet in half an hour unless you come with me to find out where the site of the new chapel is i don t care to you can tell me the companions then went their several ways the one in walking firmly along with a mien of from her miscellaneous surroundings making inquiries she came to a within which were the foundations of a building and on the boards without one or two large announcing that the foundation stone of the chapel about to be erected would be laid that afternoon at three o clock by a london preacher of great popularity among his body having ascertained thus much the immensely widow her steps and gave herself leisure to observe the movements of the fair by and by her attention was arrested by a little stall of cakes and standing between the more of and canvas it was covered with an cloth and tended by a young woman apparently unused to the business she being accompanied by a boy with an face who assisted her upon my senses murmured the widow to herself his wife sue if she is so she drew nearer to the stall how do you do mrs she said sue changed color and recognized through the veil how are you mrs she said stiffly and then perceiving s garb her voice grew sympathetic in spite of herself what you have lost my poor husband yes he died suddenly six weeks ago leaving me none too well off though he was a kind husband to me but whatever profit there is in keeping goes to them that the and not to them that em and you my little old man you don t know me i expect the obscure yes i do you be the woman i thought my mother for a bit till i found you wasn t replied father time who had learned to use the tongue quite naturally by now all right never mind i am a friend j said sue suddenly go down to the station platform with this tray there s another train coming in i think when he was gone continued he ll never be a beauty will he poor chap does he know i am his mother really no he thinks there is some mystery about his that s all is going to tell him when he is a little older but how do you come to be doing this i am surprised it is only a temporary occupation a fancy of ours while we	45
are in a difficulty then you are living with him still yes l married of course any children two and another coming soon i see sue under the hard and direct questioning and her tender little mouth began to quiver lord i mean goodness gracious what is there to cry about some folks would be proud enough it is not that i am ashamed not as you think but it seems such a terribly tragic thing to bring beings into the world so that i question my right to do it sometimes take it easy my dear but you don t tell me why you do such a thing as this used to be a proud sort of chap above any business almost leave alone keeping a standing x n at and elsewhere perhaps my husband has altered a little since then i am not sure he is not proud now and sue s lips quivered again i am doing this because he caught a chill early in the year while putting up some stone work of a music hall at which he had to do in the rain the work having to be executed by a fixed day he is better than he was but it has been a long weary time we have had an old widow friend with us to help us through it but she s leaving soon well i am respectable too thank god and of a serious way of thinking since my loss why did you choose to sell that s a pure accident he was brought up to the business and it occurred to him to try his hand at these which he can make without coming out of doors we call them cakes they are a great success i never saw any like em why they are windows and towers and and upon my word they are very nice she had helped herself and was one of the cakes yes they are reminiscences of the windows and you see it was a whim of his to do them in x j fl even in his cakes laughed just like a ruling passion what a queer fellow he is and always will be sue sighed and she looked her distress at hearing him don t you think he is come now you do though you are so fond of him of course is a sort of fixed vision with him which i suppose hell never be cured of believing in h t great centre of high and fearless instead of what it is a nest of commonplace school masters whose characteristic is timid t o tion i i the obscure was sue with more regard of how she was speaking than of what she was saying how odd to hear a woman selling cakes talk like that she said why don t you go back to school keeping sue shook her head they won t have me because of the divorce i suppose that and other things and there is no reason to wish it we gave up all ambition and were never so happy in our lives till his illness came where are you living i don t care to say here in sue s manner showed that her random guess was right here comes the boy back again continued my boy and s sue s eyes darted a spark you needn t throw that in my face she cried very well though i half feel as if i should like to have him with me but lord i don t want to take him from ee ever i should sin to speak so profane though i should think you must have enough of your own he s in very good hands that i know and i am not the woman to find fault with what the lord has ordained i ve reached a more resigned frame of mind indeed i wish i had been able to do so you should try replied the widow from the serene heights of a mind conscious not only of spiritual but of social superiority i make no boast of my awakening but i m not what i was after s death i was passing the chapel in the street next ours and went into it for shelter from a shower of rain i felt a need of some sort of support under my loss and as twas than gin i took to going there regular and found it a great comfort but i ve left london now you know and at present i am living at with my friend to be near my own old country i m not come here to at and elsewhere the fair to day there s to be the foundation stone of a new chapel laid this afternoon by a popular london preacher and i drove over with now i must go back to meet her then wished sue good bye and went on i viii in the afternoon sue and the other people bustling about fair could hear singing inside the farther down the street those who peeped through the opening saw a crowd of persons in with hymn books in their hands standing round the for the new chapel walls and her weeds stood among them she had a clear powerful voice which could be distinctly heard with the rest rising and falling to the tune her bosom being also seen doing likewise it was two hours later on the same day that and mrs having had tea at the hotel started on their return journey across the high and open country which stretches between and was in a thoughtful mood but her thoughts were not of the new chapel as at first no it is something else at last said sullenly came here to day never thinking of anybody but poor or of anything but	45
spreading the gospel by means of this new they ve begun this afternoon but something has happened to turn my mind another way quite i ve heard of un again and i ve seen her who i ve heard of and i ve seen his wife and ever since do what i will and though i sung the hymns wi all my strength i have not been able to help thinking about n which i ve no right to do as a chapel member at and elsewhere can t ye fix your mind upon what was said by the london preacher to day and try to get rid of your wandering fancies that way i do but my wicked heart will off in spite of myself well i know what it is to have a wanton mind o my own too if you on y knew what i do dream sometimes o nights quite against my wishes you d say i had my struggles too had grown rather serious of late her lover having her what shall i do about it urged you could take a lock of your late lost husband s hair and have it made into a mourning and look at it every hour of the day i haven t a morsel and if i had be no good after all that s said about the comforts of this religion i wish i had back again you must fight against the feeling since he s another s and i ve heard that another good thing for it when it is to go to your husband s grave in the dusk of evening and stand a long while a bowed down i know as well as you what i must do only i don t do it they drove in silence along the straight road till they were within the horizon of which lay not far to the left of their route they came to the of the highway and the cross lane leading to that village whose church tower could be seen the hollow when they got yet farther on and were passing the lonely house in which and had lived during the first months of their marriage and where the pig killing had taken place she could control herself no longer he s more mine than hers she burst out what right has she to him i should like to know i d take him from her if i could the obscure and your husband only a month gone pray against it be damned if i do feelings are feelings i won t be a creeping any so there ha drawn from her pocket a bundle of tracts which she had brought with her to at the fair and of which she had given away several as she spoke she flung the whole remainder of the packet into the hedge i ve tried that sort o and have failed wi it i must be as i was born hush you be excited you come along home quiet and have a cup of tea and don t let us talk about un no more we won t come out this road again as it leads to where he is because it ee so you ll be all right again soon did calm herself down by degrees and they crossed the ridge way when they began to descend the long straight hill they saw along in front of them an elderly man of spare stature and thoughtful gait in his hand he carried a basket and there was a touch of in his attire together with that something in his whole appearance which suggested one who was his own housekeeper and friend through possessing nobody else at all in the world to act in those for him the remainder of the journey was down hill and him to be going to they offered him a lift which he accepted looked at him and looked again till at length she spoke if i don t mistake i am talking to mr the faced round and regarded her in turn yes my name is he said but i don t recognize you ma am i remember you well enough when you used to be school master out at and i one of your scholars i used to walk up there from every day a at and elsewhere because we had only a mistress down at our place and you taught better but you wouldn t remember me as i should you he shook his head no he said politely i don t recall the name and i should hardly recognize in your present self the slim school child no doubt you were then well i always had plenty of flesh on my bones however i am staying down here with some friends at present you know i suppose who i married no also a scholar of yours at least a night scholar for some little time i think and known to you afterwards if i am not mistaken dear me dear me said starting out of his you s wife to be sure he had a wife and he i understood her as you did yours perhaps for better reasons indeed well he have been right in doing it right for both for i soon married again and all went pretty straight till my husband died lately but you you were decidedly wrong no said with sudden i would rather not talk of this but i am convinced i did only what was right and just and moral i have suffered for my act and opinions but i hold to them though her loss was a loss to me in more ways than one you lost your school and good income through her did you not i don t care to talk of it i	45
have recently come back here to i mean you are keeping the school there again just as formerly the pressure of a sadness that would out him the obscure lam there he replied just as formerly no merely on it was a last resource a small thing to return to after my move upwards and my long indulged hopes a returning to with all its but it is a refuge i like the seclusion of the place and the having known me before my so called eccentric conduct towards my wife had ruined my reputation as a school master accepted my services when all other schools were closed against me however although i take fifty pounds a year here after taking above two hundred elsewhere i prefer it to running the risk of having my old domestic experiences up against me as i should do if i tried to make a move right you are a contented mind is a continual feast she has done no better she is not doing well you mean i met her by accident at this very day and she is anything but her husband is ill and she anxious you made a fool of a mistake about her i tell ee again and the harm you did yourself by j your own nest serves you right the liberty how she was innocent but nonsense they did not even defend the case that was because they didn t care to she was quite innocent of what obtained you your freedom at the time you obtained it i saw her just afterwards and proved it j to myself completely by talking to her grasped the edge of the spring cart and appeared to be much and worried by the information still she wanted to go he said yes but you shouldn t have let her that s the only way with these fanciful women that high innocent or guilty she d have come round in time j we all do custom does it it s all the same in the end however i think she s fond of her man still whatever he be of her you were too quick about her j at and elsewhere shouldn t have let her go i should have kept her chained on her spirit for kicking would have been broke soon enough there s nothing like bondage and a stone deaf task master for us women besides you ve got the laws on your side moses knew don t you call to mind what he says not for the moment ma am i regret to say call yourself a school master i used to think o t when they read it in church and i was carrying on a bit then shall the man be but the woman shall bear her damn rough on us women but we must grin and put up wi it well she s got her deserts now yes said with cruelty is the l aw all nature and society and we can it jf w would well don t you forget to try it next time old man i cannot answer you madam i have never known much of they had now reached the low and passing through the outskirts approached a mill to which said his errand led him whereupon they drew up and he alighted bidding them in a mood in the mean time sue though remarkably successful in her business at fair had lost the temporary brightness which had begun to sit upon her sadness on account of that success when all her cakes had been disposed of she took upon her arm the empty basket and the cloth which had covered the standing she had hired and giving the other things to the boy left the street with him they followed a lane to a distance of half a mile till they met an old woman carrying a child in short clothes and leading a in the other hand sue kissed the children and said how is he now the obscure still better returned mrs cheerfully before you are ill your husband will be well enough don t ee trouble they turned and came to some old cottages with gardens and fruit trees into one of these they entered by lifting the latch without knocking and were at once in the general living room here they greeted who was sitting in an arm chair the increased delicacy of his delicate features and the expectant look in his eyes being alone sufficient to show that he had been passing through a severe illness what you have sold them all he said a gleam of interest lighting up his face yes east windows and all she told him the pecuniary results and then hesitated at last when they were left alone she informed him of the unexpected meeting with and the latter s was what is she living here he said no at said sue s countenance remained clouded i thought i had better tell you she continued kissing him anxiously yes dear me not in the depths of london but down here it is only a little over a dozen j miles across the country to what is she do i ing there she told him all she knew she has taken to chapel going sue added and talks accordingly well said perhaps it is for the best that we have almost decided to move on i feel much better to day and shall be well enough to leave in a week or two j then mrs can go home again dear faithful old i soul the only friend we have in the world where do you think to go to sue asked a tearful ness in her tones at and elsewhere then confessed what was in his mind he said it would surprise her	45
perhaps after his having resolutely avoided all the old places for so long but one thing and another had made him think a great deal of lately and if she didn t mind he would like to go back there why should they care if they were known it was over sensitive of them to mind so much they could go on selling cakes there for that matter if he couldn t work he had no sense of shame at mere poverty and perhaps he would be as strong as ever soon and able to set up stone cutting for himself there why should you care so much for she said cares nothing for you poor dear u well i do i can t help it i love the place although i know how it hates all men like me the so called self how it scorn s our labored when it be the first to respect them how it at our false quantities and when it should say i see you want help my poor friend nevertheless it is the centre of the universe to me because of my early dream and nothing can alter it perhaps it will soon wake up and be generous i pray so i should like to go back to live perhaps to die there in two or three weeks i might i think it will then be june and i should like to be there by a particular day his hope that he was recovering proved so far well that in three weeks they had arrived in the city of many memories were actually treading its receiving the reflection of the sunshine from its wasting walls i part vi at again and she her body greatly and all the places of her joy she filled with her torn hair there are two who decline a woman and and enjoy our death in the darkness here r on their arrival the station was lively with straw young men young girls who bore a remarkable family likeness to their and who were dressed up in the brightest and of the place seems gay said sue why it is remembrance day how sly of you you came to day on purpose yes said quietly as he took charge of the small child and told s boy to keep close to them sue attending to their own eldest i thought we might as well come to day as on any other but i am afraid it will you she said looking anxiously at him up and down oh i mustn t let it interfere with our business and we have a good deal to do before we shall be settled here the first thing is lodgings having left their luggage and his tools at the station they proceeded on foot up the familiar street the holiday people all drifting in the same direction reaching the they were about to turn off to where accommodation was likely to be found when looking at the clock and the hurrying crowd said let us go and see the procession and never mind the lodgings just now we can get them afterwards t we to get a house over our heads first she asked but his soul seemed full of the and together they went down chief street their smallest child in s arms sue leading her little girl and the obscure la s boy walking thoughtfully and silently beside them crowds of pretty sisters in airy and meekly ignorant parents who had known no college in their youth were under in the same direction by brothers and sons bearing the opinion written large on them that no properly qualified human beings had lived on earth till they came to grace it here and now my failure is reflected on me by every one of those young fellows said a lesson on presumption is awaiting me to day humiliation day for me if you my dear darling hadn t come to my rescue i should have gone to the dogs with despair she saw from his face that he was getting into one of his self moods it would have been better if we had gone at once about our own affairs dear she answered i am sure this sight will awaken old sorrows in you and do no good well we are near we will see it now said he they turned in on the left by the church with the italian porch whose columns were heavily draped with and pursued the lane till there arose on s sight the circular theatre with that well known lantern above it which stood in his mind as the sad symbol of his abandoned hopes for it was from that outlook that he had finally surveyed the city of on the afternoon of his great meditation which convinced him at last of the of his attempt to be a son of the university to day in the open space stretching between this building and the nearest college stood a crowd of expectant people a passage was kept clear through their midst by two of timber extending from the door of the college to the door of the large building between it and the theatre here is the place they are just going to pass cried in sudden excitement and pushing his way to the front he took up a position close to the barrier still at again the youngest child in his arms while sue and the others kept immediately behind him the crowd filled in at their back and fell to talking joking and laughing as carriage after carriage drew up at the lower door of the college and solemn stately figures in blood red robes began to alight the sky had grown and livid and thunder now and then father time shuddered it do seem like the judgment day he	45
whispered they are only learned doctors said sue while they waited big drops of rain fell on their heads and shoulders and the delay grew tedious sue again wished not to stay they won t be long now said without turning his head but the procession did not come forth and somebody in the crowd to pass the time looked at the of the nearest college and said he wondered what was meant by the latin inscription in its midst who stood near the explained it and finding that the people all round him were listening with interest went on to describe the carving of the which he had studied years before and to some details of in other college fronts about the city the idle crowd including the two at the doors stared like the at paul for was apt to get too enthusiastic over any subject in hand and they seemed to wonder how the stranger should know more about the buildings of their town than they themselves did till one of them said why i know that man he used to work here years ago that s his name don t you mind he used to be of st d ye mind because he aimed at that line o business he s married i suppose then and that s his child he s carrying would know him as he knows everybody the speaker was a man named jack with whom as the obscure had formerly worked in the college was seen to be standing near having his attention called the latter cried across the to you ve honored us by coming back again ray friend nodded an you don t seem to have done any great things for yourself by going away assented to this also except found more mouths to fill this came in a new voice and recognized its owner to be uncle joe another whom he had known replied good that he could not dispute it and from remark to remark something like a general conversation arose between him and the crowd of during which asked if he remembered the creed in latin still and the night of the challenge in the public house but fortune didn t lie that way threw in joe yer powers wasn t enough to carry ee through don t answer them any more entreated sue don t think i like murmured little time mournfully as he stood and invisible in the crowd but finding himself the centre of curiosity and comment was not inclined to shrink from open of what he had no great reason to be ashamed of and in a little while was stimulated to say in a loud voice to the listening throng generally it is a difficult question my friends for any young man that question i had to with and which thousands are weighing at the present moment in these times whether to follow the track he finds himself in without considering his for it or to consider what his or bent may be and his course accordingly i tried to do the latter and i failed but i don t admit that my failure proved at again my view to be a wrong one or that my success would have made it a right one though that s how we such attempts nowadays i mean not by but bv their accidental if i had ended by becoming like one of these gentlemen in red and black that we saw dropping in here by now everybody would have said see how wise that young man was to follow the bent of his nature but having ended no better than i began they say see what a fool that fellow was in following a of his fancy however it was poverty and not my will that d to be beat en it takes two or three generations t o do what i tried to do in one and my impulses vices perhaps they should be called were too strong nut ia a man without advantages who j sh o be as mid as a fish and as selfish as a pig have a really of being one of his country s ridicule i am quite willing that you i am a fit subject no doubt but i think if you knew what i have gone through these last few years t rather pity me and if they knew he nodded towards the college at which the were arriving it is just possible they would do the same he do look ill and worn out it is true said a woman sue s face grew more but though she stood close to she was i may do some good before i am dead be a sort of success as a frightful example of what not to do and so illustrate a moral story continued beginning to grow bitter though he had opened serenely enough j i was perhaps after all a paltry ta spirit of mental and social restlessness that makes so many unhappy in these days don t that whispered sue with tears at perceiving s state of mind you weren t that h the obscure t f you struggled nobly to acquire knowledge and only the meanest souls in the world would blame you shifted the child into a more easy position on his arm and concluded and what i appear a sick and poor man is not the worst of me i am in a chaos of principles groping in the dark acting by instinct and not after example eight or nine years ago when i came here first i had a neat stock of fixed opinions but they dropped away one by one and the further i get the less i am i doubt if i have anything more for my rule of life than	45
following inclinations which do me and nobody else any harm and actually give pleasure to those i love best there gentlemen since you wanted to know how i was getting on i have told you much good may it do you i cannot explain further here i perceive there is something wrong somewhere in our social what it is can only be discovered by men or women with greater insight than mine if indeed they ever discover it at least in our time for who what is good for man in this life and who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun hear hear said the well preached said and privately to his neighbors why one of them pa sons about here that takes the services when our head want a holiday wouldn t ha such doctrine for less than a guinea down hey i ll take my oath not one o em would and then he must have had it wrote down for n and this only a working man as a sort of on s remarks there drove up at this moment with a doctor and panting a cab whose horse failed to stop at the exact point required for setting down the who jumped out and entered the door the driver began to kick the animal in the belly if that can be done said at college gates in at again the most religious and city in the world what shall we say as to how far we ve got order said one of the who had been engaged with a comrade in opening the large doors site the college keep yer tongue quiet my man while the procession passes the rain came on more heavily and all who had opened them was not one of these and sue only possessed a small one half she had grown pale though did not notice it then let us go on dear she whispered to shelter him we haven t any lodgings yet remember and all our things are at the station and you are by no means well yet i am afraid this wet will hurt you they are coming now just a moment and i ll go said he a peal of six bells struck out human faces began to crowd the windows around and the procession of heads of houses and new doctors emerged their red and black forms passing across the field of s vision like inaccessible across an object glass as they went their names were called by knowing and when they reached the old round theatre of a cheer rose high let s go that way cried and though it now rained steadily he seemed not to know it and took them round to the theatre here they stood upon the straw that was laid to drown the noise of wheels where the quaint and frost eaten stone the building looked with pallid on the proceedings and in particular at the sue and their children as at ludicrous persons who had no business there i wish i could get in he said to her listen i may catch a few words of the latin speech by staying here the windows are open however beyond the of the organ and the shouts the obscure and between each piece of s standing in the wet did not bring much latin to his intelligence more than now and then a word in urn or well i m an to the end of my days he sighed after a while now i ll go my patient sue how good of you to wait in the rain all this time to gratify my i ll never care any more about the infernal cursed place upon my soul i won t but y what made you tremble so when we were at the barrier and how pale you are sue i saw richard among the people on the other side did you he is evidently come up to to see the festival like the rest of us and on that account is probably living not so very far away he had the same for the university that you had in a form i don t think he saw me though he must have heard you speaking to the crowd but he seemed not to notice well suppose he did your mind is free from about him now my sue yes i suppose so but i am weak although i know it is all right with our plans i felt a curious dread of him an awe or terror of i don t believe in it comes over me at times like a sort of creeping and makes me so sad you are getting tired sue oh i forgot darling yes we ll go on at once they started in quest of the lodging and at last found something that seemed to promise well in lane a spot which to was irresistible to sue it was not so fascinating a narrow lane close to the back of a college but having no communication with it the little houses w ere darkened to gloom h y the high p fr which life was so far removed from that of the people in the lane as if it had been on opposite sides of the globe yet only a thickness of wall di at again them two or three of the houses had notices of rooms to let and the new comers knocked at the door of one which a woman opened ah listen said suddenly instead of addressing her what why the bells what church can that be the tones are familiar another peal of bells had begun to sound out at some distance off i don t know said the landlady did you knock to ask that no for lodgings said coming to himself	45
the sue a moment we haven t any to let said she shutting the door looked and the boy distressed now said sue let me try you don t know the way they found a second place hard by but here the observing not only sue but the boy and the small children said i am sorry to say we don t let where there are children and also closed the door the small child his mouth and cried silently with an instinct that trouble loomed the boy sighed i don t like he said are the at old houses no said which perhaps you ll study in some day i d rather not the boy rejoined now we ll try again said sue i ll pull my cloak more round me leaving for this place is like coming from to how do i look now dear nobody would notice it now said there was one other house and they tried a third time the woman here was more amiable she had little room to spare and could only agree to take in sue and the obscure the children if her husband could go elsewhere arrangement they adopted in the stress from their search till so late they came to terms with her though her price was rather high for their pockets but they could not afford to be critical till had time to get a more permanent abode and in this house sue took possession of a back room on the second floor with an inner closet room for the children stayed and had a cup of tea and was pleased to find that the window commanded the back of one of the kissing all four he went to get a few necessaries and look for lodgings for himself when he was gone the landlady came up to talk a little with sue and gather something of the circumstances of the family she had taken in sue had not the art of and after admitting several facts as to their late difficulties and wanderings she was startled by the landlady saying suddenly are you really a married woman sue hesitated and then told the woman that her husband and herself had each been unhappy in their first marriages after which terrified at the thought of a second union and lest the condition of the contract should kill their love yet wishing to be together they had literally not found the courage to repeat it though they had attempted it two or three times therefore though in her own sense of the words she was a married woman in the landlady s sense she was not the looked embarrassed and went downstairs sue sat by the window in a reverie watching the rain her quiet was broken by the noise of some one entering the house and then the voices of a man and woman in conversation in the passage below the landlady s husband had arrived and she was explaining to him the of the during his absence his voice rose in sudden anger now who wants such at again a woman here and perhaps a confinement besides didn t i say i wouldn t have children the hall and stairs fresh painted to be kicked about by them j you must have known all was not straight with em coming like that taking in a family when i said a single man the wife but as it seemed the husband insisted on his point for presently a tap came to sue s door and the woman appeared i am sorry to tell you ma am she said that i can t let you have the room for the week after all my husband objects and therefore i must ask you to go i don t mind your staying over to night as it is getting late in the afternoon but i shall be glad if you can leave early in the morning though she knew that she was entitled to the lodging for a week sue did not wish to create a disturbance between the wife and husband and she said she would leave as requested when the landlady had gone sue looked out of the window again finding that the rain had ceased she proposed to the boy that after putting the little ones to bed they should go out and search about for another place and it for the morrow so as not to be so hard driven then as they had been that day therefore instead of her boxes which had just been sent on from the station by they out into the damp though not unpleasant streets sue not to disturb her husband with the news of her notice to quit while he was perhaps worried in obtaining a lodging for himself in the company of the boy she wandered into this street and into that but though she tried a dozen different houses she far worse alone than she had in s company and could get nobody to promise her a room for the following day every looked at such a woman and child inquiring for accommodation in the gloom i ought not to be born ought i said the boy with the obscure thoroughly tired at last sue returned to the place where she was not welcome but where at least she had temporary shelter in her absence had left his address but knowing how weak he still was she to her determination not to disturb him till the next day ii sue sat looking at the bare floor of the room the house being little more than an old cottage and then she regarded the scene outside the window at some distance opposite the outer walls of college silent black and t th n t nt ry a n rt into the little room she occupied shutting out the light by night and the sun by	45
and going up stairs she found that all was quiet in the children s room and called to the landlady in tones to please bring up the and something for their breakfast this was done and producing a couple of eggs which she had brought with her she put them into the boiling kettle and summoned to watch them for the while she went to call them it being now about half past eight o clock stood bending over the kettle with his watch in his hand the eggs so that his back was turned to the little inner chamber where the children lay a shriek from sue suddenly caused him to start round he saw that the door of the room or rather closet which had seemed to go heavily upon its hinges as she pushed it back was open and that sue had sunk to the floor just within it hastening forward to pick her up he turned his eyes to the little bed spread on the boards no children were there he looked in bewilderment round the room at the back of the door were fixed two hooks for hanging at again garments and from these the forms of the two youngest children were suspended by a piece of box cord round each of their necks while from a nail a few yards off the body of little was hanging in a similar manner an chair was near the elder boy and his glazed eyes were staring into the room but those of the girl and the baby boy were closed half by the grotesque and hideous horror of the scene he let sue lie cut the with his pocket knife and threw the three children on the bed but the feel of their bodies in the momentary handling seemed to say that they were dead he caught up sue who was in fainting fits and put her on the bed in the other room after which he summoned the landlady and ran out for a doctor when he got back sue had come to herself and the two helpless women bending over the children in wild efforts to restore them and the of little formed a scene which his self command the nearest surgeon came in but as had inferred his presence was superfluous the children were past saving for though their bodies were still barely cold it was that they had been hanging more than an hour the probability held by the parents later on when they were able to reason on the case was that the elder boy on waking looked into the outer room for sue and finding her absent was thrown into a fit of despondency that the events and information of the evening before had induced in his morbid temperament moreover a piece of paper was found upon the floor on which was written in the boy s hand with the bit of that he carried done because we are too at sight of this sue s nerves utterly gave way an awful conviction that her discourse with the boy had been the the obscure main cause of the tragedy throwing her into a agony which knew no they carried her away against her wish to a room on the lower floor and there she lay her slight figure shaken with her and her eyes staring at the ceiling the woman of the house vainly trying to soothe her they could hear from this chamber the people moving about above and she implored to be allowed to go back and was only kept from doing so by the assurance that if there were any hope her presence might do harm and the that it was necessary to take care of herself lest she should a coming life her inquiries were incessant and at last came down and told her there was no hope as soon as she could speak she informed him what she had said to the boy and how she thought herself the cause of this no said it was in his nature to do it the doctor says there are such boys springing up amongst us boys of a sort unknown in the last generation the of new views of life they seem to see all its terrors before they are old enough to have staying power to resist them he says it is the beginning of the coming universal wish not to live he s an advanced man the doctor but he can give no consolation to had kept back his own grief on account of her but he now broke down and this stimulated sue to efforts of sympathy which in some degree distracted her from her self reproach when everybody was gone she was allowed to see the children the boy s face expressed the whole tale of their situation on that little shape had all the and shadow which had darkened the first union of and all the accidents mistakes fears errors of the last he was their point their their expression in a single term for the of those parents he had groaned for their ill he had and for the misfortunes of these he had died at again i when the house was silent and they could do nothing but await the s a subdued large low voice spread into the air of the room from behind the heavy walls at the back what is it said sue her breathing suspended the organ of the college chapel the i suppose it s the from the seventy third truly god is loving unto she sobbed again oh my babies they had done no harm why should they have been taken away and not i there was another stillness broken at last by two persons in conversation somewhere without they are talking about us no doubt moaned sue we are made a spectacle unto the world	45
and to angels and to men listened no they are not talking of us he said they are two of different views arguing about the eastward position then another silence till she was seized with another fit of grief there is something external to us which says you sha n tj first it said you sha n t l earn then it na n t or now it ou sha n t love he tried to soothe her by saying that s bitter of darling but it s true thus they waited and she went back again to her room the baby s frock shoes and which had been lying on a chair at the time of his death she would not now have removed though would fain have got them out of her sight but whenever he touched them she implored him to let them lie and burst out almost savagely at the woman of the house when she also attempted to put them away dreaded her dull almost more the obscure than her why don t you speak to me she said after one of these don t turn away from me i can t bear the loneliness of being out of your looks there dear here i am he said putting his face close to hers yes oh my comrade our perfect our two in is now stained with blood by that s all ah but it was i who him really though i didn t know i was doing it i talked to the child as one should only talk to people of mature age i said the world was against us that it was better to be out of life than in it at this price and he took it literally and i told him i was going to have another child it upset him oh how bitterly he me why did you do it sue i can t tell it was that i wanted to be truthful i couldn t bear deceiving him as to the facts of life and yet i wasn t truthful for with a false delicacy i told him too why was i half wiser than my and not entirely wiser why didn t i tell him pleasant instead of half realities it was my of self control so that i could neither conceal things nor reveal them your plan might have been a good one for the majority of cases only in our peculiar case it chanced to work badly perhaps he must have known sooner or later and i was just making my baby darling a new frock and now i shall never see him in it and never talk to him any more my eyes are so swollen that i can scarcely see and yet little more than a year ago i called myself happy we went about loving each other too much indulging ourselves to utter selfishness with each other we said do you remember that we would make a virtue of joy i said it was nature s intention at again nature s law and d that we should be joyful in r what instincts she afforded us instincts which v tion had taken upon itself to what dreadful things i said and now fate has given us this in the back for being such fools as to take nature at her word she sank into a quiet contemplation till she said it is best perhaps that they should be gone yes i see it is better that they should be plucked fresh than stay to away miserably yes replied some say that the elders should rejoice when their children die in infancy but they don t know oh my babies my babies could you be alive now you may say the boy wished to be out of life or he wouldn t have done it it was not unreasonable for him to die it was part of his sad nature poor little fellow but then the others my children and yours again sue looked at the hanging little frock and at the and shoes and her figure quivered like a string i a pitiable creature she said good neither for earth nor heaven any more i am driven out of my mind by things what ought to be done she stared at and tightly held his hand nothing can be done he replied things are as they are and will be brought to their destined issue she paused yes who said that she asked heavily it comes in the chorus of the it has been in my mind continually since this happened my poor how you ve missed everything you more than i for i did get you to think you should know that by your reading and yet be in poverty and despair after such momentary her grief would return in a wave the jury duly came and viewed the bodies the the obscure was held and next arrived the melancholy morning of the funeral accounts in the newspapers had brought to the spot curious who stood apparently counting the window panes and the stones of the walls doubt of the real relations of the couple added zest to their curiosity sue had declared that she would follow the two little ones to the grave but at the last moment she gave way and the were quietly carried out of the house while she was lying down got into the vehicle and it drove away much to the relief of the landlord who now had only sue and her luggage remaining on his hands which he hoped to be also clear of later on in the day and so to have freed his house from the it had acquired during the week through his wife s unlucky admission of these strangers in the afternoon he privately consulted with the owner of the house	45
and they agreed that if any objection to it arose from the tragedy which had occurred there they would try to get its number changed when had seen the two little boxes one containing little and the other the two smallest deposited in the earth he hastened back to sue who was still in her room and he therefore did not disturb her just then feeling anxious however he went again about four o clock the woman thought she was still lying down but returned to him to say that she was not in her bedroom after all her hat and jacket too were missing she had gone out hurried off to the public house where he was sleeping she had not been there then himself of possibilities he went along the road to the which he entered and crossed to where the had recently taken place the who had followed to the spot by reason of the tragedy were all gone now a man with a in his hands was attempting to earth in the common grave of the three children but his arm was held back by an woman who stood in the half filled hole it at again was sue whose colored clothing which she had never thought of changing for the mourning he had bought suggested to the eye a deeper grief than the conventional garb of could express he s filling them in and he sha n t till i ve seen my little ones again she cried wildly when she saw want to see them once more oh please i want to see them i didn t know you would let them be taken away while i was asleep you said perhaps i should see them once more before they were down and then you didn t but took them away oh you are cruel to me too she s been wanting me to dig out the grave again and let her get to the said the man with the she ought to be took home by the o her she is hardly responsible poor thing seemingly can t dig em up again now ma am do ye go home with your husband and take it quiet and thank god that there ll be another soon to yer grief but sue kept asking can t i see them once more just once can t i only just one little minute it would not take long and i should be so glad i will be so good and not you ever any more if you will let me i would go home quietly afterwards and not want to see them any more can t i why can t i thus she went on was thrown into such acute sorrow that he almost felt he would try to get the man to but it could do no good and might make her still worse and he saw that it was imperative to get her home at once so he her and whispered tenderly and put his arm round her to support her till she helplessly gave in and was induced to leave the he wished to obtain a fly to take her back in but economy being so imperative she his doing so and they walked along slowly in black she in brown and red clothing they were to have gone the obscure to a new lodging that afternoon but saw that it was not practicable and in course of time they entered the now hated house sue was at once got to bed and the doctor sent for waited all the evening down stairs at a hour the intelligence was brought to him that a child had been born and that it like the others was a corpse t iii sue was though she had hoped for death and had again obtained work at his old trade they were in other lodgings now in the direction of and not far from the church of saint they would sit silent more of the direct of things than of their and stolid vague and quaint had haunted sue in the days when her intellect like a star that the world resembled a or melody composed in a dream it was wonderfully excellent to the intelligence but hopelessly at the full waking that first worked like a and not like a sage that at the fr ami ng of the conditions there seemed never to have a development o p among the creatures those tions as lt h at re ac b y thinking and x humanity but affliction makes opposing forces loom and those ideas were now exchanged for a sense of and herself from a we must she said mournfully all the ancient wrath of the power above us has been upon us his poor creatures and we must submit there is no choice we must it is no use fighting against god it is only against man and senseless circumstance said true she murmured what have i been thinking the obscure of i am getting as superstitious as a savage but whoever or whatever our foe may be i am into submission i have no more fighting strength left no j more enterprise i am beaten beaten we are made i a spectacle unto the world and to angels and to men i i am always saying that now v i feel the same what shall we do you are in work now but remember it may only be because our history and relations are not absolutely known possibly if they knew our marriage had not been they would turn you out of your job as they did at i hardly know perhaps they would hardly do that however i think that we ought to make it legal now as soon as you are able to go out you think we ought certainly and fell into	45
is come home again and i am living with him he has returned from said with languid curiosity at again yes couldn t get on there had a rough time of it mother died of what do you call it in the hot weather and father and two of the young ones have just got back he has got a cottage near the old place and for the present i am keeping house for him s former wife had maintained a manner of strict good breeding even now that sue was gone and limited her stay to a number of minutes that should accord with the highest respectability when she had departed much relieved went to the stairs and called sue feeling anxious as to what had become of her there was no answer and the carpenter who kept the lodgings said she had not come in was puzzled and became quite alarmed at her absence for the hour was growing late the carpenter called his wife who that sue might have gone to st s church as she often went there surely not at this time o night said it is shut she knows somebody who keeps the key and she has it whenever she wants it how long has she been going on with this oh some few weeks i think went vaguely in the direction of the church which he had never once approached since he lived out that way years before when his young opinions were more than they were now the spot was deserted but the door was certainly he lifted the latch without noise and pushing the door to behind him stood absolutely still inside the silence seemed to contain a faint sound as a breathing or a sobbing which came from the other end of the building the floor cloth his footsteps as he moved in that direction through the obscurity which was broken only by the faintest reflected night light from without high overhead above the steps could discern a huge constructed latin cross as large m the obscure probably as the original it was designed to it seemed to be suspended in the air by invisible wires it was set with large jewels which faintly in some weak ray caught from outside as the cross swayed to and fro in a silent and scarcely perceptible motion underneath upon the floor lay what appeared to be a heap of black clothes and from this was repeated the sobbing that he had heard before it was his sue s form prostrate on the sue he whispered something white disclosed itself she had turned up her face do you want with me here she said you shouldn t come i wanted to be alone why did you intrude here how can you ask he retorted in quick reproach for his full heart was wounded to its centre at this attitude of hers towards him why do i come who has a right to come i should like to know if i have not i who love you better than my own self better oh far better than you have loved me what made you leave me to come here alone don t me i can t bear it i have often told you so you must take me as i am i am a wretch broken by my i couldn t bear it when came i felt so utterly miserable i had to come away she seems to be your wife still and richard to be my husband t but they are nothing to us yes dear friend they are i see marriage differently now my babies have been taken from me to show me j this s child killing mine was a judgment the right the wrong what what shall i do i am such a vile creature too worthless to mix with ordinary human beings this is terrible said almost in it is monstrous and unnatural for you to be so when you have done no wrong at again ah you don t know my he returned vehemently i do every and of it you make me hate christianity or or or whatever it may be called if it s that which has caused this in you that a woman poet a woman a woman whose soul shone like a diamond whom all the wise of the world would have been proud of if they could have known you should herself like this i am glad i had nothing to do with divinity damn glad if it s going to ruin you in this way you are angry and unkind to me and don t see how things are then come along home with me dearest and perhaps i shall i am over and you too are just now he put his arm round her and lifted her but though she came she preferred to walk without his support i don t dislike you she said in a sweet and imploring voice i love you as much as ever only i ought not to love you any more oh i must not any more i can t own it but i have made up my mind that i am not your wife i belong to him i joined myself to him nothing can alter it but surely we are man and wife if ever two people were in this world nature s own marriage it j but not heaven s another was made for me there and in the church at sue sue affliction has brought you to this unreasonable state after me to your views on so many things to find you suddenly turn to the right about like this for no reason whatever all you have formerly said through sentiment merely you root out of	45
me what little affection and reverence i had left in the obscure me for the church as an old acquaintance what i can t understand in you is your extraordinary blindness now to your old logic is it peculiar to you or is it common to woman is a woman a thinking at all or a always wanting its how you argued that marriage was only a clumsy contract which it is how you showed all the objections to it all the if two and two make four when we are happy together surely they make four now i can t understand it i repeat ah dear that s because you are like a totally deaf man observing people listening to music you say what are they regarding nothing is there but something is that is a hard saying from you and not a true parallel you threw off old of prejudices and taught me to do it and now you go back upon yourself i confess i am utterly in my estimate of you dear friend my only friend don t be hard with me i can t help being as i am and i am convinced right that i see the light at last but oh how t by it they walked along a few more steps till they were outside the building and she had returned the key can this be the girl said when she came back feeling a slight renewal of now that he was in the open street can this be the girl who brought the pagan into this most christian city who miss when she crushed them with her heel quoted and and mill where are dear and dear now oh don t don t be so cruel to me and i so unhappy she sobbed i can t bear it i was in error i cannot reason with you i was wrong proud in my own conceit s coming was the finish don t me it cuts like a knife he flung his arms round her and kissed her passion at again there in the silent street before she could hinder him they went on till they came to a little coffee house m she said with suppressed tears would you mind getting a lodging here i r if if you really wish but do you let me go to our door and understand you he went and conducted her in she said she wanted no supper and went in the dark up stairs and struck a light turning she found that had followed her and was standing at the chamber door she went to him put her hand in his and said good night but sue don t we live here you said you would do as i wished yes very well perhaps it was wrong of me to argue as i have done perhaps as we couldn t marry at first in the old fashioned way we ought to have parted p the w is not illuminated enough for such experiments as f who r e we to w e c as s i am so glad you see that much at any rate i never deliberately meant to do as i did i slipped into my false position through jealousy and agitation but surely through love you loved me yes but i wanted to let it stop there and go on always as mere lovers until but people in love couldn t live forever like that women could men can t because they won t an average woman is in this superior to an average man that she never only we ought to have lived in mental communion and no more i was the unhappy cause of the change as i have said before well as you will but human nature can t help being itself oh yes that s just what it has to learn self mastery i repeat if either were to blame it was not you but i the obscure no it was i your wickedness was only the natural man s desire to possess the woman mine was not the wish till envy stimulated me to i had thought i ought in charity to let you approach me that it was selfish to torture you as i did my other friend but i shouldn t have given way if you hadn t broken me down by making me fear you would go back to her but don t let us say any more about it will you leave me to myself now yes but sue my wife as you are he burst out j my old reproach to you was after all a true one you have never loved me as i love you never never yours is not a passionate heart your heart does not burn in a i flame you are upon the whole cold a sort of or not a woman at first i did not love you that i own when i first knew you i merely wanted you to love me i did not exactly with you but that craving which some women s morals almost more than passion the craving to attract and regardless of the injury it may do the man was in me and when i found i had caught you i was frightened and then i don t know how it i couldn t bear to let you go possibly to again and so i got to love you but you see however it ended it began in the selfish and cruel wish to make your heart ache for me without letting mine ache for you and now you add to your cruelty by leaving me ah yes the further i the more harm	45
i do oh sue said he with a sudden sense of his own danger do not do an thing for moral reasons you have been my social salvation stay with me for humanity s sake you know what a weak fellow i am my two arch enemies you my weakness for women and my impulse to strong liquor don t abandon me to them sue to save your own soul only at again they have been kept entirely at a distance since you became my guardian angel since i have had you i have been able to go into any temptations of the sort without risk isn t my safety worth a little sacrifice of principle i am in terror lest if you leave me it will be with me another case of the pig that was washed turning back to his in the mire sue burst out weeping oh but you must not you won t ill pray for you night and day well never mind don t grieve said generously i did suffer god knows about you at that time and now i suffer again but perhaps not so much as you the woman mostly gets the worst of it in the she does unless she is absolutely worthless and contemptible and this one is not that anyhow sue drew a nervous breath or two she is i fear now good night please i mustn t stay not just once more as it has been so many times oh sue my wife why not no no not wife i am in your hands don t tempt me back now i have advanced so far very well i do your bidding i owe that to you darling in penance for how i it at the first time my god how selfish i was perhaps perhaps i spoiled one of the highest and purest loves that ever existed between man and woman then let the veil of our temple be rent in two from this hour he went to the bed removed one of the pair of pillows and flung it to the floor sue looked at him and bending over the bed rail wept silently you don t see that it is a matter of conscience with me and not of dislike to you she murmured dislike to you but i can t say any more it breaks my heart it will be all i have begun good night the obscure good night he said and turned to go oh but you shall kiss me said she starting up i can t bear he clasped her and kissed her weeping face as he had scarcely ever done before and they remained in silence till she said good bye good bye and then him away she got free trying to the sadness by saying we ll be dear friends just the same won t we and we ll see each other sometimes yes and forget all this and try to be as we were long ago did not permit himself to speak but turned and descended the stairs iv the man whom sue in her mental face was now regarding as her inseparable husband lived still at on the day before the tragedy of the children had seen both her and as they stood in the rain at watching the procession to the theatre but he had said nothing of it at the moment to his companion who being an old friend was staying with him at the village and had indeed suggested the day s trip to what are you thinking of said as they went home the university degree you never obtained no no said of somebody i saw to day in a moment he added i saw her too you said nothing i didn t wish to draw your attention to her but as you did see her you should have said how d ye do my dear that was ah well i might have but what do you think of this i have good reason for supposing that she was innocent when i her that i was all wrong yes indeed awkward isn t it she has taken care to set you right since anyhow apparently h m that s a cheap sneer i ought to have waited unquestionably at the end of the week when had gone the obscure back to his school near as was his custom went to market again on s intelligence as he walked down the long hill which he had known before knew it though his history had not beaten so intensely upon its incline arrived in the town he bought his usual weekly local paper and when he had sat down in an inn to refresh himself for the five miles walk back he pulled the paper from his pocket and read a while the account of the strange suicide of a stone s children met his eye as he was it impressed him painfully and puzzled him not a little for he could not understand the age of the elder child being what it was stated to be however there was no doubt that the newspaper report was in some way true their cup of sorrow is now full he said and thought and thought of sue and what she had gained by leaving him having made her home at and the school master coming to market there every saturday it was not wonderful that in a few weeks they met again the precise time being just after her return from where she had stayed much longer than she had at first intended keeping an interested eye on though had seen no more of her was on his way homeward when he encountered and she was approaching the town you like walking out this way mrs he said i ve just begun to again	45
she replied it is where i lived as maid and wife and all the past things of my life that are interesting to my feelings are mixed up with this road and they have been stirred up in me too lately for i ve been visiting at yes i ve seen ah how do they bear their terrible affliction in a ve ry strange way ve ry strange she don t live u ii at again with him any longer i only heard of it as a certainty just before i left though i had thought things were drifting that way from their manner when i called on them not live with her husband why i should have thought have united them more he s not her husband after all she has never really married him although they have passed as man and wife so long and now instead of this sad event making em hurry up and get the thing done she s took in a queer religious way just as i was in my affliction at losing only hers is of a more sort than mine and she says so i was told that she s your wife in the eye of heaven and the church yours only and can t be anybody else s by any act of man ah indeed separated have they you see the eldest boy was mine yours yes poor little fellow born in lawful thank god and perhaps she feels over and above other things that i ought to have been in her place i can t say however as for me i am soon off from here i ve got father to took after now and we can t live in such a place as this i hope soon to be in a bar again at or some other big town they parted when had ascended the hill a few steps he stopped hastened back and called her what is or was their address gave it u thank you good afternoon smiled grimly as she resumed her way and practised making all along the road from where the begin to the old in the first street of the town meanwhile ascended to and for the first time during a lengthened period he lived with a forward eye on crossing under the large trees of the the obscure green to the humble school house to which he had been reduced he stood a moment and pictured sue coming out of the door to meet him no man had ever suffered more inconvenience from his own charity christian or heathen than had done in letting sue go he had been knocked about from pillar to post at the hands the virtuous almost beyond endurance he had been nearly starved and was now dependent entirely upon the very small from the school of this village where the parson had got ill spoken of for him he had often thought of s remark that he should have been more severe with sue that her spirit would soon have been broken yet such was his obstinate and disregard of opinion and of the principles in which he had been trained that his convictions on the of his course with his wife had not been disturbed principles which could be by feeling in one direction were liable to the same catastrophe in another the instincts which had allowed him to give sue her liberty now enabled him to regard her as none the worse for her life with he wished for her still in his curious way if he did not love her and apart from policy soon felt that he would be gratified to have her again as his always provided that she came willingly but was necessary he had found for the cold and blast of the world s contempt and here were the materials ready made by getting sue back and re marrying her on the respectable plea of having entertained views of her and gained his divorce he might acquire some comfort resume his old courses perhaps return to the school if not even to the church itself as a he thought he would write to to inquire his views and what he thought of his s sending a letter to her replied naturally that now she was gone it were best to let her be and con at again that if she were anybody s wife she was the wife of the man to whom she had borne three children and owed such adventures probably as his attachment to her seemed unusually strong the singular pair would make their union legal in course of time and all would be well and decent and in order but they won t sue won t exclaimed to himself is so old fashioned she s affected by sentiment and teaching i can see her views on the of marriage well enough and i know where she got them they are not mine but i shall make use of them to further mine he wrote a brief reply to i know i am entirely wrong but i don t agree with you as to her having lived with and had three children by him my feeling is though i can advance no logical or moral defence of it on the old lines that it has done little more than finish her education shall write to her and learn whether what that woman said is true or no as he had made up his mind to do this before he had written to his friend there had not been much reason for writing to the latter at all however it was s way to act thus he accordingly addressed a carefully considered to sue and knowing her temperament threw a into it here and there carefully hiding his feelings not to frighten her he stated that it having come to his knowledge that	45
her views had considerably changed he felt compelled to say that his own too were largely modified by events subsequent to their parting he would not conceal from her that passionate love had little to do with his communication it arose from a wish to make their lives if not a success at least no such disastrous failure as they threatened to become through his acting on what he had considered at the time a principle of justice charity and reason i the obscure v to indulge one s instinctive and sense of justice and right was not he had found permitted with in an old civilization like ours it was necessary to act under an acquired and artificial sense of the same if you wished to enjoy an average share of comfort and honor and to let loving kindness take care of itself he suggested that she should come to him there at on second thoughts he took out the last paragraph but one and having the letter he despatched it immediately and in some excitement awaited the issue a few days after a figure moved through the white fog which enveloped the of towards the quarter in which had taken up his lodging since his division from sue a timid knock sounded upon the door of his abode it was evening so he was at home and by a species of he jumped up and rushed to the door himself will you come out with me i would rather not come in i want to to talk with you and to go with you to the it had been in the trembling accents of sue that these words came put on his hat it is dreary for you to be out he said but if you prefer not to come in i don t mind yes i do i shall not keep you long was too much affected to go on talking at first she too was now such a mere cluster of nerves that all power seemed to have left her and they proceeded through the fog like shades for a long while without sound or gesture i want to tell you she presently said her voice now quick now slow so that you may not hear of it by chance i am going back to richard he so agreed to forgive all at again going back how can you go he is going to marry me again that is for form s sake and to satisfy the world which does not see things as they are but of course i am his wife already nothing has changed that he turned upon her with an anguish that was fierce but you are my wife yes you are you know it i have always regretted that of ours in going away and pretending to come back married to save appearances i loved you and you loved me and we closed with each other and that made the marriage we still love you as well as i i know it sue therefore our marriage is not yes i know how you see it she answered with despairing self but i am going to marry him again as it would be called by you strictly speaking you too don t mind my saying it you should take back i should good god what next but how if you and i had married as we were on the point of doing i should have felt just the same that ours was not a marriage and i would go back to richard without repeating the if he asked me but the world and its ways have a certain worth i suppose therefore i a repetition of the ceremony don t crush all the life out of me by satire and argument i you i was strongest once i know and perhaps i treated you cruelly but return good for evil i am the weaker now don t upon me but be kind oh be kind to a poor wicked woman who is trying to mend he shook his head hopelessly his eyes wet the blow of her seemed to have destroyed her reasoning faculty the once keen vision was all wrong all wrong he said error the obscure it drives me out of my senses do you care for him do you love him you know you don t it will be a god forgive me yes that s what it will be i don t love him i must must own it in deepest remorse but i shall try to learn to him by obeying him argued urged implored but her conviction was proof against all it seemed to be the one thing on earth on which she was firm and that her firmness in this had left her tottering in every other impulse and wish she possessed i have been considerate enough to let you know the whole truth and to tell it you myself she said in cut tones that you might not consider yourself by hearing of it at second hand i have even owned the extreme fact that i do not love him i did not think you would be so rough with me for doing so i was going to ask you to give you away no to send my boxes to me if you would but i suppose you won t why of course i will what isn t he coming to fetch you to marry you from here he won t condescend to do that no i won t let him i go to him voluntarily just as i went away from him we are to be married at his little church at she was so sadly sweet in what he called her that could not help being moved to tears more than	45
came back to the table ah yes said the license it has just come now joined them from his room above and sue nervously made herself agreeable to him by talking on whatever she thought likely to interest him except herself though that interested him most of all she ate some supper and prepared to leave for her lodging hard by crossed the green with her bidding her good night at mrs s door the old woman accompanied sue to her temporary quarters and helped her to among other things she laid out a night gown embroidered oh i didn t know that was put in said sue quickly i didn t mean it to be here is a different one she handed a new and absolutely plain garment of coarse and but this is the prettiest said mrs that one is no better than very o scripture yes i meant it to be give me the other at again she took it and began it with all her might the tears through the house like a but my dear dear whatever it is it what i don t feel i bought it long ago to please it must be destroyed r mrs lifted her hands and sue excitedly continued to tear the linen into laying the pieces in the fire you ha give it to me said the widow it do make my heart ache to see such pretty open work as that a burned by the flames not that ornamental night rails can be much use to a ould like i my days for such be all past and gone i it is an accursed thing it reminds me of what i want to forget sue repeated it is only fit for the fire lord you be too strict what do ye use such words for and condemn to hell your dear little innocent children that s lost to ee upon my life i don t call that religion sue flung her face upon the bed sobbing oh don t don t i that me she remained shaken with her grief and slipped down upon her knees i ll tell ee what you ought not to marry this man again said mrs indignantly you are in love wi t other still yes i must i am his already you be t other man s if you didn t like to commit yourselves to the binding vow again just at first twas all the more credit to your considering your reasons and you ha lived on and made it all right at last after all it concerned nobody but your own two selves richard says he ll have me back and i m bound to go if he had refused it might not have been so much my duty to give up but she remained with her face in the bed clothes and mrs left the room the obscure in the interval had gone back to his friend who still sat over the supper table they soon rose and walked out on the green to smoke a while a light was burning in sue s room a shadow moving now and then across the blind had evidently been impressed with the charm of sue and after a silence he said well you ve all but got her again at last she can t very well go a second time the has dropped into your hand yes i suppose i am right in taking her at her word i confess there seems a touch of selfishness in it apart from her being what she is of course a luxury for a like me it will set me right in the eyes of the clergy and who have never forgiven me for letting her go so i may get back in some degree into my old track well if you ve got any sound reason for marrying her again do it now in god s name i was always against your opening the cage door and letting the bird go in such an obviously way you might have been a school by this time or a reverend if you hadn t been so weak about her i did myself damage i know it once you ve got her again stick to her was more to night he did not care to admit clearly that his taking sue to him again had at bottom nothing to do with repentance of letting her go but was a human instinct flying in the face of custom and profession he said yes i shall do that i know woman better now whatever justice there was in her there was little logic for one holding my views on other subjects looked at him and wondered whether it would ever happen that the spirit induced by the world s and his own physical wishes would make more cruel to her e linen into s at again than he had been and kind i perceive it won t do to give way to impulse resumed feeling more and more every minute the necessity of acting up to his position i flew in the face of the church s teaching but i did it without malice women are so strange in their influence that they tempt you to kindness however i know myself better now a little judicious severity perhaps yes but you must the reins by degrees only don t be too at first she ll come to any terms in time the caution was unnecessary though did not say so i remember what my at said when i le ft after the row that was made about my agreeing to her the only thing you can do to your position and hers is to admit your error in not her with a wise and strong hand and to get her back again if she ll come and	45
be firm in the future but i was so at that time that i paid no heed and that after the divorce she should have thought of doing so i did not dream the gate of mrs s cottage and somebody began crossing in the direction of the school said good night oh is that mr said mrs i was going over to see ee i ve been up stairs with her helping her to her things and upon my word sir i don t think this ought to be the wedding yes she s forcing herself to it poor dear little thing and you ve no notion what she s suffering i was never much for religion nor against it but it can t be right to let her do this and you ought to persuade her out of it of course everybody will say it was very good and of ee to take her to ee again but for my part i don t the obscure it s her wish and i am willing said with grave reserve opposition making him now a great piece of will be i don t believe it she s his wife if anybody s she s had three children by him and he loves her dearly and it s a wicked shame to egg her on to this poor little quivering thing she s got nobody on her side the one man who d be her friend the obstinate creature won t allow to come near her what first put her into this mood o mind i wonder i can t tell not i certainly it is all voluntary on her part now that s all i have to say spoke stiffly you ve turned round mrs it is of you well i you d be at what i had to say but i don t mind that the truth s the truth i m not mrs you ve been too kind a neighbor for that but i must be allowed to know what s best for myself and i suppose you won t go to church with us then no be hanged if i can i don t know what the times be coming to matrimony have to be that serious in these days that one really do feel to move in it at all in my time we took it more careless and i don t know that we was any the worse for it when i and my poor man were in it we kept up the all the week and drunk the parish dry and had to borrow half a crown to begin housekeeping when mrs had gone back to her cottage spoke i don t know whether i ought to do it at any rate quite so rapidly why if she is really compelling herself to this against her instincts merely from this new sense of duty or religion i ought perhaps to let her wait a bit now you ve got so far you ought not to back out of it that s my opinion at again i can t very well put it off now that s true but i had a when she gave that little cry at sight of the license now never you have old boy i mean to give her away to morrow morning and you mean to take her it has always been on my conscience that i didn t urge more objections to your letting her go and now we ve got to this stage i sha n t be content if i don t help you to set the matter right nodded and seeing how his friend was became more frank no doubt when it gets known n what i ve done i shall be thought a soft fool by many but they don t know sue as i do hers is such a straight and open nature that i don t think she has ever done anything against her conscience the fact of her having lived with goes for nothing at the time she left me for him she thought she was quite within her right now she thinks otherwise the next morning came and the self the woman on the altar of what sh e was pleased to call her principles was in by these two friends each from his own point of view went across to the widow s to fetch sue a few minutes after eight o clock the fog of the previous day or two on the had travelled up here by now and the trees on the green caught and turned them into showers of big drops the bride was waiting ready bonnet and all on she had never in her life looked so much like the lily her name as she did in that pallid morning light world weary the strain on her nerves had upon her flesh and bones and she appeared smaller in outline than she had formerly done though sue had not been a large woman in her days of health prompt said the school master taking her hand but he checked his impulse to kiss her remembering her start of yesterday which lingered in his mind the obscure joined them and they left the house widow continuing steadfast in her refusal to assist in the ceremony where is the church said sue she had not lived there for any length of time since the old church was pulled down and in her forgot the new one up here said and presently the tower loomed large and solemn in the fog the had already crossed to the building and when they entered he said pleasantly we almost want candles you do wish me to be yours richard gasped sue in a whisper certainly dear above all things in the world sue said no more and for the second or third time he	45
too many she said any humble tavern in the country before that for me on the sunday morning following when he later than on other days she meekly asked him if she might come in to breakfast with him as she had broken her and could not replace it immediately the shops being shut yes if you like he said indifferently while they sat without speaking she suddenly observed you seem all in a brood old man i m sorry for you i am all in a brood it is about her i know it s no business of mine but i could find out all about the wedding if it really did take place if you wanted to know how could you i wanted to go to to get a few things i left there and i could see who ll be sure to have heard all about it as she has friends at mary green could not bear to in this proposal but his suspense itself against his discretion and won at again in the struggle you can ask about it if you like he said i ve not heard a sound from there it must have been very private if they have married i am afraid i haven t enough cash to take me there and back or i should have gone before i must wait till i have earned some oh i can pay the journey for you he said impatiently and thus his suspense as to sue s welfare and the possible marriage moved him to despatch for intelligence the last he would have thought of choosing deliberately went her to be home not later than by the seven o clock train when she had gone he said why should i have charged her to be back by a particular time she s nothing to me nor the other neither but having finished work he could not help going to the station to meet dragged thither by feverish haste to get the news she might bring and know the worst had made most successfully all the way home and when she stepped out of the railway carriage she smiled he merely said well with the very reverse of a smile they are married yes of course they are he returned she observed however the hard strain upon his lip as he spoke says she has heard from her relation out at that it was very sad and curious how do you mean sad she wanted to marry him again didn t she and he her yes that was it she wanted to in one sense but not in the other mrs was much upset by it all and spoke out her mind at but sue was that excited about it that she burned her best that she d worn with you to blot you out entirely well if a woman feels like it she ought to do it i commend her for it though others don t sighed she the obscure felt he was her only husband and that she belonged to nobody else in the sight of god a while he lived perhaps another woman feels the same about herself too sighed again i don t want any cant exclaimed it isn t cant said i feel exactly the same as she he closed that issue by remarking abruptly well now i know all i wanted to know many thanks for your information i am not going back to my lodgings just yet and he left her straightway in his misery and depression walked to well nigh every spot in the city that he had visited with sue thence he did not know whither and then thought of going home to his usual evening meal but having all the vices of his virtues and some to spare he turned into a for the first time during many months among the possible consequences of her marriage sue had not dwelt on this meanwhile had gone back the evening passed and did not return at half past nine herself went out first proceeding to an district near the river where her father lived and had opened a small and precarious pork shop lately well she said to him for all your me that night i ve come back for i have something to tell you i think i shall get married and settled again only you must help me and you can do no less after what i ve stood ee i ll do anything to get thee off my hands very well i am now going to look for my young man he s on the loose i m afraid and i must get him home all i want you to do to night is not to fasten the door in case i should want to sleep here and should be late i thought you d soon get tired of giving yourself airs and keeping away at again don t do the door that s all i say she then out again and first hastening back to s to make sure that he had not returned began her search for him a shrewd guess as to his probable course took her straight to the tavern which had formerly frequented and where she had been for a brief term she had no sooner opened the door of the private bar than her eyes fell upon sitting in the shade at the back of the with his eyes fixed on the floor in a blank stare he was drinking nothing stronger than ale just then he did not observe her and she entered and sat beside him looked up and said without surprise you ve come to have something i m trying to forget her that s all but i can t and i am going home she saw that he was a little way on in	45
liquor but only a little as yet i ve come entirely to look for you dear boy you are not well now you must have something better than that held up her finger to the you shall have a that s better fit for a man of education than beer you shall have or dry or sweet or cherry brandy i ll treat you poor chap i don t care which say cherry brandy sue has served me badly very badly i didn t expect it of sue i stuck to her and she ought to have stuck to me i d have sold my soul for her sake but she wouldn t risk hers a for me to save her own soul she lets mine go damn but it isn t her fault poor little girl i am sure it isn t how had obtained money did not appear but she ordered a each and paid for them when they had drunk these suggested another and had the pleasure of being as it were personally conducted through the varieties of by one who knew the well kept very the obscure considerably in the rear of but though she only where he drank she took as much as she could safely take without losing her head which was not a little as the crimson upon her countenance showed her tone towards him to night was uniformly and whenever he said i don t care what happens to me a thing he did continually she replied but i do very much the closing hour came and they were compelled to turn out whereupon put her arm round his waist and guided his unsteady footsteps when they were in the streets she said i don t know what our landlord will say to my bringing you home in this state i expect we are fastened out so that he ll have to come down and let us in i don t i don t know that s the worst of not having a home of your own i tell you what we had best do come round to my father s i made it up with him a bit to day i can let you in and nobody will see you at all and by tomorrow morning you ll be all right anything anywhere replied what the devil does it matter to me they went along together like any other couple her arm still round his waist and his at last round hers though with no intent but merely because he was weary and in need of support this is th burning place he stammered as they dragged across a broad street i remember in old fuller s holy state and i am reminded of it by our passing by here old fuller in his holy state says that at the burning of doctor smith preached sermon and took as his text though i give my body to be burned and have not charity it profit me nothing often think of it as i pass here was a yes exactly very thoughtful of you even though it hasn t much to do with our present business why yes it has i m giving my body to be burned at again ah you don t understand it wants sue to understand such things and i was her poor little girl and she s gone and i don t care about myself do what you like with me and yet she did it for conscience sake poor little sue hang her i mean i think she was right i ve my feelings too like her and i feel i belong to you in heaven s eye and to nobody else till death us do part it hie never too late hie to mend they had reached her father s house and she softly the door groping about for a light within the circumstances were not altogether unlike those of their entry into the cottage at such a long time before nor were perhaps s motives but did not think of that though she did i can t find the matches dear she said when she had fastened up the door but never this way as quiet as you can please it is as dark as pitch said give me your hand and i ll lead you that s it just sit down here and i ll pull off your boots i don t want to wake him who father he d make a row perhaps she pulled off his boots now she whispered take hold of me never mind your weight first stair second stair but are we out in our old house by asked the i haven t been inside it for years till now hey and where are my books that s what i want to know we are at my house dear where there s nobody to spy out how ill you are now third stair fourth stair that s it now we shall get on vii was preparing breakfast in the down stairs room of this small recently hired of her father s she put her head into the little pork shop in front and told mr it was ready to look like a master pork butcher in a greasy blue and with a round his waist from which a steel came in promptly you must mind the shop this morning he said casually i ve to go and get some and half a pig from and to call elsewhere if you live here you must put your shoulder to the wheel at least till i get the business started well for to day i can t say she looked into his face i ve got a prize up stairs oh what s	45
that a husband almost no yes it s he s come back to me your old original one well i m damned well i always did like him that i will say but how does he come to be up there said humor struck and nodding to the ceiling don t ask inconvenient questions father what we ve to do is to keep him here till he and i are as we were how was that married ah well it is the thing i ever heard of marrying an old husband again and so much new blood at again in the world he s no catch to my thinking i d have had a new one while i was about it it isn t rum for a woman to want her old husband back for respectability though for a man to want his old wife back well perhaps it is funny rather and was suddenly seized with a fit of loud laughter in which her father joined more be civil to him and i ll do the rest she said when she had recovered seriousness he told me this morning that his head ached fit to burst and he hardly seemed to know where he was and no wonder considering how he mixed his drink last night we must keep him jolly and cheerful here for a day or two and not let him go back to his lodging whatever you advance i ll pay back to you again but i must go up and see how he is now poor ascended the stairs softly opened the door of the first bedroom and peeped in finding that her was asleep she entered to the bedside and stood regarding him the flush on his face from the of the previous evening lessened the of his ordinary appearance and his long lashes dark brows and curly black hair and beard against the white pillow completed the of one whom as a woman of rank passions still felt it worth while to highly important to as a woman both in means and in reputation her ardent gaze seemed to affect him his quick breathing became suspended and he opened his eyes how are you now dear said she it is i ah where oh yes i remember you gave me shelter i am ill damn bad that s what i am then do stay there there s nobody in the house but father and me and you can rest till you are thoroughly well i ll tell them at the stone works that you are knocked up the obscure i wonder what they are thinking at the lodgings i ll go round and explain perhaps you had better let me pay up or they ll think we ve run away yes you ll find enough money in my pocket there quite indifferent and shutting his eyes because he could not bear the daylight in his throbbing seemed to again took his purse the room and putting on her out door things went off to the lodgings she and he had quitted the evening before scarcely half an hour had elapsed ere she reappeared round the corner walking beside a lad a on which were piled all s household possessions and also the few of s things which she had taken to the lodging for her short there was in such physical pain from his unfortunate break down of the previous night and in such mental pain from the loss of sue and from having yielded in his half state to that when he saw his few and standing before his eyes in this strange bedroom with woman s apparel he scarcely considered how they had come there or what their coming now said to her father down stairs we must keep plenty of good liquor going in the house these next few days i know his nature and if he once gets into that fearfully low state that he does get into sometimes he ll never do the honorable thing by me in this world and i shall be left in the he must be kept cheerful he has a little money in the bank and he has given me his purse to pay for anything necessary well that will be the license for i must have that ready at hand to catch him the moment he s in the humor you must pay for the liquor a few friends and a quiet party would be the thing if we could get rt up it would the shop and help me too that can be got up easy enough by anybody who ll at again afford and drink well yes it would the shop that s true three days later when had recovered somewhat from the fearful throbbing of his eyes and brain but was still considerably confused in his mind by what had been supplied to him by during the interval to keep him jolly as she expressed it the little gathering suggested by her to wind up to the took place had only just opened his miserable little shop which had as yet scarce any customers nevertheless that party advertised it well and the acquired a real among a certain class in who knew not the nor their works nor their ways was asked if he could suggest any guest in addition to those named by and her father and in a humor of perfect mentioned uncle joe and and the decayed and others whom he remembered as having been of the well known tavern during his bout therein years before he also suggested and bower o bliss took him at his word so far as the men went but drew the line at the ladies another man they knew though he lived in the same street was not invited but as he went homeward	45
s got no license nor anything she s got that bless you didn t you hear her say so to her father well said his pipe at the gas jet take her all together limb by limb she s not such a bad looking piece particular by candle light to be sure that have been in circulation can t be at again expected to look like new ones from the but for a woman that s been knocking about the four for some time she s enough a little bit thick in the perhaps but i like a woman that a puff o wind won t blow down their eyes followed the movements of the little girl as she spread the breakfast cloth on the table they had been using without wiping up the of the liquor the curtains were and the expression of the house made to look like morning some of the guests however fell asleep in their chairs one or two went to the door and gazed along the street more than once was the chief of these and after a time he came in with a on his face by they are coming i think the deed s done no said uncle joe following him in take my word he turned rusty at the last minute they are walking in a very way and that s the meaning of it they waited in silence till the wedding party could be heard entering the house first into the room came and her face was enough to show that her had succeeded mrs i presume said with mock courtesy certainly mrs again replied pulling off her glove and holding out her left hand there s the see well he was a very nice gentlemanly man indeed i mean the clergyman he said to me as gentle as a babe when all was done mrs i congratulate you heartily he says for having heard your history and that of your husband i think you have both done the right and proper thing and for your past errors as a wife and his as a husband i think you ought now to be forgiven by the world as you have forgiven each other says he yes he was a very nice gentlemanly man the church don t recognize divorce in her strictly speaking he says the obscure and bear in mind the words of the service in your out and your in what god hath joined together let no man put asunder yes he was a very nice gentlemanly man but my dear you were enough to make a cat laugh you walked that straight and held yourself that steady that one would have thought you were going to a judge though i knew you were seeing double all the time from the way you with my finger i said i d do anything to save a woman s honor muttered and i ve done it well now old come along and have some breakfast i want some more said nonsense dear not now there s no more left the tea will take the out of our heads and we shall be as fresh as all right i married you she said i ought to marry you again and i have straightway it is true religion ha ha viii came and passed and and his wife who had lived but a short time in her father s house after their marriage were in lodgings on the top floor of a house nearer to the centre of the city he had done a few days work during the two or three months since the event but his health had been indifferent and it was now precarious he was sitting in an before the fire and a good deal i ve got a bargain for my trouble in marrying thee over again was saying to him i shall have to keep ee entirely that s what come to i shall have to make black pot and and hawk em about the street all to support an invalid husband i d no business to be with at all why didn t you keep your health deceiving one like this you were well enough when i married you ah yes said he laughing i have been thinking of my foolish feeling about the pig you and i killed during our first marriage i feel now that the greatest mercy that could be vouchsafed to me would be that something should serve me as i served that animal this was the sort of discourse that went on between them every day now the landlord of the lodging who had heard that they were a queer couple had doubted if they were married at all especially as he had seen kiss one evening when she had taken a little cordial and he was about to give them notice to quit till by chance her one night in rattling terms and ultimately flinging a shoe at his head the obscure he recognized the note of ordinary and concluding that they must be respectable said no more did not get any better and one day he requested with considerable hesitation to execute a commission for him she asked him indifferently what it was to write to sue what in the name do you want me to write to her for to ask how she is and if she ll come to see me because i m ill and should like to see her once again it is like you to insult a lawful wife by asking such a thing it is just in order not to insult you that i ask you to do it you know i love sue i don t wish to the matter there stands the fact i love her i could find a dozen ways of sending a letter to her without your knowledge but	45
i wish to be quite above board with you and with her husband a message through you asking her to come is at least free from any of if she any of her old nature at all she ll come you ve no respect for marriage whatever or its rights and duties what does it matter what my opinions are a wretch like me can it matter to anybody in the world who comes to see me for half an hour here with one foot in the grave come please write he pleaded repay my by a little generosity i should think not not just once oh do he felt that his physical weakness had taken away all his dignity what do you want her to know how you are for she don t want to see ee she s the rat that the sinking ship don t don t and i stuck to un the more fool h have that in the house indeed almost as soon as the words were spoken sprang at again from the chair and before knew where she was he had her on her back upon a little couch which stood there he kneeling above her say another word of that sort he whispered and i ll kill you here and now i ve everything to gain by it my own death not being the least part so don t think there s no meaning in what i say what do you want me to do gasped promise never to speak of her very well i do i take your word he said scornfully as he loosened her but what it is worth i can t say you couldn t kill the pig but you could kill me ah there you have me no i couldn t kill you even in a passion away he then began very much and she estimated his life with an s eye as he sank back ghastly pale i ll send for her murmured if you ll agree to my being in the room with you all the time she s here the softer side of his nature the desire to see sue made him unable to resist the offer even now provoked as he had been and he replied yes i agree only send for her in the evening he inquired if she had written yes she said i wrote a note telling her you were ill and asking her to come to morrow or the day after i haven t posted it yet the next day wondered if she really did post it but would not ask her and foolish hope that lives on a drop and a made him restless with expectation he knew the times of the possible trains and listened on each occasion for sounds of her she did not come but would not address again he hoped and expected all the next day but no sue appeared neither was there any note of reply then decided in the privacy of his mind the obscure that had never posted hers although she had written it there was something in her manner which told it his physical weakness was such that he shed tears at the disappointment when she was not there to see his suspicions were in fact well founded like other nurses thought that your duty towards your invalid was to him by any means short of really acting upon his fancies he never said another word to her about h s wish or his conjecture a silent resolve grew up in him which gave him if not strength and calm one mid day when after an absence of two hours she came into the room she beheld the chair empty down she on the bed and sitting meditated now where the devil is my man gone to she said a driving rain from the had been falling with more or less all the morning and looking from the window at the dripping it seemed impossible to believe that any sick man would have ventured out to almost certain death yet a conviction possessed that he had gone out and it became a certainty when she had searched the house if he s such a fool let him be she said i can do no more was at that moment in a railway train that was drawing near to oddly pale as a figure in and much stared at by other passengers an hour later his thin form in the long great coat and blanket he had come with but without an umbrella could have been seen walking along the road to on his face showed the determined purpose that alone sustained him but to which his weakness afforded a sorry foundation by the up hill walk he was quite blown but he pressed on and at half past three o clock stood by the familiar well at the rain was keeping everybody in doors crossed the green to the church without observation and found the building open here he stood looking forth at the j at again school whence he could hear the usual sing song tones of the little voices that had not learned creation s groan r he waited till a small boy came from the school one evidently allowed out before hours for some reason or other held up his hand and the child came please call at the school house and ask mrs if she will be kind enough to come to the church for a few minutes the child departed and heard him knock at the door of the dwelling he himself went farther into the church everything was new except a few pieces of carving preserved from the wrecked old fabric now fixed against the new walls he stood by these they seemed akin to the perished people of that place who were his ancestors and sue	45
s a light footstep which might have been accounted no more than an added to the sounded in the and he looked round oh i didn t think it was you i didn t oh a hysterical catch in her breath ended in a succession of them he advanced but she quickly recovered and went back don t go don t go he implored this is my last time i thought it would be less than to enter your house and i shall never come again don t then be sue sue we are acting by the letter and the letter i ll stay i won t be unkind she said her mouth quivering and her tears flowing as she allowed him to come closer but why did you come and do this wrong thing after doing such a right thing as you have done what right thing marrying again it was in the paper she has never been other than yours in a proper sense and therefore you did so well oh so well in it and taking her to you again god above and is that all i ve come to hear if the obscure r there s anything more degrading unnatural than another in my life it is this contract with which has been called doing the right thing and you too you call yourself s wife his wife you are mine don t make me rush away from you i can t bear much but on this point i am decided i cannot understand how you did it how you think it i cannot never mind that he is a kind husband to me and i i ve and struggled and and prayed i have nearly brought my body into complete and you mustn t will you wake oh you darling little fool where is your reason you seem to have suffered the loss of faculties i would argue with you if i didn t know that a woman in your state of feeling is quite beyond all appeals to her brains or is it that you are yourself as so many women do about these things and don t actually believe what you pretend to and only are indulging in the luxury of the emotion raised by an affected belief luxury how can you be so cruel you dear sad soft most melancholy wreck of a promising human intellect that it has ever been my lot to behold where is your scorn of gone i would have died game you crush almost insult me go away from me she turned off quickly i will i would never come to see you again even if i had the strength to come which i shall not have any more sue sue you are not worth a man s love v her bosom began to go up and down i can t endure you to say that v she burst out and her eye resting on him a moment she turned back don t don t scorn me kiss me oh kiss me lots of times and say i am not a coward and a contemptible i can t bear it she rushed up to him and with her at again mouth on his continued i must tell oh i must my darling love it has been only a church marriage an apparent marriage i mean he suggested it at the very first how i mean it is a marriage only it hasn t been more than that at all since i came back to him sue he said pressing her to him in his arms he bruised her lips with kisses if misery can know happiness i have a moment s happiness now now in the name of all you hold holy tell me the truth and no lie you do love me still i do you know it too well but i mustn t do this i mustn t kiss you back as i would but do and yet you are so dear and you look so ill and so do you f there s one more in memory of our dead little children yours and mine the words struck her like a blow and she bent her head i mustn t i can t go on with this she gasped presently but there there darling i give you back your kisses i do i do and now i ll hate myself forever for my sin no let me make my last appeal listen to this we ve both out of our senses i was made to do it you were the same i was gin drunk you were creed drunk either form of takes a way th e nobler vision let us then shake off our mistakes and run away together no again no why do you tempt me so far it is too merciless i but i ve got over myself now don t follow me don t look at me leave me for pity s sake she ran up the church to the east end and did as she requested he did not turn his head but took up his blanket which she had not seen and went straight out as he passed the end of the church she heard his l i the obscure mingling with the rain on the windows and in a last instinct of human affection even now by her she sprang up as if to go and him but she knelt down again and stopped her ears with her hands till all possible sound of him had passed away he was by this time at the corner of the green from which the path ran across the fields in which he had scared as a boy he turned and looked back	45
once at the building which still contained sue and then went on knowing that his eyes would light on that scene no more there are cold spots up and down in autumn and winter weather but the of all when a north or east wind is blowing is the crest of the down by the brown house where the road to crosses the old here the first winter and fall and lie and here the spring frost last here in the teeth of the wind and rain now pursued his way wet through the necessary of his walk from lack of his former strength being insufficient to maintain his heat he came to the mile stone and as it was spread his blanket and lay down there to rest before moving on he went and felt at the back of the stone for his own carving it was still there but nearly by moss he passed the spot where the of his and sue s had stood and descended the hill it was dark when he reached where he had a cup of tea the deadly chill that began to creep into his bones being too much for him to endure to get home he had to travel by a steam car and two branches of railway with much waiting at a he did not reach till ten o clock j ix on the platform stood she looked him up and down you ve been to see her she asked i have said literally tottering with cold and well now you d best march along home the water ran out of him as he went and he was compelled to lean against the wall to support himself while you ve done for yourself by this young man said j she i don t know whether you know it of course i do i meant to do for myself what to commit suicide certainly well i m kill yourself for a woman listen to me you think you are the stronger and so you are in a physical sense now you could push me over like a you did not send that letter the other day and i could not resent your conduct but i am not so weak in another way as you think i made up my mind that a man confined to his room by of the lungs a fellow who had only two wishes left in the world to see a particular woman and then to die could neatly accomplish those two wishes at one stroke by taking this journey in the rain that i ve done i have seen her for the last time and i ve finished myself put an end to a feverish life which ought never to have been begun lord you do talk lofty won t you have something warm to drink i i i i the obscure no thank you let s go home they went along by the silent and kept stopping what are you looking at stupid fancies i see in a way those spirits of the dead again on this my last walk that i saw when i first came here what a curious chap you are i seem to see them and almost hear them rustling but i don t all of them as i did then i don t believe in half of them the the and their kin the the high handed and others no longer interest me all that has been spoiled for me by the grind of stern reality the expression of s corpse like face in the watery was indeed as if he saw people where there was nobody at moments he stood still by an like one watching a figure walk out then he would look at a window like one a familiar face behind it he seemed to hear voices whose words he repeated as if to gather their meaning they seem laughing at me who oh i was talking to myself the all about here in the college and windows they used to look friendly in the old days particularly and and johnson and dr and bishop come along do there s neither living nor dead except a damn policeman i never saw the streets fancy the poet of liberty used to walk here and the great of melancholy there don t want to hear about em they bore me walter is to me from that lane and a whole crowd of shades at again i want to know their names i tell you what do i care about folk dead and gone upon my soul you are more sober when you have been drinking than when you have not i must rest a moment he said and as he paused holding to the he measured with his eye the height of a college front this is old and this and up that lane and and all down there is cardinal with its long front and its windows with lifted eyebrows representing the polite surprise of the university at the efforts of such as i come along and i ll treat you very well it will help me home for i feel the chilly fog from the meadows of cardinal as if death claws were me through and through as said i am neither a among men nor ghosts but when i am dead you ll see my spirit flitting up and down here among these you won t die you are tough enough yet old man it was night at and the rain of the afternoon showed no sign of about the time at which and were walking the streets of homeward the widow crossed the green and opened the back door of the school master s dwelling which she often did now before to assist sue in putting things away sue was helplessly in the kitchen for she	45
was not a good though she tried to be and grew impatient of domestic details lord love ee what do ye do that yourself for when i ve come o purpose you knew i should come oh i don t i forgot no i didn t forget i did it to discipline myself i have the stairs since eight o clock i must practise myself in my household duties i ve neglected them the obscure why should ye he ll get a better school perhaps be a parson in time and you ll keep two servants tis a pity to spoil them pretty hands don t talk of my pretty hands mrs this pretty body of mine has been the ruin of me already you ve got no body to speak of you put me more in mind of a but there seems something wrong to night my dear husband cross no he never is he s gone to bed early then what is it i cannot tell you i have done wrong to day and i want to it i will tell you this has been here this afternoon and i find i still love oh i cannot tell you more ah said the widow i told ee how be but it sha n t be i have not told my husband of his visit it is not necessary to trouble him about it as i never mean to see any more but i am going to make my conscience right on my duty to richard by doing a penance the ultimate thing i must i wouldn t since he to it being otherwise and it has gone on three months very well as it is yes he to my living as i choose but i feel it is an indulgence i ought not to exact from him it ought not to have been accepted by me to reverse it will be terrible but i must be more just to him oh why was i so what is it you don t like in him asked mrs curiously i cannot tell you it is something i cannot say the mournful thing is that nobody would admit it as a reason for feeling as i do so that no excuse is left me did you ever tell what it was never i ve heard strange tales o husbands in my time observed the widow in a lowered voice they say that when the saints were upon the earth devils used to take at again husbands forms o nights and get poor women into all sorts of trouble but i don t know why that should come into my head for it is only a tale what a wind and rain it is to night well don t be in a hurry to alter things my dear think it over no no i ve my weak soul up to treating him more courteously and it must be now at once before i break down i don t think you ought to force your nature no woman ought to be expected to it is my duty i will drink my cup to the half an hour later when mrs put on her bonnet and shawl to leave sue seemed to be seized with vague terror no no don t go mrs she implored her eyes enlarged and with a quick nervous look over her shoulder but it is child yes but there s the little spare room my room that was it is quite ready please stay mrs i shall want you in the morning oh well i don t mind if you wish nothing will happen to my four old walls whether i be there or no she then fastened up the doors and they ascended the stairs together wait here mrs said sue i ll go into my old room a moment by myself leaving the widow on the landing sue turned to the chamber which had been hers exclusively since her arrival at and pushing to the door knelt down by the bed for a minute or two she then arose and taking her night gown from the pillow and came out to mrs a man could be heard in the room opposite she wished mrs good night and the widow entered the room that sue had just sue the other chamber door and as if seized with sank down outside it getting up again the obscure she half opened the door and said richard as the word came out of her mouth she visibly shuddered the had quite ceased for some time but he did not reply sue seemed relieved and hurried back to mrs s chamber are you in bed mrs she asked no dear said the widow opening the door i be old and slow and it takes me a long while to un ray i ha n t my yet i don t hear him and perhaps perhaps what child perhaps he s dead she gasped and then i should be free and i could go to ah no i forgot her and god let s go and no he s again but the rain and the wind is so loud that you can hardly hear anything but between sue had dragged herself back mrs good night again i am sorry i called you out the widow retreated a second time the strained resigned look returned to sue s face when she was alone i must do it i must i must drink to the she whispered richard she said again hey what is that you yes what do you want anything the matter wait a moment he pulled on some articles of clothing and came to the door yes when we were at i jumped out of the window rather than	45
that you should come near me i have never reversed that treatment till now when i have come to beg your pardon for it and ask you to let me in perhaps you only think you ought to do this i don t wish you to come against your impulses as i have said but i beg to be admitted she waited a moment and repeated i beg to be admitted i have been in at again error even to day i have exceeded my rights i did not mean to tell you but perhaps i ought i against you this afternoon how i met i didn t know he was coming and well i kissed him and let him kiss me the old story richard i didn t know we were going to kiss each other till we did how many times a good many i don t know i am to look back on it and the least i can do after it is to come to you like this come this is pretty bad after what i ve done anything else to confess no she had been intending to say i called him my darling love but as a woman always keeps back a little that portion of the scene remained she went on i am never going to see him any more he spoke of some things of the past and it overcame me he spoke of the children but as i have said i am glad almost glad i mean that they are dead richard it out all that life of mine well about not seeing him again any more come you really mean this there was something in s tone now which seemed to show that his three months of with sue had somehow not been so satisfactory as his or patience had anticipated yes yes perhaps you ll swear it on the new testament i will he went back to the room and brought out a little brown testament now then so help you god she swore very good the obscure now i you richard to whom i belong and whom i wish to honor and obey as i vowed to let me in think it over well you know what it means having you back was one thing this another so think again i have thought i wish this that s a and perhaps you are right with a lover hanging about a half marriage should be completed but i repeat my this third and last time it is my wish o god what did you say o god for didn t know yes you do but he gloomily considered her thin and fragile form a moment longer as she crouched before him in her night clothes well i thought it might end like this he said presently i owe you nothing after these signs but i ll take you in at your word and forgive you he put his arm round her to lift her up sue started back what s the matter he asked speaking for the first time sternly you shrink from me again just as formerly no richard i i was not thinking you wish to come in here yes you still bear in mind what it means yes it is my duty placing the on the chest of drawers he led her through the doorway and lifting her bodily kissed her a wild look of aversion passed over her face but her teeth she uttered no cry mrs had by this time and was about to get into bed when she said to herself ah perhaps i d better go and see if the little thing is all right how it do blow and rain at again the widow went out on the landing and saw that sue had disappeared ah poor soul be a b nowadays fifty five years ago come fall since my man and i married times have changed since then i despite himself recovered somewhat and worked at his trade for several weeks after christmas however he broke down again with the money he had earned he shifted his lodgings to a yet more central part of the town but saw that he was not likely to do much work for a long while and was cross enough at the turn affairs had taken since her to him i m hanged if you haven t been clever in this last stroke she would say to get a nurse for nothing by marrying me i was absolutely indifferent to what she said and indeed often regarded her abuse in a humorous light sometimes his mood was more earnest and as he lay he often on upon the defeat of his early aims every man has some little power in some one direction he would say i was never really stout enough for the stone trade particularly the fixing moving the blocks always used to strain me and standing the trying draughts in buildings before the windows are in always gave me and i think that began the mischief inside but i felt i could do one thing if i had the opportunity i could ideas and impart them to others i wonder if the had such as i in their minds a fellow good for nothing else but that particular thing i hear that soon there is going to be a better chance for such helpless students as i was there are schemes for making the university less exclusive and extending its influence i don t know much about it and it is too at again late too late for me ah and for how many ones before me how you keep a said i should have thought you d have got over all that about books by this time and so you	45
by an umbrella stay in the flame of a candle she had lighted and using it upon the flowing lock when she had finished this practised a and put on her things she cast her eyes round upon he seemed to be sleeping though his position was an elevated one his malady preventing him lying down and ready sat down and waited as if expecting some one to come and take her place as nurse certain sounds from without revealed that the town was in though little of the festival whatever it might have been could be seen here bells began to ring and the notes came into the room through the open window and travelled round s head in a hum they made her restless and at last she said to herself why ever doesn t father come she looked again at his life as she had done so many times during the late months and glancing at his watch which was hung up by way of rose impatiently still he slept and coming to a resolution she slipped from the room closed the door noiselessly and descended the stairs the at again house was empty the attraction which moved to go abroad had evidently drawn away the other inmates long before it was a warm day she shut the front door and hastened round into chief street and when near the theatre could hear the notes of the organ a for a coming concert being in progress she entered under the of college where men were putting up round the for a ball in the hall that evening people who had come up from the country for the day were on the grass and walked along the gravel paths and under the aged but finding this place rather dull she returned to the streets and watched the carriages drawing up for the concert numerous and their wives and with gay female companions crowding up likewise when the doors were closed and the concert began she moved on the powerful notes of that concert rolled forth through the swinging yellow blinds of the open windows over the house tops and into the still air of the lanes they reached so far as to the room in which lay and it was about this time that his cough began again and awakened him as soon as he could speak he murmured his eyes still closed a little water please nothing but the deserted room received his appeal and he to exhaustion again saying still more feebly water some water sue the room remained still as before presently he gasped again throat water sue darling drop of water oh please no water came and the organ notes faint as a bee s hum rolled in as before while he remained his face changing shouts and came from somewhere in the direction of the river the obscure ah yes the remembrance games he murmured and i here and sue the were repeated drowning the faint organ notes s face changed more he whispered slowly his lips scarcely moving let the day perish wherein i was born and the night in which it was said there is a man child conceived let that day be darkness let not god regard it from above neither let the light shine upon it lo let that night be solitary let no joyful voice come therein why died i not from the why did i not give up the ghost when i came out of the belly for should i have lain still and been quiet i should have slept then had i been at rest there the prisoners rest together they hear not the voice of the the small and the great are there and the servant is free from his master wherefore is light given to him that is in misery and life unto the bitter in soul meanwhile on her journey to discover what was going on took a short cut down a narrow street and through an obscure nook into the of cardinal it was full of bustle and brilliant in the sunlight with flowers and other preparations for a ball here also a carpenter nodded to her one who had formerly been a of s a corridor was in course of from the entrance to the hall staircase of gay red wagon loads of boxes containing bright plants in full bloom were being placed about and the great staircase was covered with red cloth she nodded to one workman and another and ascended to the hall on the strength of their acquaintance where they were putting down a new floor and for the dance at again the cathedral bell close at hand was sounding for clock service i should not mind having a spin there with a fellow s arm round my waist she said to one of the men but lord i must be getting home again there s a lot to do no dancing for me when she reached home she was met at the door by and one or two other of s fellow stone workers we are just going down to the river said the former to see the boat but we ve called round on our way to ask how your husband is he s sleeping nicely thank you said that s right well can t you give yourself half an hour s mrs and come along with us do you good i should like to go said she i ve never seen the boat racing and i hear it is good fun come along how i wish i could she looked down the street wait a minute then i ll just run up and see how he is now father is with him i believe so i can most likely come they waited and she entered down stairs the inmates were absent as before	45
plan and willingly joined me in the of imagining a population living under queen victoria a modern of the penny post and machines union matches who could read and write and national school children but i believe i am correct in stating that until the existence of this was announced in the present story in never been preface heard of and that the expression a peasant or a custom would have been taken to refer to nothing later in date than the conquest i did not anticipate that this application of the word to a modern use would extend outside the chapters of my own but the name was soon taken up elsewhere as a local the first to do so was the now which in the impression bearing date july entitled one of its articles the the article turning out to be no on farming during the but on the modern peasant of the south west and his in these stories since then the which i had thought to reserve to the and of a merely dream country has become more and more popular as a practical provincial definition and the dream country has by degrees into a region which people can go to take a house in and write to the papers from but i ask all good and gentle readers to be so kind as to forget this and to refuse to believe that there are any inhabitants of a outside the pages of this and the companion volumes in which they were first discovered moreover the village called wherein the scenes of the present story of the series are for the most part laid would perhaps be hardly by the without help in any existing place nowadays though at the time comparatively recent at which the tale was written a sufficient reality to meet the preface tions both of and personages might have been traced easily enough the church remains by great good fortune and and a few of the old houses but the ancient house which was formerly so characteristic of the parish has been pulled down these twenty years also most of the and cottages that were once the game of prisoner which not so long ago seemed to enjoy a vitality in front of the worn out stocks may so far as i can say be entirely unknown to the rising generation of there the practice of by bible and key the regarding of as things of serious import the supper and the harvest home have too nearly disappeared in the wake of the old houses and with them have gone it is said much of that love of to which the village at one time was prone the change at the root of this has been the recent of the class of stationary who carried on the local traditions and by a population of more or less which has led to a break of in local history more fatal than any other thing to the preservation of legend folk lore close inter social relations and eccentric for these the indispensable conditions of existence are attachment to the soil of one particular spot by generation after generation t h february r contents chapter first description of farmer oak an incident i chapter second night the flock an interior another interior chapter third a girl on conversation chapter fourth s the the mistake chapter fifth departure of a pastoral tragedy chapter sixth the fair the journey the fire chapter seventh recognition a timid girl chapter eighth the the chat news chapter ninth the a visitor half confidences chapter tenth mistress and men chapter outside the snow a meeting contents chapter twelfth farmers a rule an exception loi chapter the chapter effect of the sunrise chapter a morning meeting the letter again chapter sixteenth all saints and all souls chapter in the market place chapter bold wood in meditation regret chapter nineteenth the sheep washing the offer chapter twentieth perplexity grinding the a quarrel chapter twenty first troubles in the fold a message chapter twenty second the great barn and the sheep chapter twenty third a second declaration chapter twenty fourth the same night the fir plantation chapter twenty fifth the new acquaintance described chapter twenty sixth scene on the verge of the hay chapter twenty seventh the bees contents chapter twenty eighth tub hollow amid thb chapter twenty ninth particulars of a twilight walk chapter hot cheeks and tearful chapter thirty first chapter thirty second night horses chapter thirty third in the a chapter thirty fourth home again a chapter thirty fifth at an upper window chapter thirty sixth wealth in the chapter thirty seventh the storm the two together chapter thirty eighth one solitary meets another chapter thirty ninth coming home a chapter on highway chapter forty first is sent for chapter forty second joseph and his burden buck s head chapter forty third s revenge x b a contents chapter forty fourth under a chapter forty fifth s i chapter forty sixth thb its doings chapter forty seventh adventures by the shore chapter forty eighth doubts arise doubts vanish chapter forty ninth oak s advancement a great hope chapter the sheep fair touches his wife hand chapter fifty first talks with her chapter fifty second courses chapter fifty third chapter fifty fourth after the shock chapter fifty fifth the march following chapter fifty sixth beauty in loneliness after all chapter fifty seventh a night and morning conclusion pass description of farmer oak description of farmer oak an incident when farmer oak smiled the corners of his mouth spread till they were within an unimportant distance of his ears his eyes were reduced to mere and wrinkles appeared round	45
oak s motions though they had a quiet energy were slow and their accorded well with his occupation fitness being the basis of all beauty nobody could have denied that his steady and turns in and about the flock had elements of grace yet although if occasion demanded he could do or think a thing with as a dash as can the men of towns who are more to the manner born his special power morally physically and mentally was owing little or nothing to as a rule ii far from the crowd a dose of the ground even by the wan only revealed how a portion of what would have been casually called a wild slope had been appropriated by farmer oak for his great this winter detached with straw were stuck into the ground at various scattered points and under wliich the forms of his meek moved and the ring of the sheep bell which had been silent during his absence tones that had more than clearness owing to an increasing growth of surrounding wool this continued till oak withdrew again from the flock he returned to the hut bringing in his arms a new born lamb consisting of four l large enough for a sheep united by an unimportant about half the substance of the legs which constituted the animal s entire body just at present the little speck of life he placed on a of hay before the stove where a can of milk was oak extinguished the lantern by blowing into it and then out the t the cot being lighted by a candle by a twisted wire a rather hard couch formed of a few corn thrown carelessly down covered half the floor of this habitation and here the young man stretched himself along loosened his and closed his eyes in about the time a person to bodily labour would have decided upon which side to lie farmer oak was asleep the inside of the hut ns it now presented itself was and and the scarlet handful of fire in addition lo the candle reflecting its own genial colour upon whatever it could reach flung associations of enjoyment even over and tools in the corner stood the sheep and along a shelf at one side were ranged bottles and of the simple preparations to and spirits of wine tar and i an interior being the chief on a shelf across the corner stood bread bacon cheese and a cup for ale or which was supplied from a beneath beside the provisions lay the whose notes had lately been called forth by the lonely to a tedious hour the house was by two round holes like the lights of a cabin with wood the lamb revived by the warmth began to and the sound entered ears and brain with an instant meaning as expected sounds will passing from the sleep to the most alert with the same ease that had accompanied the reverse operation he looked at his watch found that the had shifted again put on his hat took the lamb in his arms and carried it inter the darkness after placing the little creature with its mother he stood and carefully examined the sky to ascertain the time of night from the of the stars the dog star and pointing to the restless were up the southern sky and between them hung which gorgeous never burnt more vividly than now as it swung itself forth above the rim of the landscape and with their quiet shine were almost on the the barren and gloomy square of was creeping round to the north west far away through the plantation sparkled like a lamp suspended amid the trees and s chair stood poised on the uppermost boughs one o clock said being a man not without a frequent consciousness that there was some charm in this life he led he stood still after looking at the sky as a useful instrument and regarded it in an spirit as a work of art beautiful for a moment he seemed impressed with the speaking loneliness of the scene or rather with the complete abstraction from all its compass far from the crowd of the sights and sounds of man human shapes troubles and joys were all as if they were not and there seemed to be on the shaded of the globe no being save himself he could fancy them all gone round to the sunny side occupied thus with eyes stretched afar oak gradually perceived that what he had previously taken to be a star low down behind the outskirts of the plantation was in reality no such thing it was an artificial light almost close at hand to find themselves utterly alone at night where company is desirable and expected makes some people fearful but a case more trying by far to the nerves is to discover some mysterious companionship when sensation memory testimony probability every kind of evidence in the s list have united to persuade consciousness that it is quite in farmer oak went towards the plantation and pushed through its lower boughs to the windy side a dim mass under the slope reminded him that a shed occupied a place here the site being a cutting into the slope of the hill so that at its back part the roof was almost level with the ground in front it was formed of boards nailed to posts and covered with tar as a through in the roof and side spread streaks and of light a combination of which made up the radiance that had attracted him oak stepped up behind where leaning down upon the roof and putting his eye close to a hole he could see into the interior clearly the place contained two women and two cows by the side of the latter a steaming stood in a bucket one of the women was past middle age her companion	45
was apparently young and graceful he could form no decided opinion upon her looks her position being almost beneath his eye so that he saw her in a another interior bird s eye view as milton s satan first saw paradise she wore no bonnet or hat but had enveloped herself in a large cloak which was carelessly flung over her head as a covering there now we ll go home said the elder of the two resting her upon her and looking t their on as a whole i do hope will round again now i have never been more frightened in my life but i don t mind breaking my rest if she the young woman whose eyelids were apparently inclined to fall together on the smallest provocation of silence yawned without parting her lips to any inconvenient extent whereupon caught the and slightly yawned in sympathy i wish we were rich enough to pay a man to do these things she said as we are not we must do them ourselves said the other for you must help me if you stay well my hat is gone however continued the younger it went over the hedge i think the idea of such a slight wind catching it the cow standing erect was of the breed and was in a tight warm hide of rich indian red as absolutely uniform from eyes to tail as if the animal had been dipped in a of that colour her long back being level the other was spotted gray and white beside her oak now noticed a little calf about a day old looking at the two women which showed that it had not long been accustomed to the phenomenon of and often turning to the lantern which it apparently for the moon inherited instinct having as yet had little time for by experience between the sheep and the cows had been busy on hill lately i think we had better send for some said the elder woman there s no more is far from the crowd yes aunt and ride over for it as soon as it is light but there s no side saddle i can ride on the other trust me oak upon hearing these remarks became more curious to observe her features but this prospect being denied him by the effect of the cloak and by his position he felt himself drawing upon his fancy for their details in making even and clear we colour and mould according to the wants within us whatever our eyes bring in had been able from the first to get a distinct view of her countenance his estimate of it as very handsome or slightly so would have been as his soul required a divinity at the moment or was ready supplied with one having for some time known the want of a satisfactory form to fill an increasing void within him his position moreover affording the scope for his fancy he painted her a beauty by one of those in which nature like a busy mother seems to spare a moment from her labours to turn and make her children smile the girl now dropped the cloak and forth tumbled ropes of black hair over a red jacket oak knew her instantly as the heroine of the yellow and looking glass as the woman who owed him they placed the calf beside its mother again took up the lantern and went out the light sinking down the hill till it was no more than a oak returned to his flock a girl on horseback a girl on horseback conversation iii he day began to break even its position is one of the elements of a new interest and for no particular reason save that the incident of the night had occurred there oak went again into the plantation lingering and musing here he heard the steps of a horse at the foot of the hill and soon there appeared in view an pony with a girl on its back ascending by the path leading past the she was the young woman of the night before instantly thought of the hat she had mentioned as having lost in the wind possibly she had come to look for it he hastily the ditch and after walking about ten yards along it found the hat among the leaves took it in his hand and returned to his hut here he himself and peeped through the in the direction of the rider s approach she came up and looked around then on the other of the hedge was about to advance and restore the missing article when an unexpected performance induced him to the action for the present the path after passing the the plantation it was not a bridle path merely a s track and the boughs spread at a height not greater than seven feet above the ground c r i look th l pa ih she far from tlie crowd which made it impossible to ride erect beneath them the girl who wore no riding habit looked around for a moment as if to assure herself that all humanity was out of view then dropped backwards flat upon the pony s back her head over its tail her feet against its shoulder and her eyes to the sky the rapidity of her glide into this position was that of a its that of a hawk s eyes had scarcely been able to follow her the tall pony seemed used such doings and along thus she passed under the level boughs the seemed quite at home anywhere between a s head and its tail and the necessity for this attitude having ceased with the passage of the plantation she began to adopt another even more obviously convenient than the first she had no side saddle and it was very apparent that a firm seat upon the smooth leather	45
beneath her was sideways springing to her accustomed perpendicular like a bowed and satisfying herself that nobody was in sight she seated herself in the manner demanded by the saddle though hardly expected of the woman and trotted off in the direction of mill oak was amused perhaps a little astonished and hanging up the hat in his hut went again among his an hour passed the girl returned properly seated now with a in front of her on the cattle shed she was met by a boy bringing a who held ihe reins of the pony whilst she slid oft the boy led away the horse leaving the with the young woman soon soft with loud came in regular succession from within the shed they were the sounds of a person a cow took the lost hat in his hand and waited beside the path she would follow in leaving the hill conversation she came the in one hand hanging against her knee the left arm was extended as a balance enough of it being shown bare to make oak wish that the event had happened in the summer when the whole would have been revealed there was a bright air and manner about her now by which she seemed to imply that the of her existence could not be questioned and this rather assumption failed in being offensive because a felt it to be upon the whole true like exceptional emphasis in the tone of a genius that which would have made ridiculous was an t addition to recognised power it was with some a surprise that she saw face rising like the moon behind the hedge the of the farmer s of her charms to the portrait of herself she now presented him with was less a than a difference the starting point selected by the judgment was her height she seemed tall but the was a small one and the hedge hence making allowance for error by comparison with these she could have been not above the height to be chosen by women as best all features of consequence were severe and regular it may have been observed by persons who go about the with eyes for beauty that in a formed face is seldom found to be united with a figure of the same pattern the highly finished features being generally too large for the remainder of the frame that a graceful and figure of eight heads usually goes off into random curves without throwing a over a let it be said that here criticism checked itself as out of place and looked at her proportions with a long consciousness of pleasure from the of her figure in its upper part she must have had a beautiful neck and shoulders but since her infancy nobody had ever them had she been into a low dress far from the crowd she would have run and thrust her head into a bush yet she was not a shy girl by any means it was merely her instinct to draw the line dividing the seen from the unseen higher than they do it in towns that the girl s thoughts hovered about her face and form as soon as she caught oak s eyes the same page was natural and almost certain the shown would have been vanity if a more pronounced dignity if a httle less rays of male vision seem to have a effect upon virgin faces in rural districts she hastily brushed hers with her hand as if had been its pink surface by actual touch and the free air of her previous movements was reduced at the same time to a phase of itself yet it was the man who blushed the maid not at all i found a hat said oak it is mine said she and from a sense of proportion kept down to a small smile an inclination to laugh distinctly it flew away last night one o clock this morning it was she was surprised how did you know she said i was here you are farmer oak are you not that or i m lately come to this place a large farm she inquired casting her eyes round and swinging back her hair which was black in the shaded hollows of its mass but it being now an hour se the rays touched its prominent curves with a colour of own no not large about a hundred in speaking of farms the word acres is omitted by the natives by to such old expressions as a of ten i wanted my hat this morning she went on i had to ride to mill yea you had conversation how do you know i saw you where she inquired a bringing every muscle of her and frame to a here through the plantation and all down the hill said farmer oak with an aspect excessively knowing with regard to some matter in his mind as he gazed at a remote point in the direction named and then turned back to meet his s eyes a perception caused him to withdraw his own eyes from hers as suddenly as if he had been caught in a recollection of the strange she had indulged in when passing through the trees was succeeded in the girl by a and that by a hot face it was a time to see a woman who was not given to as a rule not a point in the but was of the deepest rose colour from the maiden s blush through all varieties of the down to the crimson the countenance of oak s acquaintance quickly whereupon he in turned away his head the sympathetic man still looked the other way and wondered when she would recover coolness sufficient to justify him in facing her again he heard what seemed to be the flitting of a dead leaf upon the breeze and looked she had	45
gone away with an air between that of tragedy and comedy returned to his work five mornings and evenings passed the young woman came regularly to milk the healthy cow or to attend to the sick one but never allowed her vision to stray in the direction of oak s person his want of tact had deeply offended her not by seeing what he could not help but by letting her know that he had seen it for as without law there is no sin without eyes there is no and she appeared to feel that s had made her an woman far from the crowd without her own it was food for great regret with him it was also a which touched into life a latent heat he had experienced in that direction the might however have ended in a slow forgetting but for an incident which occurred ai the end of the same week one afternoon it began to and the frost increased with evening which drew on like a of bonds it was a lime when in cottages the breath of the to the sheets when round the drawing room fire of a thick walled mansion the backs are cold even whilst their faces are all many a small bird went to bed that night among the bare boughs as the hour drew near oak kept his usual watch upon the at last he felt cold and shaking an extra quantity of round the he entered the hut and heaped more fuel upon the stove the wind came in at the bottom of the door and to prevent it oak wheeled the col round a little more to the south then the wind in at a hole of which there was one on each side of the hot had always known that when the was lighted and the door closed one of these must be kept open that chosen being always on the side away from the wind closing the slide to he turned to open the other on second thoughts the farmer considered that he would first sit down leaving both closed for a minute or two till the temperature of the hut was a little raised he sat down his head began to ache in an unwonted manner and himself weary by reason of the broken rests of the preceding nights oak decided to get up open the slide and then allow himself to fall asleep he fell asleep without having performed the necessary preliminary how long he remained unconscious never s conversation knew during first stages of his return to perception peculiar deeds seemed to be in course of his dog was howling his head was aching fearfully somebody was pulling him about hands were his on opening his eyes he found that evening had sunk lo dusk in a strange manner of the young girl with the remarkably pleasant lips and white teeth was beside him more than this his head was upon her lap his face and neck were wet and her fingers were his collar whatever is the matter said oak she seemed to experience mirth but of too insignificant a kind to start the capacity of enjoyment nothing now she answered since you are not dead it was a wonder you were not in this hut of yours ah the murmured i gave ten pounds for that hut but i ll sell it and sit under as they did in old times and curl up to sleep in a lock of straw i it played me nearly the same trick the other day by way of emphasis brought down his fist upon the floor it was not exactly the fault of the hut she observed speaking in a tone which showed her to be that novelty among one who finished a thought before beginning the sentence which was lo convey it you should i think have considered and not have been so foolish as to leave the closed yes i suppose i should said oak he was endeavouring to catch and appreciate the sensation of being thus with her his head upon her dress before the event passed on into the heap of things he wished she knew his impressions but he would as soon have thought of carrying an in a net as of attempting to convey the of his feeling far from the crowd in the coarse of language so he remained silent she made him up and then oak began wiping his face and shaking himself like a how can i thank ye he said at last gratefully some of the natural rusty red having returned to his face oh never mind that said the girl and allowing her smile to hold good for next remark whatever that might prove to be how did you find me i heard your dog howling and scratching at the door of the hut when i came to the it was so lucky s is almost over for the season and i shall not come here after this week or the next the dog saw me and jumped over to me and laid hold of my i came across and looked round the hut the very first thing to see if the were closed my uncle has a hut like this one and i have heard him tell his shepherd not to go to sleep without leaving a slide open i opened the door and here you were like dead i threw the milk over you as there was no water forgetting it was warm and no use i wonder if i should have died said in a low voice which was rather meant to travel back to himself than on to her oh no the girl replied she seemed to prefer a less tragic probability to have saved a man from death involved talk that should with the dignity of such a deed and	45
she il i believe you saved my life miss don t know your name know your aunt s but not yours i would just as soon not tell it rather not there is no reason either why should as you probably will never have much to do with me still i should like to know you can inquire at my aunt s she will tell you my name is oak conversation and mine isn t you seem fond of yours in speaking it so oak you see it is the only one i shall ever have and i must make the most o it i always think mine sounds odd and disagreeable i should think you might soon get a new one mercy how many opinions you keep about you concerning other people oak well miss excuse the words i thought you would like them but i can t match you i know in out my mind upon my tongue as i mid say i never was very clever in my inside but i thank you come give me your hand she hesitated somewhat disconcerted at oak s earnest conclusion to a dialogue lightly carried on very well she said and gave him her hand her lips to a he held it but an instant and in his fear of being too to the opposite extreme touching her fingers with the lightness of a small hearted person i am sorry he said the instant after what for letting your hand go so quick you may have me again if you like there it is she gave him her hand again oak held it longer this time indeed curiously long how soft it is being winter time too not or rough or anything he said there that s long enough said she though without pulling it away but i suppose you are thinking you would like to kiss it you may if you want to i wasn t thinking of any such thing said simply but i will that you won t she snatched back her hand felt himself guilty of another want of tact now find out my name she said and withdrew i far from the crowd s ve the visit the mistake iv he only superiority in women that is tolerable to the rival sex is as a rule that of the unconscious kind but a superiority which itself may sometimes please by suggesting possibilities of capture to the man this well favoured and comely girl soon made upon the constitution of young farmer oak love being an extremely a sense of profit by an exchange of hearts being at the bottom of pure passions as that of profit bodily or materially is at the bottom of those of lower atmosphere every morning oak s feelings were as sensitive as the money market in calculations upon his chances his dog waited for his meals in a way so like that in which oak waited for the girl s presence that the farmer was quite struck with the resemblance felt it lowering and would not look at the dog however he continued to watch through the hedge at her regular coming and thus his sentiments towards her were deepened without any corresponding effect being produced upon herself oak had nothing finished and ready to say as yet and not being able the visit to frame love phrases which end where they begin passionate tales full of sound and fury nothing he said no word at all by making inquiries he found that the name was and that the cow would go dry in about seven days he dreaded the eighth day at last the eighth day came the cow had ceased to give milk for that year and came up the hill no more had reached a pitch of existence he never could have anticipated a short time before he liked saying as a private enjoyment instead of whistling turned over his taste to black hair though he had sworn by brown ever since he was a boy isolated himself till the space he filled in the public eye was small love is a possible strength in an actual weakness marriage a distraction into a support the power of which should be and happily often is in direct proportion to the degree of it oak began now to see light in this direction and said to himself i ll make her my wife or upon my soul i shall be good for nothing all this while he was himself about an errand on which he might visit the cottage of s aunt he found his opportunity in the death of a mother of a living lamb on a day which had a summer face and a winter constitution a fine january morning when there was just enough blue sky visible to make cheerfully disposed people wish for more and an occasional gleam of silvery sunshine oak put the lamb into a respectable sunday basket and stalked across the fields to the house of mrs the aunt george the dog walking behind with a of great concern at the serious turn pastoral affairs seemed to be taking had watched the blue wood smoke curling from the chimney with strange meditation at evening he had traced it down the chimney to the spot of its seen the hearth and beside it beside it in her out door dress for the clothes she had worn on the hill were by association equally with her person included in the compass of his affection they seemed at this early time of his love a necessary of the sweet mixture called he had made a toilet of a nicely adjusted kind of a nature between the carefully neat and the carelessly of a degree between fine market day and wet sunday selection he thoroughly cleaned his silver	45
am content to be liked oh mr oak that s very fine you d get to despise me never said mr oak so earnestly that he seemed to be coming by the force of his words straight through the bush and into her arms i shall do one thing in this life one thing certain that is love you and long for you and keep wanting you till i die his voice had a genuine pathos now and his large brown hands trembled it seems dreadfully wrong not to have you when you feel so much she said with a little distress and looking hopelessly around for some means of escape from her moral how i wish i hadn t run after you however she seemed to have a short cut for getting back to cheerfulness and set her face to signify it wouldn t do mr oak i want somebody to tame me i am too independent and you would never be able to i know oak cast his eyes down the field in a way that it was useless to attempt argument mr oak she said with luminous distinctness and common sense you are better off than i i have hardly a penny in the world i am staying with my aunt for my bare i am better educated than you and i don t love you a bit that s my side of the case now yours you are a farmer just beginning and you ought in common prudence if you marry at all which you should certainly not think of doing at present to marry a woman with money who would stock a larger farm for you than you have now looked at her with a little surprise and much admiration that s the very thing i had been thinking myself he said oak had one and a half christian character far from the crowd too many to succeed with his humility and a superfluous of honesty was decidedly disconcerted well then why did you come and disturb me she said almost angrily if not quite an red spot rising in each cheek i can t do what i think would be would be right no wise you have made an admission now mr oak she exclaimed with even more and rocking her head after that do you think i could marry you not if i know it he broke in passionately but don t mistake me like that because i am open enough to own what every man in my shoes would have thought of you make your colours come up your face and get with me that about your not being good enough for me is nonsense you speak like a lady all the parish notice it and your uncle at is i have a large farmer much larger than ever i shall be may i call in the evening or will you walk along with me o sundays i don t want you to make up your mind at once if you d rather not no no i cannot don t press me any more don t i don t love you so be ridiculous she said with a laugh no man likes to see his emotions the sport of a merry go round of very well said oak firmly with the bearing of one who was going to give his days and nights to for ever then i ll ask you no more of departure of a pastoral tragedy he news which one day reached that had left the neighbourhood had an influence upon him which might have surprised any who never suspected that the more emphatic the the less absolute its character it may have been observed that there is no regular path for getting out of love as there is for getting in some people look upon marriage as a short cut that way but it has been known to fail separation which was the means that chance offered to oak by s disappearance though effectual with people of certain is apt to the removed object with others those whose affection placid and regular as it may be flows deep and long oak belonged to the even tempered order of humanity and felt the secret of himself in to be burning with a finer flame now that she was gone that was all his friendship with her aunt had been by the failure of his suit and all that oak learnt of s movements was done indirectly it appeared that she had gone to a place called more than twenty miles off but in what capacity whether as a visitor or permanently he could not discover had two dogs george the elder exhibited from the crowd an tipped nose surrounded by a narrow margin of pink flesh and a coal marked in random in colour lo white and grey but the grey after years of sun and rain had been and washed out of the more prominent locks leaving them of a brown as if the blue of the grey had faded like the from the same kind of colour in s pictures in substance it had originally been hair but long contact with sheep seemed to be turning it by degrees into wool of a poor quality and this dog had originally belonged to a shepherd of inferior morals and dreadful temper and the result was that george knew the exact degrees of condemnation signified by cursing and swearing of all descriptions better than the old man in the neighbourhood long experience had so precisely taught the animal the difference between such exclamations as come in and d ye come in that he knew to a hair s breadth the rate of trotting back from the tails thai each call involved if a the was lo be escaped though old	45
he was clever and still the young dog george s son might possibly have been the image of his mother for there was not much resemblance between him and george he was learning the sheep keeping business so as to follow on at the flock when the other should die but had got no further than the as yet still finding an difficulty in between doing a thing well enough and doing it too well so earnest and yet so wrong headed was this young dog he had no name in particular and answered with perfect readiness to any pleasant that if sent behind the flock to help them on he did it so thoroughly that he would have chased them across the whole county with ihe greatest pleasure if not called off or reminded when to by the example of old a pastoral tragedy thus much for the dogs on the farther side of hill was a pit from which chalk had been drawn for generations and spread over adjacent farms two hedges ed upon it in the of a v but without quite meeting the narrow opening left which was immediately over the brow of the pit was protected by a rough railing one night when farmer oak had returned to his house believing there would be no further necessity for his attendance on the down he called as usual to the dogs previously to shutting them up in the till next only one responded old george the other could not be found either in the house lane or garden then remembered that he had left the two dogs on the hill eating a dead a kind of meat he usually kept from them except when other food ran short and concluding that the young one had not finished his meal he went indoors to the luxury of a bed which he had only enjoyed on sundays it was a still moist night just before dawn he was assisted in waking by the of familiar music to the shepherd the note of the like the of the clock to other people is a sound that only makes itself noticed by ceasing or in some unusual manner from the well known idle which to the accustomed ear however distant that is well in the fold in the solemn calm of the awakening mom that note was heard by beating with unusual violence and rapidity this exceptional ringing may be caused in two ways by the rapid feeding of the sheep bearing the bell as when the flock breaks into new pasture which gives it an rapidity or by the sheep starting off in a run when the sound has a regular the experienced ear of oak knew the sound he now heard to be caused by the running of the with great i far from the crowd he jumped out of bed dressed tore down the lane through a dawn and ascended ihe the forward were kept apart from those among which the fall of would be later there being two hundred of the latter class in s these two hundred seemed to have absolutely vanished from the bill there were the fifty with their enclosed at the other end as he had left them but the rest forming the bulk of the flock were nowhere called at the top of his voice the shepherd s call not a single he went to the hedge a gap had been broken through it and in the gap were the of the sheep rather surprised to find them break fence at this season yet putting it down instantly to their great fondness for iv in winter time of which a great deal grew in the plantation he followed through the hedge they were not in the plantation he called again the valleys and farthest hills as when the sailors the lost on the shore hut no sheep he passed through the trees and along the ridge of the hill on the extreme summit where the ends of the two hedges of which we have spoken were stopped short by meeting the brow of the chalk pit he saw the younger dog standing against the sky dark and motionless as napoleon at st a horrible conviction darted through oak with a sensation of bodily he advanced at one point the rails were broken through and there he saw the of his the dog came up licked his hand and made signs that he expected some great reward for signal services rendered oak looked over the precipice the lay dead and dying at its foot a heap of two hundred representing in their condition just now at least two hundred more a pastoral tragedy oak was an intensely humane man indeed his humanity often tore in pieces any intentions of his which bordered on and carried him on as by a shadow in his life had always been that his flock ended in mutton that a day came and found every shepherd an traitor to his sheep his first feeling now was one of pity for the fate of these gentle and their it was a second to remember another phase of the matter the sheep were not all the of a life had been dispersed at a blow his hopes of being an independent farmer were laid low possibly for ever energies patience and industry had been so severely during the years of his life between eighteen and eight and twenty to reach his present stage of progress that no more seemed to be left in him he down upon a rail and covered his face with his hands however do not last for ever and farmer oak recovered from his it was as remarkable as it was characteristic that the one sentence he uttered was in thank god i am not married what would she have done in the poverty now coming	45
had lain for some time idle in his frock pocket touched his which he carried there here was an opportunity for putting his dearly bought wisdom into practice he drew out his and began to play to the fair in the style of a man who had never known a moment s sorrow oak could pipe with sweetness and the sound of the well known notes cheered his own heart as well as those of the he played on with spirit and in half an hour had earned in pence what was a small fortune to a destitute man by making inquiries he learnt that there was another at the next day far from the crowd how far is ten miles t other side of it was where had gone two months before this information was like coming from night into noon how far is it to five or miles had probably left long before this time but the place had enough interest lo it to lead oak to choose fair as his next field of inquiry because it lay in the quarter moreover the folk were by no means uninteresting if report spoke truly they were as hardy merry wicked a set as any in the whole county oak resolved to sleep at that night on bis way to and struck out at once into the high road which had been recommended as the direct route to the village in question the road stretched through water meadows traversed little whose quivering were along their and folded into at the sides or where the flow was more rapid the stream was with spots of white which rode on in undisturbed serenity on the higher the dead and dry of leaves tapped the ground as they along upon the shoulders of the wind and little birds in the hedges were rustling their feathers and themselves in comfortably for the night retaining their places if oak kept moving but flying away if he stopped to look at them he passed by wood where the game birds were rising to their and heard the crack cock and the whistle of the by the time he had walked three or four miles every in the landscape bad assumed a uniform hue of blackness he descended hill and could just the journey discern ahead of him a drawn up under a great over tree by the roadside on coming close he found there were no horses attached to it the spot being apparently quite deserted the from its position seemed to have been left there for the night for beyond about half a of hay which was heaped in the bottom it was quite empty sat down on the shafts of the vehicle and considered his position he calculated that he had walked a very fair proportion of the journey and having been on foot since daybreak he felt tempted to lie down upon the hay in the instead of pushing on to the village of and having to pay for x lodging eating his last of bread and ham and drinking from bottle of he had taken the precaution to bring with him he got into the lonely here he spread half of the hay as a bed and as well as he could in the darkness pulled the other half over him by way of bed clothes covering himself entirely and feeling physically as comfortable as ever he had been in his life inward melancholy it was impossible for a man like oak far beyond his neighbours to banish quite whilst the present page of his history so thinking of his misfortunes and pastoral he fell asleep enjoying in common with sailors the privilege of being able to summon the god instead of having to wait for him on somewhat suddenly after a sleep of whose length he had no idea oak found that the was in motion he was being carried along the road at a rate rather considerable for a vehicle without springs and under circumstances of physical uneasiness his head being up and down on the bed of the like a stick he then distinguished voices in conversation coming from the of the his concern at this which would have been alarm had he been a far from the crowd man but misfortune is a fine to personal terror led him to peer cautiously from the hay and the first sight he beheld was the stars above him charles s was getting towards a right angle with the pole star and concluded that it must be about nine o clock in other words that he had slept two hours this small calculation was made without any positive effort and whilst he was stealthily turning to discover if possible into whose hands he had fallen two figures were dimly visible in front sitting with their legs outside the one of whom was driving soon found that this was the and it appeared they had come from fair like himself a conversation was in progress which continued be as she s a fine handsome body as far s looks be concerned but that s only the skin of the woman and these cattle be as proud as a in their ay so a do seem so a do seem this utterance was very by nature and more so by circumstance the of the not being without its effect upon the speaker s it came from the man who held the reins she s a very vain so tis said here there ah now if so be tis like that i can t look her in the face l rd no not i such a shy man as i be she s very vain tis said that every night at going to bed she looks in the glass to put on her properly and not a married woman oh the world and a can play the so tis	45
said can play so clever that a can make a tune sound as well as the loose song a man can wish for the journey d ye tell o t i a happy time for us and i feel quite a new man and how do she pay that i don t know master on hearing these and other similar remarks a wild thought flashed into mind that they might be speaking of there were however no grounds for retaining such a supposition for the though going in the direction of might be going beyond it and the woman alluded to seemed to be the mistress of some estate they were now apparently close upon and not to alarm the slipped out of the unseen he turned to an opening in the hedge which he found to be a gate and mounting he sat meditating whether to seek a cheap lodging in the village or to a cheaper one by lying under some hay or corn the of the died upon his ear he was about to walk on when he noticed on his left hand an unusual light appearing about half a mile distant oak watched it and the glow increased something was on fire again mounted the gate and leaping down on the other side upon what he found to be soil made across the field in the exact direction of the fire the blaze in a double by his approach and its own increase showed him as he drew nearer the outlines of beside it lighted up to great distinctness a yard was the source of the fire his weary face now began to be painted over with a rich orange glow and the whole front of his and was covered with a dancing shadow pattern of thorn twigs the light reaching him through a intervening hedge and the curve of his sheep shone silver bright in the same rays he came up to the boundary fence and stood to regain breath it seemed as if the spot was by a living soul r far from the crowd the fire was issuing from a long straw which was so far gone as to a possibility of saving it a burns differently from a house as the wind blows the fire the portion in flames completely like melting sugar and the outline is lost to the eye however a hay or a wheat well put together will resist for a length of time if it begins on the outside this before s eyes was a of straw loosely put together and the flames darted into it with lightning swiftness it glowed on the side rising and falling in intensity like the coal of a cigar then a bundle rolled down with a noise flames and bent themselves about with a quiet roar but no banks of smoke went off at the back like passing clouds and behind these burned hidden the semi transparent sheet of smoke to a yellow individual in the were consumed in a creeping movement of heat as if ihey were knots of red worms and above shone imaginary fiery faces tongues hanging from lips glaring eyes and other forms from which at intervals sparks flew in clusters like birds from a nest oak suddenly ceased from being a mere spectator by discovering the case to be more serious than he had at first imagined a of smoke blew aside and revealed to him a wheat in startling with the one and behind this a series of others the main corn produce of the farm so that instead of the straw standing as he had imagined comparatively isolated there was a regular connection between it and the remaining of the group over the hedge and saw that he was not alone the first man he came to was running about in a great hurry as if his thoughts were several so the fire yards in advance of his body which they could never drag on fast enough oh man fire fire i a good master and a bad servant is fire fire i mane a bad servant and a good master oh mark come and you and you money and you and there other figures now appeared behind this shouting man and among the smoke and found that far from being alone he was in a great company whose shadows danced merrily up and down timed by the of the flames and not at all by their owners movements the assemblage belonging to that class of society which casts its thoughts into the form of feeling and its feelings into the form of commotion set to work with a remarkable confusion of purpose stop the draught under the wheat cried to those nearest to him the corn stood on stone and between these tongues of yellow hue from the burning straw licked and darted if the fire once got under this all would be lost get a quick said a cloth was brought and they hung it like a curtain across the channel the flames immediately ceased to go under the bottom of the corn and stood up stand here with a bucket of water and keep the cloth wet said again the flames now driven upwards began to attack the angles of the huge roof covering the wheat a ladder cried the ladder was against the straw and is burnt to a said a like form in the smoke oak seized the cut ends of the as if he were going to engage in the operation of reed drawing and digging in his feet and occasionally sticking in the far from the crowd stem of his sheep he up the face he at once sat the very and began with his to beat off the fiery fragments which had lodged shouting to the others to get him a bo and a ladder	45
said moving past oak as a christian edges past an plate when he does not mean to contribute if you follow on the road till you come to s where they are all gone to have their snap of i some of em will tell you of a place good to ye shepherd the who showed this nervous dread of loving his neighbour as himself went up the hill and oak walked on to the village still astonished at the with glad of his to her and perplexed at the rapidity with which the girl of had developed into the and cool woman here but some women only require an emergency to make them fit for one obliged to some extent to forego dreaming in order to the way he reached the churchyard and passed round it under the wall where several ancient trees grew there was a wide margin of grass along here and s footsteps were by its softness even at this period of the year when abreast of a trunk which appeared to be the oldest of the old he became aware that a figure was standing behind il s a timid did not pause in his walk and in another moment he accidentally kicked a loose stone the noise was enough to disturb the motionless stranger who started and assumed a careless position it was a slim girl rather clad good night to you said heartily good night said the girl to the voice was unexpectedly attractive it was the low and note suggestive of romance common in descriptions rare in experience ril thank you to tell me if i m in the way for s resumed to gain the information indirectly to get more of the music quite right it s at the bottom of the hill and do you know the girl hesitated and then went on again do you know how late they keep open the buck s head inn she seemed to be won by s as had been won by her i don t know where the buck s head is or anything about it do you think of going there to night yes the woman again paused there was no necessity for any continuance of speech and the fact that she did add more seemed to proceed from an unconscious desire to show by making a remark which is noticeable in the when they are acting by you are not a man she said i am not i am the new shepherd just arrived only a shepherd and you seem almost a farmer by your ways only a shepherd repeated in a dull of his thoughts were directed to the past his eyes to the feet of the girl and for the first time he saw lying there a bundle of some sort she may have perceived the direction of his face for she said far from tke crowd you won t say anything in the parish about having seen me here will you at least not for a day or two p i won t if you wish not to said oak thank you the other replied i am rather poor and i don t want people to know anything about me then she was silent and shivered vou ought to have a cloak on such a cold night observed i would advise ee to get indoors oh no i would you mind going on and leaving me i thank you much for what you have told me i will go on he said adding hesitatingly since you are not very well off perhaps you would accept this trifle from me it is only a shilling but it is all i have to spare yes i will take it said the stranger gratefully she extended her hand his in feeling for each other s palms in the gloom before the money could be passed a minute incident occurred which told much s fingers alighted on the young woman s wrist it was beating with a throb of tragic intensity he had frequently felt the same quick hard beat in the of his when it suggested a consumption too great of a vitality which to judge from her figure and stature was already too little what is the matter nothing but there is no no no i let your having seen me be a secret very well i will good night again good night the young girl remained motionless by the and descended into tlie village of or lower as it was sometimes called he fancied that he had felt himself in the of a very deep sadness when touching that slight and fragile creature but wisdom lies in mere impressions and endeavoured to think little of this s the the the chat news viii s was enclosed by an old wall with ivy and though not much of the exterior was visible at this hour the character and purposes of the building were clearly enough shown by its outline upon the sky from the walls an g roof up to a point in the centre upon rose a small wooden lantern fitted with boards on all the four sides and from these a mist was dimly perceived to be escaping into the night air there was no window in front but a square hole in the door was glazed with a single pane through which red comfortable rays now stretched out upon the wall in front voices were to be heard inside oak s hand the surface of the door with fingers extended to an the pattern till he found a g this lifted a wooden latch and the door swung open the room inside was lighted only by the ruddy glow from the mouth which shone over the floor with the streaming of the setting sun and threw upwards the shadows of all in those assembled around the stone flag floor was worn	45
into a path from the doorway to the and into tions everywhere a curved settle of oak far from the crowd i a remote corner was a frequent stretched one side and small bed and the o of which was the this aged man was now sitting opposite the fire his frosty white hair and beard his figure like the grey moss and upon a apple tree he wore breeches and the up shoes called ankle he kept his eyes fixed upon the s nose was greeted by an atmosphere laden with the sweet smell of new the conversation which seemed to have been concerning the origin of the fire immediately ceased and every one him to the degree expressed by the flesh of their and looking at him with eyelids as if he had been a light too strong for their sight several exclaimed after this operation had been completed oh lis the new shepherd a b we thought we heard a hand about the door for the but weren t sure not a dead leaf across said come in shepherd sure ye be welcome though we don t know yer name oak that s my name neighbours the ancient sitting in the midst turned at this his turning being as the turning of a rusty that s never oak s over at never he said as a expressive of surprise which nobody was supposed for a moment to take literally my father and my grandfather were old men of the of said the shepherd placidly thought i the man s face as i seed him on the thought i did and where be ye trading shepherd i m thinking of here said mr oak yer grandfather for years and years i the chat continued the the words coming forth of their own accord as if the previously imparted had been sufficient ah and did you yer grandmother and her too likewise yer father when he was a child why my boy jacob there and your father were sworn brothers that they were sure weren t ye jacob ay sure said his son a young man about with a semi bald head and one tooth in the left centre of his upper jaw which made much of itself by standing prominent like a in a bank but twas joe had most to do with him however my son william must have the very man afore us didn t ye afore ye left no twas said jacob s son a child of forty or who manifested the peculiarity of possessing a cheerful soul in a gloomy body and whose whiskers were assuming a shade here and there i can mind said oak as being a man in the place when i was quite a child ay the other day i and my youngest daughter were over at my s continued we were talking about this very family and twas only last day in this very world when the use money is away to the second best poor folk you l now shepherd and i can mind the day because they all had to up to the yes this very man s family come shepherd and drink tis and with us a of but not of much account said the removing from the fire his eyes which were red and by gazing into it for so many years take up the god jacob see if tis warm jacob i k far from the crowd jacob stooped to the god forgive me which was a handled tail standing in the ashes cracked and with heat it was rather with matter about the outside especially in the of the handles the curves of which may not have seen daylight for several years by reason of this formed of ashes accidentally with and baked hard but to the mind of any sensible the cup was no worse for that being clean on the inside and bout the rim it may be observed that such a class of is called a god forgive me in and its vicinity for uncertain reasons probably because its size makes any given feel ashamed of himself when he sees its bottom in drinking it empty jacob on receiving the order to see if the liquor was warm enough dipped his forefinger into it by way of and having pronounced it nearly of the proper degree raised the cup and very attempted to dust some of the ashes from the bottom with the skirt of his frock because shepherd oak a cup for the shepherd said the no not at all said in a tone of i never fuss about dirt in its pure state and when i know what sort it is taking the he drank an inch or more from the depth of its contents and duly passed it to the next man i wouldn t think of giving such trouble to neighbours in washing up when there s so much work to be done in the world already continued oak in a tone after recovering from the of breath which is occasioned by at large a right sensible man said jacob true true it can t be i observed a young man mark by name a genial and pleasant the chat gentleman whom to meet anywhere in your travels was to know to know was to drink with and to drink with was unfortunately to pay for and here s a of bread and bacon that mis ess have sent shepherd the will go down better with a bit of don t ye quite close shepherd for i let the bacon fall in the road outside as i was bringing it along and may be tis rather there tis dirt and we all know what that is as you say and you t a particular man we see shepherd true true not	45
at all said the friendly oak don t let your teeth quite meet and you won t feel the at all ah tis wonderful what can be done by contrivance i my own mind exactly neighbour ah he s his s own his were just such a nice man said the drink henry drink said a person who held saint notions of share and share alike where liquor was concerned as the vessel showed signs of approaching him in its gradual revolution among them having at this moment reached the end of a wistful gaze into mid air henry did not refuse he was a man of more than middle age with eyebrows high up in his forehead who laid it down that the law of the world was bad with a long suffering look through his listeners at the world alluded to as it presented itself to his imagination he always signed his name upon that and if any passing ventured to remark that the second e was superfluous and old fashioned he received the reply that h e n e r y was the name he was and the name he would stick to in the tone of one to whom differences were matters which had a great deal to do with personal character far from the crowd mr who had passed the cup to was a crimson man with a spacious countenance and private glimmer in his eye whose name had appeared on the marriage register of and neighbouring as best man and chief witness in countless of the previous twenty years he also very frequently filled the post of head in of the jovial kind come mark come ther s plenty more in the barrel said ay that i will tis my only doctor replied mr who twenty years younger than in the same he mirth on all occasions for special discharge at popular parties why joseph ye han t had a drop said mr to a self conscious man in the background thrusting the cup towards him such a modest man as he is said jacob why ye ve hardly had strength of eye enough to look in our young mis ess s face so i hear joseph all looked at joseph with pitying reproach no i ve hardly looked at her at all joseph his body smaller whilst talking apparently from a meek sense of undue and when i seed her twas nothing but with poor said mr tis a curious nature for a man said yes continued joseph his shyness which was so painful as a defect filling him with a mild complacency now that it was regarded as an interesting study blush blush blush with me every minute of the time when she was speaking to me believe ye joseph for we all know ye to be a very man tis a awkward gift for a man poor soul said the the chat and how long have ye suffered from it joseph h ever since i was a boy yes mother was concerned to her heart about it yes but twas all did ye ever go into the world to try and stop it joseph oh ay tried all sorts o company they took me to fair and into a great large go show where there were women folk riding round standing upon horses with hardly anything on but their but it didn t cure me a morsel and then i was put errand man at the woman s alley at the back of the tailor s arms in twas a horrible evil situation and a very curious place for a good man i had to stand and look ba people in the face from morning till night but twas no use i was just as bad as ever after all been in the family for generations there tis a happy providence that i be no worse and i feel the blessing true said jacob deepening his thoughts to a view of the subject tis a thought to look at that ye might have been worse but even as you be tis a very bad affliction for ye joseph for ye see shepherd though tis very well for a woman it all tis awkward for a man like him poor he appealed to the shepherd by a feeling glance tis tis said recovering from a meditation yes very awkward for the man ay and he s very timid too observed once he had been working late at bottom and had had a of drink and lost his way as he was coming home along through wood didn t ye master no no no not that story the modest man forcing a laugh to bury his concern and so a lost himself quite continued mr f far from the crowd with an face that a true narrative like time and tide must run its course and would respect no man and as he was coming along in the middle of the night much and not able to find his way out or the trees a cried out man a i man a a owl in a tree happened lo be crying as do you know shepherd nodded and joseph all in a tremble said joseph of sir r no no now that s too much said the timid man becoming a man of brazen courage all of a sudden i didn t say sir i ll take my oath i didn t say joseph o sir no no what s right is right and i never said sir to the bird knowing very well that no man of a gentleman s rank would be there at that time o night joseph of that s every word i said and shouldn t ha said that if t hadn t been for keeper day s there twas a merciful	45
thing it ended where it did the question of which was right being by the company went on and he s the man t ye joseph ay another time ye were lost by i down gate weren t ye joseph i was replied as if there were some conditions too serious even for modesty to remember itself under this being one yes that were the middle of the night too the gate would not open try how he would and knowing there was the devil s hand in it he down ay said joseph acquiring confidence from the warmth of the fire the and a perception of the narrative of the experience alluded to my heart died within me that time but i down and said the lord s prayer and then the belief the chat right through and then the ten in earnest prayer but no the gate wouldn t open and then i went on with dearly beloved brethren and thinks i this makes four and tis all i know out of book and if this don t do it nothing will and i m a lost man well when i got to saying after me i rose from my knees and found the gate would open yes neighbours the gate opened the same as ever a meditation on the obvious was indulged in by all and during its continuance each directed his vision into the which glowed like a desert in the under a sun their eyes long and partly because of the light partly from the depth of the subject discussed broke the silence what sort of a place is this to live at and what sort of a mis ess is she to work under s bosom thrilled gently as he thus slipped under the notice of the assembly the subject of his heart we d know little of her nothing she only showed herself a few days ago her uncle was took bad and the doctor was called with his world wide skill but he couldn t save the man as i take it she s going to keep on the farm that s about the shape o t a b said ay tis a very good family i d as soon be under em as under one here and there her uncle was a very fair sort of man did ye know en shepherd a bachelor man not at all i used to go to his house a my first wife who was his well a very man were farmer and i being a respectable young fellow was allowed to call and see her and drink as much ale as i liked but not to carry away any outside my skin i mane of course ay ay we know yer far from the crowd and so you see twas beautiful ale and wished to value his kindness as much as i could and not to be so ill as to drink only a which would have been insulting the man s generosity true master so mark and so i used to eat a lot of salt fish afore going and then by the time i got there i were as dry as a lime basket so thorough dry that that ale would slip down ah slip down sweet happy times heavenly times such lovely as i used to have at that house vou can mind jacob you used to go wi me sometimes i can can said jacob that one too that we had at buck s head on a white monday was a pretty twas but for a drunk of really a noble class that brought you no nearer to the dark man than you were afore you begun there was none like those in farmer s kitchen not a single damn allowed no not a bare poor one even at the most cheerful moment when all were though the good old word of sin thrown in here and there at such times is a great relief to a merry soul true said the requires her swearing at the regular or she s not herself and exclamations is a necessity of life but continued not a word of the sort would allow nor the smallest item of taking in vain ay poor i wonder if she had the good fortune to get into heaven when a died i but a was never much in luck s way and perhaps a went downwards after all poor soul and did any of you know miss s father and mother inquired the shepherd who found some difficulty in keeping the conversation in the desired channel the chat i knew them a little said jacob but they were and didn t live here they ve been dead for years father what sort of people were mis ess father and mother well said the he wasn t much to look at but she was a lovely woman he was fond enough of her as his sweetheart used to kiss her in scores and lone hundreds so twas said here and there observed he was very proud of her too when they were married as i ve been told said the ay said he admired her so much that he used to light the candle three times a night to look at her boundless love i shouldn t have supposed it in the world s universe murmured joseph who habitually spoke on a large scale in his moral reflections well to be sure said h tis true enough i the man and woman both well that was the man s name sure enough man i in my hurry but he were of a higher circle of life than that a was a gentleman tailor really worth scores of pounds and he became a very celebrated two or three times oh i thought he was quite a common	45
man said joseph oh no no that man failed for heaps of money hundreds in gold and silver the being rather short of breath mr after a coal which had fallen among the ashes took up the narrative with a private of his eye well now you d hardly believe it but that man our miss s father was one of the husbands alive after a while understand a didn t want to be but he couldn t help it the pore far from the crowd were faithful and true enough to her in his wish but his heart would do what he would ay a spoke to me in real about it once he said i could never wish for a woman than i ve got but feeling she s as my lawful wife i can t help my wicked heart wandering do what i will but at last i believe he cured il by making her take off her wedding ring and calling her by her maiden name as they sat tt after the shop was shut and so a would get to fancy she was only his sweetheart and not married to him at all and as soon as he could thoroughly fancy he was doing wrong and committing the seventh a got to like her as well as ever and they lived on a perfect picture of love well twas a most remedy murmured joseph but we ought to fee deep cheerfulness as i may say that a happy providence kept it from being any worse you see he might have gone the bad road and given his eyes to entirely yes gross so to say it you see said the man s will was lo do right sure enough but his heart didn t in he got so much better that he was quite religious in his later years wasn t he said joseph he got himself confirmed over again in a more serious way and took to saying amen almost as loud as a clerk and he liked to copy comforting verses from the he used too to hold the at let your light so shine and stand to poor little come by ce children and he kept a missionary box upon his table to folks unawares when they called yes he would box the ears if they laughed in church till they could hardly stand upright and do other deeds of piety natural to the inclined ay at that time be thought of nothing but such things one day parson the chat met him and said good morning tis a fine day amen said quite thinking only of religion when he seed a parson yes he was a very christian man their daughter was not at all a pretty at that time said never should have thought she d have up such a handsome body as she is tis to be hoped her temper is as good as her face well yes but the will have most to do with the business and ourselves ah shook his gazed into the and smiled volumes of knowledge a queer christian like the devil s head in a as the saying is volunteered mark he is said with a manner that irony must necessarily cease at a certain point between we two man and man i that man would as soon tell a lie sundays as working days that i do so good faith you do talk said true enough said the man of bitter moods looking round upon the company with the laughter that comes from a appreciation of the miseries of life than ordinary men are capable of ah there s people of one sort and people of another but that man bless your souls thought fit to change the subject you must be a very aged man to have sons up so old and ancient he remarked father s so old that a can t mind his age can ye father interposed jacob and he s terrible crooked too lately jacob continued surveying his father s figure which was rather more bowed than his own really one may say that father there is three double crooked folk will last a long while said the grimly and not in the best humour shepherd would like to hear the of yer life wouldn t ye shepherd par from the crowd ay thai i should said with ihe of a man who had longed lo hear it for several months what may your age be the cleared his throat in an exaggerated form for emphasis and his gaze to the remotest point of the said in the slow speech when the importance of a subject is so generally felt that any must be in getting at it well i don t mind the year i were born in but perhaps i can reckon up the places i ve lived it and so get it that way i at upper across there nodding lo the north till i were eleven i seven at nodding to the east where i look to i went lo and there two and twenty years and two and twenty years i was there and ah i that old place years afore you were thought of master oak oak smiled a of the fact then i at four year and four year and i was fourteen times eleven months at st s nodding north west by north old wouldn t hire me for more than eleven months at a lime lo keep me from being to the parish if so be i was i hen i was three year at and i ve been here one and thirty year come how much is that hundred and seventeen chuckled another old gentleman given to mental and little conversation who had hitherto unobserved in a corner well then that s my age said i he emphatically oh no	45
father said jacob your were in the summer and your in the winter of the same years and ye don t ought lo count both father it all i lived through the didn t the chat i that s my question i suppose ye u say next i be no age at all to speak of sure we shan t said soothingly ye be a very old aged person also soothingly we all know that and ye must have a wonderful constitution to be able to live so long mustn t he neighbours true true ye must maker wonderful said the meeting the being now was even generous enough to voluntarily in a slight degree the virtue of having lived a great many years by mentioning that the cup they were drinking out of was three years older than he while the cup was being examined the end of oak s became visible over his frock pocket and exclaimed surely shepherd i seed you blowing into a great by now at you did said blushing faintly i ve been in great trouble neighbours and was driven to it i used not to be so poor as i be now never mind heart said mark you should take it careless like shepherd and your time will come but we could thank ye for a tune if ye t too tired neither drum nor trumpet have i heard this christmas said come raise a tune master oak ay that i will said readily pulling out his and putting it together a poor tool neighbours but such as i can do ye shall have and welcome oak then struck up to the fair and played that sparkling melody three times through the notes in the third round in a most artistic and lively manner by bending his body in small and tapping with his foot to beat time far from the crowd he can blow the very well that a can said a young married man who having no individuality worth mentioning was known as s husband he continued i d as as not be able to blow into a as well as that he s a clever man and tis a true comfort for us to have such a shepherd murmured joseph in a soft we ought to feel real that he s not a player of ba songs instead of these merry tunes for have been just as easy for god to have made the shepherd a loose low man a man of so to speak it as what he is for our wives and daughters we should feel real true true real dashed in mark not feeling it to be of any consequence to his opinion that he had only heard about a word and three quarters of what joseph had said yes added joseph beginning to feel like a man in the bible for evil do so in these times thai ye may be as much deceived in the shaved and man as in the tramp upon the if i may term it so ay i can mind yer face now shepherd said with misty eyes as he entered upon his second tune low see ye blowing into the i know ye to be the same man i see play at for yer mouth were up and yer eyes a staring out like a man s just as they be now tis a pity that playing the should make a man look such a observed mr mark with additional criticism of s countenance the person out with the ghastly required by the the chorus of dame and bet and doll and and toil the chat i hope you don t mind that young man mark s bad manners in your features whispered joseph to privately not at all said mr oak for by nature ye be a very handsome man shepherd continued joseph with winning ay that ye be shepherd said the company thank you very much said oak in the modest tone good manners demanded thinking however that he would never let see him playing the in this resolve showing a discretion equal to that related of its sagacious the divine herself ah when i and my wife were married at church said the old not pleased at finding himself left out of the subject we were called the couple in the neighbourhood everybody said so if ye t altered now said a voice with the vigour natural to the of a remarkably evident it came from the old man in the background whose and ways were barely for by the occasional chuckle he contributed to general laughs oh no no said don t ye play no more shepherd said tail s husband the young married man who had spoken once before i must be moving and when there s tunes going on i seem as if hung in wires if i thought after i d left that music was still playing and i not there i should be quite melancholy like what s yer hurry then inquired you used to bide as late as the latest well ye see neighbours i was lately married to a woman and she s my now and so ye see the young man halted new lords new laws as the saying is i suppose far from the crowd remarked co an with a very compressed ay a b ha ha i said tail s husband in a tone intended to imply his habitual reception of jokes without them at all the young man then wished them good night and withdrew was the first to follow then arose and went off with who had offered him a lodging a few minutes later when the remaining ones were on their legs about to depart came back again in a hurry flourishing his finger he threw a gaze with tidings where his eye alighted by accident which	45
happened to be in joseph s face oh what s the matter what s the matter said joseph starting back what s a asked jacob and mark i said so yes i said so i what found out anything stealing it is the news is that after miss got home she went out again to see all was safe as she usually do and coming in found creeping down the steps with half a of she seed at him like a cat never such a as she is of course i speak with closed doors you do you do she at him and to cut a long story short he owned to having carried off five sack altogether upon her promising not to him well he s turned out neck and crop and my question is who s going to be now the question was such a profound one that was obliged to drink here and then from the large cup til the bottom was distinctly visible inside before t news he had replaced it on the table in came the young man tail s husband in a still greater hurry have ye heard the news that s all over parish about ah but besides that no not a morsel of it they all replied looking into the very midst of tall as if to meet his words half way down his throat what a night of horrors murmured joseph waving his hands ive had the news bell ringing in my left ear quite bad enough for a murder and i ve seed a all alone robin miss s youngest servant can t be found they ve been wanting to lock up the door these two hours but she isn t come in and they don t know what to do about going to bed for fear of her out they wouldn t be so concerned if she hadn t been noticed in such low spirits these last few days and d think the beginning of a s has happened to the poor girl oh tis burned tis burned said joseph with dry lips tis drowned said tall or tis her father s suggested with a vivid sense of detail well miss wants to speak to one or two of us before we go to bed what with this trouble about the and now about the girl mis ess is almost wild they all hastened up the rise to the excepting the old whom neither news fire rain nor thunder could draw from his hole there as the others footsteps died away he sat down again and continued gazing as usual into the furnace with his red eyes from the bedroom window above their heads s head and shoulders in mystic white were dimly seen extended into the air far from the crowd are any of my men among you she said anxiously yes ma am several said tail s husband to morrow morning i wish two or three of you to make inquiries in the villages round if they have seen such a person as robin do it quietly there is no reason for alarm as yet she must have left whilst we were all at the fire i beg yer pardon but had she any young man her in the parish m i am asked jacob i don t know said i ve never heard of any such thing ma am said two or three it is hardly likely either continued for any lover of hers might have come to the house if he had been a respectable ad the most mysterious matter connected with her indeed the only thing which gives me serious alarm is that she was seen to go out of the house by with only her working gown on not even a bonnet and you mean ma am my words that a young woman would go to see her young man without dressing up said jacob turning his mental vision upon past experiences that s true she would not ma am she had i think a bundle though i couldn t see very well said a female voice from another window which seemed that of but she had no young man about here hers lives in and i believe he s a soldier do you know his name said no mistress she was very close about it perhaps i might be able to find out if i went to said william very well if she doesn t return to morrow you go there and try to discover which man it is and see him i feel more responsible than i should if she had had any friends or relations alive i do hope she j news has come to no through a man of that kind and then there s this disgraceful affair of the but i can t speak of him now had so many reasons for uneasiness that it seemed she did not think it worth while to dwell upon any particular one do as i told you then she said in conclusion closing the ay ay mistress we will they replied and moved away that night at s oak beneath the screen of closed eyelids was busy with fancies and full of movement like a river flowing rapidly under its ice night had always been the time at which he saw most vividly and through the slow hours of shadow he tenderly regarded her image now it is rarely that the pleasures of the imagination will for the pain of but they possibly did with oak to night for the delight of merely seeing her for the time his perception of the great difference between seeing and possessing he also thought of plans for his few and books from the young best companion the s sure guide the surgeon paradise lost the pilgrim s	45
progress robinson ash s dictionary and s constituted his library and though a limited series it was one from which he had acquired more sound information by perusal than many a man of opportunities has done from a of laden far from the crowd the a visitor half confidences ix j y daylight the bower of oak s new found mistress presented itself as a building of the stage of classic as regards its architecture and of a proportion which told at a glance that as is so frequently the case it had once been the hall upon a small estate around it now altogether as a distinct property and in the vast tract of a non resident landlord which several such modest worked from the solid stone decorated its front and above the roof pairs of chimneys were here and there linked by an arch some and other features still retaining traces of their soft brown like faded formed cushions upon the stone and of the or from the of the low surrounding buildings a gravel walk leading from the door to the road in front was at the sides with more moss here it was a silver green variety the nut brown of the gravel being visible to the width of only a foot or two in the centre this circumstance and the generally sleepy air of the whole prospect here together with the animated and state of the reverse suggested to the imagination that so the on the of the building for farming purposes the vital principle of the house had turned round inside its body to face the other way of this kind strange tremendous are often seen to be inflicted by trade upon either individual or in the as streets and towns which were originally planned for pleasure alone lively voices were heard this morning in the upper rooms the main staircase to which was of hard oak the heavy as bed posts being turned and in the quaint fashion of their century the as stout as a top and the stairs themselves continually twisting round like a person trying to look over his shoulder going up the floors above were found to have a very irregular surface rising to sinking into valleys and being just then the face of the boards was seen to be eaten into innumerable every window replied by a to the opening and shutting of every door a tremble followed every bustling movement and a accompanied a about the house like a spirit wherever he went in the room from which the conversation proceeded and her servant companion were to be discovered sitting upon the floor and a of papers books bottles and rubbish spread out from the household of the late the s great was about s equal in age and her face was a prominent advertisement of the light hearted english country girl the beauty her features might have lacked in form was amply made up for by perfection of hue which at this winter time was the softened on a surface of high that we meet with in a or a and like the of those great it was a face which kept well back from the boundary i g far from the crowd between and the ideal though elastic in nature she was less daring than and occasionally showed some earnestness which consisted half of genuine feeling and half of by way of duty through a partly opened door the noise of a led up to the money a person who for a face had a circular less by age than by long of perplexity at distant objects to think of her was to get good humoured to speak of her was to raise the image of a dried stop your a moment said through the door to her i hear something suspended the brush the tramp of a horse was apparent approaching the front of the building the paces turned in at the and what was most unusual came up the path close to the door the door was tapped with the end of a crop or stick what impertinence said in a low voice to ride up the like that why didn t he stop at the gate lord tis a gentleman i see the top of his hat be quiet said the further expression of s concern was continued by aspect instead of narrative why doesn t mrs go to the door continued rat more from s oak you go said she fluttering under the of a crowd of romantic possibilities oh ma am see here s a mess the argument was after a glance at you must said a visitor held up her hands and arms with dust from the rubbish they were and looked at her mistress there mrs is going said her relief in the form of a long breath which had lain in her bosom a minute or more the door opened and a deep voice said is miss at home v see sir said mrs and in a minute appeared in the room dear what a place this world is continued mrs a wholesome looking lady who had a voice for each class of remark according to the emotion involved who could toss a or a with the accuracy of pure and who at this moment showed hands shaggy with fragments of and arms with flour i am never up to my elbows miss in making a but one of two things do happen either my nose must needs begin and i can t live without scratching it or somebody at the door here s mr wanting to see you miss a woman s dress being a part of her countenance and any disorder in the one being of the same nature with a or wound in the other said at once i can t see him	45
in this state whatever shall i do not at homes were hardly in so suggested say you re a fright with dust and can t come down yes that sounds very well said mrs say i can t see him that will do mrs went downstairs and returned the answer as requested adding however on her own responsibility miss is bottles sir and is quite a object that s why tis far from the crowd oh very well said the deep voice indifferently all i wanted to ask was if anything had been heard of robin nothing sir but we may know to night william is gone to where her young man lives as is supposed and the other men be inquiring about everywhere the horse s tramp then and retreated and the door closed who is mr said a gentleman farmer at little married no miss how old is he forty i should say very handsome rather and rich what a bother this is i am always in some unfortunate plight or other said complain why should he inquire about oh because as she had no friends in her childhood he took her and put her to school and got her her place here under your uncle he s a very kind man that way but lord there what never was such a hopeless man for a woman he s been by and all the girls gentle and simple for miles round have tried him jane worked at him for two months like a slave and the two miss spent a year upon him and he cost farmer s daughter nights of tears and twenty pounds worth of new clothes but lord the money might as well have been thrown out of the window a little boy came up at this moment and looked in upon them this child was one of the who with the s were as common among the of this district as the and half confidences among ur rivers he always had a loosened tooth or a cut finger to show to particular friends which he did with an air of being thereby elevated above the common herd of humanity to which exhibition people were expected to say poor child with a dash of as well as pity ive got a pen said master in a measure well who gave it you said mis bold wood he gave it to me for opening the gate what did he say he said where are you going my little man and i said to miss s please and he said she is a staid woman isn t she my little man and i said yes you naughty child what did you say that for cause he gave me the penny what a everything is in said when the child had gone get away or go on with your or do something you ought to be married by this time and not here troubling me ay mistress so i did but what between the poor men i won t have and the rich men who won t have me i stand forlorn ah poor soul of me did anybody ever want to marry you miss i ventured to ask when they were again alone lots of em i paused as if about to refuse a reply but the temptation to say yes since it really was in her power was irresistible by in spite of her at having been published as old a man wanted to once she said in a highly experienced tone and the image of oak as the farmer rose before her how nice it must seem said with the fixed far from the crowd features of mental and you wouldn t have him he wasn t quite good enough for me how sweet to be able to disdain when most of us are glad to say thank you i seem i hear it no sir i m your better or kiss my foot sir my face is for mouths of consequence and did you love him miss oh no but i rather liked him do you now of course not what footsteps are those i hear looked from a back window into the behind which was now getting low toned and dim with the earliest of night a crooked file of men was approaching the back door the whole string of trailing individuals advanced in the balance of intention like the remarkable creatures known as chain which distinctly organized in other respects have one will common to a whole family some were as usual in snow white of russia duck and some in brown ones of marked on the wrists breasts backs and sleeves with work two or three women in brought up the rear the be upon us said making her nose white against the glass oh very well go down and keep them in the kitchen till i am dressed and then show them in to me in the hall mistress and men mistress and men half an hour later ba in finished dress and followed by entered the upper end of the old hall to find that her men had all deposited themselves on a long form and a settle at the lower extremity she sat down at a table and opened the time book pen in her hand with a canvas money bag beside her from this she poured a small heap of coin chose a position at her elbow and began to sometimes pausing and looking round or with the air of a privileged person taking up one of the half sovereigns lying before her and merely it as a work of art while strictly preventing her countenance from expressing any wish to possess it as money now before i begin men said i have two matters to speak of the first is	45
that the is dismissed for and that i have formed a resolution to have no at all but to manage everything with my own head and hands the men breathed an audible breath of amazement the next matter is have you heard anything of nothing ma am have you done anything i met farmer said jacob and far from the crowd i went with him and two of his men and dragged pond but we found nothing and the new shepherd have been to buck s head by thinking she had gone there but nobody had seed her said tall hasn t william been to yes ma am but he s not yet come home he promised to be back by six it wants a quarter to six at present said looking at her watch i he ll be in directly well now then she looked into the book joseph are you there yes sir ma am i mane said the person addressed i be the personal name of and what are you nothing in my own eye in the eye of other people well i don t say it though public thought will out what do you do on the farm i do do things all the year and in seed time i shoots the and and helps at pig killing sir how much to you please nine and and a good where twas a bad one sir ma am i mane quite correct now here are ten shillings in addition as a small present as i am a new comer blushed slightly at the sense of being generous in public and who had drawn up towards her chair lifted his eyebrows and fingers to express amazement on a small scale how much do i owe you that man in the comer what s your name continued moon ma am said a singular of clothes with nothing of any consequence inside them which advanced with the toes in no definite direction forwards but turned in or out as they chanced to swing mark did you say speak out i shall not hurt you inquired the young farmer kindly mistress and men moon said from behind her chair to which point he had edged himself moon murmured turning her bright eyes to the book ten and is the sum put down to you i see yes mis ess said as the rustle of wind among dead leaves here it is and ten shillings now the next you are a new man i hear how came you to leave your last farm p p p p p l l l ease ma am p p p p please ma am please m please m a s a man said in an and they turned him away because the only time he ever did speak plain he said his soul was his own and other to the squire a can as well as you or i but a can t speak a common speech to save his life here s yours finish thanking me in a day or two miller oh here s another both women i suppose yes m here we be a b was echoed in shrill what have you been doing tending machine and and saying to the and when they go upon your seeds and plan ting early and s with a yes i see are they satisfactory women she inquired softly of h don t ask me yielding women as scarlet a pair as ever was groaned under his breath sit down who sit down r far from the crowd joseph in the background and his lips became dry with fear of some terrible consequences as he saw speaking and off to a corner now the next tall you ll stay on working for me for you or anybody that pays me well ma am replied the young married man true the man must live said a woman in the back quarter who had just entered with what woman is that asked i be his lawful wife i continued the voice with greater of manner and tone this lady called herself five and twenty looked thirty passed as five and was forty she was a woman who never like some newly married showed tenderness in public perhaps because she had none to show oh you are said well will you stay on yes he ll stay ma am said again the shrill tongue of s lawful wife well he can speak for himself i suppose oh lord no ma am a simple tool well enough but a poor mortal the wife replied laughed the married man with a hideous effort of appreciation for he was as good humoured under ghastly as a candidate on the the names were called in the same now i think i have done with you said closing the book and shaking back a stray of hair has william returned no ma am the new shepherd will want a man under him suggested tr ing to make himself official again by a approach towards her mistress and men oh he will who can he have young ball is a very good lad said and shepherd oak don t mind his youth he added turning with an smile to the shepherd who had just appeared on the scene and was now leaning against the with his arms folded no i don t mind that said how did come by such a name asked h you see his pore mother not being a scripture read woman made a mistake at his thinking twas killed and called en meaning all the time the parson put it right but twas too late for the name could never be got rid of in the parish tis very unfortunate for the boy it is rather unfortunate yes however we soften it	45
down as much as we can and call him ah pore widow woman she cried her heart out about it almost she was brought up by a very heathen father and mother who never sent her to church or school and it shows how the sins of the parents are visited upon the children mr here drew up his features to the mild degree of melancholy required when the persons involved in the given misfortune do not belong to your own family very well then ball to be under shepherd and you quite understand your duties you i mean oak quite well i thank you miss said shepherd oak from the if i don t i ll inquire was rather staggered by the remarkable coolness of her manner certainly nobody without previous information would have that oak and the handsome woman before whom he stood had ever been other than strangers but perhaps her air was the inevitable result of the social rise which had advanced far from the crowd her from a cottage to a large house and fields the case is not in high places when in the writings of the later poets jove and his family are found to have moved from their cramped quarters on the peak of into the wide sky above it their words show a increase of and reserve footsteps were heard in the passage in character the qualities both of weight and measure rather at the expense of all here s come from and what s the news said as william after marching to the middle of ihe hall took a handkerchief from his hat a nd wiped his forehead from its centre to its boundaries i should have been sooner miss he said if it hadn t been for the weather he stamped with each foot severely and on looking down his boots were perceived to be with snow come at last is it said well what about said well ma am in round numbers she s run away with ihe soldiers said william no not a steady girl like i ll tell ye all particulars when i got to they said the guards be gone away and new troops have come the left last week for and the route came from government like a thief in the night as is his nature to and afore the knew it almost they were on the march they passed near here had listened with interest i saw them go he said yes continued william they down the street playing the girl i left mc so tis glorious notes of triumph every on s mistress and men inside shook with the blows of the great drum to his deepest and there was not a dry eye throughout the town among the public house people and the nameless women but they re not gone to any war no ma am but they be gone to take the places of them who may which is very close connected and so i said to myself s young man was one of the regiment and she s gone after him there ma am that s it in black and white did you find out his name no nobody knew it i believe he was higher in rank than a private remained musing and said nothing for he was in doubt well we are not likely to know more to night at any rate said but one of you had better run across to farmer s and tell him that much she then rose but before retiring addressed a few words to them with a pretty dignity to which her mourning dress added a that was hardly to be found in the words themselves now mind you have a mistress instead of a master i don t yet know my powers or my talents in farming but i shall do my best and if you serve me well so shall r serve you don t any unfair ones among you if there are any such but i hope not suppose that because i m a woman i don t understand the difference between bad on and good all no m excellent well said i shall be up before you are awake i shall be before you are up and i shall have before you are in short i shall astonish you all all yes m and so good night far from the crowd all good night ma am then this small stepped from the table and out of the hall her black silk dress up a few and dragging them along with a scratching noise upon the floor her feelings to the occasion from a sense of grandeur floated off behind with a dignity not entirely free from and the door was closed outside the outside the snow a meeting xi or nothing could a prospect in the outskirts of a certain town and military station many miles north of at a later hour on this same snowy evening if that may be called a prospect of which the chief was darkness it was a night when sorrow may come to the brightest without causing any great sense of when with persons love becomes hope sinks to and faith to hope when the exercise of memory does not stir feelings of regret at opportunities for ambition that have been passed by and anticipation does not prompt to enterprise the scene was a public path bordered on the left hand by a river behind which rose a high wall on the right was a tract of land partly meadow and partly reaching at its remote verge to a wide the changes of the seasons are less on spots of this kind than amid scenery still to a close observer they are just as perceptible the difference is that their of are less and familiar than such well known ones as the bursting of the or the fall of	45
will it be what that you promised i don t quite recollect oh you do don t speak like that it me to the earth it makes me say what ought to be said first by you never mind say it h must i it is when shall we be married frank oh i see well you have to get proper clothes i have money will it be by or license i should think and we live in two do we what then my lodgings are in st mary s and this is not so they will have to be published in both is that the law yes oh frank you think me forward i am afraid don t dear frank will you for i love you so e far from the crowd and you said lots of times you would many me i i i don t cry now i it is foolish if i said so of course i will and shall i put up the in my parish and will you in yours yes to morrow not to morrow we ll settle in a few days you have the permission of the officers no not yet oh how is it you said you almost had before you left the fact is i forgot to ask your coming like this is so sudden and unexpected yes yes it is it was wrong of me to worry you i ll go away now will you come and see me to morrow at mrs s in north street i don t like to come to the there are bad women about and they think me one quite so i ll come to you my dear good night good night frank good night and the noise was again heard of a window closing the little spot moved away when she passed the comer a subdued exclamation was heard inside the wall ho ho ho an followed but it was indistinct and it became lost amid a low peal of laughter which was hardly from the of the tiny outside farmers farmers a rule an exception xii he first public evidence of s decision to be a farmer in her own person and by no more was her appearance the following market day in the at the low though extensive hall supported by beams and pillars and dignified by the name of corn exchange was thronged with hot men who talked among each other in and the speaker of the minute looking sideways into his s face and his argument by a of one during delivery the greater number carried in their hands ground ash using them partly as walking sticks and partly for up pigs sheep neighbours with their backs turned and things in general which seemed to require such treatment in the course of their during conversations each subjected his to great varieties of usage bending it round his back forming an arch of it between his two hands it on the ground till it reached nearly a or perhaps it was hastily tucked under the arm whilst the bag was pulled forth and a handful of com poured into the palm which after criticism was flung upon the floor an issue of events perfectly well known to half a dozen acute town bred fowls which loi had as usual crept into the building unobserved and waited the of their with a neck and eye among these heavy a feminine figure glided the single one of her sex that the room contained she was prettily and even dressed she moved between them as a chaise between carts was heard after them as a romance after sermons was felt them like a breeze it had required a little determination far more than she had at first imagined to take up a position here for at her first entry the had ceased nearly every face had been turned towards her and those that were already turned rigidly fixed there two or three only of the farmers were personally known to and to these she had made her way but if she was to be the practical woman she had intended to show herself business must be carried on or none and she ultimately acquired confidence enough to speak and reply boldly to men merely known to her by too had her bags and by degrees adopted the professional pour into the hand holding up the in her narrow palm for inspection in perfect manner something in the exact arch of her upper unbroken row of teeth and in ihe keenly pointed comers of her red mouth when with parted lips she somewhat turned up her face to argue a point with a tall man suggested that there was depth enough in thai slip of humanity for alarming exploits and daring enough to carry them out but her eyes had a softness invariably a which had they not been dark would have seemed as they were it lowered an expression that might have been piercing to simple clearness strange to say of a woman in full bloom and vigour she always allowed her to finish their state farmers ments before with hers in arguing on prices she held to her own firmly as was natural in a dealer and reduced theirs persistently as was inevitable in a woman but there was an in her firmness which removed it from obstinacy as there was a in her which saved it from meanness those of the farmers with whom she had no dealings by far the greater part were continually asking each other who is she the reply would be farmer s niece took on upper farm turned away the and she ll do everything herself the other man would then shake his head yes tis a pity she s so the first would say	45
but we ought to be proud of her here she up the old place tis such a maid however that she ll soon get picked up it would be to suggest that the novelty of her engagement in such an occupation had almost as much to do with the as had the beauty of her face and movements however the interest was general and this saturday s in the whatever it may have been to as the buying and selling farmer was unquestionably a triumph to her as the maiden indeed the sensation was so pronounced that her instinct on two or three occasions was to merely walk as a queen among these gods of the like a little sister of a little jove and to neglect closing prices altogether the numerous evidences of her power to attract were only thrown into greater relief by a marked exception women seem to have eyes in their ribbons for such matters as these without looking within a right angle of him was conscious of a black sheep the flock it perplexed her first if there had been a respectable on either side the case would have been far from the crowd il if nobody had regarded her she would ken the matter indifferently such cases had i if everybody this man included she would have it as a matter of course people had done so before but the of the exception made the mystery she soon knew thus much of the s appearance he was a gentlemanly man with full and distinctly roman features the of which glowed in the sun with a bronze uke richness of tone he was erect in and quiet in one characteristic pre eminently marked him dignity apparently he had some lime ago reached entrance to middle age at which a man s aspect naturally ceases to alter for the term of a dozen years or so and a woman s does likewise thirty five and fifty were his limits of he might have been either or anywhere between the two it may be said that married men of forty are usually ready and generous enough to fling passing glances at any specimen of moderate beauty they may discern by the way probably as with persons playing for love the consciousness of a certain under any circumstances from that worst possible ultimate the having to pay makes them was convinced that this unmoved person was not a married man when was over she rushed off to who was waiting for her beside the yellow in which they had driven to town the horse was put in and on they trotted s sugar tea and being packed behind and expressing in some indescribable manner by their colour shape and general that they were that young s property and the s and s no more an exception i ve been through it and it is over i shan t mind it again for they will all have grown accustomed to seeing me there but this morning it was as bad as being married eyes everywhere i it would be said men be such a terrible class of society to look at a body but there was one man who had more sense than to waste his time upon me the information was put in this form that might not for a moment suppose her mistress was at all a very good looking man she continued upright about forty i should think do you know at all who he could be couldn t think can t you guess at all said with some disappointment i haven t a notion besides tis no difference since he took less notice of you than any of the rest now if he d taken more it would have mattered a great deal was suffering from the reverse feeling just then and they along in silence a low carriage along still more rapidly behind a horse of breed overtook and passed them why there he is she said looked that that s farmer of course tis the man you couldn t see the other day when he called h farmer murmured and looked at him as he them the farmer had never turned his head once but with eyes fixed on the most advanced point along the road passed as unconsciously and as if and her charms were thin air he s an interesting man don t you think so she remarked oh yes very everybody owns it replied i wonder why he is so up and indifferent and seemingly so far away from all he sees around him far from the crowd it is said but not known for certain that he met with some bitter disappointment when he was a young man and merry a woman him they say people always say that and we know very well women scarcely ever men tis the men who us i expect it is simply his nature to be so reserved simply his nature i expect so miss nothing else in the world still tis more romantic to think he has been served cruelly poor thing perhaps after all he has depend upon it he has oh yes miss he has i feel he must have however we are very apt to think extremes of people i shouldn t wonder after all if it wasn t a little of both just between the rather cruelly used and rather reserved h dear no miss i can t think it between the two that s most likely well yes so it is i am convinced it is most likely you may take my word miss that that s what s the matter with him the xiii it was sunday afternoon in the on the of february dinner being over for want of a better companion had asked to come and sit	45
with her the pile was dreary in winter time before the candles were lighted and the shutters closed the atmosphere of the place seemed as old as the walls every nook behind the furniture had a temperature of its own for the fire was not kindled in this part of the house early in the day and s new piano which was an old one in other annals looked particularly sloping and out of level on the floor before night threw a shade over its less prominent angles and hid the like a little brook though shallow was always rippling her presence had not so much weight as to task thought and yet enough to exercise it on the table lay an old bible bound in leather looking at it said did you ever find out miss who you are going to mn ry by of the bible and key don t be so foolish as if such things could be well there s a good deal in it all the same far from the crowd nonsense child and ii makes your heart beat fearful some believe in it some don t i do very well let s try it said bounding from her seat with that total disregard of which can be indulged in towards a dependent and entering into the spirit of at once go and get the front door key fetched it i wish it wasn t sunday she said on returning perhaps tis wrong what s right week days is right sundays replied her mistress in a tone which was a proof in itself the book was opened the leaves with age being quite worn away al much read verses by he of readers in former days where they were moved along under the line as an aid to the vision the special verse in the book of was sought out by and the sublime words met her eye they slightly thrilled and abashed her it was wisdom in the abstract facing folly in the folly in the blushed persisted in her intention and placed the key on the book a rusty patch immediately upon the verse caused by previous pressure of an iron substance told that this was not the first lime the old volume had been used for the purpose now keep steady and be silent said the verse was repeated the book turned round blushed who did you try said curiously i shall not tell you did you notice mr s doings in church this morning miss continued by the remark the track her thoughts had taken no indeed said with serene indifference his is exactly opposite yours miss i know it nd you did not see his on the certainly i did not i tell you assumed a smaller and shut her lips this move was unexpected and what did he do said didn t turn hi head to look at you once all the service why should he again demanded her mistress wearing a look i didn t ask him to oh no but everybody else was noticing you and it was odd he didn t there tis like him rich and gentlemanly what does he care dropped into a silence intended to express that she had opinions on the matter too for s comprehension rather than that she had nothing to say dear me i had nearly forgotten the i bought yesterday she exclaimed at length who for miss said farmer it was the single name among all possible wrong ones that just at this moment seemed to more than the right well no it is only for little i have promised him something and this will be a pretty surprise for him you may as well bring me my desk and i ll direct it at once took from her desk a illuminated and design in post which had been bought on the previous market day at the chief s in in the centre was a small oval this was left blank that the might tender words more appropriate to the special occasion than any by a could possibly be here s a place for writing said what put x far from the crowd something of this sort i should think returned promptly the rose is red the blue s sweet and so are you yes that shall be it ii just suits itself to a child like him said she inserted the words in a small though handwriting enclosed the sheet in an envelope and dipped her pen for the what fun it would be to send it to the stupid old and how he would wonder said the irrepressible lifting her eyebrows and indulging in an awful mirth on the verge of fear as she thought of the moral and social magnitude of the man contemplated paused to regard the idea at full length s had begun to be a troublesome image a species of daniel in her kingdom who persisted in kneeling eastward when reason and common sense said that he might just as well follow suit with the rest and her the official glance of admiration which cost nothing at all she was far from being seriously concerned about his still it was faintly that the most dignified and valuable man in the parish should withhold his eyes and that a girl like should talk about it so s idea was at first rather than no i won t do that he wouldn t see any humour in it he d worry to death said the persistent really don t care particularly to send it to remarked her mistress he s rather a naughty child sometimes that he is the let s toss as men do said idly now then head tail no we won t toss money on a sunday that would be tempting the devil indeed toss this hymn book there can t be no in that	45
miss very well open shut no it s more likely to fall open open shut the book went fluttering in the air and came down shut a small upon her mouth took the pen and with off hand serenity directed the to now light a candle which seal shall we use here s a s head there s nothing in that what s this two no it ought to be something extraordinary ought it not here s one with a motto i remember it is some funny one but i can t read it we ll try this and if it doesn t do we ll have another a large red seal was duly looked closely at the hot wax to discover the words capital she exclaimed throwing down the letter upset the solemnity of a parson and too looked at the words of the seal and read marry me the same evening the letter was sent and was duly in post office that night to be returned to again in the morning so very idly and was this deed done of love as a spectacle had a fair knowledge but of love she knew nothing far from the crowd effect of the letter sunrise xiv at dusk on the evening of st s day sat down to supper as usual by a beaming fire of aged logs upon the mantel shelf before him was a time piece surmounted by a spread eagle and upon the eagle s wings was the letter had sent here the bachelor s gaze was continually itself till the large red seal became as a blot of blood on the of his eye and as he ate and drank he still read in fancy the words although they were too remote for his sight marry me the was like those crystal which themselves assume the tone of objects about them here in the quiet of s parlour where everything that was not grave was and where the atmosphere was that of a sunday lasting all the week the letter and its changed their tenor from the of their origin to a deep solemnity from their now since the receipt of the in the morning had felt the of his existence to be slowly getting distorted in the direction of an effect of the letter passion the disturbance was as the first floating weed to the little suggesting possibilities of the infinitely great the letter must have had an origin and a motive that the latter was of the smallest magnitude with its existence at all of course did not know and such an explanation did not strike him as a possibility even it is foreign to a condition of mind to realize of the that the processes of a course suggested by circumstance and of striking out a course from inner impulse would look the same in the result the vast difference between starting a train of events and directing into a particular a series already started is rarely apparent to the person confounded by the issue when went to bed he placed the in the comer of the looking glass he was conscious of its presence even when his back was turned upon it it was the first time in s life that such an event had occurred the same fascination that caused him to think it an act which had a deliberate motive prevented him from regarding it as an impertinence he looked again at the direction the mysterious influences of night invested the writing with the presence of the unknown writer somebody s some hand had travelled softly over the paper bearing his name her eyes had watched every curve as she formed it her brain had seen him in imagination the while why should she have imagined him her mouth were the lips red or pale plump or had curved itself to a certain expression as the pen went on the comers had moved with all their natural what had the expression the vision of the woman writing as a to e words written had no individuality she was a i far from the crowd misty shape and well she might be considering thai her original was at that moment sound asleep and of all love and letter writing under the sky whenever she took a form and comparatively ceased to be a vision when he awoke there was the letter the dream the moon shone to night and its light was not of a customary kind his window admitted only a reflection of its rays and the pale had that reversed direction which snow gives coming upward and lighting up his ceiling in an unnatural way casting shadows in strange places and putting lights where shadows had used to be the substance of the had occupied him but little in comparison with the fact of its arrival he suddenly wondered if anything more might be found in the envelope than what he had withdrawn he jumped out of bed in the weird light took the letter pulled out the sheet shook the searched it nothing more was there looked as he had a hundred times the preceding day at the red seal marry me he said aloud the solemn and reserved again closed the letter and stuck it in the frame of the glass in doing so he caught sight of his reflected features wan in expression and in form he saw how closely compressed was his mouth and that his were wide spread and vacant feeling uneasy and dissatisfied with himself for this nervous he returned lo bed then the dawn drew on the full he clear heaven was not equal to that of a cloud at noon when arose and dressed i e descended the stairs and went out towards the a field to the cast leaning over	45
said mark but i say let her have rope enough bless her pretty face shouldn t i like to do so upon her cherry the gallant mark here made a peculiar and sound with his own mark said sternly now you mind this none of that talk that style of yours about miss i don t allow it do you hear with all my heart as i ve no chance replied mr cordially i suppose you ve been speaking against her said oak turning to joseph with a very grim look no not a word i tis a real joyful thing that she s no worse that s what i say said joseph trembling and blushing with terror just said moon what have you been saying asked oak i why ye know i wouldn t harm a worm no not one worm said moon looking very uneasy well somebody has and look here neighbours though one of the and most gentle men on earth rose to the occasion with martial and vigour that s my fist here he placed his fist rather smaller in size than a common loaf in the centre of the s little table and with it gave a or two as if to that eyes all thoroughly took in the idea of before he went further now the first the parish that i hear bad of out mistress why here the fist was raised and let fall a morning meeting as might have done with his hammer in it he ll smell and taste that or i m a all earnestly expressed by their features that their minds did not wander to holland for a moment on account of this statement but were the difference which gave rise to the figure and mark cried hear hear just what i should ha said the dog george looked up at the same time after the shepherd s menace and though he understood english but imperfectly began to growl now don t ye take on so shepherd and sit down said with a equal to anything of the kind in christianity we hear that ye be a extraordinary good and clever man shepherd said joseph with considerable anxiety from behind the s whither he had retired for safety tis a great thing to be clever i m sure he added making movements associated with states of mind rather than body we wish we were don t we neighbours ay that we do sure said moon with a small anxious laugh towards oak to show how very friendly disposed he was likewise who s been telling you i m clever said oak tis about from pillar to post quite common said we hear that ye can tell the time as well by the stars as we can by the sun and moon shepherd yes i can do a little that way said as a man of medium sentiments on the subject and that ye can make sun and folks names upon their almost like copper plate with beautiful and great long tails a excellent fine thing for ye to be such a clever man shepherd joseph used to to farmer james s before you came and could never mind which way to turn the j s and e s far from the crowd could ye joseph joseph shook his head to how absolute was the fact that he couldn t and so you used to do em the wrong way hke this didn t ye joseph marked on the dusty floor with his whip handle i am s and how farmer james would and call thee a fool wouldn t he joseph when a seed his name looking so inside out like continued moon with feeling ay a would said joseph meekly but you see i wasn t so much to blame for them j s and e s be such trying sons o for the memory to mind whether they face backward or forward and i always had such a forgetful memory too tis a very bad affliction for ye being such a man of in other ways well tis but a happy providence ordered that it should be no worse and i feel my thanks as to shepherd there i m sure mis ess ought to have made ye her such a fitting man for t as you be i don t mind that i expected it said oak frankly indeed i hoped for the place at the same time miss has a right to be her own if she choose and to me down to be a common shepherd only oak drew a slow breath looked sadly into the bright and seemed lost in thoughts not of the most hopeful hue the genial warmth of the fire now began to the nearly lifeless lam bs to and move their limbs briskly upon the hay and to recognize for the first time the fact that they were bom their noise increased to a chorus of upon which oak pulled the milk can before the fire and taking a small tea pot from the pocket of his frock filled it with milk and taught those of the helpless t which were not to be restored to i a morning meeting their how to drink from the a trick they acquired with astonishing and she don t even let ye have the skins of the dead i hear resumed joseph his eyes lingering on the operations of oak with the necessary melancholy i don t have them said ye be very badly used shepherd joseph again in the hope of getting as an ally in after all i think she s took against ye that i do oh no not at all replied hastily and a sigh escaped him which the of lamb skins could hardly have caused before any further remark had been added	45
a shade darkened the door and entered the upon each a nod of a quality between friendliness and condescension ah oak i thought you were here he said i met the mail cart ten minutes ago and a letter was put into my hand which i opened without reading the address i believe it is yours you must excuse the accident please oh yes not a bit of difference mr not a bit said readily he had not a correspondent on earth nor was there a possible letter coming to him whose contents the whole parish would not have been welcome to oak stepped aside and read the following in an unknown hand dear friend i do not know your name but i think these few lines will reach you which i write to thank you for your kindness to me the night i left in a reckless way i also return the money i owe you which you will excuse my not keeping as a gift all has ended well and i am happy to say i am going to be married to the young man who has me for some time far from the crowd of the guards now in this town he would know object to my having received anything except as a loan being a man of great and high honour indeed a nobleman by i should be much ed to you if you would keep the contents of this letter a secret for the present dear friend we mean lo surprise by there soon as and wife though i blush to state it to one nearly a stranger the grew up in thanking you again for your kindness i ain your sincere well have you read it mr said if not you better do so i know you are interested in robin read the letter and looked grieved poor the end she is so confident of has not yet come she should and may never come j see she gives no address what sort of a man is this said h m i m afraid not one to build much hope upon in such a case as this the farmer murmured though he s a clever fellow and up to everything a slight romance to him too his mother was a french and it seems that a secret attachment existed between her and the late lord she was married to a poor medical man and soon after an infant was bom and while money was all went on well unfortunately for her boy his best friends died and he got then a situation as second clerk at a lawyer s in he stayed there for some time and might have worked himself into a dignified position of some sort had he not indulged in the wild of i have much doubt if ever little will us in the wa she very much doubt a silly silly girl a morning meeting the door was hurriedly burst open again and in came running ball out of breath his mouth red and open like the bell of a penny trumpet from which he with noisy vigour and great of face now ball said oak sternly why will you run so fast and lose your breath so i m always telling you of it oh i a puff of breath went the wrong way please oak and made me cough well what have you come for i ve run to tell ye said the junior shepherd supporting his exhausted youthful frame against the that you must come directly two more have that s what s the matter shepherd oak oh that s it said oak jumping up and for the present his thoughts on poor you are a good boy to run and tell me and you shall smell a large some day as a treat but before we go bring the and we ll mark this lot and have done with em oak took from his pockets a marking iron dipped it into the pot and on the of the infant sheep the of her he delighted to muse on b e which signified to all the region round that henceforth the belonged to farmer and to no one else now shoulder your two and off good morning mr bold wood the shepherd lifted the sixteen large legs and four small bodies he had himself brought and vanished with them in the direction of the field hard by their frames being now in a sleek and hopeful state pleasantly with their death s door plight of half an hour before followed him a little way up the field hesitated and turned back he him again with a last resolve return on approaching far from the crowd the nook in which the fold was constructed the farmer drew out his pocket book it and allowed it to lie open on his hand a letter was revealed s i was going to ask you oak he said with unreal carelessness if you know whose writing this is oak glanced into the book and replied instantly with a flushed face miss s oak had coloured simply at the consciousness of sounding her name he now felt a strangely distressing from a new thought the letter could of course be no other than or the inquiry would not have been necessary his confusion sensitive persons are always ready with their is it i in preference to reasoning the question was perfectly fair he returned and there was something in the serious earnestness with which he applied himself to an argument on a you know it is rs expected that inquiries will be made that s where the fun lies if the word fun had been torture it could not have been uttered with a more constrained and restless	45
countenance than was s then soon parting from the lonely and reserved man returned to his house to breakfast feeling of shame and regret at having so far exposed his mood by those questions to a stranger he again placed the letter on the and sat down to think of the circumstances attending it by the light of s information all saints and all souls all saints and all souls xvi on a week day morning a small congregation consisting mainly of women and girls rose from its knees in the of a church called all saints in the distant town before mentioned at the end of a service without a sermon they were about to when a smart footstep entering the porch and coming up the central passage arrested their attention the step echoed with a ring unusual in a church it was the of spurs everybody looked a young cavalry soldier in a red uniform with the three of a upon his sleeve strode up the aisle with an embarrassment which was only the more marked by the intense vigour of his step and by the determination upon his face to show none a slight flush had mounted his cheek by the time he had run the between these women but passing on through the arch he never paused till he came close to the altar railing here for a moment he stood alone the who had not yet his perceived the new comer and followed him to the communion space he whispered to the soldier and then beckoned to the clerk who in his turn whispered to an elderly woman apparently his wife and they also went up the steps far from the crowd tis a wedding murmured some of the women brightening let s wait the majority again sat down there was a creaking of machinery behind and some of the young ones turned their heads from the interior face of the west wall of the tower projected a little with a quarter jack and small hell beneath it the being driven by the same clock machinery that struck the large bell in the tower between the tower and the church was a close screen the door of which was kept shut during services hiding this grotesque from sight at present however the door was open and the of the jack the blows on the bell and the s retreat into the nook again were visible to many and audible throughout the church the jack had struck half past eleven where s the woman whispered some of the spectators the young stood still with the of the old around he faced the and was as silent as he was still the e grew to be a noticeable thing as the minutes went on and nobody else appeared and not a sou moved the rattle of the quarter jack again from its its blows for three its retreat were almost painfully abrupt and caused many of the congregation to start i wonder where the woman is a voice whispered again there began now that slight shifting of feet that artificial among several which a nervous suspense at length there was a but the soldier never moved there he stood his face to the south east upright as a column his cap in his hand the clock on the women threw off their and and became more all saints and all souls frequent th came a dead silence every one was waiting for the end some persons may have noticed how the striking of quarters seems to the flight of time it was hardly that the jack had not got wrong with the minutes when the rattle began again the emerged and the four quarters were struck as before one could almost be positive that there was a malicious upon the hideous creature s face and a mischievous delight in its then followed the dull and remote of the twelve heavy strokes in the tower above the women were impressed and there was no this time the clergyman glided into the and the clerk vanished the had not yet turned every woman in the church was waiting to see his face and he appeared to know it at last he did turn and stalked resolutely down the them all with a compressed lip two bowed and old then looked at each other and chuckled innocently enough but the sound had a strange weird effect in that place opposite to the church was a paved square around which several overhanging wood buildings of old time cast a picturesque shade the young man on leaving the door went to cross the square when in the middle he met a little woman the expression of her face which had been one of intense anxiety sank at the sight of his nearly to terror well he said in a suppressed passion looking at her oh frank i made a mistake i thought that church with the spire was all saints and i was at the door at half past eleven to a minute as you said i waited till a quarter to twelve and found then that i was in all souls but i wasn t much frightened for i thought it could be to morrow as well k far from the crowd you fool for so me but say no more shall it be to morrow frank she asked to morrow and he gave vent to a hoarse laugh i don t go through that experience again for some time i warrant you but after all she in a trembling voice the mistake was not such a terrible thing i now dear frank when shall it be ah when god knows he said with a light irony and turning from her walked rapidly away in the in the xvii on saturday was in as usual when the of his dreams entered and became visible to him adam had	45
awakened from his deep sleep and behold there was eve the farmer took courage and for the first time really looked at her material causes and effects are not to be arranged in regular the result from capital employed in the production of any movement of a mental nature is sometimes as tremendous as the cause itself is minute when women are in a mood their usual either from carelessness or inherent defect seemingly fails to teach them this and hence it was that was fated to be astonished to day looked at her not or but at gaze in the way a looks up at a passing train as something foreign to his element and but dimly understood to women had been remote phenomena rather than necessary of such uncertain aspect movement and that whether their were as and as subject to laws as his own or as absolutely far from the crowd as they appeared he had not deemed it his duty to consider he saw her black hair her correct curves and and the of her chin and throat he saw then the side of her eyelids eyes and lashes and the shape of her ear next he noticed her figure her skirt and the very of her shoes thought her beautiful but wondered whether he was right in his thought for it seemed impossible that this romance in the flesh if so sweet as he imagined could have been going on long without creating a commotion of delight among men and provoking more inquiry than had done even though that was not a little to the best of his judgment neither nature nor art could improve this perfect one of an imperfect many his heart began to move within him it must be remembered though forty years of age had never before a woman with the very centre and force of his glance they had struck upon all his senses at wide angles was she really beautiful he could not assure himself that his opinion was true even now he said to a neighbour is miss considered handsome h yes she was a good deal noticed the first time she came if you remember a very handsome girl indeed a man is never more than in receiving favourable opinions on the beauty of a woman he is half or quite in love with a mere child s word on the point has the weight of an r a s was satisfied now and this charming woman had in effect said to him marry me why should she have done that strange thing s blindness to the difference between of what circumstances suggest and what they do not suggest was well matched in the market place by s to the possibly great issues of little she was at this moment coolly dealing with a dashing young farmer adding up accounts with him as indifferently as if his face had been the pages of a it was evident that such a nature as his had no attraction for a woman of s taste but grew hot down to his hands with an jealousy he trod for the first time the threshold of the injured lover s hell his first impulse was to go and thrust himself between them this could be done but only in one way by asking to see a of her corn the idea he could not make the request it was loveliness to ask it to buy and sell and with his of her all this time was conscious of having broken into that dignified at last his eyes she knew were following her everywhere this was a triumph and had it come naturally such a triumph would have been the sweeter to her for this delay but it had been brought about by ingenuity and she valued it only as she valued an artificial flower or a wax fruit being a woman with some good sense in reasoning on subjects wherein her heart was not involved repented that a which had owed its existence as much to as to herself should ever have been undertaken to disturb the of a man she respected too highly to deliberately she that day nearly formed the intention of begging his pardon on the very next occasion of their meeting the worst features of this arrangement were that if he thought she him an apology would increase the offence by being and if he thought she wanted him to her it would read like additional evidence of her far from the crowd bold wood in meditation regret xviii was tenant of what was called little farm and his person was the nearest approach to aristocracy that this quarter of the parish could boast of genteel strangers whose god was their town who might happen to be compelled to linger about this nook for a day heard the sound of light wheels and prayed to see good society to the degree of a solitary lord or squire at the very least but it was only mr going out for the day they heard the sound of wheels yet once more and were re animated to it was only mr bold wood coming home again his house stood from the road and the stables which are to a farm what a fireplace is to a room were behind their lower portions being lost amid bushes of laurel inside the blue door open half way down were to be seen at this time the backs and tails of half a dozen warm and contented horses standing in their and as thus viewed they presented of and bay in shapes like a arch the tail being a streak down the midst of each over these and lost to the eye gazing in from the outer light the mouths of the same animals could be heard busily the above named bold wood in meditation warmth and by quantities	45
of and hay the restless and shadowy figure of a wandered about a loose box at the end whilst the steady grind of all the was occasionally by the rattle of a rope or the stamp of a foot pacing up and down at the heels of the animals was farmer himself this place was his and in one here after looking to the feeding of his four footed the would walk and of an evening till the moon s rays streamed in through the windows or total darkness enveloped the scene his square framed showed more fully now than in the crowd and bustle of the market house in this meditative walk his foot met the floor with heel and toe simultaneously and his fine face was bent downwards just enough to render obscure the still mouth and the well rounded though rather prominent and broad chin a few clear and thread like lines were the only interruption to the otherwise smooth surface of his large forehead the phases of s life were ordinary enough but his was not an ordinary nature that stillness which struck casual more than anything else in his character and habit and seemed so precisely like the rest of may have been the perfect balance of enormous forces and in fine his disturbed he was in extremity at once if an emotion possessed him at all it ruled him a feeling not him was entirely latent or rapid it was never slow he was always hit or he was missed he had no light and careless touches in his constitution either for good or for evil stern in the outlines of action mild in the details he was serious throughout all he saw no absurd sides to the follies of life and thus though not quite in the eyes of merry far from the crowd and and those to whom all things show life as a jest he was not intolerable to the earnest and those acquainted with grief being a man who read all the of life seriously if he failed to please when they were there was no frivolous treatment to reproach him for when they chanced to end was far from dreaming that the dark and silent shape upon which she had so carelessly thrown a seed was a of intensity had she known s moods her blame would have been fearful and the upon her heart moreover had she known her present power for good or evil over this man she would have trembled at her responsibility luckily for her present for her future tranquillity her understanding had not yet told her what was nobody knew entirely for though it was possible to form concerning his wild from old faintly visible he had never been seen at the high tides which caused them farmer came to the stable door and looked forth across the level fields beyond the first was a hedge and on tbe other side of this a meadow belonging to s farm it was now early the time of going to grass with the sheep when they have the first feed of tbe meadows before these are laid up for the wind which had been blowing east for several weeks had to the southward and the middle of spring had come abruptly almost without a beginning it was that period in the quarter when we may suppose the to be waking for the season the vegetable world begins to move and swell and the to rise till in the silence of lone gardens and where everything seems helpless and still after the bond and slavery of frost there are united and all in meditation together in comparison with which the powerful of and in a noisy city are but efforts looking into the distant meadows saw there three figures they were those of miss shepherd oak and ball when s figure shone upon the farmer s eyes it lighted him up as the moon fights up a great tower a man s body is as the shell or the of his soul as he is reserved or overflowing or self contained there was a change in s exterior from its former and his face showed that he was now living outside his for the first time and with a fearful sense of exposure it is the usual experience of strong natures when they love at last he arrived at a conclusion it was to go across and inquire boldly of her the of his heart by reserve during these many years without a channel of any kind for emotion had worked its effect it has been observed more than once that the causes of love are chiefly and was a living testimony to the truth of the proposition no mother existed to his devotion no sister for his tenderness no idle ties for sense he became with the compound which was genuine lover s love he approached the gate of the meadow beyond it the ground was melodious with and the sky with the low of the flock mingling with both mistress and man were engaged in the operation of making a lamb take which is performed whenever an has lost her own offspring one of the of another being given her as a substitute had the dead lamb and was tying the skin over the body of the live lamb in the customary manner whilst was holding open a little pen of four into which the mother and lamb were far from the crowd driven where ihey d remain the old sheep conceived an affection for the young one looked up at the completion of the and saw the farmer by the gate where he was by a willow tree in full bloom to whom her face was as the uncertain glory of an april day was ever of its faintest changes and instantly discerned the mark of some influence from without in the	45
she fancied his brow severe and his eye immediately contrived to withdraw and glided along by the river till she was a stone s throw off she heard footsteps brushing the grass and had a consciousness that love was her like a perfume instead of turning or waiting went further among the high but seemed determined and pressed on till they were completely past the bend of the river here without being seen they hear the and shouts of the above miss said the farmer she trembled turned and said good morning his tone was so utterly removed from all she had expected as a beginning it was and quiet an emphasis of deep their form at the same time being scarcely expressed silence the sheep washing has sometimes a remarkable power of showing itself as the soul of feeling wandering without its and it is then more impressive than speech in the same way to say a little is often to tell more than to say a great deal told everything in that word as the consciousness on learning that what was fancied to be the of wheels is the of thunder so did s at her conviction i feel almost too much to think he said with a solemn simplicity i have come to speak to you without preface my life is not my own since i have beheld you clearly miss i come to make you an offer of marriage tried to preserve an absolutely countenance and all the motion she made was that of closing lips which had previously been a little parted i am now forty one years old he went on i may have been called a confirmed bachelor and i was a confirmed bachelor i had never any views of myself as a husband in my earlier days nor have i made any calculation on the subject since i have been older but we all change and my change in this matter came with seeing you i have felt lately more and more that my present way of living is bad in every respect beyond all things i want you as my wife i feel mr that though i respect you much i do not feel what would justify me to in accepting your offer she stammered this giving back of dignity for dignity seemed to open the of feeling that had as yet kept closed my life is a burden without you he exclaimed in a low voice i want you i want you to let me say i love you again and again answered nothing and the horse upon l far from the crowd her arm seemed so impressed that instead of the he looked up i think and hope you care enough for me to listen to what i have to tell s momentary impulse at hearing this was to ask why he thought that till she remembered that far from being a conceited assumption on s part it was but the natural conclusion of serious based on premises of her own offering i wish i could say courteous to you the farmer continued in an easier tone and put my rugged feeling into a graceful shape but i have neither power nor patience to learn such things want you for my wife so wildly that no other feeling can abide in me but should not have spoken out had i not been led to hope the again i oh that she said to herself but not a word to him if you can love me say so miss if not don t say no mr it is painful to have to say am surprised so that i don t how to answer you with propriety and respect but am only just able to speak out my feeling i mean my meaning that i am afraid can t marry you much as respect you you are too dignified for me to suit you sir but miss i i didn t i know i ought never to have of sending that forgive me sir it was a wanton thing which no woman with any self respect should have done if you will only pardon my i promise never to no no no don t say make me think it was something more that it was a sort of prophetic the beginning of a feeling that you would like me you torture me to say it was done in i never thought of it in that light and the sheep washing i can t endure it ah i wish i knew how to win you but that i can t do i can only ask if i have already got you if i have not and it is not true that you have come to me as i have to you i can say no more i have not fallen in love with you mr certainly i must say that she allowed a very small smile to creep for the first time over her serious face in sa n ng this and the white row of upper teeth and lips already noticed suggested an idea of which was immediately contradicted by the pleasant eyes but you will just think in kindness and condescension think if you cannot bear with me as a husband i fear i am too old for you but believe me i will take more care of you than would many a man of your own age i will protect and cherish you with all my strength i will indeed you shall have no cares be worried by no household affairs and live quite at ease miss the shall be done by a man i can afford it well you shall never have so much as to look out of doors at time or	45
to think of weather in the harvest i rather cling to the chaise because it is the same my poor father and mother drove but if you don t like it i will sell it and you shall have a pony carriage of your own i cannot say how far above every other idea and object on earth you seem to me nobody knows god only knows how much you are to me s heart was young and it swelled with sympathy for the deep natured man who spoke so simply don t say it don t i cannot bear you to feel so much and me to feel nothing and i am afraid they will notice us mr will you let the matter rest now i cannot think i did not know you were going to say this to me oh i am wicked to far from the crowd have made you suffer so she was frightened as well as agitated at his vehemence say then that you don t absolutely refuse do not quite refuse i can do nothing i cannot answer i may speak to you again on the subject yes i may think of you yes i suppose you may think of me and hope to obtain you no do not hope let us go on i will call upon you again to morrow no please not give me time yes i will give you any time he said earnestly and gratefully i am happier now no i beg you don t be happier if happiness only comes from my agreeing be mr i must think i will wait he said and then she turned away dropped his gaze to the ground and stood long like a man who did not know where he was realities then returned upon him like the pain of a wound received in an excitement which it and he too then went on perplexity perplexity grinding the a quarrel xx e is so disinterested and kind to offer me all that i can desire said yet farmer whether by nature kind or the reverse to kind did not exercise kindness here the of the purest loves are but a and no generosity at all not being the least in love with him was eventually able to look calmly at his offer it was one which many women of her own station in the neighbourhood and not a few of higher rank would have been wild to accept and proud to publish in every point of view from to passionate it was desirable that she a lonely girl should marry and marry this earnest well to do and respected man he was close to her doors his standing was sufficient his qualities were even had she felt which she did not any wish whatever for the married state in the abstract she could not reasonably have rejected him being a woman who frequently appealed to her understanding for from her as a means to marriage was she esteemed and liked him yet she did not want him it appears that ordinary men take wives because possession is not possible without marriage and that ordinary women l far from the crowd accept husbands because marriage is not possible without possession with totally aims the method is the same on both sides but the understood on the woman s part was wanting here besides s position as absolute mistress of a farm and was a novel one and the novelty had not yet begun to wear off but a filled her which was somewhat to her credit for it would few beyond the mentioned reasons with which she her objections she had a strong feeling that having been the one who the game she ought in honesty to accept the consequences still the reluctance remained she said in the same breath that it would be not to marry and that she couldn t do it to save her life s was an impulsive nature imder a aspect an elizabeth in brain and a mary in spirit she often performed actions of the greatest with a manner of extreme discretion many of her thoughts were perfect they always remained thoughts only a few were but unfortunately they were the ones which most frequently grew into deeds the next day to that of the declaration she found oak at the bottom of her garden grinding his for the sheep ail the cottages were more or less scenes of the same operation the of spread into the sky from all parts of thi village as from an previous to a campaign peace and war kiss each other at their hours of preparation and hooks with swords and in their common necessity for point and edge ball turned the handle of s his head performing a melancholy see saw up and down with each turn of the wheel oak stood somewhat as is represented when in the act of his grinding the arrows his figure slightly bent the weight of his body thrown over on the and his head balanced sideways with a critical of the lips and of the eyelids to crown the attitude his mistress came up and looked upon them in silence for a minute or two then she said go to the lower and catch the bay mare i ll turn the of the i want to speak to you departed and took the handle had glanced up in intense surprise its expression and looked down again turned the and applied the the peculiar motion involved in turning a wheel has a wonderful tendency to the mind it is a sort of variety of s punishment and a dismal chapter to the history of the brain gets the head grows heavy and the body s centre of gravity seems to settle by degrees in a leaden lump somewhere between the eyebrows and the crown felt	45
the unpleasant symptoms after two or three dozen turns will you turn and let me hold the she said my head is in a whirl and i can t talk turned then began with some awkwardness allowing her thoughts to stray occasionally from her story to attend to the which required a little in i wanted to ask you if the men made any observations on my going behind the with mr yesterday yes they did said you don t hold the right miss i knew you wouldn t know the way hold like this he the and her two hands completely in his own taking ch as we some far from the crowd her him to write incline the edge so times clasp a child s grasped the he said hands and were inclined to suit t ie words and held thus for a peculiarly long lime by the as he spoke that will do exclaimed loose my hands i won t have them held turn the freed her hands quietly retired to his handle and the grinding went on did the men think it odd she said again odd was not the idea miss what did they say that farmer s name and your own were likely to be flung over pulpit together before the i thought so by the look of them why there s nothing in it a more foolish remark was never made and want you to contradict it that s what i came for looked incredulous and sad but between his moments of incredulity relieved they must have heard our conversation she continued well then said oak stopping the handle and gazing into her face with astonishment miss you mean she said with dignity i mean this that if mr really spoke of marriage i am not to a story and say he didn t to please you i have already tried to please you too much for my own good regarded him with round eyed perplexity she did not know whether to pity him for disappointed love of her or to be angry with him for having got over it his tone being i said i wanted you just to mention that it was not true i was going to be married to him she murmured with a slight decline in her assurance a quarrel i can say that to them if you wish miss and i could give an opinion to you on what you have done i but i don t want your opinion i suppose not said bitterly and going on with his turning his words rising and falling in a regular swell and as he stooped or rose with the which directed them according to his position into the earth or along the garden his eyes being fixed on a leaf upon the ground with a hastened act was a rash act but as does not always happen time gained was prudence it must be added however that time was very seldom gained at this period the single opinion in the parish on herself and her doings that she valued as than her own was oak s and the honesty of his character was such that on any subject even that of her love for or marriage with another man the same of opinion might be calculated on and be had for the asking thoroughly convinced of the impossibility of his own suit a high resolve constrained him not to injure that of another this is a lover s most virtue as the lack of it is a lover s most sin knowing he would reply truly she asked the question painful as she must have known the subject would be such is the selfishness of some charming women perhaps it was some excuse for her thus honesty to her own advantage that she had absolutely no other sound judgment within easy reach well what is your opinion of my conduct she said quietly that it is unworthy of any thoughtful and meek and comely woman in an instant s face coloured with the angry crimson of a sunset but she far from the crowd to utter this feeling and the of her tongue only made the of her face the more noticeable the next thing did was to make a mistake perhaps you don t like the of my you for i know it is but i thought it would do good she instantly replied on the contrary my opinion of you is so low that i see in your abuse the praise of people i am glad you don t mind it for i said it honestly and with every serious meaning i see but unfortunately when you try not to speak in jest you are amusing just as when you wish to avoid seriousness you sometimes say a sensible word it was a hard hit but had lost her temper and on account had never in his life kept his own better he said nothing she then broke out i may ask i suppose where in particular my in my not marrying you perhaps not by any means said quietly i have long given up thinking of that matter or wishing it i suppose she said and it was apparent that she expected an denial of this supposition whatever felt he coolly echoed her words or wishing it either a woman may be treated with a bitterness which is sweet to her and with a which is not offensive would have submitted to an indignant for her levity had protested that he was loving her at the same time the of passion is even if it and there is a triumph in the humiliation and a tenderness in the strife this was what she bad been expecting and what she had not j a quarrel got to be because the saw her in the cold morning light of open	45
was he had not finished either he continued in a more agitated voice my opinion is since you ask it that you are greatly to blame for upon a man like mr merely as a leading on a man you don t care for is not a action and even miss if you seriously inclined towards him you might have let him discover it in some way of true loving kindness and not by sending him a s letter laid down the i cannot allow any man to to my private conduct she exclaimed nor will i for a minute so you ll please leave the farm at the end of the week it may have been a peculiarity at any rate it was a fact that when was swayed by an emotion of an earthly sort her lower lip trembled when by a refined emotion her upper or one her lip quivered now very well so i will said calmly he had been held to her by a beautiful thread which it pained him to spoil by breaking rather than by a chain he could not break i should be even better pleased to go at once he added go at once then in heaven s name said she her eyes flashing at his though never meeting them don t let me see your face any more very well miss so it shall be and he took his and went away from her in placid dignity as moses left the presence of far from the crowd troubles m the fold a message xxi oak had ceased to feed the flock for about four and twenty hours when on sunday afternoon the elderly gentlemen joseph moon and half a dozen others came running up to the house of the mistress of the upper farm whatever is the matter men she said meeting them at the door just as she was coming out on her way to church and ceasing in a moment from the close of her two red lips with which she had accompanied the exertion of pulling on a tight glove sixty said joseph seventy said moon fifty nine said tail s husband sheep have broke fence said and got into a field of young said tall young said moon said joseph and they be getting said that they be said joseph and will all die as dead as if they t got out and cured said tall joseph s countenance was drawn into lines and by his concern s forehead was wrinkled troubles in the fold both and after the pattern of a expressive of a double despair lips were thin and his face was rigid s jaws sank and his eyes turned whichever way the strongest muscle happened to pull them yes said joseph and i was sitting at home looking for and says i to myself tis nothing but and in this testament when who should come in but there joseph he said the sheep have with it was a moment when thought was speech and speech exclamation moreover she had hardly recovered her since the disturbance which she had suffered from oak s remarks that s enough that s enough oh you fools she cried throwing the and prayer book into the passage and running out of doors in the direction signified to come to me and not go and get them out directly oh the stupid her eyes were at their darkest and brightest now s beauty belonging rather to the than to the school she never looked so well as when she was angry and particularly when the effect was heightened by a rather dashing velvet dress carefully put on before a glass all the ancient men ran in a throng after her to the field joseph sinking down in the midst when about half way hke an individual in a world which was more and more having once received the that her presence always gave them they went round among the sheep with a will the majority of the animals were lying down and could not be stirred these were bodily lifted out and the others driven into the adjoining field here after the lapse of a few minutes several more fell down and lay helpless and as the rest is far from the crowd with a sad bursting heart looked at these specimens of her prime flock as ihey rolled with wind and the rank n it they drew many of them at the mouth their breathing being quick and short whilst the bodies of all were fearfully oh what can i do what can i do said helplessly sheep are unfortunate animals there s always something happening to them i i never knew a flock pass a year without getting into some scrape or other there s only one way of saving them said tall what way tell me quick they must be pierced in the side with a thing made on purpose can you do it can i no ma am we can t nor you neither it must be done in a particular spot if ye go to the right or left but an inch you the and kill her not even a shepherd can do it as a rule then they must die she said in a resigned tone only one man in the neighbourhood knows the way said joseph now just come up he could cure em ail if he were here who is he let s get him shepherd oak said ah he s a clever man in talents ah that he is so said joseph true he s the man said tall how dare you name that man in my presence she said excitedly i told you never to allude to him nor shall you if you stay with me ah she added brightening farmer knows oh no ma	45
am said two of his store got into some t other day and were just troubles in the fold like these he sent a man on horseback here post haste for and went and saved em farmer got the thing they do it with tis a pipe with a sharp inside isn t it joseph ay a pipe echoed joseph that s what tis ay sure that s the machine in with an oriental indifference to the flight of time burst out don t stand there with your and your talking at me get somebody to cure the sheep instantly all then stalked off in consternation to get somebody as directed without any idea of whom it was to be in a minute they had vanished through the gate and she stood alone with the dying flock never will i send for him never she said firmly one of the here contracted its muscles horribly extended itself and jumped high into the air the leap was an astonishing one the fell heavily and lay still went up to it the sheep was dead h shall i do what shall i do she again exclaimed wringing her hands i won t send for him no i won t the most vigorous expression of a resolution does not always with the greatest vigour of the resolution itself it is often flung out as a sort of to support a conviction which whilst strong required no to prove it so the no i won t of meant i think i must she followed her through the gate and lifted her hand to one of them answered to her signal where is oak staying across the valley at nest cottage far from the crowd and say he jump on the bay mare and ride must return instantly that i say so tall scrambled off to the field and i was on the bay bare backed and with only a h alter by way of rein he diminished down the hill watched so did all the rest tall along the bridle path through sixteen acres middle field the s piece shrank almost to a point crossed the bridge and ascended from the valley through and on the other side the cottage to which had retired before taking his final departure from the locality was visible as a white spot on the opposite hill backed by blue walked up and down the men entered the field and endeavoured to ease the anguish of the dumb creatures by rubbing them nothing availed continued walking the horse was seen descending the hill and the wearisome series had to be repeated in reverse order s piece the middle field acres she hoped tall had had presence of to give the mare up to nd return himself on foot the rider them it was tall oh what said was not visible anywhere perhaps he is already gone she said tall came into the and off his face tragic as s after the battle of well said unwilling to believe that her verbal could possibly have he says beggars mustn t be replied what said the young farmer opening her eyes and drawing in her breath for an outburst joseph i retired a few steps behind a he says he shall not come you request en a message to come and in a proper manner as becomes any begging a favour oh oh that s his answer where does he get his airs who am i then to be treated like that shall i beg to a man who has begged to me another of the flock sprang into the air and fell dead the men looked grave as if they suppressed opinion turned aside her eyes full of tears the strait she was in through pride and could not be disguised longer she burst out crying bitterly they all saw it and she attempted no further concealment i wouldn t cry about it miss said william why not ask him softer like i m sure he d come then is a true man in that way checked her grief and wiped her eyes oh it is a wicked cruelty to me it is it is she murmured and he drives me to do what i wouldn t yes he does tall come indoors after this not very dignified for the head of an establishment she went into the house tall at her heels here she sat down and hastily a note between the small sobs of which follow a fit of crying as a ground swell follows a storm the note was none the less polite for being written in a hurry she held it at a distance was about to fold it then added these words at the bottom do not desert me she looked a little in it and closed her lips as if thereby to till too late the action of conscience in examining whether such were the note was despatched as the message had been and waited indoors for the result it was an anxious quarter of an hour that i i m far from the crowd between the messenger s departure and the sound of the s tramp again outside she could not watch this time but leaning over the old at which she had written the letter closed her eyes as if to keep out both hope and fear the case however was a promising one was not angry he was simply although her first command had been so haughty such would have damned a little less beauty and on the other hand such beauty would have a little less she went out when the horse was heard and looked up a mounted figure passed between her and the sky and went on towards the field of sheep the rider turning his face in receding looked at her it was a moment when a	45
woman s eyes and tongue tell distinctly opposite tales looked full of gratitude and she said oh how could you serve me so such a tenderly shaped reproach for his previous delay was the one speech in the language that he could pardon for not being of his readiness now murmured a confused reply and hastened on she knew from the look h sentence in her note had brought him followed to the field was already among the prostrate forms he had flung off his coat rolled up his sleeves and taken from his pocket the instrument of salvation it was a small or with a lance passing down the inside and began to use it with a dexterity that would have a hospital surgeon passing his hand over the sheep s left flank and selecting the proper point he the skin and with the lance as it stood in the then he suddenly withdrew the lance retaining the in its a message place a current of air rushed up the forcible enough to have extinguished a candle held at the it has been said that mere ease after torment is delight for a time and the countenances of these poor creatures expressed it now forty nine operations were successfully performed owing to the great hurry by the far gone state of some of the flock missed his aim in one case and in one only striking wide of the mark and a mortal blow at once upon the suffering four had died three recovered without an operation the total number of sheep which had thus strayed and injured themselves so was fifty seven when the love led man had ceased from his labours came and looked him in the face will you stay on with me she said smiling and not troubling to bring her lips quite together again at the end because there was going to be another smile soon i will said and she smiled on him again far from the crowd the t barn and the sheep xxii en thin away to and oblivion quite as often by not making the most of good spirits when they have them as by lacking good spirits when they are indispensable lately for the first time since his by misfortune had been independent in thought and vigorous in action to a marked extent conditions which powerless without an opportunity as an opportunity without them is barren would have given him a sure lift upwards when the favourable should have occurred but this beside stole his time the spring tides were going by without floating him off and the might soon come which could not it was the first day of june and the sheep season the landscape even to the pasture being all health and colour every green was young every pore was open and every stalk was swollen with racing currents of god was present in the country and the devil had gone with the world to town of the later kinds like the square headed the odd pint like an saint in a of clear white ladies the the great barn and the sheep to human flesh the s and the black bells were among the objects of the vegetable world in and about at this time and of the animal the figures of mr the master the second and third who travelled in the exercise of their calling and do not require definition by name the fourth husband the fifth joseph the sixth young ball as assistant and oak as general none of these were clothed to any extent worth mentioning each appearing to have hit in the matter of the decent mean between a high and low caste an of and a of machinery in general proclaimed that serious work was the order of the day they in the great barn called for the the barn which on ground plan resembled a church with it not only the form of the neighbouring church of the parish but with it in antiquity whether the barn had ever formed one of a group of buildings nobody seemed to be aware no trace of such surroundings remained the vast at the sides lofty enough to admit a laden to its highest with corn in the were by heavy pointed arches of stone and boldly cut whose very simplicity was the origin of a grandeur not apparent in where more ornament has been attempted the dusky chestnut roof and tied in by huge curves and was far nobler in design because more wealthy in material than nine of those in our modern churches along each side wall was a range of throwing deep shadows on the spaces between them which were by in their proportions the precise both of beauty and far from the crowd one could say about this barn what could hardly be said of either the church or the castle akin to it in age and style that the purpose which had dictated its original was the same with that to which it was still applied unlike and superior to either of those two typical of the old barn embodied which had suffered no at the hands of time here at least the spirit of the ancient was at one with the spirit of the modern standing before this pile the eye regarded its present usage the mind dwelt upon its past history with a satisfied sense of throughout a feeling almost of gratitude and quite of pride at the of the idea which bad heaped it up the fact that four centuries had neither proved it to be founded on a mistake inspired any hatred of its purpose nor given rise to any reaction that had battered it down invested this simple grey effort of old minds with a repose if not a grandeur which a too curious reflection was apt to disturb in its and military for once	45
and had a common the windows the time eaten and the of the the misty chestnut work of the referred to no exploded art or worn out religious creed the defence and salvation of the body by daily bread is still a study a religion and a desire to day the large side doors were thrown open towards the sun to admit a light to the immediate spot of the operations which was the wood floor in the centre formed of oak black with age and by the bearing of for many generations till it had grown as slippery and as in hue as the state room floors of an mansion here the knelt the sun in upon their shirts arms and the polished the great barn and the sheep they nourished causing them lo with a thousand rays strong enough to blind a eyed man beneath them a captive sheep lay panting its as in terror till it quivered like the hot landscape outside this picture of to day in its frame of four hundred years ago did not produce that marked contrast between ancient and modern which is implied by the contrast of date in comparison with cities was the citizen s is the rustic s in london twenty or thirty years ago are old times in paris ten years or five in three or four score years were in the mere present and nothing less than a century set a mark on its face or lone five hardly modified the cut of a the of a frock by the breadth of a hair ten generations failed to alter the turn of a single phrase in these the busy s ancient times are only old his old are still new his present is so the barn was natural to the and the were in harmony with the barn the spacious ends of the building answering to and were off with the sheep being all collected in a crowd within these two and in one angle a was formed in which three or four sheep were kept ready for the to seize without loss of time in the background by shade were the three women money and and miller gathering up the and twisting ropes of wool with a for tying round they were indifferently well assisted by the old who when the season from october lo april had passed made himself useful upon of the behind all was carefully watching the i far from the crowd men to see that there was no cutting or through carelessness and that the animals were dose who flitted and hovered under her bright eyes like a did not half his time being spent in attending to the others and selecting the sheep for them at the present moment he was engaged in handing round a of mild liquor supplied from a barrel in the corner and cut pieces of bread and cheese after throwing a glance here a caution there and one of the younger who had allowed his last finished sheep to go off among the flock without re stamping it with her came again to as he put down the luncheon to drag a frightened to his station flinging it over upon its back with a twist of the arm he off the about its head and opened up the neck and collar his mistress quietly looking she at the insult murmured watching the pink flush which arose and the neck and shoulders of the where they were left bare by the a flush which was for its delicacy by many queens of and would have been creditable for its to any woman in the world poor s soul was fed with a luxury of content by having her over him her eyes regarding his skilful which apparently were going to gather up a piece of the flesh at every close and yet never did so like oak was happy in that he was not over happy he had no wish to converse with her that his bright lady and himself formed one group exclusively their own and containing no others in the world was enough so the chatter was all on her side there is a that tells nothing which was s the great barn and the sheep and there is a silence which says much that was full of this dim and temperate bliss he went on to fling the over upon her other side covering her head with his knee gradually running the line after line round her thence about her flank and back and finishing over the tail well done and done quickly said looking at her watch as the last how long miss said wiping his brow three and twenty minutes and a half since you took the first lock from its forehead it is the first time that i have ever seen one done in less than half an hour the clean sleek creature arose from its how perfectly like rising from the foam should have been seen to be realized looking startled and shy at the loss of its garment which lay on the floor in one soft cloud united throughout the portion visible being the inner surface only which never before exposed was white as snow and without flaw or of the kind ball yes oak here i be now runs forward with the tar pot b e is newly stamped upon the skin and away the simple dam leaps panting over the board into the flock outside then up comes throws the loose locks into the middle of the rolls it up and carries it into the background as three and a half pounds of warmth for the winter enjoyment of persons unknown and far away who will however never experience the comfort from the wool as it here exists new and pure before the of its nature whilst in a living state has dried and	45
been washed out rendering it just now as superior to anything as cream is superior to milk and water but heartless circumstance could not leave entire far from the crowd s happiness of this morning the old and two had duly undergone their and the men were proceeding with the and when oak s belief that she was going to stand pleasantly by and time him through another performance was painfully interrupted by farmer s appearance in the corner of the barn nobody seemed to have perceived his entry but there he certainly was always carried with him a social atmosphere of his own which everybody felt who came near him and the talk which s presence had somewhat suppressed was now suspended he crossed over towards who turned to greet him with a carriage of perfect ease he spoke to her in low tones and she instinctively her own to the same pitch and her voice ultimately even caught the of his she was far from having a wish to appear mysteriously connected with him but woman at the age to the larger body not only in her choice of words which is apparent every day but even in her shades of tone and humour when the influence is great what they conversed about was not audible to who was too independent to get near though too concerned to disregard the issue of their dialogue was the taking of her hand by the courteous farmer to help her over the spread ing board the bright june sunlight outside standing beside the sheep already they went on talking again concerning the flock apparently not not without truth that in quiet discussion of any matter within reach of the eyes these are usually fixed upon it regarded a contemptible straw lying upon the ground in a way which suggested less n than womanly embarrassment she became more or less red in the cheek the blood wavering in the great barn and the sheep uncertain and over the sensitive space between ebb and flood on constrained and sad she left s side and he walked up and down alone for nearly a quarter of an hour then she reappeared in her new riding habit of green which fitted her to the waist as a fits its fruit and young bob led on her mare his own horse from the tree under which it had been tied oak s eyes could not them and in endeavouring to continue his at the same time that he watched s manner he the sheep in the the animal plunged instantly gazed towards it and saw the blood oh she exclaimed with severe remonstrance you who are so strict with the other men see what you are doing yourself to an there was not much to complain of in this remark but to oak who knew to be well aware that she herself was the cause of the poor s wound because she had wounded the s in a still more vital part it had a sting which the abiding sense of his inferiority to both herself and was not calculated to heal but a manly resolve to recognize boldly that he had no longer a lover s interest in her helped him occasionally to conceal a feeling bottle he shouted in an unmoved voice of routine ball ran up the wound was and the continued gently tossed into the saddle and before they turned away she again spoke out to oak with the same and i am going now to see mr s take my place in the barn and keep the men carefully to their work the horses heads were put about and they trotted away far from the crowd s deep was a matter of great interest among all around him but having been pointed out for so many years as the perfect of his lapse was an somewhat resembling thai of st john long s death by consumption in the midst of his proofs that it was not a fatal disease that means matrimony said miller following them out of sight with her eyes i reckon that s the size o l said along without looking up well better wed over the than over the said tall turning his sheep spoke exhibiting miserable eyes at the same time i don t see why a maid should take a husband when she s bold enough to light her own battles and don t want a home for tis keeping another woman out but let it be for tis a pity he and she should trouble two houses as usual with decided characters invariably provoked the criticism of individuals like her fault was to be loo pronounced in her objections and not sufficiently in her we learn that it is not the rays which bodies but those which they reject that give them ihe colours they are known by and in the same way people are by their and whilst their is looked upon as no attribute at all continued in a more mood i once hinted my mind to her on a few things as nearly as a battered frame dared to do so to such a piece you all know neighbours what a man i be and how i come down with ray powerful words when my pride is boiling wi we do we do so i said mistress there s places empty and there s gifted men willing but the spite no not the great barn and the sheep the spite i didn t say spite but the of the i said meaning keeps em wasn t too strong for her say well put yes and i would have said it had death and salvation overtook me for it such is my spirit when i have a mind a true man and proud as a you see the why twas about being really but i didn	45
t put it so plain that she could understand my meaning so i could lay it on all the stronger that was my depth however let her marry an she will perhaps tis high time i believe farmer kissed her behind the spear bed at the sheep washing t other day that i do what a lie said ah neighbour oak how st know said mildly because she told me all that passed said oak with a sense that he was not as other in this matter ye have a right to believe it said with a very true right but i mid see a little distance into things to be long headed enough for a s place is a poor mere trifle yet a trifle more than nothing however i look round upon life quite cool do you take me neighbours my words though made as simple as i can mid be rather deep for some heads h yes we quite take ye a strange old piece whirled about from here to yonder as if i were nothing a little too but i have my depths ha and even my great depths i might close wi a certain shepherd brain to brain but no oh no a strange old piece ye say interposed the in a voice at the same time ye be no old man worth no old man at all yer teeth far from the crowd half gone yet and what s a old man s standing if so be his teeth gone weren t i stale in afore ye were out of arms tis a poor thing to be sixty when there s people far past four score a boast weak as water it was the custom in to sink minor differences when the had to be weak as water yes said we feel ye to be a wonderful man and nobody can it nobody said joseph ye be a very rare old spectacle and we all respect ye for that gift ay and as a young man when my senses were in prosperity i was likewise liked by a good few who me said the doubt you was doubt the bent and man was satisfied and so apparently was that matters should continue pleasant spoke who what with her brown complexion and the working of rusty had at present the mellow hue of an old sketch in some of s do anybody know of a crooked man or a lame or any second band fellow at all that would do for poor me said a perfect one don t expect to get at my time of life if i could hear of such a thing do me more good than toast and ale furnished a suitable reply oak went on with his and said not another word moods had come and away his quiet had shown indications of him above his fellows by him as the that the farm required he did not the post to the farm in relation to herself as beloved by him and unmarried to another he had it the great barn and the his of her seemed now to be and indistinct his lecture to her was he thought one of the mistakes far from with she had with himself in thus that she had with another he was inwardly convinced that in accordance with the of his easy going and worse educated comrades that day would see the accepted husband of miss at this time of his life had the instinctive dislike which every christian boy has for reading the bible it now quite frequently and he inwardly said i find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is and this was mere exclamation the of the storm he adored just the same we shall have some to night said ball casting forth his thoughts in a new direction this morning i see em making the great in the of fat as big as yer thumb oak i ve never seed such splendid large of fat before in the days of my life they never used to be bigger than a horse and there was a great black upon the with his legs a sticking out but i don t know what was in within and there s two of for apple said well i hope to do my duty by it all said joseph in a pleasant manner of anticipation yes and drink is a cheerful thing and gives nerves to the if the form of words may be used the gospel of the body without which we perish so to speak it far from the crowd a second declaration or the supper a long table was placed on the grass plot beside the house the end of the table being thrust over the sill of the wide parlour window and a foot or two into the room miss sat inside the window facing down the table she was thus at the head without mingling with the men this evening was unusually excited her red cheeks and lips with the of her shadowy hair she seemed to expect assistance and the seat at the bottom of the table was at her request left vacant after they had begun the meal she then asked to take the place and the duties to that end which he did with great readiness at this moment mr came in at the gate and crossed the green to at the window he for his his arrival was evidently by arrangement said she will you move again please and let mr come there oak moved in silence back to his original seat the gentleman farmer was dressed in cheerful style in a new coat and white waistcoat quite with his usual sober suits of grey inwardly too he was and consequently to an exceptional degree so also was now that	45
he had come though the presence of the who had been dismissed for disturbed her for a while supper being ended began on his own private account without reference to listeners lost my love and i care not i ve lost my love and i care not i shall soon have another that s better than t other i ve lost my love and i care not this when concluded was received with a silently gaze at the table that the performance like a work by those established authors who are independent of notices in the papers was a well known delight which required no applause now master your song said i be all but in liquor and the gift is wanting in me said joseph himself nonsense st never be so ungrateful joseph never said expressing hurt feelings by an of voice and mistress is looking hard at ye as much as to say sing at once joseph faith so she is well i must suffer it just eye my features and see if the tell tale blood me much neighbours no yer be quite reasonable said i always tries to keep my colours from rising when a beauty s eyes get fixed on me said joseph but if so be tis willed they do they must now joseph your song please said from the window well really ma am he replied in a yielding tone n far from the crowd i don t know what to say it would be a poor plain of my own composure hear hear said the supper party thus assured forth a flickering yet piece of sentiment the tune of which consisted of the key note and another the latter being the sound chiefly dwelt upon this was so successful that he plunged into a second in the same breath after a few false starts i sow ed th e s ed i sow ed the e seeds of i it was air i in tlie e spring i in a ma ay a nd sun ny june when all bi ihey do sing well put out of hand said at end of the verse they do sing was a very taking paragraph ay and there was a pretty place ai seeds of love and twas well heaved out though love is a nasty high corner when a man s voice is getting next verse master but during this rendering young bob exhibited one of those which will little people when other persons are particularly serious in trying to check his laughter he pushed down his throat as much of the as he could get hold of when after continuing sealed for a short time his mirth burst out through his nose joseph perceived it and with cheeks of indignation instantly ceased singing bob s ears immediately go on joseph go on and never mind the young said tis a very catching now then again the next bar help ye to flourish up the shrill notes where yer wind is rather oh the wi il lo ow tree will twist ri iu but the singer could not be set going again bob was sent home for his ill manners and tranquillity was restored by jacob who volunteered a ballad as and interminable as that with which the worthy old amused on a similar occasion the and s and other jolly dogs of his day it was still the beaming time of evening though night was stealthily making itself visible low down upon the ground the western lines of light the earth without upon it to any extent or the dead at all the sun had crept round the tree as a last effort before death and then began to sink the lower parts becoming in twilight whilst their heads and shoulders were still enjoying day touched with a yellow of brilliancy that seemed inherent rather than acquired the sun went down in an mist but they sat and talked on and grew as merry as the gods in s heaven still remained inside the window and occupied herself in knitting from which she sometimes up to view the fading scene outside the slow twilight expanded and enveloped them completely before the signs of moving were shown suddenly missed farmer from his place at the bottom of the table how long he had been gone oak did not know but he had apparently withdrawn into the dusk whilst he was thinking of this brought candles into the back part of the room overlooking the and their lively new flames shone down the table and over the men and dispersed among the green shadows behind s form still in its original position was now again distinct between their eyes and the light which revealed tl ax had gone inside the room and was sitting near her n next s e the of the evening would ther the song she sang so before they the banks of water went home after a moment s consideration assented to who hastened up into the atmosphere at once have you brought your she whispered yes miss play to my singing then she stood up in the window opening facing the men the candles behind her on her right hand immediately outside the frame had drawn up on her left within the room her singing was soft and rather tremulous at first but it soon swelled to a steady clearness subsequent events caused one of the verses to be remembered for many months and even years by more than one of those who were gathered there for his bride a soldier sought her and a winning had he on the banks of water none was gay as she in addition to the of s supplied a bass in his customary profound voice uttering his notes ao however as lo entirely from making anything like an ordinary of the song they	45
rather formed a rich shadow which threw her tones into relief the against each other as at in the early ages of the world and so silent and absorbed were they that her breathing could almost be heard between the bars and at the end of the ballad when the last tone on lo an close there arose that of pleasure which is the of applause il is scarcely to state that could not avoid noting the farmer s bearing to night towards their yet there was nothing exceptional in his actions beyond what to his time of performing them it was when the rest all looking away that observed her when they regarded her he turned aside when they thanked or praised he was silent when they were he murmured his thanks the meaning lay in the difference between actions none of which had any meaning of themselves and the necessity of being jealous which lovers are troubled with did not lead oak to these signs then wished them good night withdrew from the window and retired to the back part of the room thereupon closing the and the shutters and remaining inside with her oak wandered away under the quiet and scented trees recovering from the softer impressions produced by s voice the rose to leave turning to as he pushed back the bench to pass out i like to give praise where praise is due and the man deserves it that a do so he remarked looking at the worthy thief as if he were the of some world renowned artist i m sure i should never have believed it if we hadn t proved it so to allude whispered joseph that every cup every one of the best knives and forks and every empty bottle be in their place as perfect now as at the beginning and not one stole at all i m sure i don t deserve half the praise you give me said the virtuous thief grimly i ll say this for added that whenever he do really make up his mind to do a noble thing in the shape of a good action as i could see by his face he did to night afore sitting down he s generally able to carry it out yes i m proud to say neighbours that he s stole nothing at all i i far from thb crowd well tis an honest deed and wc thank ye for it said joseph to which opinion the remainder of the company at this time of departure when nothing more was visible of the inside of the parlour than a thin and still of light between the shutters a passionate scene was in course of there miss and were alone her cheeks had lost a great deal of their fire from the very seriousness of her position but her eye was bright with the excitement of a though it was a triumph which had rather been contemplated than desired she was standing behind a low arm chair from which she had just risen and he was kneeling in it himself over its back towards her and holding her hand in both his own his body moved and it was with what the poet calls a too happy happiness unwonted abstraction by love of all dignity from a man of whom it had ever seemed the chief was in its distressing a pain to her which much of the pleasure she derived from the proof that she was i will try to love you she was saying in a trembling voice quite unlike her usual self confidence and if i can believe in any way that i shall make you a good wife i shall indeed be willing to marry you but mr hesitation on so high a matter is honourable in any woman and don t want to give a solemn promise to night i would rather ask you lo wait a few weeks till i can see my situation better but you have every reason to believe that then i have every reason to hope that at the end of the five or six weeks between this time and harvest that you say you are going to be away from home shall be able to promise lo be your wife she said firmly but remember this distinctly i don t promise yet a second declaration it is enough i don t ask more i can wait on those dear words and now miss good night she said graciously almost tenderly and withdrew with a serene smile knew more of him now he had entirely his heart before her even until he had almost worn in her eyes the sorry look of a grand bird without the feathers that make it grand she had been at her past and was struggling to make amends without thinking whether the sin quite deserved the penalty she was herself to pay to have brought all this about her ears was terrible but after a while the situation was not without a fearful joy the facility with which even the most timid women sometimes acquire a relish for the dreadful when that is with a little triumph is marvellous far from the crowd the same night the fir plantation xxiv among the duties which had voluntarily imposed upon herself by with the services of a was the particular one of looking round the before going to bed to see that all was right and safe for the night had almost constantly preceded her in this tour every evening watching her affairs as carefully as any specially appointed officer of could have done but this tender devotion was to a great extent unknown to his mistress and as much as was known was somewhat received women are never tired of man s in love but they only seem to his constancy as watching is best done she usually carried	45
said the young without ceremony she coloured with embarrassment twas unwillingly shown she replied stiffly and with as much dignity which was very as she could into a position of utter i like you the for thai miss he said i should have liked i wish you had never shown yourself to me by here i she pulled again and the of her dress began to give way like i deserve the your words give me but why should such a fair and dutiful girl have such an aversion to her father s sex go on your way please what beauty and drag you after me do but look i never saw such a oh tis shameful of you you have been making it worse on purpose to keep me here you have indeed i don t think so said the with a merry twinkle i tell you you have she exclaimed in high temper i insist upon il now allow me certainly miss i am not of he added a sigh which had as much in it as a sigh could possess without losing its nature altogether i am thankful for beauty even when tis thrown to me like a bone to a dog these moments will be over too she closed her lips in a determined silence was revolving in her mind whether by a the fir plantation bold and desperate rush she could free herself at the risk of leaving her skirt bodily behind her the thought was too dreadful the dress which she had put on to appear stately at the supper was the head and front of her wardrobe not another in her stock became her so well what woman in s position not naturally timid and within call of her would have bought escape from a dashing soldier at so dear a price all in good time it will soon be done i perceive said her cool friend this trifling and and not too cruel me it is done in order that i may have the pleasure of to so charming a woman which i straightway do most humbly madam he said bowing low really knew not what to say ive seen a good many women in my time continued the young man in a murmur and more thoughtfully than hitherto regarding her bent head at the same time but ive never seen a woman so beautiful as you take it or leave it be offended or like it i don t care who are you then who can so well afford to despise opinion no stranger i am staying in this place there it is undone at last you see your light fingers were more eager than mine i wish it had been the knot of knots which there s no this was worse and worse she started up and so did he how to decently get away from him that was her difficulty now she off inch by inch the lantern in her hand till she could see the of his coat no longer ah beauty good bye he said far from the she made no and reaching a distance of twenty or thirty yards turned about and ran indoors had just retired to rest in ascending lo her own chamber opened the girl s door an inch or two and panting said is any soldier staying in the village se somebody rather gentlemanly for a and good looking a red coat with blue no miss no i say but really ii might be home on though i have not seen him he was here once in that way when the regiment was at that s the name had he a moustache no whiskers or beard he had what kind of a person is he oh miss blush to name it a gay man i but i know him to be very quick and trim who might have made his thousands like a squire such a clever young as he is i he s a doctor s son by name which is a great deal and he s an earl s son by nature which ia a great deal more fancy is it true yes and he was brought up so well and sent to grammar school for years and years learnt all languages while he was there and it was said he got on so far that he could take down chinese in but that i don t answer for as it was only reported however he wasted his gifted lot and a soldier but even then he rose to be a without trying at a l ah such a blessing it is to be high bom nobility of blood will shine out even in the ranks and and is he really come home i believe so good night after all how could a cheerful of skirts be permanently offended with the man there are the fir plantation occasions when girls like will put up a great deal of behaviour when they want to be praised which is often when they want to be mastered which is sometimes and when they want no nonsense which is seldom just now the first feeling was in the with with a dash of the second moreover by chance or by the was made interesting by being a handsome stranger who had evidently seen better days so she could not clearly decide whether it was her opinion that he had insulted her or not was ever anything so odd she at last exclaimed to herself in her own room and was ever anything so done as what i did to away like that from a man who was only civil and kind clearly she did not think his praise of her person an insult now it was a fatal of s that he had	45
never once told her she was beautiful far from the crowd the new acquaintance described xxv and had combined to stamp as an exceptional being he was a man to whom memories were an and a simply feeling considering and caring for what was before his he was only in the present his outlook upon time was as a transient flash of the eye now and then that of consciousness into days gone by and to come which makes the past a for the pathetic and the future a word for was foreign to with him the past was yesterday the future to morrow never the day after on this account he might in certain lights have been regarded as one of the most fortunate of his order for it may be argued with great that is less an than a disease and that expectation in its only comfortable form that of absolute faith is practically an impossibility whilst in the form of hope and the secondary patience impatience resolve curiosity it is a constant between pleasure and pain being entirely innocent of the practice of expectation was never disappointed to iq the new acquaintance described set against this negative gain there may have been some positive losses from a certain of the higher tastes and sensations which it but of the capacity is never recognized as a loss by the in this attribute moral or poverty with material since those who suffer do not mind it whilst those who mind it soon cease to suffer it is not a denial of anything to have been always without it and what had never enjoyed he did not miss but being fully conscious that what sober people missed he enjoyed his capacity though really less seemed greater than theirs he was truthful towards men but to women lied like a a system of above all others calculated fo popularity at the first flush of admission into lively society and the possibility of the favour gained being had reference only to the future he never passed the line which the vices from the ugly and hence though his morals had hardly been applauded of them had frequently been tempered with a smile this treatment had led to his becoming a sort of of other men s to his own as a rather than to the moral profit of his hearers his reason and his had seldom any influence having separated by mutual consent long ago thence it sometimes happened that while his intentions were as honourable as could be wished any particular deed formed a dark background which threw them into fine relief the s vicious phases being the offspring of impulse and his virtuous phases of cool meditation the latter had a modest tendency to be oftener heard of than seen o was full of activity but his were less of a than a nature and never being based upon any original choice of foundation or direction they were exercised on whatever object chance might place in their way hence whilst he sometimes reached the brilliant in speech because that was spontaneous he below the commonplace in action from inability to guide effort he had a quick comprehension and considerable force of character but being without the power to combine them the comprehension became engaged with whilst waiting for the will to direct it and the force wasted itself in useless through the comprehension he was a fairly well educated man for one of middle class well educated for a common soldier he spoke and he could in this way be one thing and seem another for instance he could speak of love and think of dinner call on the husband to look at the wife be eager to pay and intend to owe the wondrous power of flattery in at woman is a perception so universal as to be remarked upon by many people almost as as they repeat a proverb or say that they are and the uke without thinking much of the enormous which spring from the proposition still less is it acted upon for the good of the being alluded ta with the majority such an opinion is with all those which require some catastrophe to bring their tremendous thoroughly home when expressed with some amount of it seems with a belief that this flattery must be reasonable to be effective it is to the credit of i that few attempt to settle the question by experiment and it is for their happiness perhaps that accident settled it nevertheless that a the new acquaintance described male who by her with charms the female wisely may acquire powers reaching to the extremity of is a truth taught to many by and wringing and some profess to have attained to the same knowledge by experiment as and continue their indulgence in such experiments with terrible effect was one he had been known to observe casually that in dealing with the only alternative to flattery was cursing and swearing there was no third method treat them fairly and you are a lost man he would say this person s public appearance in promptly followed his arrival there a week or two after the feeling a nameless relief of spirits on account of s absence approached her and looked over the hedge towards the they consisted in about equal proportions of and forms the former being the men the latter the women who wore covered with which hung in a curtain upon their shoulders and mark were in a less forward meadow humming a tune to the strokes of his to which made no attempt to keep time with his in the first they were already hay the women it into and and the men tossing it upon the from behind the a bright scarlet spot emerged and went on with the rest it was the gallant who had come for pleasure and nobody could deny	45
that he was doing the mistress of the farm real knight service by this voluntary contribution of his labour at a busy time as soon as she had entered the field saw her o far from the crowd and sticking his into the ground and picking up his walking cane he came forward blushed with half angry embarrassment and adjusted her eyes as well as her feet to the direct line of her path scene on the verge of the hay scene on the verge of the ha y xxvi ah miss said the touching his cap little did i think it was you i was speaking to the other night and yet if i had reflected the queen of the corn market truth is truth at any hour of the day or night and i heard you so named in yesterday the queen of the corn market i say could be no other woman i step across now to beg your forgiveness a thousand times for having been led by my feelings to express myself too strongly for a stranger to be sure i am no stranger to the place i am as i told you and i have assisted your uncle in these fields no end of times when i was a lad i have been doing the same for you to day i suppose i must thank you for that said the queen of the corn market in an indifferently grateful tone the looked hurt and sad indeed you must not miss he said why could you think such a thing necessary i am glad it is not if i may ask without offence because i don t much want to thank you for anything i am afraid i have made a hole with my tongue y far from the crowd that my heart will never mend oh these intolerable times that ill luck should follow a man for honestly telling a woman she is beautiful twas the most i said you must own that and the least could say that own myself there is some talk i could do without more easily than money indeed that remark is a sort of no it means that i would rather have your room than your company and i would rather have curses from you than kisses from any other woman so i ll stay here was absolutely speechless and yet she could not help feeling that the assistance he was rendering forbade a harsh well continued i suppose there is a praise which is and that may be mine at the same time there is a treatment which is injustice and that may be yours because a plain blunt man who has never been taught concealment speaks out his mind without exactly intending il he s to be snapped o f like the son of a sinner indeed there s no such case between us she said turning away i don t allow strangers to be bold and impudent even in praise of me ah it is not the fact but the method which you he said carelessly but i have the sad satisfaction of knowing that words whether pleasing or offensive are true you have had me look at you and tell my acquaintance that you are quite a common place woman to save you the embarrassment of being stared at if they come near you not i i couldn t tell ny such ridiculous lie about a beauty to encourage a single woman in england in too excessive a modesty all pretence what you are saying exclaimed laughing in spite of herself at the s scene on the verge of the hay sly method you have a rare invention why couldn t you have passed by me that night and said nothing that was all i meant to reproach you for because i wasn t going to half the pleasure of a feeling lies in being able to express it on the spur of the moment and i let out mine it would have been just the same if you had been the reverse person ugly and old i should have exclaimed about it in the same way how long is it since you have been so afflicted with strong feeling then oh ever since i was big enough to know loveliness from tis to be hoped your sense of the difference you speak of doesn t stop at faces but extends to morals as well i won t speak of morals or religion my own or anybody else s though perhaps i should have been a very good christian if you pretty women hadn t made me an moved on to hide the irrepressible of merriment followed whirling his cane but miss you do forgive me hardly why you say such things i said you were beautiful and i ll say so still for by so you are the most beautiful ever i saw op may i fall dead this instant why upon my don t don t i won t listen to you you are so profane she said in a restless state between distress at hearing him and to hear more i again say you are a most fascinating woman there s nothing remarkable in my saying so is there i m sure the fact is evident enough miss my opinion may be too forcibly let out to please you far from the crowd and for the matter of that too to convince you but surely it is honest and why can t it be excused because it it isn t a correct one she murmured oh am i any worse for breaking the third of that terrible ten than you for breaking the ninth well it doesn t seem quite true to me that am fascinating she replied not so to you then i	45
be ordered out soon and yet you take away the one little lamb of pleasure that i have in this dull life of mine well perhaps generosity is not a woman s most marked characteristic when are you going from here she asked with some interest in a month but how can it give you pleasure to speak to me can you ask miss knowing as you do what my offence is based on if you do care so much for a silly trifle of that kind then i don t mind doing it she and answered but you can t really care for a word from me you only say so i think you only say so that s unjust but i won t repeat the remark i am too gratified to get such a mark of your friendship at any price to at the tone i do miss care for it you may think a man foolish to want a mere word just a good morning perhaps he is i don t know but you have never been a man looking a woman and that woman yourself far from the crowd well then you know nothing of what such an experience is like and heaven forbid that you ever should nonsense what is it like i am interested in knowing put shortly it is not being able to think hear or look in any direction except one without wretchedness nor there without torture ah it won t do you are pretending she said shaking her head your words are too dashing to be true i am not upon the honour of a soldier but is it so of course i ask for mere because you are so and i am so distracted you look like it i am indeed why you only saw me the other night that makes no difference the lightning works i loved you then at once as i do now surveyed him curiously from the feet upward as high as she liked to venture her glance which was not quite so high as his eyes you cannot and you don t she said there is no such sudden feeling in people i won t listen to you any longer dear me i wish i knew what o clock it is i am going i have wasted too much time here already the looked at his watch and told her what haven t you a watch miss he inquired i have not just at present i am about to get a new one no you shall be given one yes you shall a gift miss a gift and before she knew what the young man was intending a heavy gold watch was in her hand scene on the verge of the hay it is an unusually good one for a man like me to possess he quietly said that watch has a history press the spring and open the back she did so what do you see a crest and a motto a with five points and beneath love to circumstance it s the motto of the of that watch belonged to the last lord and was given to my mother s husband a medical man for his use till i came of age when it was be given to me it was all the fortune that ever i inherited that watch has regulated imperial interests in its time the stately the travels and sleeps now it is yours but i cannot take this i cannot she exclaimed with round eyed wonder a gold watch what are you doing don t be such a the retreated to avoid receiving back his gift which she held out persistently towards him followed as he retired keep it do miss keep it said the child of impulse the fact of your possessing it makes it worth ten times as much to me a more one will answer my purpose just as well and the pleasure of knowing whose heart my old one beats against well i won t speak of that it is in far hands than ever it has been in before but indeed i can t have it she said in a perfect of distress oh how can you do such a thing that is if you really mean it give me your dead father s watch and such a valuable one you should not be so reckless indeed i loved my father good but better i love you more that s how i can do it said the with an of such exquisite fidelity to nature that it far from the crowd was evidently not all acted now her beauty which whilst it had been he had praised in jest had in its animated phases moved him to earnest and though his seriousness was less than she imagined it was probably more than he imagined himself was with agitated bewilderment and she said in half suspicious accents of feeling can it be oh how can it be that you care for me and so suddenly you have seen so uttle of me i may not be really so so nice looking as i seem to you please do take it oh do i cannot and will not have it believe me your generosity is too great i have never done you a single kindness and why should you be so kind to me a reply had been again upon his lips but it was again suspended and he looked at her with an arrested eye the truth was that as she now stood excited wild and honest as the day her beauty bore out so fully the he had bestowed upon it that he was quite startled at his in advancing them as false he said mechanically ah why and	45
that you spoke of what the sword exercise ah would you like to said hesitated she had heard wondrous reports from time to time by in who had by chance awhile in near the of this strange and glorious performance the sword exercise men and boys who had peeped through or over walls into the returned with accounts of its being the most flashing affair conceivable and weapons the bees glistening like stars here there around yet all by rule and compass so she said mildly what she felt strongly yes i should like to see it very much and so you shall you shall see me go through it no how let me consider not with a walking stick i don t care to see that it must be a real sword yes i know and i have no sword here but i think i could get one by the evening now will you do this bent over her and murmured some suggestion in a low voice oh no indeed said blushing thank you very much but i couldn t on any account surely you might nobody would know she shook her head but with a weakened if i were to she said i must bring too might i not looked far away i don t see why you want to bring her he said coldly an unconscious look of assent in s eyes betrayed that something more than his coldness had made her also feel that would be superfluous in the suggested scene she had felt it even whilst making the proposal well i won t bring and i ll come but only for a very short time she added a very short time it will not take five minutes said far from the crowd the hollow the he hill opposite s dwelling extended a mile off into an tract of land dotted at this season with tall of plump and from recent rapid growth and radiant in hues of clear and green at eight o clock this evening whilst the ball of gold in the west still swept the tips of the with its long luxuriant rays a soft of garments might have been heard among them and appeared in their midst their soft arms caressing her up to her shoulders she paused turned went back over the hill and half way to her own door whence she cast a farewell glance upon the spot she had just left having resolved not to remain near the place after all she saw a dim spot of artificial red moving round the shoulder of the rise it disappeared on the other side she waited one minute two minutes thought of s disappointment at her non fulfilment of a promised engagement till she again ran along the field over the bank and followed the original direction she was now literally trembling and panting at this her in such an undertaking her breath the hollow amid the came and went quickly and her eyes shone with an light yet go she must she reached the verge of a pit in the middle of the stood in the bottom looking up towards her i heard you rustling through the before i saw you he said coming up and giving her his hand to help her down the slope the pit was a shaped naturally formed with a top of about thirty feet and shallow enough to allow the sunshine to reach their heads standing in the centre the sky overhead was met by a circular horizon of this grew nearly to the bottom of the slope and then abruptly ceased the middle within the belt of was with a thick carpet of moss and grass so yielding that the foot was half buried within it now said producing the sword which as he raised it into the sunlight gleamed a sort of greeting like a living thing first we have four right and four left cuts four right and four left cuts and guards are more interesting than ours to my mind but they are not so they have seven cuts and three so much as a preliminary well next our cut one is as if you were your corn so saw a sort of rainbow down in the air and s arm was still again cut two as if you were so three as if you were so four as if you were in that way then the same on the left the are these one two three four right one two three four left he repeated them have em again he said one two she hurriedly interrupted i d rather not though i don t mind your and but your ones and are terrible very well i ll let you off the ones and next cuts points and guards altogether duly far from the crowd exhibited them then there s pursuing practice in this way he gave the movements as before there those are the forms the have two most upward cuts which we are too humane to use like this three four how and they are rather now i ll be more interesting and let you see some loose play giving all the cuts and points and cavalry quicker than lightning and as with just enough rule to instinct and yet not to it vou are my with this difference from real warfare that i shall miss you every time by one hair s breadth or perhaps mind you don t whatever you do be sure not to she said he pointed to about a yard in front of him s adventurous spirit was beginning to find some of relish in these highly novel proceedings she took up her position as directed facing now just to team whether you have pluck enough to let me do what i wish i ll give you a preliminary test	45
subject had not her conscious weakness of position ber to and argue in to better it since this subject has been mentioned she said very emphatically i am glad of the opportunity of clearing up a mistake which is very common and very provoking i didn t definitely promise mr anything i h ave never cared for him i respect him and he has urged me to marry him but i have given him no distinct answer as soon as he returns i shall do so and the answer wiu be that i cannot think of marrying him people are full of mistakes seemingly they are the other day they said you were trifling with him and you almost proved that you were not lately they have said that you be not and you straightway begin to show that i am t suppose you mean well i hope tbey speak the truth they do but applied i don t trifle with him but then i have nothing to do with him oak was unfortunately led on to speak of s rival in a wrong tone to her after au i wish you had never met that young miss he sighed particulars of a twilight walk s steps became faintly why she asked he is not good enough for ee did any one tell you to speak to me like this nobody at all then it appears to me that does not concern us here she said yet i must say that is an educated man and quite worthy of any woman he is well born his being higher in learning and birth than the o soldiers is anything but a proof of his worth it shows his course to be downward i cannot see what this has to do with our conversation mr s course is not by any means downward and his superiority is a proof of his worth i believe him to have no conscience at all and i cannot help begging you miss to have nothing to do with him listen to me this once only this once i don t say he s such a bad man as i have fancied i pray to god he is not but since we don t exactly know what he is why not behave as if he might be bad simply for your own safety don t trust him mistress i ask you not to trust him so why pray i like soldiers but this one i do not like he said the nature of his calling may have tempted him astray and what is mirth to the neighbours is ruin to the woman when he tries to talk to ee again why not turn away with a short good day and when you see him coming one way turn the other when he says anything fail to see the point and don t smile and speak of him before those who will report your talk as that man or what s his name that man of a family that has come to the dogs don t be towards en but harmless and so get rid of the man far from the crowd no christmas robin detained by a window pane ever as did now i say i say again that it doesn t become you to talk about him why he should be mentioned passes me quite she exclaimed desperately i know this th th that he is a thoroughly conscientious blunt sometimes even to but always speaking his mind about you plain to your face oh he is as good as anybody in this parish i he is very particular too about going to church yes he is i am nobody ever saw him there i never did certainly the reason of that is she said eagerly that he goes in privately by the old tower door when the service and sits at the back of the gallery he told me so this supreme instance of s goodness fell upon s ears like the stroke of a crazy clock it was not only received with utter incredulity as regarded itself but threw a doubt on all the assurances that had preceded il oak was grieved to find how entirely she trusted him he with deep feeling as he replied in a steady voice the of which was spoilt by the palpable ness of his great effort to keep it so h you know mistress tliat i love you and shall love h you always i only mention this to bring to your mind w that at any rate i would wish to do you no harm r beyond that i put it aside i have lost in the race for f money and good things and i am not such a fool as to i pretend to ee now am poor and you have got h above me but dear mistress this h beg you to consider that both to keep yourself well h honoured among the and in common generosity w to an honourable man who loves you as well as i you particulars of a twilight walk should be more discreet in your bearing towards this soldier don t don t don t she exclaimed in a choking voice are ye not more to me than my own affairs and even life he went on come listen to me i am six years older than you and mr is ten years older than i and consider i do beg of ee to consider before it is too late how safe you would be in his hands oak s allusion to his own love for her lessened to some extent her anger at his interference but she could not really forgive him for letting his wish to marry her be by his wish to do her good any more than for his treatment of	45
i wish you to go elsewhere she said a of face invisible to the eye being suggested by the trembling words do not remain on this farm any longer i don t want you i beg you to go that s nonsense said oak calmly this is the second time you have pretended to dismiss me and what s the use o it pretended you shall go sir your i will not hear i am mistress here go indeed what folly x ill you say next treating me like dick tom and harry when you know that a short time ago my position was as good as yours upon my life it is too you know too that i can t go without putting things in such a strait as you wouldn t get out of i can t tell when unless indeed you ll promise to have an understanding man as or manager or something i ll go at once if you ll promise that i shall have no i shall continue to be my own manager she said very well then you should be thankful to me for how would the farm go on with nobody to q from the crowd mind it but a woman but mind this i don t wish ee to feel you owe me anything not i what do i do sometimes i say i should be as glad as a bird to leave the place for don t suppose i m content to be a nobody i was made for better things however i don t like to see your concerns going to ruin as they must if you keep in this mind i hate taking my own measure so plain but upon my life your provoking ways make a man say what he wouldn t dream of at other times i own to being rather interfering but you know well enough how it is and who she is that i like too well and feel too much like a fool about to be civil to her it is more than probable that she privately and unconsciously respected him a fo this grim fidelity which had been shown in his tone even more than in his words at any rate she ed something to the effect that he might stay if he wished she said distinctly will you leave me alone now i don t order it as a i ask it as a woman and i expect you not to be so as to refuse certainly i will miss said gently he wondered that the request should have come at this moment for the strife was over and they were on a most desolate hill far from every human habitation and ihe hour was getting late he stood still and allowed her to get far ahead of him till he could only see her form upon the sky a distressing explanation of this anxiety to be rid of at that point now ensued a figure apparently rose ih t h beside her the shape beyond all doubt was s oak b even a possible listener and ii i i h two hundred yards passing the j the s v id said ab c church l particulars of a twilight walk perceived at the beginning of service believing that the httle gallery door alluded to was quite he ascended the external flight of steps at the top of which it stood and examined it the pale lustre yet hanging in the north western heaven was sufficient to show that a of ivy had grown from the wall across the door to a length of more than a foot delicately tying the to the stone it was a decisive proof that the door had not been opened at least since came back to far from the crowd hot and tearful eyes xxx an hour later entered her own house there burnt upon her face when she met the light of the candles the flush and excitement which were little less than with her now the farewell words of who had accompanied her to the very door still lingered in her ears he had her adieu for two days which were so he stated to be spent at bath in visiting some friends he had also kissed her a second time it is only fair to to explain here a little fact which did not come to light till a long time afterwards that s of himself so at the roadside this evening was not by any distinctly arrangement he had hinted she had forbidden and it was only on the chance of his still coming that she had dismissed oak fearing a meeting between them just then she now sank down into a chair wild and by all these new and then she jumped up with a manner of decision and fetched her desk from a side table in three minutes without pause or she had written a letter to at his address beyond saying mildly but firmly that she had well hot cheeks and tearful eyes considered the whole subject he had brought before her and kindly given her time to decide upon that her final decision was that she could not marry him she had expressed to oak an intention to wait till came home before communicating to him her reply but found that she could not wait it was impossible to send this letter till the next day yet to her uneasiness by getting it out of her hands and so as it were setting the act in motion at once she arose to take it to any one of the women who might be in the kitchen she paused in the passage a dialogue was going on in the kitchen and and were the subject of it if he marry her she ll up farming be a gallant	45
been deaf to you i tell you all this but what do you care you don t care she returned silent and weak to his charges and swayed her head desperately as if to thrust away the words as they came about her ears from the lips of the trembling man in the climax of life with his roman face and fine frame dearest dearest i am wavering even now between the two of you and humbly for you again forget that you have said no and let it be as it was say that you only wrote that refusal to me in fun come say it to me it would be and painful to both of us you my capacity for love i don t possess half the warmth of nature you believe me to have an childhood in a cold world has beaten gentleness out of me far from the crowd he immediately said with more resentment that may be true somewhat but ah miss it won t do as a reason you are not the cold woman you would have me believe no no it isn t because you have no feeling in you that you don t love me you naturally would have me think so you would bide from me that you have a burning heart like mine vou have love enough but it is turned into a new channel i know where the swift music of her heart became now and she to he was coming to he did then know what had occurred and the name fell from his lips the next moment why did not leave my treasure alone he asked fiercely when i had no thought of him why did he force himself upon your notice before he worried you your inclination was to have me when next i should have come to you your answer would have been yes can you deny it i ask can you deny it she delayed the reply but was too honest to withhold it i cannot she whispered i know you cannot but he stole in in absence and robbed me why didn t he win you away before when nobody would have been grieved when nobody would have been set bearing now the people sneer at me the very hills and sky seem to laugh at me till i blush for my folly i have lost my respect my good name my standing lost it never to get it again go and marry your go on oh sir mr vou may as well i have no further claim upon you as for me i had better go somewhere alone and hide and pray i loved a woman once am now ashamed when i am dead they ll say miserable love sick man that he was heaven heaven if i had got secretly and the not known and my position fury kept but no matter it is gone and the woman not gained shame upon him shame his unreasonable anger terrified her and she glided from him without obviously moving as she said i am only a girl do not speak to me all the time you how very well you knew that your new was my misery dazzled by brass and scarlet oh this is woman s folly indeed she fired up at once you are taking too much upon yourself she said vehemently everybody is upon me everybody it is to attack a woman so i have nobody in the world to fight my battles for me but no mercy is shown if a thousand of you sneer and say things against me i wiu not be put down you ll chatter with him doubtless about me say to him would have died for me yes and you have given way to him knowing him to be not the man for you he has kissed you claimed you as his do you hear he has kissed you deny it the most tragic woman is by a tragic man and although was in vehemence and glow nearly her own self rendered into another sex s cheek quivered she gasped leave mc sir leave am nothing to you let me go on deny that he has kissed you shall not then he has i came hoarsely from the farmer he has she said slowly and in spite of her fear i am not ashamed to speak the truth then curse him and curse him said breaking into a whispered fury whilst i would have given worlds to touch your hand you have let a come in without right or ceremony and kiss you heaven s mercy kiss you ah a time of his life shall come when he will have to repent and think of far from the crowd the pain he has caused another man and then may he ache and wish and curse and as i do now i don t don t oh don t pray down evil upon him she implored in a miserable cry anything hut that anything oh be kind to him sir for i love him true s ideas had reached that point of at which outline and entirely disappear the impending night appeared to in his eye he did not hear her at all now i ll punish him by my soul that will i i ll meet him soldier or no and i ll the for this reckless of my one delight if he were a hundred men i d him he dropped his voice suddenly and sweet lost pardon me i ve been you threatening you like a lo you when he s the greatest sinner he stole your dear heart away with his lies i it is a fortunate thing for him that he s gone back to	45
farmer is not at home said ah the better said i know what he s gone for less than five minutes brought up oak again running at the same pace with two dangling from his hard where did you find cm said turning round and leaping upon the hedge without wailing for an answer under the i knew where they were said f following him you can ride bare there s no time to look for like a hero said you go to bed shouted to her from the top of the hedge springing down into s pastures each his to hide it from the horses who seeing the men empty handed allowed themselves lo be seized by the mane when the were slipped on having neither bit nor bridle oak and co an the former by passing the rope in each case through the animal s mouth and it on the other side oak and ct an up by aid of the bank when they ascended to the gate and galloped off in the direction taken by s horse and the robber whose vehicle the horse had been to was a matter of some uncertainty bottom was reached in three or four minutes they the shady green patch by th le the were gone night the i said which way have they gone i wonder straight on as sure as god made little apples said very well we are better mounted and must overtake em said oak now on at full speed no sound of the rider in their van could now be discovered the road metal grew softer and more as was left behind and the late rain had its surface to a somewhat but not muddy state they came to cross roads suddenly pulled up and slipped off what s the matter said we must try to track em since we can t hear em said in his pockets he struck a light and held the match to the ground the rain had been heavier here and all foot and horse tracks made previous to the storm had been and by the drops and they were now so many little of water which reflected the flame of the match like eyes one set of tracks was fresh and had no water in them one pair of was also empty and not small like the others the forming this recent impression were full of information as to pace they were in pairs three or four feet apart the right and left foot of each pair being exactly opposite one another straight on exclaimed tracks like that mean a stiff gallop no wonder we don t hear him and the horse is look at the ay that s our mare sure enough how do you know old only her last week and i d swear to his make among ten thousand the rest of the must ha gone on earlier or some other way said oak you saw there were no other tracks true they rode along silently for a long weary from lime carried an old which he had inherited from some genius in his family and it now struck one he lighted another match and examined the ground again tis a now he said throwing away the light a pace for a the fact is they her at starting we shall catch em yet again they hastened on and entered s watch struck one when they looked again the marks were so as to form a sort of if united hke the lamps along a street that s a trot i know said only a trot now sa id cheerfully we shall overtake him in lime they pushed rapidly on for yet two or three miles ah i a moment said let s see how she was driven up this hill help us a light was promptly struck upon his as before and the examination made said she walked up here and well she might we shall get them in two miles they rode three and listened no sound was to be heard save a mill pond hoarsely through a and suggesting gloomy possibilities of drowning by jumping in dismounted when they came to a turning the tracks were absolutely the only guide as to the direction that they now had and great caution was necessary to avoid them with some others which had made their appearance lately what does this mean though i guess said looking up at as he moved the match over the ground about the turning ci who no less than the panting horses had shown signs of weariness again the mystic characters this lime only three were of the regular shape every fourth was a dot horses he up his face and a long w w lame said oak yes dainty is the near foot afore said slowly staring still at the we ll push on said his although the road along its greater part had been as good as any road in the country it was only a the last turning had brought them into the high road leading to bath recollected himself we shall have him now he exclaimed where the keeper of that gate is the man between here and london dan that s his name en for years when he was at gate between the and the gate tis a done job they now advanced with extreme caution nothing was said until against a shady background of foliage five white bars were visible crossing their route a little ahead hush we are almost close said on upon the grass said the white bars were blotted out in the midst by a dark shape in front of them the silence of this lonely time was pierced by an exclamation from that quarter a gate it appeared that there had been a previous call which they had not noticed for on their close approach	45
the door of the house opened and the keeper came out half dressed with a candle in his hand the rays the whole group keep the gate close shouted he has stolen the horse who said the man far from the crowd looked at the driver of the and saw a woman his mistress n hearing his voice she had turned her face away from the light had however caught sight of her in the meanwhile why tis mistress i ll take my oath he said amazed it certainly was and she had by this time done the trick she could do so well in not of love namely mask a surprise by coolness of manner well she inquired quietly where are you going we thought began i am driving to bath she said taking for her own use the assurance that lacked an important matter made it necessary for me to give up my visit to and go off at once what then were you following me we thought the horse was stole well what a thing i how very foolish of not to know i had taken the trap and horse i could neither wake nor get into the house though i for ten minutes against her window sill fortunately i could get the key of the coach house so i troubled no one further didn t you think it might be me why should we miss perhaps not why those are never farmer s horses goodness mercy what have you been doing bringing trouble upon me in this way what mustn t a lady move an inch from her door without being like a thief but how was we to know if you left no account of your doings and ladies don t drive at these hours as a rule of society i did leave an account and you would have seen it in the morning i wrote in chalk on the coach house horses doors that i had come back for the horse and and driven off that i could arouse nobody and should return soon but you ll consider ma am that we couldn t see that till it got daylight true she said and though vexed at first she had too much sense to blame them long or seriously for a devotion to her that was as valuable as it was rare she added with a very pretty grace well i really thank you heartily for taking all this trouble but i wish you had borrowed anybody s horses but mr bold wood s dainty is lame miss said can ye go on it was only a stone in her shoe i got down and pulled it out a hundred yards back i can manage very well thank you i shall be in bath by daylight will you now return please she turned her head the s candle upon her quick clear eyes as she did so passed through the gate and was soon wrapped in the shades of mysterious summer boughs and put about their horses and by the air of this july night the road by which they had come a strange this of hers isn t it oak said curiously yes said shortly she won t be in bath by no daylight suppose we keep this night s work as quiet as we can i am of one and the same mind very well we shall be home by three o clock or so and can creep into the parish like s meditations by the roadside had ultimately a conclusion that there were only two for the present desperate state of affairs from the crowd the first was merely to keep away from till s indignation had cooled ihe second to listen to oak s entreaties and s and give up altogether alas could she give up this new induce him to her by saying she did not like him could no more speak to him and beg him lor her good to end his in b and see her and weather it was a picture full of misery but for a while she contemplated it firmly allowing herself nevertheless as girls will to dwell upon the happy life she would have enjoyed had been and the path of love the path of duty upon herself by imagining him the lover of another woman after forgetting her for she had penetrated s nature so far as to estimate his tendencies pretty accurately but loved him no less in thinking that he might soon cease to love her indeed considerably more she jumped to her feet she would see him at once she would him by word of mouth to assist her in this a letter to keep him away could not reach him in time even if he should be disposed to listen to it was altogether blind to the obvious fact thai the support of a lover s arms is not of a kind best calculated to assist a resolve to him or was she sensible with a thrill of pleasure that by this course for getting rid of him she was a meeting with him at any rate once more it was now dark and the hour must have been nearly ten the only way to accomplish her purpose was to give up her idea of visiting at return to farm put the horse into the and drive at once to bath the scheme seemed at first impossible the journey was a fearfully heavy one even for a strong s horses horse at her own estimate and she much the distance it was most for a woman at night and alone but could she go on to s and leave things to take their course no no anything but that was full of a beside which caution vainly prayed for a hearing she turned back towards the village her	45
should you ball tis a great and might perhaps save you from being choked to death some day mr poured the liquor with liberality at the suffering s circular mouth half of it running down the side of the and half of what reached his mouth running down outside his throat and half of what ran in going the wrong way and being and around the persons of the gathered in the form of a fog which for a moment hung in the sunny air like a small there s a great clumsy why can t ye have better manners you young dog said withdrawing the the went up my nose cried as soon as he could speak and now tis gone down my neck and into my poor dumb and over my shiny buttons and all my best the poor lad s cough is terrible said moon and a great history on hand too his back shepherd tis my mourned mother says i always was so when my feelings were worked up to a point s far the crowd true true said joseph the balls were always a very family i the s a truly nervous and modest man even to genteel twas blush blush with him almost as as lis with me not but that tis a fault in n e not at all master said tis a very noble quality in ye well i wish to noise nothing abroad nothing at all murmured but we be born to things that s true yet i would rather my trifle were hid though perhaps a high is a little high and at my birth all things were possible to my maker and he may have no gifts but under your joseph under your with ee a strange desire neighbours this desire to hide and no praise due yet there is a sermon on the mount with a of the blessed at the head and meek men may be named therein s grandfather was a very clever man said moon invented a apple tree out of his own bead which is called by bis name to this day the early ball you know em a on a tom and a ripe upon top o that again tis a used to bide about in a public in a way he had no business to by rights but a were a clever man in the sense of the term now then said impatiently what did you see seed our mis ess go into a sort of a park place where there s seats and shrubs and flowers arm in with a continued firmly and with a dim sense that his words were very effective as regarded s emotions and i think the was and they sat there together for more than ha f an talking moving things and she once s crying a most to death and when they came out s a her eyes were shining and she was as white as a lily and they looked into one another s faces as far gone friendly as a man and woman can be features seemed to get thinner well what did you see besides h all sorts white as a lily you are sure twas she yes well what besides great glass windows to the shops and great clouds in the sky full of rain and old wooden trees in the country round you what will ye say next said let en alone interposed joseph the boy s is that the sky and the earth in the kingdom of bath is not altogether different from ours here tis for our good to gain knowledge of strange cities and as such the boy s words should be suffered so to speak it and the people of bath continued never need to light their fires except as a luxury for the water springs up out of the earth ready boiled for use tis true as the light moon i ve heard other say the same thing they drink nothing else there said and seem to enjoy it to see how they it down well it seems a practice enough to us but i the natives think nothing o it said and don t spring up as well as drink asked his eye no i own to a blot there in bath a true blot god didn t provide em with as well as drink and twas a i couldn t get over at all well tis a curious place to say the least observed as far the crowd moon and it must be a curious people that live therein miss and the soldier were walking about together you say said returning to the group ay and she wore a beautiful gold colour silk gown trimmed with black lace that would have stood alone legs inside if required twas a very sight and her hair was brushed splendid and when the sun shone upon the bright gown and his red my how handsome they looked vou could see em all the length of the street and what then murmured and then i went into s lo my boots and then i went to s cake shop and asked em for a of the and that were all but blue but not quite and whilst i was em down i walked on and a clock with a face as big as a but that s nothing to do with mistress i m coming lo that if you ll leave me alone oak remonstrated if you me perhaps you ll bring on my cough and then shan t be able to tell ye nothing let him tell it his own way said settled into a despairing attitude of patience and went on and there were great large houses and more people all the week long than at ing on and i went to grand churches and	45
and the parson would pray i he would kneel down and put up his hands together and make the holy gold rings on his fingers gleam and twinkle in yer eyes that he d earned by praying so excellent well i ah yes i wish i lived there our poor parson can t no money to a buy such rings said moon thoughtfully and as good a man as ever walked i don t believe poor have a single one even of tin or copper such a great ornament as they d be to him on a dull a when he s up in the pulpit lighted by the wax candles but tis impossible poor man ah to think how unequal things be perhaps he s made of different stuff than to wear em said grimly well that s enough of this go on quick oh and the new style of pa sons wear and long continued the illustrious traveller and look like moses and complete and make we in the congregation feel all over like the children of a very right feeling very said joseph and there s two going on in the nation now high church and high chapel and thinks i i ll play fair so i went to high church in the morning and high chapel in the afternoon a right and proper boy said joseph well at high church they pray singing and worship all the colours of the rainbow and at high chapel they pray preaching and worship and only and then i didn t see no more of miss at all why didn t you say so afore then exclaimed oak with much disappointment ah said moon she ll wish her cake if so be she s over intimate with that man she s not over intimate with him said indignantly she would know better said our mis ess has too much sense under they knots of black hair to do such a mad thing you see he s not a coarse ignorant man for he was well brought up said twas far from the only that made him a soldier and maids rather like your man of sin now ball said can you swear in the most form that the woman you saw was miss c un ball you be no longer a babe and said joseph in the tone the circumstances demanded and you know what taking an oath is tis a horrible testament mind ye which you say and seat with your blood stone and the prophet tells us that on it shall fall it will grind him to powder now before all the work folk here assembled can you swear to your words as the shepherd asks ye please no oak said looking from one to the other with at uneasiness at the spiritual magnitude of the position i don t mind saying tis true but i don t like lo say tis damn true if that s what you mane how can you asked joseph sternly you be asked to swear in a holy manner and you swear like wicked the son of who cursed as he came young man no i don t tis you want to a pore boy s soul joseph that s what tis said beginning to cry all i mane is that in common truth twas miss and but in the horrible so help me truth that ye want to make of it perhaps twas somebody else there s no getting at the rights of it said turning to his work ball you u come to a bit of bread groaned joseph then the hooks were flourished again and the old sounds went on without making any pretence of being lively did nothing to show that he was particularly dull however co an knew pretty a nearly how the land lay and when they were in a nook together he said don t take on about her what difference does it make whose sweetheart she is since she can t be yours that s the very thing i say to myself said far from the crowd home again a hat same evening at dusk was leaning over s garden gate taking an up and down survey before retiring to rest a vehicle of some kind was softly creeping along the grassy margin of the lane from it spread the tones of two women talking the tones were natural and not at all suppressed oak instantly knew the voices to be those of and the carriage came opposite and passed by it was miss s and and her mistress were the only occupants of the seat was asking questions about the city of bath and her companion was answering them and both and the horse seemed weary the exquisite relief of finding that she was here again safe and sound overpowered all reflection and oak could only in the sense of it all grave reports were forgotten he lingered and lingered on till there was no difference between the eastern and western of sky and the timid began to limp round the dim might have been there an additional half hour when a dark form walked slowly by good night the said home again it was good night sir said likewise vanished up the road and oak shortly afterwards turned indoors to bed farmer went on towards miss s house he reached the front and approaching the entrance saw a light in the parlour the blind was not drawn down and inside the room was looking over some papers or letters her back was towards he went to the door knocked and waited with tense muscles and an aching brow had not been outside his garden since his meeting with in the road to silent and alone he had remained in moody meditation on woman s ways as of the whole sex the accidents of	45
the single one of their number he had ever closely beheld by degrees a more charitable temper had pervaded him and this was the reason of his sally to night he had come to and beg forgiveness of with something like a sense of shame at his violence having but just now learnt that she had returned only from a visit to as he supposed the bath being quite unknown to him he inquired for miss s manner was odd but he did not notice it she went in leaving him standing there and in her absence the blind of the room containing was pulled down ill from that sign came out my mistress cannot see you sir she said the farmer instantly went out by the gate he was that was the issue of it all he had seen her who was to him simultaneously a delight and a torture sitting in the room he had shared with her as a peculiarly privileged guest only a little earlier in the summer and she had denied him an entrance there now did not hurry homeward it was ten far from the crowd o clock at least when walking deliberately through the lower part of he heard the s spring van entering the village the van ran to and from a town in a northern direction and it was owned and driven by a man at the door of whose house it now pulled up the lamp fixed to the head of the hood illuminated a scarlet and gilded form who was the first to alight ah said to himself come to see her again entered the s house which had been the place of his lodging on his last visit to his native place was moved by a sudden determination he hastened home in ten minutes he was back again and made as if he were going to call upon at the s but as he approached some one opened the door and came out he heard this person say good night to the inmates and the voice was s this was strange coming so immediately after his arrival however hastened up to him had what appeared to be a carpet bag in his hand the same that he had brought with him it seemed as if he were going to leave again this very night turned up the hill and his pace stepped forward i m just arrived from up the country i just arrived from bath i am william indeed the tone in which this word was uttered was all that had been wanted to bring to i he point i wish to speak a word with you he said what about a about her who lives just ahead there and about a woman you have wronged i wonder at your impertinence said moving on now look here said standing in front of him wonder or not you are going to hold a conversation with me heard the dull determination in s voice looked at his frame then at the thick he carried in his hand he remembered it was past ten o clock it seemed worth while to be civil to very well i ll listen with pleasure said placing his bag on the ground only speak low for somebody or other may us in the there well then i know a good deal concerning your robin s attachment to you i may say too that i i am the only person in the village excepting oak who does know it you ought to marry her i suppose i ought indeed i wish to but i cannot why was about to utter something hastily he then checked himself and said i am too poor his voice was changed previously it had had a devil may care tone it was the voice of a now s present mood was not critical enough to notice tones he continued i may as well speak plainly and understand i don t wish to enter into the questions of right or wrong woman s honour and shame or to express any opinion on your conduct i intend a business transaction with you i see said suppose we sit down here an old tree trunk lay under the hedge immediately opposite and they sat down far from the crowd i was engaged to be married to miss said but you came and not engaged said as good as engaged if i had not turned up she might have become engaged to you hang might would then if you had not come i should certainly yes certainly have been accepted by this time if you had not seen her you might have been married lo well there s too much difference between miss s station and your own for this with her ever to benefit you by ending in marriage so all i ask is don t her any more marry i ll make it worth your while how will you i ll pay you well now i ll settle a sum of money upon her and i ll see that you don t suffer from poverty in the future i ll put it clearly is only playing with you you are too poor for her as i said so give up wasting your lime about a great match you ll never make for a moderate and match you may make to morrow take up your carpet bag turn about leave now this night and you shall take fifty pounds with you shall have fifty to enable her lo prepare for the wedding when you have told me where she is living and she shall have live hundred paid down on her wedding day in making this statement s voice revealed only loo clearly a consciousness of the weakness of his position his aims and his method his manner had from that of the firm and	45
dignified of former times and such a scheme as he had now engaged in he td have condemned as only a few months ago we discern a grand force in the lover which he whilst a free man but a there is a breadth of vision in the free man which in the lover we vainly seek where there is much bias there must be some and love though added emotion is capacity this to an degree he knew nothing of robin s circumstances or whereabouts he knew nothing of s possibilities yet that was what he said i like best said and if as you say miss is out of my reach why i have all to gain by accepting your money and marrying fan but she s only a servant never mind do you agree to my arrangement ah said in a more elastic voice oh if you like her best why then did you step in here and injure my happiness i love best now said but miss me and for a time it is over now why should it be over so soon and why then did you come here again there are reasons fifty pounds at once you said i did said and here they are fifty sovereigns he handed a small packet you have everything ready it seems that you calculated on my accepting them said the taking the packet i thought you might accept them said you ve only my word that the programme shall be to whilst i at any rate have fifty pounds i had thought of that and i have considered that if i can t appeal to your honour i can trust to your well we ll call it not to lose five hundred pounds in prospect and also make a bitter enemy of a man who is willing to be an extremely useful friend stop listen said in a whisper far from the crowd a light pit pat was audible upon the road just above by george tis she he must go on and meet her she who out alone at this time o night i said in amazement and starting up why must you meet her she was expecting me to night and i must now speak to her and wish her good bye according to your wish i don t see the necessity of speaking it can do no harm and she ll be wandering about looking for me if i don t you shall hear all say to her it will help you in your love making when i am gone your tone is mocking oh no and remember this if she does not know what has become of me she will think more about me than if i teu her i have come to give her up will you confine your words to that one point shall i hear every word you say every word now sit still there and hold my carpet bag for me and mark what you hear the light footstep came closer halting occasionally as if the listened for a sound whistled a double note in a soft tone come to that is it murmured uneasily you promised silence said i promise again stepped forward frank dearest is that you the tones were s o god i said yes said to her how you are she continued tenderly did you come by the listened and heard his a wheels entering the village but it was some time ago and i had almost given you up frank i was sure to come said frank you knew i should did you not well i thought you would she said and frank it is so lucky there s not a soul in my house but me to night i ve packed them all off so nobody on earth will know of your visit to your lady s bower wanted to go to her grandfather s to tell him about her holiday and i said she might stay with them till to morrow when you ll be gone again capital said but dear me i had better go back for my bag because my slippers and brush and comb are in it you run home whilst i fetch it and i ll promise to be in your parlour in ten minutes yes she turned and tripped up the hill again during the progress of this dialogue there was a nervous of s tightly closed lips and his face became bathed in a dew he now started forward towards turned to him and took up the bag shall i tell her i have come to give her up and cannot marry her said the soldier no no wait a minute i want to say more to you more to you said in a hoarse whisper now said you see my perhaps i am a bad man the victim of my impulses led away to do what i ought to leave undone i can t however marry them both and i have two reasons for choosing first i like her best upon the whole and second you make it worth my while at the same instant sprang upon him and held him by the neck felt s grasp slowly the move was absolutely unexpected a moment he gasped you are her you lore well what do you mean said the farmer give me said loosened his hand saying by heaven i ve a mind to kill you and ruin her save her oh how can she be saved now unless i marry her groaned he reluctantly released the soldier and flung him back against the hedge devil you torture me said he like a ball and was about to make a dash at the farmer but he checked himself saying it is not worth while to measure my strength with you indeed	45
it is a barbarous way of settling a quarrel i shall shortly leave the army because of the same conviction now after that revelation of how the land lies with be a mistake to kill me would it not t would be a mistake to kill you repeated mechanically with a bowed head better kill yourself far better i you s make her your wife and don t act upon what i arranged just now the alternative is dreadful but take give her up i she must love you indeed to sell soul and body to you so utterly as she has done wretched woman woman you are but about l is a an well to do continued in nervous anxiety and she will make a good wife and indeed she is worth your hastening on your marriage with her but she has a will not to say a temper and i shall be a mere slave to her i could do anything with poor robin a said ril do anything for you only don t desert her pray don t desert her which poor no love her best love her tenderly how shall i get you to see how advantageous it will be to you to secure her at once i don t wish to secure her in any new way s arm moved towards s person again he repressed the instinct and his form drooped as with pain went on i shall soon purchase my discharge and then but i wish you to hasten on this marriage it will be better for you both you love each other and you must let me help you to do it how why by settling the five hundred on instead of to enable you to marry at once no she wouldn t have it of me i ll pay it down to you on the wedding day paused in secret amazement ax s wild he carelessly said and am i to have anything now yes if you wish to but i have not much additional money with me i did not expect this but all i have is yours more like a than a man pulled out the large canvas bag he carried by way of a purse and searched it i have twenty one pounds more with me he said two notes and a sovereign but before i leave you i must have a paper signed pay me the money and we ll go straight to her parlour and make any arrangement you please to secure my compliance with your wishes but she must know nothing of this cash business far from the crow nothing nothing said hastily here is the sum and if you ll come to my house we ll write out the agreement for the remainder and the terms first we ll call upon her but why come with me to night and go with me to morrow to the s but she must be consulted at any rate informed very well go on they went up the hill to s house when they stood at the entrance said wait here a moment opening the door he glided inside leaving the door waited in two minutes a light appeared in the passage then saw that the chain had been fastened across the door appeared inside carrying a bedroom what did you think i should break in said contemptuously oh no it is merely my humour to secure things win you read this a moment i ll hold the light handed a folded newspaper through the between door and and put the candle close that s the paragraph he said placing his finger on a line looked and read on the t th at st s church bath by the rev g b a francis only son of the late edward esq m d of and guards to only daughter of the late mr john o ridge this may be called fort meeting hey said a low of laughter followed the words a the paper fell from s hands continued fifty pounds to marry good pounds not to marry but good already s husband now bold wood yours is the ridiculous fate which always interference between a man and his wife and another word bad as i am i am not such a villain as to make the marriage or misery of any woman a matter of and sale has long ago left me i don t know where she is i have searched everywhere another word yet you say you love yet on the merest apparent evidence you instantly believe in her a fig for such love i now that i ve taught you a lesson take your money back again i will not i will not i said in a hiss anyhow i won t have it said contemptuously he wrapped the packet of gold in the notes and threw the whole into the road shook his clenched fist at him you of satan you black hound but i ll punish you yet mark me i ll punish you yet another peal of laughter then closed the door and locked himself in throughout the whole of that night s dark form might have been seen walking about the hills and downs of like an unhappy shade in the mournful fields by far from the crowd at an upper window it was very early the next morning a time of sun and dew the confused of many birds songs spread into the healthy air and the wan blue of the heaven was here and there with thin of cloud which were of no effect in day all the lights in the scene were yellow as to colour and all the shadows were as to form the creeping plants about the old house were bowed with rows of heavy water drops which had upon objects behind them the	45
effect of minute of high power just before the clock struck five oak and passed the village cross and went on together to the fields they were yet barely in view of their mistress s house when oak fancied he saw the opening of a in one of the upper windows the two men were at this moment partially by an elder bush now beginning to be enriched with black of fruit and they paused before emerging from its shade a handsome man leaned idly from the he looked east and then west in the manner of one who makes a first morning survey the man was his red jacket was loosely thrown on but not at an upper window and he had altogether the relaxed bearing of a soldier taking his ease spoke first looking quietly at the window she has married him he said had previously beheld the sight and he now stood with his back turned making no reply i fancied we should know something to day continued i heard wheels pass my door just after dark you were out somewhere he glanced round upon good heavens above us oak how white your face is you look like a corpse do i said oak with a faint smile lean on the gate i ll wait a bit au right all right they stood by the gate awhile staring at the ground his mind sped into the future and saw there in years of leisure the scenes of repentance that would from this work of haste that they were married he had instantly decided why had it been so mysteriously managed it had become known that she had had a fearful journey to bath owing to her the distance that the horse had broken down and that she had been more than two days getting there it was not s way to do things with all her faults she was itself could she have been the union was not only an unutterable grief to him it amazed him notwithstanding that he had passed the preceding week in a suspicion that such might be the issue of s meeting her away from home her quiet return with had to some extent dispersed the dread just as that motion which appears like stillness is infinitely divided in its properties from stillness itself so had his hope from despair differed from despair indeed in a few minutes they moved on again towards the house the still looked from the window far from the crowd morning comrades i he shouted in a cheery voice when they came up replied to the greeting ye going to answer the man he then said to i d say good morning you needn t spend a of meaning upon it and yet keep the man civil soon decided too thai since the deed was done to put the best face upon the matter would be the greatest kindness to her he loved good morning he returned in a ghastly voice a rambling gloomy house this said smiling why they may not be married suggested perhaps she s not there shook his head the soldier turned a little towards the east and the sun kindled his scarlet coat to an orange glow but it is a nice old house responded yes i suppose so but i feel like new wine in an old bottle here my notion is that windows should be put throughout and these old walls brightened up a bit or the oak cleared quite away and the walls it would be a pity i think well no a philosopher once said in my hearing that the old who worked when art was a living thing had no respect for the work of who went before them but pulled down and altered as they thought fit and why shouldn t we creation and preservation don t do well together says he and a of can t invent a style my mind exactly i am for making this place more modern that we may be cheerful we can the military man turned and surveyed the interior of the room to assist his ideas of improvement in this direction and began to move on oh said as if inspired by a l at an upper window tion do you know if insanity has ever appeared in mr s family reflected for a moment i once heard that an uncle of his was queer in his head but i don t know the rights o t he said it is of no importance said lightly well i shall be down in the fields with you some time this week but i have a few matters to attend to first so good day to you we shall of course keep on just as friendly terms as usual i m not a proud man nobody is ever able to say that of however what is must be and here s half a crown to drink my health men threw the coin across the front plot and over the fence towards who it in its fall his face turning to an angry red his eye edged forward and caught the money in its upon the road very well you keep it said disdain and almost fiercely as for me i ll do without gifts from him don t show it too much s d for if he s married to her mark my words he ll buy his discharge and be our master here therefore tis well lo say friend outwardly though you say within well perhaps it is best to be silent but i can t go further than that i can t flatter and if my place here is only to be kept by him down my place must be lost a whom they had for some time seen in the distance now appeared close beside them there s mr said oak i	45
wonder what meant by his question and oak nodded respectfully to the farmer just checked their paces to discover if they were wanted and finding they were not stood back to let him pass on far from the crowd the only signs of the terrible sorrow had been through the night and was now were the want of in his well defined face the enlarged appearance of the veins in his forehead and temples and the lines about his mouth the horse bore him away and the very step of the animal seemed significant of dogged despair for a minute rose above his own grief in noticing s he saw the square figure sitting erect upon the horse the head turned to neither side the elbows steady by the the brim of the hat level and undisturbed in its onward glide until the keen edges of s shape sank by degrees over the hill to one who knew the man and his story there was something more striking in this than in a the clash of discord between mood and matter here was forced painfully home to the heart and as in laughter there are more dreadful phases than in tears so was there in the of this man an expression deeper than a cry wealth in wealth m the one night at the end of august when s experiences as a married woman were still new and when the weather was yet dry and a man stood motionless in the of upper farm looking at the moon and sky the night had a sinister aspect a heated breeze from the south slowly the of lofty objects and in the sky of cloud were sailing in a course at right angles to that of another neither of them in the direction of the breeze below the moon as seen through these had a lurid look the fields were sallow with the light and all were tinged in as if beheld through stained glass the same evening the sheep had homeward head to tail the behaviour of the had been confused and the horses had moved with timidity and caution thunder was imminent and taking some secondary appearances into consideration it was likely to be followed by one of the lengthened rains which mark the close of dry weather for the season before twelve hours had passed a harvest atmosphere would be a thing oak gazed with at eight naked and un far from the crowd and heavy with the rich farm for that year he went i i l protected produce of one half the on to the barn this was the night which had been selected by ruling now in the room of his wife for giving the harvest supper and dance as oak approached the building the sound of and a and the regular of many feet grew more distinct he came close to the large doors one of which stood slightly and looked in the central space together with the recess at one end was emptied of all and this area covering about two thirds of the whole was appropriated for the gathering the remaining end which was piled to the with being off with and of green foliage decorated the walls beams and and immediately opposite to oak a had been erected bearing a table and chairs here sat three and beside them stood a frantic man with his hair on end perspiration streaming down his cheeks and a quivering in his hand the dance ended and on the black oak in the midst a new row of couples formed for another now ma am and no offence i hope i ask what dance you would like next said the first really it makes no difference said the clear voice of who stood at the inner end of the building observing the scene from behind a table covered with cups and was beside her then said the i ll venture to name thai the right and proper thing is the soldier s joy there being a gallant soldier married into the farm hey my and gentlemen all it shall be the soldier s joy exclaimed a chorus thanks for the compliment said the the taking by the hand and leading he to the top of the dance for though i have purchased my discharge from her most gracious majesty s regiment of cavalry the guards to attend to the new duties awaiting me here i shall continue a soldier in spirit and feeling as long as i live so the dance began as to ihe merits of the soldier s joy there cannot he and never were two opinions it has been observed in the musical circles of and its vicinity that this melody at the end of three quarters of an hour of footing still possesses more properties for the heel and toe than the majority of other dances at their first opening the soldier s joy has too an additional charm in being so admirably adapted to the no mean instrument in the hands of a who understands the proper st s dances and fearful necessary when exhibiting its tones in their highest perfection the immortal tune ended a fine rolling forth from the bass with the of a and delayed his entry no longer he avoided and got as near as possible to the platform where was now seated drinking water though the others drank n exception and ale could not easily thrust himself within speaking distance of the and he sent a message asking him to come down for a moment the said he could not attend will you tell him then said that i only stepped art to say that a heavy rain is sure to fall soon and that something should be done to protect the mr says it will not rain returned the messenger and he cannot stop to talk to you	45
about such far from the crowd in oak had a melancholy tendency to look like a candle beside gas and ill at ease he went out again thinking he would go home for under the circumstances he had no heart for the scene in the barn at the door he paused for a moment was speaking friends il is not only the harvest home that we are to night but this is also a wedding feast a short time ago i had the happiness to lead to the altar this lady your mistress and not until now have we been able to give any public flourish to the event in that it may be thoroughly well done and thai every man may go happy to bed i have ordered to be brought here some bottles of brandy and of hot water a strong will be handed round to each guest put her hand upon his arm and with pale face said no don t give it to them pray don t frank it will only do them harm they have had enough of everything we don t wish no more ye said said the contemptuously and raised his voice as if lighted up by a new idea friends he said we ll send the women folk home tis time they were in bed then we will have a jolly to ourselves if any of the men show the white feather let them look elsewhere for a winter s work indignantly left the bam followed by all the women and children the not looking upon themselves as company slipped quietly away to their spring and put in the horse thus and the men on the farm were left sole occupants of the place oak not to appear disagreeable stayed a little while then he too arose and quietly took his departure by a a the re el oath from ihe for not staying to a second round of proceeded towards his home in approaching the door his toe kicked something which felt and sounded soft and like a it was a large humbly travelling across the path oak took it up thinking it might be better to kill the creature to save it from pain but finding it he placed it again among the grass he knew what this direct message from the great mother meant and soon came another when he struck a light indoors there appeared upon the table a thin glistening streak as if a brush of had been lightly dragged across ic oak s eyes followed the to the other side where it led up to a huge brown garden which had come indoors to night for reasons of its own it was nature s second way of to him that he was to prepare for foul weather oak sat down meditating for nearly an hour during this time two black of the kind common in houses the ceiling ultimately dropping to the floor this reminded him that if there was one class of on this matter that he thoroughly understood it was the instincts of sheep he left the room ran across two or three fields towards the flock got upon a hedge and looked over among them they were crowded close together on the other side around some bushes and the first peculiarity was that on the sudden appearance of oak s head over the fence they did not stir or run away they had now a terror of something greater than their terror of man but this was not the most feature they were all in su h a way that their tails without a single exception were towards that half of the horizon from which the storm threatened there mi b far from the crowd was an inner circle closely huddled and outside these they wider apart the pattern formed by the flock as a whole not being unlike a lace collar to which the of bushes stood in the position of a s neck this was enough lo re establish him in his original opinion he knew now that he was right and that was wrong every voice in nature was unanimous in change but two distinct attached to these dumb expressions apparently there was lo be a thunder storm and afterwards a cold continuous rain the creeping things seemed to know all about the later rain but little of the thunder storm whilst the sheep knew all about the thunder storm and nothing of the later rain this of being uncommon was all the more to be feared oak returned to the slack yard all was silent here and the tips of the darkly into the sky there were five wheat in this yard and three of the wheat when would average about thirty quarters to each the at least forty their value to and indeed to anybody oak mentally estimated by the following simple calculation x quarters x quarters total seven hundred and fifty pounds in the form that money can wear that of necessary food for man and beast should the risk be run of this bulk of corn to less than half its value because of the of a woman never if i can prevent it said such was the argument that oak set outwardly before i i him but man even to himself is a having an writing and another beneath the lines il is possible that there was this golden legend under the one i will help to my last effort the woman i have loved so dearly he went back lo the bam to endeavour to obtain assistance for covering the that very night all was silent within and he would have passed on in the belief that the party had broken up had not a dim light yellow as by contrast with the whiteness outside streamed through a knot hole in the folding doors looked in an unusual	45
crossing the sky and a the air it was the first move of the approaching storm the second peal was noisy with comparatively little visible lightning saw a candle shining in s bedroom and soon a shadow swept to and fro upon the blind then there came a third flash of a most extraordinary kind were going on in the vast hollows overhead the lightning now was the colour of silver and gleamed in the heavens like a army became from his elevated position could see over the landscape at least half a dozen miles in front every hedge bush and tree was distinct as in a line in a in the same direction was a herd of and the forms of these were visible at this moment in the act of galloping about in the wildest and confusion flinging their heels and tails high into the air their heads to earth a in the immediate was like an ink stroke on tin then the picture vanished leaving the darkness so intense that worked entirely by feeling with his hands u far from the crowd he had stuck his rod groom or as it was indifferently called a long iron lance sharp at the extremity and polished by handling into the to support the a blue light appeared in the and in some indescribable manner down near the top of the rod it was the fourth of the larger flashes a moment later and there was a smart clear and short felt his position to be anything but a safe one and he resolved to descend not a drop of rain had fallen as yet he wiped his weary brow and looked again at the black forms of the was his life so valuable to him after all what were his prospects that he should be so of running risk when important and urgent labour could not be carried on without such risk he resolved to stick to the however he took a precaution under the was a long chain used to prevent the escape of horses this he carried up the ladder and sticking his rod through the at one end allowed the other end of the chain to trail upon the ground the attached to it he drove in under the shadow of this lightning conductor he felt himself comparatively safe before oak had laid his hands upon his tools again out the fifth flash with the spring of a serpent and the shout of a it was green as an and the was what was this the light revealed to him in the open ground before him as he looked over the ridge of the was a dark and apparently female form could it be that of the only woman in the parish the form moved on a step then he could see no more is that you ma am said to the darkness who is there said the voice of e two together i am on the oh and are you i have come about hem the weather awoke me and i thought of the corn i am so distressed about it can we save it anyhow i cannot find my husband is he with you he is not here do you know where he is asleep in the bam he promised that the should be seen to and now ihey are all neglected can i do anything to help is afraid to come out fancy finding you here at such an hour i surely i can do something you can bring up some reed to me one by one ma am if you are not afraid to come up the ladder in the dark said every moment is precious now and that would save a good deal of time it is not very dark when the lightning has been gone a bit i h do anything i she said resolutely she instantly took a upon her shoulder up close to his heels placed it behind the rod and descended for another at her third ascent ihe suddenly brightened with the brazen glare of shining every knot in every straw was visible on the slope in front of him appeared two human shapes black as jet the lost its the shapes vanished turned his head it had been the sixth flash which had come from the east behind him and the two dark forms on the slope had been the shadows of himself and then came the peal it hardly was that such a heavenly light could be the parent of such a sound how terrible she exclaimed and clutched him by the sleeve turned and her on her perch by holding her arm at the same moment while he was still reversed in his attitude there was more light and he saw as it were a copy of the tall tree on the hill drawn in black on the wall of ii far from the crowd the barn it was the shadow of that tree thrown across by a secondary flash in the west the next came was on the ground now another and she bore its without thunder and and again ascended with the load there was then a silence everywhere for four or five minutes and the of the as hastily drove them in could again be distinctly heard he thought the crisis of the storm had passed but there came a burst of light hold on said taking the from her shoulder and grasping her arm again heaven opened then indeed the flash was almost too novel for its dangerous nature to be at once realized and they could only comprehend the magnificence of its beauty it sprang from east west north south it was a perfect dance of death the forms of appeared in the air shaped with blue fire for dancing leaping racing around and mingling altogether in confusion with	45
these were of green behind these was a broad mass of lesser light simultaneously came from every part of the tumbling sky what may be called a shout since though no shout ever came near it it was more of the nature of a shout than of anything else earthly in the meantime one of the forms had alighted upon the point of s rod to run down it down the chain and into the earth was almost blinded and he could feel s warm arm tremble in his hand a sensation novel and thrilling enough but love life everything human seemed small and trifling in such close with an universe oak had hardly time to gather up these impressions into a thought and to see how strangely the red feather of her hat shone in this light when the tall tree on the bill before mentioned on fire to a white and a new one among these terrible voices mingled with the last crash of those preceding it was a blast harsh and pitiless and it fell upon their ears in a dead blow without that which the tones of a drum to more distant thunder by the lustre reflected from part of the earth and from the wide above it he saw that the tree was down the whole length of its tall straight stem a huge of bark being apparently flung off the other portion remained erect and the surface as a strip of white down the front the lightning had struck the tree a smell the air then all was silent and black as a cave in we had a narrow escape i said hurriedly you had better go down said nothing but he could distinctly hear her and the rustle of the beside her in response to her frightened she descended the ladder and on second thoughts he followed her the darkness was now impenetrable by the vision they both stood still at the bottom side by side appeared to think only of the oak thought only of her just then at last he said the storm seems to have passed now at any i think so too said though there are multitudes of look tile sky was now filled with an incessant light frequent repetition melting into complete as an unbroken sound results from the successive strokes on a nothing serious said he i cannot understand no rain falling but heaven be praised it is all the better for us i am now going up again you are kinder than i deserve i i will stay far from the crowd and help you yet oh why are not some of the others here they would have been here if they could said oak in a hesitating way oh know it all all she said adding slowly they are all asleep in the barn in a drunken sleep and my husband among them that s it is it not don t think i am a timid woman and can t endure things i am not certain said i will go and see he crossed to the barn leaving her there alone he looked through he of the door all was in total darkness as he had left it and there still arose as at the former time the steady of many he felt a curling about bis cheek and turned it was s she had followed him and was looking into the same he endeavoured to put off the immediate and painful subject of their thoughts by remarking gently if you ll come back again miss ma am and hand up a few more it would save much time then oak went back again ascended to the top stepped off the ladder for greater expedition and went on she followed but without a she said in a strange and impressive voice oak looked up at her she had not spoken since he left the barn the soft and continual of the dying lightning showed a marble face high against the black sky of the opposite was sitting almost on ihe of the her feet gathered up beneath her and resting on the round of the ladder yes mistress he said i suppose you thought that when i galloped away to bath that night it was on purpose to be married i did at last not at first he answered somewhat surprised at the with which this new subject was the two together and others thought so too yes and you blamed me for it a little i thought so now i care a little for your good opinion and i want to explain something i have longed to do it ever since i returned and you looked so gravely at me for if i were to die and i may die soon it would be dreadful that you should always think of me now listen ceased his rustling i went to bath that night in the full intention of breaking off my engagement to mr it was owing to circumstances which occurred after i got there that that we were married now do you see the matter in a new light i do somewhat i must i suppose say more now that i have begun and perhaps it s no harm for you are certainly under no delusion that i ever loved you or that i can have any object in speaking more than that object i have mentioned well i was alone in a strange city and the horse was lame and at last i didn t know what to do i saw when it was too late that scandal might seize hold of me for meeting him alone in that way but i was coming away when he suddenly said he had that day seen a woman more beautiful than i and that his constancy could not be counted on unless i at	45
possibly not overlooked them repeated slowly to it is difficult to describe the intensely dramatic effect that announcement had upon oak at such a moment all the night he had been feeling that the neglect he was to repair was and isolated the only instance of th kind within the circuit of the county yet at this very time within the same parish a greater waste had been going on of and disregarded a few months earlier s forgetting his would have been as preposterous an idea as a sailor forgetting he was in a ship oak was just thinking that whatever he himself might have far from the crowd s marriage here was a man had suffered more when spoke in a changed voice that of one who to make a confidence and relieve his heart by an oak you know as well as i that things have gone with me lately i may as well own it i was going to get a little settled in life but in some way my plan has come to i thought my mistress would have married you said not knowing enough of the full depths of s love to keep silence on the farmer s account and determined not to discipline by doing so on his own however it is so sometime s and nothing happens that we expect he added with the repose of a man whom misfortune had rather than subdued i i am a about the parish said as if the subject came irresistibly to his tongue and with a miserable lightness meant to express his indifference oh i don t think that but the real truth of the matter is that there was not as some fancy any on her part no ever e between me and miss people say so but it is she never promised me stood now and turned his wild face to oak oh he continued i am weak and foolish and i don l know what and i can t off my miserable grief i liad some belief in the mercy of god till i lost that woman yes he prepared a to shade me and like the prophet i thanked him and was glad but the next day he prepared a worm to the and it and i feel it is better to die than to live a silence followed aroused himself from the momentary mood of confidence into which he had drifted and walked on again his usual reserve a one solitary meets another no he resumed with a carelessness which was like the smile on the countenance of a skull it was made more of by other people than ever it was by us i do feel a little regret occasionally but no woman ever had power over me for any length of time well good morning i can trust you not to mention to others what has passed between us two here far from the crowd coming home a cry on the road between and and about three miles from the former place is hill one of those steep long which the of this part of south in returning from market it is usual for the farmers and other gentry to alight at the bottom and walk up one saturday evening in the month of october s vehicle was duly creeping up this incline she was sitting in the second seat of the whilst walking beside her in a farmer s suit of unusually fashionable cut was an erect well made young man though on foot he held the reins and whip and occasionally aimed light cuts at the horse s ear with the end of the lash as a this man was her husband formerly who having bought his discharge with s money was gradually himself into a farmer of a spirited and very modern school people of ideas still insisted upon calling him when they met him which was in some degree owing to his having still retained the well shaped moustache of his military days and the bearing inseparable from his form coming home yes if it hadn t been for that wretched rain i should have cleared two hundred as easy as looking my love he was saying don t you see it altered all the chances to speak like a book i once read wet weather is the narrative and fine days are the of our country s history now isn t that true but the time of year is come for weather well yes the fact is these autumn races are the ruin of everybody never did i see such a day as twas tis a wild open place not far from the sands and a sea rolled in towards us like liquid misery wind and rain good lord dark why twas as black as my hat before the last race was run twas five o clock and you couldn t see the horses till they were almost in leave alone colours the ground was as heavy as lead and all judgment from a fellow s experience went for nothing horses people were all blown about like ships at sea three were blown over and the wretched folk inside crawled out upon their hands and knees and in the next field were as many as a dozen hats at one time aye regularly stuck fast when about sixty yards off and when i saw policy stepping on it did knock my heart against the of my ribs i assure you my love i and you mean frank said sadly her voice was painfully lowered from the fulness and vivacity of the previous summer that you have lost more than a hundred pounds in a month by this dreadful horse racing oh frank it is cruel it is foolish of you to take away my money so we shall have to leave the farm that	45

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