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a month and more meeting when and where they best could do so both being happy and content to be sure towards the latter part of that month when the first wild warmth of her love had gone off the lady sometimes wondered within herself how she who might have chosen a peer of the realm knight or if serious minded a bishop or judge of the more gallant sort who prefer young wives could have brought herself to do a thing so rash as to make this marriage particularly when in their private meetings she perceived that though her young husband was full of ideas and fairly iii a group of noble well read they had not a single social experience in common it was his custom to visit her after in her own house when he could find no opportunity for an interview elsewhere and to further this course she would contrive to leave a window on the ground floor overlooking the lawn by entering which a back stair case was accessible so that he could up to her apartments and gain audience of his lady when the house was still one dark midnight when he had not been able to see her during the day he made use of this secret method as he had done many times before and when they had remained in company about an hour he declared that it was time for him to descend he would have stayed longer but that the interview had been a somewhat painful one what she had said to him that night had much excited and him for it had revealed a change in her cold reason had come to his lofty wife she was beginning to have more anxiety about her own position and prospects than for him whether from the agitation of this perception or not he was seized with a he gasped rose and in moving towards the window for air he uttered in a short thick whisper oh my heart with his hand upon his chest he sank down to the floor before he had gone another step by the time that she had the candle which had been extinguished in case any eye in the opposite grounds should witness his she found that his poor heart had ceased to beat and there rushed upon her mind what his cottage friends had once told her that he was liable to attacks of heart disease one of which the a group of noble doctor had informed them might some day carry him off accustomed as she was to the other nothing that she could effect upon him in that kind made any difference whatever and his stillness and the increasing coldness of his feet and hands disclosed too surely to the young woman that her husband was dead indeed for more than an hour however she did not abandon her efforts to restore him when she fully realized the fact that he was a corpse she bent over his body distracted and bewildered as to what step she next should take her first feelings had undoubtedly been those of passionate grief at the loss of him her second thoughts were concern at her own position as the daughter of an earl oh why why my unfortunate husband did you die in my chamber at this hour she said to the corpse why not have died in your own cottage if you would die then nobody would ever have known of our union and no syllable would have been breathed of how i myself for love of you the clock in the striking the hour of one aroused lady from the stupor into which she had fallen and she stood up and went towards the door to awaken and tell her mother seemed her only way out of this terrible situation yet when she put her hand on the key to it she withdrew herself again it would be to call even her mother s assistance without a revelation to all the world through the servants while if she could remove the body to a distance she might suspicion of their union even now this thought of from the social i a group of noble consequences of her rash act of renewed freedom was a relief to her for as has been said the and of her position had begun to tell upon the lady s nerves she herself for the effort and hastily dressed herself and then dressed him tying his dead hands together with a handkerchief she laid his arms round her shoulders and bore him to the landing and down the narrow stairs reaching the bottom by the window she let his body slide slowly over the sill till it lay on the ground she then climbed over the window sill herself and leaving the open dragged him on to the lawn with a rustle not louder than the rustle of a there she took a hold and plunged with him under the trees away from the of the house she could apply herself more vigorously to her task which was a heavy one enough for her robust as she was and the exertion and fright she had already undergone began to tell upon her by the time she reached the corner of a plantation which between the house and the village here she was so nearly exhausted that she feared she might have to leave him on the spot but she on after a while and keeping ui on the grass at every opportunity she stood at last opposite the poor young man s garden gate where he lived with his father the parish clerk how she accomplished the end of her task lady never quite knew but to avoid leaving traces in the road she carried him bodily across the gravel and laid him down at the door perfectly aware of his ways of coming and going she searched behind	45
the for the cottage a group of noble door key which she placed in his cold hand then she kissed his face for the last time and with silent little sobs bade him farewell lady steps and reached the mansion without and to her great relief found the window open just as she had left it when she had climbed in she listened attentively fastened the window behind her and ascending the stairs noiselessly to her room set everything in order and returned to bed the next morning it was speedily echoed around that the amiable and gentle young had been found dead outside his father s door which he had apparently been in the act of when he fell the circumstances were sufficiently exceptional to justify an at which from heart disease was ascertained to be beyond doubt the explanation of his death and no more was said about the matter then but after the funeral it was that some man who had been returning late from a distant horse fair had seen in the gloom of night a person apparently a woman dragging a heavy body of some sort towards the cottage gate which by the light of after events would seem to have been the corpse of the young fellow his clothes were thereupon examined more particularly than at first with the result that marks of were visible upon them here and there precisely resembling such as would be left by dragging on the ground our beautiful and ingenious lady was now in great consternation and began to think that after all it might have been better to honestly confess the truth but having reached this stage without discovery or a group of noble suspicion she determined to make another effort towards concealment and a bright idea struck her as a means of securing it i think i mentioned that j fore she cast eyes on the unfortunate steward s clerk he had been the l of a certain village the s daughter his neighbour to whom he had paid some attentions and possibly he was beloved of her still at any rate the i s influence on the estates of her father being considerable she resolved to seek an interview with the young girl in of her plan to save her reputation about which she was now exceedingly anxious for by this time the fit being over she began to be ashamed of her mad passion for her late husband and almost wished she had never seen him in the course of her parish visiting she lighted on the young girl without much difficulty and found her looking pale and sad and wearing a simple black gown which she had put on out of respect for the young man s memory whom she had tenderly loved though he had not loved her ah you have lost your lover said lady the young woman could not repress her tears my lady he was not quite my lover she said but i was his and now he is dead i don t care to live any more can you keep a secret about him asks the lady one in which his honour is involved which is known to me alone but should be known to you the girl readily promised and indeed could be safely trusted on such a subject so deep was her affection for the youth she mourned then meet me at his grave to night half an after sunset and i will tell it to you says the other ii a group of noble in the dusk of that spring evening the two shadowy figures of the young women upon the s newly mound and at that solemn place and hour the one of birth and beauty unfolded her tale how she had loved him and married him secretly how he had died in her chamber and how to keep her secret she had dragged him to his own door married him my lady said the rustic maiden starting back i have said so replied lady but it was a mad thing and a mistaken course he ought to have married you you were peculiarly his but you lost him yes said the poor girl and for that they laughed at me ha ha you mid love him they but he will not love you victory over such unkind would be sweet said lady you lost him in life but you may have him in death as if you had had him in life and so turn the tables upon them how said the breathless girl the young lady then unfolded her plan which was that should go forward and declare that the young man had contracted a secret marriage as he truly had done that it was with her his sweetheart that he had been visiting her in her cottage on the evening of his death when on finding he was a corpse she had carried him to his house to prevent discovery by her parents and that she had meant to keep the whole matter a secret till the afloat had forced it from her and how shall i prove this said the s daughter amazed at the boldness of the proposal a group of noble quite sufficiently you can say if necessary that you were married to him at the church of st michael in bath city in my name as the first that occurred to you to escape detection that was where he married me i will support you in this oh i don t quite like if you will do so said the lady i will always be your father s friend and yours if not it will be otherwise and i will give you my wedding ring which you shall wear as yours have you worn it my lady only at night there was not much choice in the matter and	45
consented then this noble lady took from her bosom the ring she had never been able openly to exhibit and grasping the young girl s hand slipped it upon her finger as stood upon her lover s grave shivered and bowed her head saying i feel as if i had become a corpse s bride but from that moment the maiden was heart and soul in the a repose came over her spirit it seemed to her that she had secured in death him whom in life she had vainly and she was almost content after that the lady handed over to the young man s new wife all the little and he had given herself even to a containing his hair the next day the girl made her so called confession which the simple mourning she had already worn without stating for whom seemed to bear out and soon the story of the little romance spread through the village and country side almost as far as it was a ii a group of noble curious fact that having once made the seemed possessed with a spirit of ecstasy at her position with the liberal sum of money supplied to her by lady she now purchased the garb of a widow and duly appeared at church in her weeds her simple face looking so sweet against its margin of that she was almost envied her state by the other of her age and when a woman s sorrow for her beloved can her young life so obviously as it had done s there was in truth little in the case her explanation so well with the details of her lover s latter movements strange and sudden which had occasionally puzzled his friends that nobody supposed for a moment that the second actor in these secret was other than she the actual and whole truth would indeed have seemed a preposterous assertion beside this plausible one by reason of the lofty of the lady and the habits of the late there being no inheritance in question not a soul took the trouble to go to the city church forty miles off and search the for marriage bearing out so humble a romance in a short time caused a decent to be erected over her husband s grave whereon appeared the statement that it was placed there by his widow which considering that the payment for it came from lady and the grief from was as truthful as such usually are and only required to render it yet more nearly so the and in her character of widow took delight in going to his grave a group of noble every day and indulging in sorrow which was a positive luxury to her she placed fresh flowers on his grave and so keen was her that she almost believed herself to have been his wife indeed as she walked to and fro in her garb of woe one afternoon being busily engaged in this labour of love at the grave lady passed outside the churchyard wall with some of her visiting friends who seeing there watched her actions with interest remarked upon the pathos of the scene and upon the intense affection the young man must have felt for such a tender creature as a strange light as of pain shot from the lady s eye as if for the first time she to the young girl the position she had been at such pains to transfer to her it showed that a affection for her husband still had life in lady obscured and stifled as it was by social considerations an end was put to this smooth arrangement by the sudden appearance in the churchyard one day of the i when had come there on her usual errand of laying flowers lady had been anxiously awaiting her behind the and her countenance was pale and agitated she said come here i don t know how to say to you what i am going to say i am half dead i am sorry for your says wondering give me that ring says the lady at the girl s left hand drew it quickly away i tell you give it to me repeated almost fiercely h but you don t know why i am in a a group of noble grief and a trouble i did not expect and lady whispered a few words to the girl my lady said the what will you do y you must say that your statement was a wicked lie an invention a scandal a deadly sin that i told you to make it to screen me that it was i whom he married at bath in short we must tell the truth or i am ruined body mind and reputation for ever but there is a limit to the of gentle women by this time had so grown to the idea of being one flesh with this young man of having the right to bear his name as she bore it had so thoroughly come to regard him as her husband to dream of him as her husband to speak of him as her husband that she could not him at a moment s notice no no she said desperately i cannot i will not give him up your took him away from me alive and gave him back to me only when he was dead now i will keep him i am truly his widow more truly than you my lady for i love him and mourn for him and call myself by his dear name and your does neither i do love him cries lady with flashing eyes and i cling to him and won t let him go to such as you how can i when he is the father of this poor babe that s coming to me i must have him back again can t you pity	45
and understand me perverse girl that you are and the miserable plight that i am in oh this it is the ruin of women why did i not consider and wait come give me back lai a group of noble all that i have given you and assure me you will support me in the truth never never persisted with woe look at this look at my gown and bonnet of this ring listen to the name they call me by my character is worth as much to me as yours is to you after declaring my love mine myself his taking his name making his death my own particular sorrow how can i say it was not so no such for me i will you my lady and i shall be believed my story is so much the more likely that yours will be thought false but o please my lady do not drive me to this in pity let me keep him the poor widow exhibited such anguish at a proposal which would have been truly a bitter humiliation to her that lady was warmed to pity in spite of her own condition yes i see your position she answered but think of mine what can i do without your support it would seem an invention to save me from disgrace even if i produced the register the love of scandal in the world is such that the multitude would over the fact say it was a and believe your story i do not know who were the witnesses or anything in a few minutes these two poor young women felt as so many in a strait have felt before that union was their greatest strength even now and they consulted calmly together the result of their was that went home as usual and lady also the latter that very night to the her mother of the marriage and to nobody else in the world and some time after lady and her mother went a group of noble away to london where a little while later still they were joined by who was supposed to have left the village to proceed to a watering place in the north for the benefit of her health at the expense of the ladies of the who had been much interested in her state of lonely and early the next year the widow came home with an infant in her arms the family at the house having meanwhile gone abroad they did not return from their tour till the autumn by which time and the child had again departed from the cottage of her father the having attained to the dignity of dwelling in a cottage of her own many miles to the eastward of her native village a comfortable little allowance had moreover been settled on her and the child for life through the of lady and her mother two or three years passed away and the lady married a nobleman the of considerably her senior who had her long and he was not rich but she led a placid life with him for many years though there was no child of the marriage meanwhile s boy as the was called and as herself considered him grew up and wonderfully and loved her as she deserved to be loved for her devotion to him in whom she every day traced more distinctly the of the man who had won her girlish heart and kept it even in the tomb she educated him as well as she could with the limited means at her disposal for the allowance had never been increased lady or the of as she now was seeming by degrees to care little a group of noble what had become of them became extremely ambitious on the boy s account she pinched herself almost of necessaries to send him to the grammar school in the town to which they retired and at twenty he in a cavalry regiment joining it with a deliberate intent of making the army his profession and not in a of idleness his exceptional his manly bearing his steady conduct speedily won him promotion which was by the serious war in which this country was at that time engaged on his return to england after the peace he had risen to the rank of riding master and was soon after advanced another stage and made though still a young man his mother his mother that is the of heard tidings of this progress it her maternal instincts and filled her with pride she became keenly interested in her successful soldier son and as she grew older much wished to see him again particularly when the dying she was left a solitary and widow whether or not she would have gone to him of her own impulse i cannot say but one day when she was driving in an open carriage in the outskirts of a neighbouring town the troops lying at the hard by passed her in marching order she eyed them narrowly and in the finest of the recognized her son from his likeness to her first husband this sight of him doubly the emotions which had lain in her for so many years and she wildly asked herself how she could so have neglected him had she possessed the true courage of a group of noble affection she would have owned to her first marriage and have reared him as her son what would it have mattered if she had never obtained this precious of pearls and gold leaves by comparison with the gain of having the love and protection of such a noble and worthy son these and other sad reflections cut the gloomy and solitary lady to the heart and she repented of her pride in her first husband more bitterly than she had ever repented of her in marrying him her yearning was so	45
strong that at length it seemed to her that she could not live without announcing herself to him as his mother come what might she would do it late as it was she would have him away from that woman whom she began to hate with the of a deserted heart for having taken her place as the mother of her only child she felt confidently enough that her son would only too gladly exchange a cottage mother for one who was a of the realm being now in her free to come and go as she chose without question from anybody lady started next day for the little town where yet lived still in her robes of for the lost lover of her youth he is my son said the as soon as she was alone in the cottage with you must give him back to me now that i am in a position in which i can defy the world s opinion i suppose he comes to see you continually every month since he returned from the war my lady and sometimes he stays two or three days and takes me about seeing sights everywhere she spoke with quiet triumph well you will have to give him up said the mar a group of noble calmly it shall not be the worse for you you may see him when you choose i am going to my first marriage and have him with me you forget that there are two to be reckoned with my lady not only me but himself that can be arranged you don t suppose that he wouldn t but not wishing to insult by comparing their positions she said he is my own flesh and blood not yours flesh and blood s nothing i said flashing with as much scorn as a could show to a which in this case was not so little as may be supposed but i will agree to put it to him and let him settle it for himself that s all i require said lady you must ask him to come and i will meet him here the soldier was written to and the meeting took place he was not so much astonished at the disclosure of his as lady had been led to expect having known for years that there was a little mystery about his birth his manner towards the though respectful was less warm than she could have hoped the as to his choice of a mother were put before him his answer amazed and her no my lady he said thank you much but i prefer to let things be as they have been my father s name is mine in any case you see my lady you cared little for me when i was weak and helpless why should i come to you now i am strong she dear devoted soul pointing to tended me from my birth watched over me nursed me when i was ill and a group of noble deprived herself of many a little comfort to push me on i cannot love another mother as i love her she ts my mother and i will always be her son as he spoke he put his manly arm round s neck and kissed her with the tenderest affection the agony of the poor was pitiable you kill me she said between her shaking sobs cannot you love me too no my lady if i must say it you were ashamed of my poor father who was a sincere and honest man therefore i am ashamed of you nothing would move him and the suffering woman at last gasped cannot oh cannot you give one kiss to me as you did to her it is not much it is all i all certainly he replied he kissed her coldly and the painful scene came to an end that day was the beginning of death to the unfortunate of it was in the of her human heart that his denial of her should add fuel to the fire of her craving for his love how long afterwards she lived i do not know with any but it was no great length of time that anguish that is than a serpent s tooth wore her out soon utterly reckless of the world its ways and its opinions she allowed her story to become known and when the welcome end which i grieve to say she refused to by the of religion a broken heart was the truest phrase in which to sum up its cause ia a group of noble the rural dean having concluded some observations upon his tale were made in due course the sentimental member said that lady s history afforded a sad instance of how an honest human affection will become and mean under the frost of class division and social prejudices she probably deserved some pity though her offspring before he grew up to man s estate had deserved more there was no pathos like the pathos of childhood when a child found itself in a world where it was not wanted and could not understand the reason why a tale by the speaker further the same subject though with different results from the last naturally followed dame the fourth lady by member a group of noble dame the fourth lady by the sentimental member of all the romantic towns in is probably the most convenient for meditative people to live in since there you have a cathedral with a so long that it affords space in which to walk and summon your moods without continually turning on your heel or seeming to do more than take an afternoon stroll under cover from the rain or sun in an course of nearly three hundred steps eastward and again nearly three hundred steps westward amid those magnificent you can for instance	45
compare in the most leisurely way the dry which ultimately the persons of kings and with the that is usually the final shape of and others who take their last rest out of doors then if you are in love you can by in the and behind the with the bright eyed one so steep and mellow your ecstasy in the around that it will assume a and finer even more grateful to the understanding if not to the senses than that form of the emotion which arises a group of noble from such companionship in spots where all is life and growth and it was in this solemn place whither they had withdrawn from the sight of relatives on one cold day in march that sir asked in marriage as his second wife the gentle daughter of plain squire her life had been an obscure one thus far while sir though not a rich man had a certain distinction about him so that everybody thought what a convenient and in a word blessed match it would be for such a as she nobody thought so more than the amiable girl herself she had been smitten with such affection for him that when she walked the cathedral at his side on the before mentioned day she did not know that her feet touched hard pavement it seemed to her rather that she was floating in space was an heart maiden and could not understand how she had deserved to have sent to her such an illustrious lover such a travelled personage such a handsome man when he put the question it was in no clumsy language such as the ordinary county were wont to use on like quivering occasions but as as if he had been taught it in s speaker yet he hesitated a little for he had something to add my pretty he said she was not very pretty by the way i have you must know a little girl dependent upon me a little i found one day in a patch of wild such was this worthy s humour when i was riding home a little nameless creature whom i wish to take care of till she is old enough to take care of herself and to in a plain a group of noble way she is only fifteen months old and is at present in tl e hands of a kind s wife in my parish will you object to give some attention to the little thing in her helplessness it need hardly be said that our innocent young lady loving him so deeply and joyfully as she did replied that she would do all she could for the nameless child and shortly afterwards the pair were married in the same cathedral that had echoed the whispers of his declaration the minister being the bishop himself a venerable and experienced man so well accomplished in people who had a mind for that sort of experiment that the couple with some sense of surprise found themselves one while they were still vaguely gazing at each other as two independent beings after this operation they went home to park and made a beginning of living happily ever after lady true to her promise was always running down to the village during the following weeks to see the baby whom her husband had so mysteriously lighted on during his ride home concerning which interesting discovery she had her own opinion but being so extremely amiable and affectionate that she could have loved stocks and stones if there had been no living creatures to love she uttered none of her thoughts the little thing who had been took to lady as if the s young wife had been her mother and at length grew so fond of the child that she ventured to ask her husband if she might have in her own home and bring her up carefully just as if she were her own to this he answered that though remarks might be made he had no a group of noble objection a fact which was obvious sir seeming rather pleased than otherwise with the proposal after this they lived quietly and for two or three years at sir s residence in that part of england with as near an approach to bliss as the climate of this country allows the child had been a to for there seemed no great probability of her having one of her own and she wisely regarded the possession of as a special kindness of providence and did not worry her mind at all as to s possible origin being a tender and impulsive creature she loved her husband without criticism and and the child not much otherwise she watched the little as if she had been her wn by nature and became a great solace to her when her husband was absent on pleasure or business and when he came home he looked pleased to see how the two had won each other s hearts sir would kiss his wife and his wife would kiss little and little would kiss sir and after this burst of affection lady would say dear me i forget she is not mine what does it matter her husband would reply providence is fore knowing he has sent us this one because he is not intending to send us one by any other channel their life was of the simplest since his travels the had taken to sporting and farming while was a pattern of their pleasures were all local they retired early to rest and rose with the cart horses and whistling they knew the a group of noble names of every bird and tree not uncommon and could the weather almost as well as anxious farmers and old people with one day sir received a letter which he read and laid down on the table without remark what is it dearest	45
asked his wife glancing at the sheet oh it is from an old lawyer at bath whom i used to know he reminds me of something i said to him four or five years ago some little time before we were married about what about her it was a casual remark i made to him when i thought you might not take kindly to her that if he knew a lady who was anxious to adopt a child and could a good home to he was to let me know but that was when you had nobody to take care of her she said quickly how absurd of him to write now does he know you are married he must surely he handed her the letter the stated that a widow lady of position who did not at present wish her name to be disclosed had lately become a of his while taking the waters and had mentioned to him that she would like a little girl to bring up as her own if she could be certain of finding one of good and pleasing disposition and the better to this she would not wish the child to be too young for judging her qualities he had remembered sir s observation m al a group of noble to him a long while ago and therefore brought the matter before him it would be an excellent home for the little girl of that he was positive if she had not already found such a home but it is absurd of the man to write so long after said lady with a about the back of her throat as she thought how much had become to her i suppose it was when you first found her that you told him this exactly it was then he fell into thought and neither sir nor lady took the trouble to answer the lawyer s letter and so the matter ended for the time one day at dinner on their return from a short absence in town whither they had gone to see what the world was doing hear what it was saying and to make themselves generally fashionable after for so long on this occasion i say they learnt from some friend who had joined them at dinner that hall the house of the estate next their own which had been offered on lease by reason of the of its owner had been taken for a term by a widow lady an italian whose name i will not mention for certain reasons which may by and by appear lady expressed her surprise and interest at the probability of having such a neighbour though if i had been born in italy i think i should have liked to remain there she said she is not italian though her husband was said sir oh you have heard about her before now yes they were talking of her at grey s the other a group of noble evening she is english and then as her husband said no more about the lady the friend who was dining with them told lady that the s father had largely in east india stock in which immense fortunes were being made at that time through this his daughter had found herself wealthy at his death which had occurred only a few weeks after the death of her husband it was supposed that the marriage of an english s daughter to a poor foreign nobleman had been matter of arrangement merely as soon as the s was a little further advanced she would no doubt be the mark of all the who came near her for she was still quite young but at present she seemed to desire quiet and avoided society and town some weeks after this time sir sat looking at his lady for many moments he said it might have been better for if th had taken her she is so wealthy in comparison with ourselves and could have ushered the girl into the great world more effectually than we ever shall be able to do the take said lady with a start what was she the lady who wished to adopt her yes she was staying at bath when lawyer wrote to me but how do you know all this he showed a little hesitation h i ve seen her he says you know she drives to the meet sometimes though she does not ride and she has informed me that she was the lady who inquired of a group of noble you have talked to her as well as seen her then oh yes several times everybody has why didn t you tell me says his lady i had quite forgotten to call upon her i ll go to morrow or soon but i can t think how you can say that it might have been better for to have gone to her she is so much our own now that i cannot admit any such conjectures as those even in jest her eyes reproached him so that sir did not answer lady did not hunt any more than the italian did indeed she had become so absorbed in household matters and in s that she had no mind to waste a minute on mere as she had said to talk coolly of what might have been the best destination in days past for a child to whom they had become so attached seemed quite barbarous and she could not understand how her husband should consider the point so for as will probably have been guessed lady long before this time if she had not done so at the very beginning divined sir s true relation to but the s wife was so meek and mild that she never told him of her and took what heaven had sent her	45
without her generosity in this respect having been rewarded by the new life she found in her love for the little girl her husband to the same uncomfortable subject when a few days later they were speaking of travelling abroad he said that it was almost a pity if they thought of going that they had not fallen in with the s wish that lady had told him that she a group of noble had met walking with her nurse and that she had never seen a child she liked so well what she her still how impertinent of the woman said lady she seems to do so you see dearest the advantage to would have been that the would have adopted her and have made her as her own daughter while we have not done that we are only bringing up and a poor child in charity but i ll adopt her fully make her mine cried his wife in an anxious voice how is it to be done h m he did not inform her but fell into thought and for reasons of her own his lady was restless and uneasy the very next day lady drove to hall to pay the neglected call upon her neighbour the was at home and received her graciously but poor lady s heart died within her as soon as she set eyes on her new acquaintance such wonderful beauty of the fully developed kind had never confronted her before inside the lines of a human face she seemed to shine with every light and grace that woman can possess her finished continental manners her expanded mind her ready wit composed a study that made the other poor lady sick for she and sir himself were rather rural in manners and she felt abashed by new sounds and ideas from without she hardly knew three words in any language but her own while this divine creature though truly english had apparently whatever she wanted in the italian and french tongues to suit every impression which was considered a group of noble a great improvement to speech in those days and indeed is by many considered as such in these how very strange it was about the little girl the said to i in her gay tones i mean that the child the lawyer recommended should just before then have been adopted by you who are now my neighbour how is she getting on i must come and see her do you still want her asks lady suspiciously oh i should like to have her but you can t she s mine said the other a drooping manner appeared in the from that moment lady too was in a wretched mood all the way home that day the was so charming in every way that she had charmed her gentle how should it be possible that she had failed to charm sir moreover she had awakened a strange thought in s mind as soon as she reached home she rushed to the nursery and there seizing kissed her then holding her at arm s length she gazed with a piercing into the girl s she sighed deeply abandoned the wondering and hastened away she had seen there not only her husband s traits which she had often beheld before but others of the shade shape and expression which those of her new neighbour then this poor lady perceived the whole of things and asked herself how she could have been such a walking piece of simplicity as not to have a group of noble thought this before but she did not stay long herself for her so overwhelmed was she with misery at the spectacle of herself as an intruder between these to be sure she could not have foreseen such a but that did not lessen her grief the woman who had been both her husband s bliss and his had reappeared free when he was no longer so and she evidently was dying to claim her own in the person of who had meanwhile grown to be to lady almost the only source of each day s happiness supplying her with something to watch over inspiring her with the sense of and so largely reflecting her husband s nature as almost to deceive her into the pleasant belief that she reflected her own also if there was a single direction in which this devoted and virtuous lady it was in the direction of when all is said and done and the truth told men seldom show much self sacrifice in their conduct as lords and masters to helpless women bound to them for life and perhaps though i say it with all uncertainty if she had blazed up in his face like a directly he came home she might have helped herself a little but god knows whether this is a true supposition at any rate she did no such thing and waited and prayed that she might never do despite to him who she was bound to admit had been tender and courteous towards her and hoped that little might never be taken away by degrees the two became friendly and very seldom did a week pass without their seeing something of each other try as she might and dangerous a group of noble as she assumed the to be lady could detect no fault or flaw in her new friend it was obvious that had been the which had drawn the hither and not sir such beauty united with such understanding and brightness had never before known in one of her own sex and she tried to think whether she succeeded i do not know that she did not mind the since a woman so rich so fair and with such a command of could not desire to wreck the happiness of so in offensive a person	45
as herself the season drew on when it was the custom for families of distinction to go off to the bath and sir persuaded his wife to accompany him thither with everybody of any note was there this year from their own part of england came many that they knew among the rest lord and lady the earl and of sir john the lady the old duke of the bishop of the dean of and other lesser lights of court pulpit and field thither also came the fair whom as soon as saw how much she was sought after by younger men she could not suspect of renewed designs upon sir but the had finer opportunities than ever with for lady was often and even at other times could not honestly hinder an intercourse which gave bright ideas to the child welcomed her new acquaintance with a strange and instinctive readiness that intimated the wonderful of the threads which bind flesh and flesh together a group of noble at last the crisis came it was by an accident and her nurse had gone out one day for an leaving lady alone indoors while she sat gloomily thinking that in all the would contrive to meet the child somewhere and exchange a few tender words with her sir rushed in and informed her that had just had the possible escape from death some workmen were a house to pull it down for when without warning the front wall inclined slowly for its fall the nurse and child passing beneath it at the same moment the fall was temporarily arrested by the while in the meantime the had witnessed their imminent danger from the other side of the street springing across she snatched from under the wall and pulled the nurse after her the middle of the way being barely reached before they were enveloped in the dense dust of the descending mass though not a stone touched them where is says the excited lady she has her she won t let her go for a time has her but she s mine she s mine cries lady then her quick and tender eyes perceived that her husband had almost forgotten her existence in contemplating the of s the s and his own he was in a dream of exaltation which recognized nothing necessary to his well being outside that circle of three lives was at length brought home she was much by the and saw nothing tragic but a group of noble rather all that was truly delightful in what had happened in the evening when the excitement was over and was put to bed sir said she has saved and i have been asking myself what i can do for her as a slight acknowledgment of her heroism surely we ought to let her have to bring up since she still desires to do it it would be so much to s advantage we ought to look at it in that light and not seized his hand you don t mean it that i must lose my pretty darling the only one i have she met his gaze with her piteous mouth and wet eyes so painfully strained that he turned away his face the next morning before thy was awake lady stole to the girl s bedside and sat regarding her when opened her eyes she fixed them for a long time upon s features mamma you are not so pretty as the are you she said at length i am not why are you not mamma where would you rather live always with ine or with her the little girl looked troubled i am sorry mamma i don t mean to be unkind but i would rather live with her i mean if i might without trouble and you did not mind and it could be just the same to us all you know has she ever asked you the same question never mamma there lay the sting of it the seemed the soul of honour and in this matter test her as she a group of noble might that afternoon lady went to her husband with singular firmness upon her gentle face we have been married nearly five years and i have never you with what i know perfectly well the of never have you dear though i have seen that you knew from the first from the first as to her father not as to her mother her i did not know for some time but i know now ah you have discovered that too says he without much surprise could i help it very well that being so i have thought it over and i have spoken to i agree to her going i can do no less than grant to the her wish after her kindness to my your her child then this self sacrificing woman went hastily away that he might not see that her heart was bursting and thereupon before they left the city changed her mother and her home after this the went away to london for a while taking with her and the and his wife returned to their lonely place at park without her to in the bustle of bath was a different thing from living without her in this quiet home one evening sir missed his wife from the her manner had been so pensive and of late that he immediately became alarmed he said nothing but looked about outside the house narrowly and discerned her form in the park where recently she had been accustomed to walk alone in its lower there was a pool fed by a brook and he reached this spot in time to hear a splash running forward he l a group of noble dimly perceived her light gown floating in the water to pull her out was the work of a few	45
and bearing her indoors to her room he her nobody in the house knowing of the incident but himself she had not been long enough to lose her senses and soon recovered she owned that she had done it because the had taken away her child as she persisted in calling her husband spoke sternly to her and impressed upon her the weakness of giving way thus when all that had happened was for the best she took his reproof meekly and admitted her fault after that she became more resigned but he often caught her in tears over some doll shoe or ribbon of s and decided to take her to the north of england for change of air and scene this was not without its effect no less than mentally as later events showed but she still evinced a of ear at the most casual mention of the child when they reached home the and were still absent from the neighbouring hall but in a month or two they returned and a little later sir came into his wife s room full of news well would you think it after being so desperate too about getting to be with her what our neighbour the is going to be married again it is to somebody she has met in london lady was much surprised she had never of such an event the conflict for the possession of s person had obscured the possibility of it a group of noble yet what more likely the being still under thirty and so good looking what is of still more interest to us or to you continued her husband is a kind offer she has made she is willing that you should have back again seeing what a grief the loss of her has been to you she will try to do without her it is not for that it is not to oblige me said lady quickly one can see well enough what it is for well never mind beggars mustn t be the reason or motive is nothing to us so that you obtain your desire i am not a beggar any longer said lady with proud mystery what do you mean by that lady hesitated however it was only too plain that she did not now jump at a of one for whom some months before she had been breaking her heart the explanation of this change of mood became apparent some little time farther on lady after five years of wedded life was expecting to become a mother and the aspect of many things was greatly altered in her view among the more important changes was that of no longer feeling to be absolutely indispensable to her existence meanwhile in view ot her coming marriage the decided to abandon the remainder of her term at hall and return to her pretty little house in town but she could not do this quite so quickly as she had expected and half a year or more elapsed before she a group of noble finally quitted the neighbourhood the interval being passed in between the country and london prior to her last departure she had an interview with sir and it occurred three days after his wife had presented him with a son and heir i wanted to speak to you said the looking him in the face about the dear i have adopted temporarily and thought to have adopted permanently but my marriage makes it too i thought it might be that he answered regarding her back again and observing two tears come slowly into her eyes as she heard her own voice describe in those words don t me she said hastily and recovering herself went on if lady could take her back again as i suggested it would be better for me and certainly no worse for to every one but ourselves she is but a child i have taken a fancy to and lady her so much and was very reluctant to let her go i am sure she will adopt her again she added anxiously i will sound her afresh said the you leave behind for the present yes although i go away i do not give up the house for another month he did not speak to his wife about the proposal till some few days after when lady had nearly recovered and news of the s marriage in london had just reached them he had no sooner mentioned s name than lady showed symptoms of i have not acquired any dislike of she said a group of noble but i feel that there is one nearer to me now chose the alternative of going to the you must remember when i put it to her as between the and myself but my dear how can you argue thus about a child and that child our not ours said his wife pointing to the cot ours is here what then he said surprised you won t have her back after nearly dying of grief at the loss of her i cannot argue dear i should prefer not to have the responsibility of again her place is filled now her husband sighed and went out of the chamber there had been a previous arrangement that should be brought to the house on a visit that day but instead of taking her up to his wife he did not inform lady of the child s presence he entertained her himself as well as he could and accompanied her into the park where they had a together presently he sat down on the root of an elm and took her upon his knee between this husband and this baby little you who had two homes are left out in the cold he said can t i go to london with my pretty mamma said perceiving from his manner that there was a somewhere i am afraid not	45
my child she only took you to live with her because she was lonely you know then can t i stay at park with my other mamma and you a group of noble am afraid that cannot be done either said he sadly we have a baby in the house now he closed the reply by stooping down and kissing her there being a tear in his eye then nobody wants me said h yes somebody wants you he assured her e would you like to live besides s experiences being rather limited she mentioned the only other place in the world that she was acquainted with the cottage of the who had taken care of her before lady had removed her to the house yes that s where you ll be best off and most independent he answered and i ll come to see you my dear girl and bring you pretty things and perhaps you ll be just as happy there nevertheless when the change came and was handed over to the kind cottage woman the poor child missed the luxurious of hall and and for a long time her little feet which had been accustomed to carpets and oak floors suffered from the cold of the stone flags on which it was now her lot to live and to play while came upon her fingers with washing at the pump but thicker shoes with nails in them somewhat the cold feet and her complaints and tears on this and other scores diminished to silence as she became anew to the hardships of the farm cottage and she grew up robust if not handsome she was never altogether lost sight of by sir though she was deprived of the education which had been devised and begun for her by lady as well as by her other mamma the a group of noble the latter soon had other to think of who occupied her time and affection as fully as lady s were occupied by her precious boy in the course of time the doubly desired and married i believe a respectable the same if i mistake not who repaired and improved the old highway running from south through the new forest and in the heart of this worthy man of business the poor girl found the nest which had been denied her by her own flesh and blood of higher degree several of the listeners wished to hear another story from the sentimental member after this but he said that he could recall nothing else at the moment and that it seemed to him as if his friend on the other side of the fireplace had something to say from the look of his face the member alluded to was a respectable with a sly to one possibly the result of an accident and a regular attendant at the club meetings he replied that his looks had been mainly caused by his interest in the two ladies of the last story apparently women of strong instincts even though they were not in their tenderness the tale had brought to his mind an instance of a firmer affection of that sort on the paternal side in a nature otherwise as for telling the story his manner was much against him he feared but he would do his best if they wished here the president interposed with a suggestion that a group of noble as it was getting late in the afternoon it would be as well to to their respective and lodgings for dinner after which those who cared to do so could return and resume these curious domestic traditions for the remainder of the evening which might otherwise prove irksome enough the had told him that the room was at their service the who was beginning to feel hungry himself readily and the club separated for an hour and a half then the faithful ones began to drop in again among whom were not the president neither came the rural dean nor the two though the colonel and the man of family cigars in mouth were good enough to return having found their hotel dreary the museum had no regular means of illumination and a solitary candle less powerful than the rays of the fire was placed on the table also bottles and glasses provided by some thoughtful member the eyed now thoroughly proceeded to relate in his own terms what was in substance as follows while many of his listeners smoked dame the fifth the lad y y by the a group of noble dame the fifth the lady by a the i n the reign of his most excellent majesty king george the third of the faith and of the american colonies there lived in a place so called it in his day as i have been told in one o the bits of between and the city of a young lady who resembled some ones in having many talents and exceeding great beauty with these gifts she combined a somewhat imperious temper and arbitrary mind though her experience of the world was not actually so large as her manner would have led the stranger to suppose being an orphan she resided with her uncle who though he was fairly considerate as to her welfare left her pretty much to herself now it chanced that when this lovely young lady was about nineteen she being a fearless was riding with only a young lad as an attendant in one o the woods near her uncle s house and in trotting along her horse stumbled over the root of a tree she slipped to the ground not seriously hurt and was assisted a group of noble home by a gentleman who came in view at the moment of her it turned out that this gentleman a total stranger to her was on a visit at the house of a neighbouring he	45
was of dutch and occasionally came to england on business or pleasure from his in on the north coast of south america where he usually resided on this account he was naturally but little known in and was but a slight acquaintance of the gentleman at whose mansion he was a guest however the friendship between him and the as the uncle and niece were named warmed and warmed by degrees there being but few folk o note in the vicinity at that time which made a if he were at all and of good credit always sure of a welcome a tender feeling as it is called by the romantic sprang up between the two young people which into intimacy the foreign gentleman was of an temperament and though he endeavoured to conceal his feeling it could be seen that miss maria had impressed him rather more deeply than would be represented by a scratch upon a stone he seemed absolutely unable to free himself from her fascination and his inability to do so much as he tried evidently thinking he had not the ghost of a chance with her gave her the pleasure of power though she more than when she overheard him heaving his sighs privately to himself as he supposed after his visit by every conceivable excuse in his power he summoned courage and offered her his hand and his heart being in no way to him though not so as he and her uncle making a group of noble no objection to the match she consented to share his fate for better or otherwise in the distant colony where as he assured her his rice and coffee and and timber produced him ample means a statement which was borne out by his friend her uncle s neighbour in short a day for their marriage was fixed earlier in the engagement than is usual or desirable between comparative strangers by reason of the necessity he was under of returning to look after his properties the wedding took place and maria left her uncle s mansion with her husband going in the first place to london and about a fortnight after sailing with him across the great ocean for their distant home which however he assured her should not be her home for long it being his intention to dispose of his interests in this part of the world as soon as the war was over and he could do so when they could come to europe and reside in some favourite capital as they advanced on the voyage she observed that he grew more and more constrained and by the time they had crossed the line he was quite depressed just as he had been before proposing to her a day or two before landing at he embraced her in a very tearful and passionate manner and said he wished to make a confession it had been his misfortune he said to marry at in early life a woman whose reputation proved to be in every way bad and scandalous the discovery had nearly killed him but he had ultimately separated from her and had never seen her since he had hoped and prayed she might be dead but recently in london when they were starting on this journey he had discovered that she was a group of noble still alive at first he had decided to keep this dark intelligence from her beloved ears but he had felt that he could not do it all he hoped was that such a condition of things would make no difference in her feelings for him as it need make no difference in the course of their lives thereupon the spirit of this proud and lady itself in violent turmoil like the raging of a nor west as well it might god knows but she was of too stout a nature to be broken down by his revelation as many ladies of my acquaintance would have been so far from home and right under the line in the blaze o the sun of the two indeed he was the more wretched and shattered in spirit for he loved her deeply and there being a foreign twist in his make had been tempted to this crime by her exceeding beauty against which he had struggled day and night till he had no further resistance left in him it was she who came first to a decision as to what should be done whether a wise one i do not attempt to judge i put it to you says she when many useless and on his part had been uttered i put it to you whether if any is left in you you ought not to do exactly what i consider the best thing for me in this strait to which you have reduced me he promised to do anything in the whole world she then requested him to allow her to return and announce him as having died of malignant immediately on their arrival at that she should consequently appear in weeds as his widow in her native place and that he would never her or come a group of noble again to that part of the world during the whole course of his life a good reason for which would be that the legal consequences might be serious he readily in this as he would have in anything for the of one he adored so deeply even to the yielding of life itself to put her in an immediate state of independence he gave her in bonds and jewels a considerable sum for his worldly means had been in no way exaggerated and by the next ship she sailed again for england having travelled no farther than to at parting he declared it to be his intention to turn all his landed possessions into	45
ample opportunity during the following autumn and winter months her husband being a fact nobleman who spent the greater part of his time in field sports and one winter day when he had started for a meet of the hounds a long way from the house it being his to hunt three or four times a week at this season of the year she had walked into the sunshine upon the terrace before the windows where there fell at her feet a group of noble some little white object that had come over a boundary wall hard by it proved to be a tiny note wrapped round a stone lady opened it and read it and immediately no doubt with a stern of her countenance walked hastily along the terrace and through the door into the whence the note had come the man who had first married her stood under the bushes before her it was plain from his appearance that something had gone wrong with him you notice a change in me my best beloved he said yes maria i have lost all the wealth i once possessed mainly by reckless gambling in the continental to which you banished me but one thing in the world remains to me the child and it is for him that i have here don t fear me darling i shall not inconvenience you long i love you too well but i think of the boy day and night i cannot help it i cannot keep my feeling for him down and i long to see him and speak a word to him once in my lifetime i but your oath says she you promised never to reveal by word or sign i will reveal nothing only let me see the child i know what i have sworn to you cruel mistress and i respect my oath otherwise i might have seen him by some but i preferred the frank course of asking your permission she with the haughty severity which had grown part of her character and which her elevation to the rank of a had rather than diminished she said that she would consider and would give him an answer the day after the next at the same a group of noble hour and place when her husband would again be absent with his pack of hounds the gentleman waited patiently lady who had now no conscious love left for him well considered the matter and felt that it would be advisable not to push to extremes a man of so passionate a heart on the day and hour she met him as she had promised to do you shall see him she said of course on the strict condition that you do not reveal yourself and hence though you see him he must not see you or your manner might betray you and me i will lull him into a nap in the afternoon and then i will come to you here and fetch you indoors by a private way the unfortunate father whose had upon his own head in a way he could not have foreseen promised to to her instructions and waited in the till the moment when she should call him this she duly did about three o clock that day leading him in by a garden door and upstairs to the nursery where the child lay he was in his little cot breathing calmly his arm thrown over his head and his silken curls crushed into the pillow his father now almost to be pitied bent over him and a tear from his eye the she held up a warning finger as he lowered his mouth to the lips of the boy but oh why not implored he very well then said she but as gently as possible he kissed the child without waking him turned gave him a last look and followed her out of the chamber a group of noble when she conducted him off the premises by the way he had come but this remedy for his sadness of heart at being a stranger to his own son had the effect of the malady for while originally not knowing or having ever seen the boy he had loved him vaguely and only he now became attached to him in flesh and bone as any parent might and the feeling that he could at best only see his child at the and most moments if at all drove him into a state of distraction which threatened to overthrow his promise to the boy s mother to keep out of his sight but such was his respect for lady and his regret at having ever deceived her that he his poor heart into submission owing to his loneliness all the of which he was capable and that was much flowed now in the channel of parental and love for a child who did not know him and a woman who had ceased to love him at length this singular punishment became such a torture to the poor foreigner that he resolved to lessen it at all with care for the name of the lady his former wife to whom bis attachment seemed to increase in proportion to her treatment of him at one time of his life he had taken great interest in culture as well as in general and since the ruin of his fortunes and his arrival in england he had made of his knowledge a precarious income in the hot houses of and others with the new idea in his head he applied himself to the business till he acquired in a few months great skill in waiting till the noble i s a group of noble lord his lady s husband had room for an under of a general sort he offered himself for the place and was engaged immediately	45
by reason of his civility and intelligence before lady knew anything of the matter much therefore did he surprise her when she found him in the of her mansion a week or two after his arrival the punishment of instant dismissal with which at first she threatened him my lady thought fit on reflection not to enforce while he served her thus she knew he would not harm her by a word while if he were might induce him to reveal in a moment of what kind treatment would assist him to conceal so he was allowed to remain on the premises and had for his residence a little cottage by the garden wall which had been the of some of his in the same occupation here he lived absolutely alone and spent much of his leisure in reading but the greater part in watching the windows and of his lad s house for glimpses of the form of the child it was for that child s sake that he abandoned the of the roman catholic church in which he had been reared and became the most regular attendant at the services in the parish place of worship hard by where sitting behind the of my lady my lord and his the gardener could study the traits and movements of the at only a few feet distance without suspicion or he filled his post for more than two years with a pleasure to himself which though mournful was soothing his lady never him or allowing him to be anything more than the gardener to her child though a group of noble once or twice the boy said that gardener s eyes are so sad why does he look so sadly at me he himself in her as if it were love and his ears drank in her as though they were of strangely enough the coldness with which she treated her foreigner began to be the conduct of lord towards herself it was a matter of great anxiety to him that there should be a successor to the title yet no sign of that successor appeared one day he complained to her quite roughly of his fate all will go to that of a cousin he cried td sooner see my name and place at the bottom of the sea the lady soothed him and fell into thought and did not but one day soon after she went down to the cottage of the gardener to inquire how he was getting on for he had been of late though as was supposed not seriously though she often visited the poor she had never entered her under gardener s home before and was much surprised even grieved and dismayed to find that he was too ill to rise from his bed she went back to her mansion and returned with some delicate soup that she might have a reason for seeing him his condition was so feeble and alarming and his face so thin that it quite shocked her softening heart and gazing upon him she said you must get well you must i have been hard with you i know it i will not be so again the sick and dying for he was dying indeed took her hand and pressed it to his lips too late my darling too late he murmured a group of noble but you must not die i oh you must not she said and on an impulse she bent down and whispered some words to him blushing as she had blushed in her maiden days he replied by a faint wan smile time was but that s past he said i must die and die he did a few days later as the sun was going down behind the garden wall her seemed to come home to her then and she exclaimed against herself in secret and alone her one desire now was to erect some tribute to his memory without its being recognized as her in the completion of this scheme there arrived a few months later a handsome stained glass window for the church and when it was and in course of lord strolled into the building with his wife erected to his memory by his widow he said reading the legend on the glass i didn t know that he had a wife ive never seen her oh yes you must have only you forget replied his lady but she didn t live with him and was seldom seen visiting him because there were differences between them which as is usually the case makes her all the more sorry now and go herself by this expensive glass design she is not poor they say as lord grew older he became and and whenever he set eyes on his wife s boy by her other husband he would burst out saying tis a very odd thing my lady that you could oblige your first husband and couldn t oblige me a group of noble ah if i had only thought of it sooner she murmured what said he nothing dearest lady the colonel was the first to comment upon the s tale by saying that the fate of the poor fellow was rather a hard one the gentleman could not see that his fate was at all too hard for him he was nothing to her and he had served her if he had been really her husband it would have stood differently the remarked that lord seemed to have been a very man with which view a fat member with a crimson face agreed it was true his wife was a very close mouthed personage which made a difference if she had spoken out her lord might have been suspicious enough as in the case of that lady who lived at park in their time though there to be sure considerations arose which made her husband	45
view matters with much philosophy a few of the members doubted the possibility of this the crimson man who was a retired of comfortable means and short in stature cleared his throat blew off his superfluous breath and proceeded to give the instance before alluded to of such possibility first for his heroine s lack of a title it never having been his good fortune to know many of the nobility to his style of narrative the following is only an dame the sixth squire lad by the crimson a group of noble dame the sixth squire s lady by the crimson t who are at all acquainted with the traditions of park will not need to be told that in the middle of the last century it was owned by that of whose skill in gaining possession of fair estates by sums of money on their title deeds has seldom if ever been equalled in our part of england was a lawyer by profession and agent to several by which means his special line of business became opened to him by a sort of revelation it is said that a relative of his a very deep who afterwards had the misfortune to be transported for life for mistaken notions on the of a will taught him considerable legal lore which he resolved never to throw away for the benefit of other people but to reserve it entirely for his own however i have nothing in particular to say about his early and active days but rather of the time when an old man he had become the owner of vast estates by the means i have signified among them the great a group of noble of on which he lived in the splendid old mansion now pulled down likewise estates at estates near nearly all the of and many properties near indeed i can t call to mind half his landed possessions and i don t know that it matters much at this time of day seeing that he s been dead and gone many years it is said that when he bought an estate he would not decide to pay the price till he had walked over every single acre with his own two feet and the soil at every point with his own to test its quality which if we regard the extent of his properties must have been a stiff business for him at the time i am speaking of he was a man over eighty and his son was dead but he had two the eldest of whom his was married and was shortly expecting issue just then the grandfather was taken ill for death as it seemed considering his age by his will the old man had created an as i believe the lawyers call it the whole of the estates to his elder and his issue male failing which to his younger and his issue male failing which to relatives who need not be mentioned now while old was lying ill his elder s wife gave birth to her expected child who as fortune would have it was a son her husband through sprung of a family was no great himself he was the single one of the then living whose heart had ever been greatly moved by sentiments which did not run in the of ambition and on this account he had not married well as the saying is his wife having been a group of noble the daughter of a family of no better than his own that is to say her father was a country of the professional class but she was a very pretty woman by all accounts and her husband had seen and married her in a high tide of after a very short acquaintance and with very little knowledge of her heart s history he had never found reason to regret his choice as yet and his anxiety for her recovery was great she was supposed to be out of danger and herself and the child well when there was a change for the worse and she sank so rapidly that she was soon given over when she felt that she was about to leave him sent for her husband and on his speedy entry and assurance that they were alone she made him solemnly vow to give the child every care in any circumstances that might arise if it should please heaven to take her this of course he readily promised then after some hesitation she told him that she could not die with a falsehood upon her soul and dire deceit in her life she must make a terrible confession to him before her lips were sealed for ever she thereupon related an incident concerning the baby s which was not as he supposed though a quick feeling man was not of a sort to show nerves outwardly and he bore himself as as he possibly could do in this trying moment of his life that same night his wife died and while she lay dead and before her funeral he hastened to the bedside of his sick grandfather and revealed to him all that had happened the baby s birth his wife s confession and her death the aged i a group of noble man as he loved him to himself now at the hour and alter his will so as to dish the intruder old seeing matters in the same light as his required no urging against allowing anything to stand in the way of legitimate inheritance he executed another will the to his for life and his male thereafter to be bom after them to his other edward and edward s thus the newly born infant who had been the centre of so many hopes was cut off and scorned as none of the elect the old lived but a short time after this the excitement of the discovery having told	45
upon him considerably and he was gathered to his fathers like the most charitable man in his neighbourhood both wife and being buried settled down to his usual life as well as he was able mentally satisfied that he had by prompt action defeated the consequences of such dire domestic treachery as had been shown towards him and to marry a second time as soon as he could satisfy himself in the choice of a wife but men do not always know themselves the state of s mind bred in him by degrees such a hatred and of that though several specimens of high came under his eyes he could not bring himself to the point of proposing he dreaded to take up the position of husband a second time a trap in every and a of in possible what has happened once when all seemed so fair may happen again he said to himself i ll risk my name no more so he from a group of noble marriage and overcame his wish for a to follow him in the of had scarcely noticed the unfortunate child that his wife had borne after arranging for a meagre fulfilment of his promise to her to take care of the boy by having him brought up in his house occasionally remembering this promise he went and glanced at the child saw that he was doing well gave a few special directions and again went his solitary way thus he and the child lived on in the mansion house till two or three years had passed by one day he was walking in the garden and by some accident left his snuff box on a bench when he came back to find it he saw the little boy standing there he had escaped his nurse and was making a of the box in spite of the which the game brought in its train then the man with the heart became interested in the little fellow s in his play under such he looked in the child s face saw there his wife s countenance though he did not see his own and fell into thought on the of childhood particularly of despised and rejected childhood like this before him from that hour try as he would to the feeling the human necessity to love something or other got the better of what he had called his wisdom and shaped itself in a tender anxiety for the this name had been given him by his dying mother when at her request the child was in her chamber lest he should not survive for public and her husband had never thought of it as a name of any significance till about this time he learnt by accident n a group of noble that it was the name of the young of son of the duke of for whom had cherished warm before her marriage some wandering phrases in his wife s last words which he had not understood at the time he perceived at last that this was the person to whom she had alluded when affording him a clue to little s history he would sit in silence for hours with the child being no great speaker at the best of times but the boy on his part was too ready with his tongue for any break in discourse to arise because had nothing to say after away his mornings in this manner would go to his own room and swear in long loud whispers and walk up and down calling himself the most ridiculous that ever lived and declaring that he would never go near the little fellow again to which resolve he would for the space perhaps of a day such cases are happily not new to human nature but there never was a case in which a man more completely his former self than in this as the child grew up s attachment to him grew deeper till became almost the sole object for which he lived there had been of the family ambition latent in him for to feel a little envy when some time before this date his brother edward had been accepted by the honourable daughter of the second of that name and title but having discovered as i have before stated the of his boy to in even a higher of society those envious feelings speedily dispersed indeed the more he reflected a group of noble after his brother s aristocratic marriage the more content did he become his late wife took softer outline in his memory as he thought of the lofty taste she had displayed though only a plain s daughter and the justification for his weakness in loving the child the justification that he had longed for was afforded now in the knowledge that the boy was by nature if not by name a representative of one of the noblest houses in england she was a woman of grand instincts after all he said to himself proudly to fix her choice upon the immediate successor in that line it was finely conceived had he been of low blood like myself or my relations she would scarce have deserved the harsh measure that i have dealt out to her and her offspring how much less then when such tastes were farthest from her soul the man loved was noble and my boy is noble in spite of me the was inevitable and it soon came so far he reasoned from cutting off this child from inheritance of my estates as i have done i should have rejoiced in the possession of him he is of pure stock on one side at least whilst in the ordinary run of affairs he would have been a to the bone being a man whatever his faults of good old in the divinity of kings and those about em the more he the case	45
in this light the more strongly did his poor wife s conduct in improving the blood and breed of the family win his heart he considered what ugly idle hard drinking many of his own relations had been the miserable and that he had numbered among a group of noble his forefathers and the probability that some of bad qualities would have come out in a merely child to give him sorrow in his old age turn his black hairs gray his gray hairs white cut down every stick of timber and heaven knows what all had he not like a skilful gardener minded his and changed the sort till at length this right minded man fell down on his knees every night and morning and thanked god that he was not as other descended fathers in such matters it was in the peculiar disposition of the family that the satisfaction which ultimately settled in s breast found nourishment the had adored the nobility and plucked them at the same time that excellent man s feelings about fish were much akin to those of old and of his descendants in a lesser degree concerning the landed aristocracy to torture and to love simultaneously is a proceeding strange to reason but possible to practice as these instances show hence when s brother edward said one day that s son was well enough but that he had nothing but shops and offices in his backward perspective while his own children should he have any would be far different in possessing such a mother as the honourable felt a bound of triumph within him at the power he possessed of that statement if he chose so much was he interested in his boy in this new aspect that he now began to read up of the illustrious house as the of from their very beginning in the glories of the a group of noble restoration of the blessed charles till the year of his own time he mentally noted their gifts from of lands purchases and buildings more particularly their political and military achievements which had been great and their performances in art and letters which had been by no means contemptible he studied prints of the portraits of that family and then like a watching a began to examine young s face for the of those historic curves and shades that the painters and had on canvas when the boy reached the most fascinating age of childhood and his shouts of laughter ran through house from end to end the remorse that oppressed knew no bounds of all people in the world this was the one on whom he could have wished the estates to yet by s own desperate at the time of his birth had been from all inheritance of them and since he did not mean to the would pass to his brother and his brother s children who would be nothing to him whose boasted on one side would be nothing to his s had he only left the first will of his grandfather alone his mind ran on the wills continually both of which were in existence and the first the one in his own possession night after night when the servants were all and the click of safety locks sounded as loud as a crash he looked at that first will and wished it had been the second and not the first the crisis came at last one night after having i i a group of noble enjoyed the boy s company for hours he could no longer bear that his beloved should be and he committed the deed of the date of the earlier will to a fortnight later which made its execution appear subsequent to the date of the second will already proved he then boldly the first will as the second his brother edward submitted to what appeared to be not only fact but a far more likely disposition of old s property for like many others he had been much surprised at the defined in the other will having no clue to their cause he joined his brother in setting aside the hitherto accepted document and matters went on in their usual course there being no dispositions in the will from those in the other except such as related to a future which had not yet arrived the years moved on had not yet revealed the anxiously expected historic which should the abilities of the family when it happened on a certain day that made the acquaintance of a well known physician of who had been the medical adviser and friend of the late mrs s family for many years though after s marriage and consequent removal to he had seen no more of her the neighbouring who attended the having then become her doctor as a matter of course was impressed by the insight and knowledge disclosed in the conversation of the physician and the acquaintance to intimacy the physician alluded to a form of to which s a group of noble and grandmother had been subject that of believing in certain dreams as realities he delicately inquired if had ever noticed anything of the sort in his wife during her he the physician had fancied that he discerned of the same peculiarity in when he attended her in her one explanation another till the was persuaded in his own mind that s confession to him had been based on a delusion you look down in the mouth said the doctor pausing a bit tis unexpected like sighed but he could hardly believe it possible and thinking it best to be frank with the doctor told him the whole story which till now he had never related to living man save his dying grandfather to his surprise the physician informed him that such a form of delusion was precisely what he would have expected from s at such a physical	45
crisis in her life his inquiries elsewhere and the of his labours was briefly that a comparison of dates and places showed that his poor wife s assertion could not possibly have foundation in fact the young of her tender passion a highly moral and bright minded nobleman had gone abroad the year before s marriage and had not returned till after her death the young girl s love for him had been a delicate ideal dream no more went home and the boy ran out to meet him whereupon a strangely dismal feeling of a group of noble tent took possession of his soul after all then there was nothing but blood in the veins of the heir to his name and estates he was not to be succeeded by a noble natured line to be sure was his son but that glory and he believed him to have inherited from the ages that of his brother s children had departed from s brow for ever he could no longer read history in the boy s face and centuries of in his eyes his manner towards his son grew colder and colder from that day forward and it was with bitterness of heart that he discerned the characteristic features of the themselves by degrees instead of the elegant knife edged so typical of the of there began to appear on his face the broad and hollow bridge of his grandfather no illustrious line of was promised a in that blue eye for it was acquiring the expression of the of a particularly objectionable cousin of his own and instead of the mouth curves which had thrilled in speeches now bound in calf in every well ordered library there was the bull lip of that very uncle of his who had had the misfortune with the signature of a gentleman s will and had been transported for life in consequence to think how he himself too had in this same matter of a will for this mere of a wretched old uncle whose very name he wished to forget the boy s christian name even was an and an irony for it implied hereditary force and brilliancy to which he plainly would never attain the consolation of real was always left him a group of noble but he could not help groaning to himself why cannot a son be one s own and somebody else s likewise the was shortly afterwards in the neighbourhood of and met him and eyed his noble countenance the next day when was in his study somebody knocked at the door who s there i ll thee you young say only a poor commonplace his father why didn t you have a voice like the s i saw yesterday he continued as the lad came in why haven t you his looks and a way of commanding as if you d done it for hey why how can you expect it father when i m not related to him then you ought to be growled his father as the paused the surgeon the colonel the historian the spark and others exclaimed that such subtle and instructive studies as this now that was so much in demand were precisely the tales they desired as members of a scientific club and begged the master to tell another curious mental delusion the shook his head and feared he was not genteel enough to tell another story with a sufficiently moral tone in it to suit the club he would prefer to leave the next to a better man the colonel had fallen into reflection true it was be observed that the more dreamy and impulsive nature i s a group of noble of woman within her fancies which often started her on strange tracks only to abandon them in sharp at the of her common sense sometimes with ludicrous effect events which had caused a lady s action to set in a particular direction might continue to enforce the same line of conduct while she like a would start on a sudden in a contrary course and end where she began the vice president laughed and applauded the colonel adding that there surely a story somewhere behind that sentiment if he were not much mistaken the colonel fixed his face to a good narrative pose and went on without further dame the seventh lady by the colonel a group of noble dame the seventh lady by the colonel it was in the time of the great civil war if i should not rather as a loyal subject call it with the great rebellion tt was i say at that unhappy period of our history that towards the autumn of a particular year the parliament forces sat down before castle with over seven thousand foot and four pieces of cannon the castle as we all know was in that century owned and occupied by one of the of and for his assistance by a certain noble who commanded the king s troops in these parts the said earl as well as the young ix rd his eldest son were away from home just now raising forces for the king elsewhere but there were present in the castle when the arrived before it the son s fair wife lady and her servants together with some friends and near relatives of her husband and the defence was so good and well considered that they anticipated no great danger the forces were also commanded by a group of noble a noble lord for the nobility were by no means at this stage of the war all on the king s side and it had been observed during his approach in the night time and in the morning when the took place that he appeared sad and much depressed the truth was that by a strange of destiny it had come to pass that the	45
likewise only matter of conjecture though there is no reason to suppose that his rage was great the extent of his as regards the was this much that while halting at a cross road near that day he had with a pretty young woman who seemed nothing loth and had invited her to the castle terrace after dark an invitation which he quite forgot on his arrival home the subsequent relations of lord and lady were not again greatly by quarrels so far as is known though the husband s conduct in later life was occasionally eccentric and the of his public career in long exile the siege of the castle was not regularly undertaken till two or three years later than the time i have been describing when lady and all the women therein except the wife of the then governor had been removed to safe distance that memorable siege of fifteen days by and the surrender of the old place on an august evening is matter of history and need not be told by me the man of family spoke across to the colonel when the club had done smiling declaring that the story was an absolutely faithful page of history as he had good reason to know his own people having been engaged in that well known he asked if the colonel had ever heard the equally well a group of noble though less martial tale of a certain lady who lived in the same century and not a score of miles from the same place the colonel had not heard it nor had anybody except the local historian and the was induced to proceed forthwith dame the eighth the lady by the man of family a group of noble dame the eighth the lady by the man of family in going out of by the low lying road which eventually to the town of you see on the right hand an house by towers and more than usually distinguished by the size of its many windows though still of good capacity the building is much reduced from its original grand proportions it has moreover been of the fair estate which once to its lord with the exception of a few acres of park land immediately around the mansion this was formerly the seat of the ancient and family of the or now extinct in the male line whose name according to the local was interpreted to mean miles though certain members of the family were averse to the latter and a was fought by one of them on that account as is well known with this however we are not now concerned in the early part of the reign of the first king james i a group of noble there was visiting near this place of the a lady of noble family and extraordinary beauty she was of the purest descent ah there s seldom such blood nowadays as hers she possessed no great wealth it was said but was sufficiently endowed her beauty was so perfect and her manner so that seemed to spring out of the ground wherever she went a sufficient cause of anxiety to the her mother her only living parent of these there were three in particular whom neither her mother s complaints of nor the ready of the maiden herself could effectually put off the said were a certain sir john gale a sir william and the well known sir george one of the family before mentioned they had curiously enough all been equally honoured with the distinction of and their schemes for seeing her were manifold each fearing that one of the others would steal a march over himself not content with calling on every imaginable excuse at the house of the relative with whom she they her in rides and in walks and if any one of them chanced to surprise another in the act of paying her marked attentions the encounter often ended in an of great violence so heated and impassioned indeed would they become that the lady hardly felt herself safe in their company at such times notwithstanding that she was a brave and not easily put out and with a daring spirit of humour in her composition if not of at one of these which had place in her relative s grounds and was unusually bitter threatening a group of noble to result in a she found it necessary to assert herself turning upon the pair of she declared that whichever should be the first to break the peace between them no matter what the provocation that man should never be admitted to her presence again and thus would she effectually the by making the promotion of a quarrel a distinct bar to its object while the two knights were wearing rather a appearance at her the third never far off came upon the scene and she repeated her to him also seeing then how great was the concern of all at her mood the lady s manner softened and she said with a smile have patience have patience you foolish men only bide your time quietly and in faith i will marry you all in turn they laughed heartily at this sally all three together as though they were the best of friends at which she blushed and showed some embarrassment not having realized that her arch jest would have sounded so strange when uttered the meeting which resulted thus however had its good effect in checking the bitterness of their and they repeated her speech to their relatives and acquaintance with a and that the lady little divined or she might have blushed and felt more embarrassment still in the course of time the position resolved itself and the lady as she was called made up her mind her choice being the eldest of the three knights sir george owner of the mansion which thereupon became her home and her	45
a group of noble husband being a pleasant man and his family though not so noble of as good as her own all things seemed to show that she had reckoned wisely in him with her preference but what may lie behind the still and silent veil of the future none can in the course of a few months the husband of her choice died of his as if indeed to bear out his name and the lady was left alone as mistress of his house by this time she had apparently quite forgotten her careless declaration to her lovers but the lovers themselves had not forgotten it and as she would now be free to take a second one of them sir john gale appeared at her door as early in her as it was proper and to do so she gave him little encouragement for of the two remaining her best beloved was sir william of whom if the truth must be told she had often thought during her short married life but he had not yet reappeared her heart began to be so much with him now that she contrived to convey to him by hints through his friends that she would not be displeased by a renewal of his former attentions sir william however her gentle and from excellent though mistaken motives of delicacy delayed to intrude himself upon her for a long time meanwhile sir john now created a was and she began to grow somewhat at the of him she secretly desired to be forward never mind her friends said to her knowing of her humorous remark as everybody did that she would marry them all three if they would have patience a group of noble never mind why hesitate upon the order of them take em as they come this vexed her still more and deeply as she had often done that such a careless speech should ever have passed her lips she fairly broke down under sir john s and accepted his hand they were married on a fine spring morning about the very time at which the unfortunate sir william discovered her preference for him and was beginning to hasten home from a foreign court to declare his devotion to her on his arrival in england he learnt the sad truth if sir william suffered at her under what she had deemed his neglect the lady herself suffered more she had not long been the wife of sir john gale before he showed a disposition to upon her for the trouble and delay she had put him to in winning her with increasing he would tell her that as far as he could perceive she was an article not worth such labour as he had bestowed in obtaining it and such as he had taken from his rivals on the same account these and other cruel things he repeated till he made the lady weep sorely and broke her spirit though she had formerly been such a dame by degrees it became perceptible to all her friends that her life was a very unhappy one and the fate of the fair woman seemed yet the harder in that it was her own stately mansion left to her sole use by her first husband which her second had entered into and was enjoying his being but a mean and meagre but such is the of friends that when she met them and secretly confided her grief to their ears a group of noble they would say cheerily lord never mind my dear there s a third to come yet at which remark she would show much indignation and tell them they should know better than to trifle on so solemn a theme yet that the poor lady would have been only too happy to be the wife of the third instead of sir john whom she had taken was painfully obvious and much she was blamed for her foolish choice by some people sir william however had returned to foreign cities on learning the news of her marriage and had never been heard of since two or three years of suffering were passed by lady as the despised and wife of this man sir john amid regrets that she had so greatly mistaken him and sighs for one whom she thought never to see again till it chanced that her husband fell sick of some slight one day after this when she was sitting in his room looking from the window upon the expanse in front she beheld approaching the house on foot a form she seemed to know well lady withdrew silently from the and descended to the hall whence through the doorway she saw entering between the two round towers which at that time the sir william as she had but looking thin and travel worn she advanced into the to meet him i was passing through he said with faltering deference and i walked out to ask after your s health i felt that i could do no less and of course to pay my respects to your good husband my heretofore acquaintance but oh th st look sick and sorry a group of noble i am that s all said she they could see in each other an emotion which neither wished to express and they stood thus a long time with tears in their eyes he does not treat ee well i hear said sir william in a low voice may god in heaven forgive him but it is asking a great deal hush hush said she hastily nay but i will speak what i may honestly say he answered i am not under your roof and my tongue is free why not wait for me or send to me a more letter i would have travelled night and day to come too late william you must not ask it said she endeavouring to quiet	45
him as in old times my husband just now is he will grow better in a day or two maybe you must call again and see him before you leave as she said this their eyes met each was thinking of her words about taking the three men in turn each thought that two thirds of that promise had been fulfilled but as if it were unpleasant to her that this recollection should have arisen she spoke again quickly come again in a day or two when my husband will be well enough to see you sir william departed without entering the house and she returned to sir john s chamber he rising from his pillow said to whom hast been talking wife in the i heard voices there she hesitated and he repeated the question more impatiently i do not wish to tell you now said she a group of noble but i know said he then she answered sir william by g i thought as much cried sir john drops of perspiration standing on his white face a villain a sick man s ears are keen my lady i heard that they were lover like tones and he called ee by your christian name these be your my lady when i am off my legs awhile n my honour cried she you do me a wrong i swear i did not know of his coming swear as you will said sir john i don t believe ee and with this he her and worked himself into a greater passion which much increased his illness his lady sat still brooding there was that upon her face which had seldom been there since her marriage and she seemed to think anew of what she had so lightly said in the days of her freedom when her three lovers were one and all her hand i began at the wrong end of them she murmured my god that did i what said he a trifle said she i spoke to myself only it was somewhat strange that after this day while she went about the house with even a face than usual her husband grew worse and what was more to the surprise of all though to the regret of few he died a fortnight later sir william had not called upon him as he had promised having received a private communication from lady frankly informing him that to do so would be by reason of her husband s temper now when sir john was gone and his remains carried a group of noble to his family burying place in another part of england the lady began in due time to wonder whither sir william had himself but she had been cured of if ever woman were and was prepared to wait her whole lifetime a widow if the said sir william should not her life was now passed mostly within the walls or in between the and the green and she very seldom went even so far as the high road which then skirted the grounds on the north though it has now and for many years been diverted to the south side her patience was rewarded if love be in any case a reward for one day many months after her second husband s death a messenger arrived at her gate with the intelligence that sir william was again in and would be glad to know if it were her pleasure that he should wait upon her it need hardly be said that permission was joyfully granted and within two hours her lover stood before her a more thoughtful man than formerly but in all essential respects the same man generous modest to and sincere the reserve which womanly decorum threw over her manner was but too obviously artificial and when he said the ways of providence are strange and added after a moment and merciful likewise she could not conceal her agitation and burst into tears upon his neck but this is too soon she said starting back but no said he you are eleven months gone in and it is not as if sir john had been a good husband to you his visits grew pretty frequent now as may well be p a group of noble guessed and in a month or two he began to urge her to an early union but she a little longer delay why said he surely i have waited long life is short we are getting older every day and i am the last of the three yes said the lady frankly and that is why i would not have you hasten our marriage may seem so strange to everybody after my unlucky remark on that occasion we know so well and which so many others know likewise thanks to on this representation he a little space for the sake of her good name but the destined day of their marriage at last arrived and it was a gay time for the villagers and all concerned and the bells in the parish church rang from noon till night thus at last she was united to the man who had loved her the most tenderly of them all who but for his might perhaps have been the first to win her often did he say to himself how wondrous that her words should have been many a truth hath been spoken in jest but never a more remarkable one i the noble lady herself preferred not to dwell on the coincidence a certain shyness if not shame crossing her fair face at any allusion but people will have their say sensitive souls or none and their sayings on this third occasion took a singular shape surely they whispered there is something more than chance in this the death of the first was possibly natural but what of the death of the second who ill used her and whom loving the	45
and the one evening in the garden with which like the cries of the dying in the din of battle were the sobs of a woman not long after this it was announced that a marriage between the duke and miss was to be at a early date the wedding day came and passed and she was a nobody seemed to think of the man during the day or else those who thought of him concealed their meditations some of the less ones were disposed to speak in a manner of the august husband and wife others to make correct and a group of noble pretty speeches about them according as their sex and nature dictated but in the evening the in the with whom had been a favourite their minds a little concerning the gentle young man and the possible regrets of the woman he had loved don t you see something wrong in it all said the third bell as he wiped his face i know well enough where she would have liked to stable her horses to night when they have done their journey that is you would know if you could tell where young mr hill is living which is known to none in the parish except to the lady that this ring o is in honour of yet these friendly were at this time far from suspecting the real dimensions of s misery nor was it clear even to those who came into much closer communion with her than they so well had she concealed her heart sickness but bride and bridegroom had not long been home at the castle when the young wife s became plainly enough perceptible her maids and men said that she was in the habit of turning to the and shedding stupid tears at a time when a right minded lady would have been her wardrobe she prayed earnestly in the great church where she sat lonely and insignificant as a mouse in a cell instead of counting her rings falling asleep or amusing herself in silent laughter at the queer old people in the congregation as previous beauties of the family had done in their time she seemed to care no more for eating and drinking out of crystal and silver than from a service of a group of noble vessels her head was in truth full of something else and that such was the case was only too obvious to the duke her husband at first he would only her for her folly in thinking of that milk and water parson but as time went on his charges took a more p shape he would not believe her assurance that she had in no way communicated with her former lover nor he with her since their parting in the presence of her father this led to some strange scenes between them which need not be detailed their result was soon to take a shape one dark quiet evening about two months after the marriage a man entered the gate admitting from the highway to the park and avenue which ran up to the house he arrived within two hundred yards of the walls when he left the drive and drew near to the castle by a path leading into a here he stood still in a few minutes the strokes of the castle clock and then a female figure entered the same secluded nook from an opposite direction there the two indistinct persons together like a pair of on a leaf and then they stood apart facing each other the woman looking down you begged me to come and here i am heaven forgive me said the man hoarsely you are going to she said in broken accents i have heard of it you sail from in three days in the western yes i can live in england no longer life is as death to me here says he my life is even worse worse than death death would not have driven me to this extremity listen a group of noble i have sent for you to beg to go with you or at least to be near you to do so that it be not to stay here to go away with me he said in a startled tone yes yes or under your direction or by your help in some way don t be at me you must bear with me whilst i it nothing short of cruelty would have driven me to this i could have borne my doom in silence had i been left but he me and i shall soon be in the grave if i cannot escape to his shocked how her husband tortured her the said that it was by jealousy he tries to from me concerning you she said and will not believe that i have not communicated with you since my engagement to him was settled by my father and i was forced to agree to it the poor said that this was the heaviest news of all he has not personally ill used you he asked yes she whispered what has he done she looked fearfully around and said sobbing in trying to make me confess to what i have never done he plans i dare not describe for me into a weak state so that i may own to anything i resolved to write to you as i had no other friend she added with dreary irony i thought i would give him some ground for his suspicion so as not to disgrace his judgment do you really mean he inquired that you that you want to fly with me a group of noble can you think that i would act otherwise than in earnest at such a time as this he was silent for a minute or more you must not go with me he said why it would be	45
that was sent him long ago and had been carelessly thrown aside but for an accidental of the waste journals in his study he might not have known of the event for years at this moment of reading the duke had already been dead seven months could now no longer bind himself a group of noble down to machine made and climax being full of spontaneous specimens of all these forms which he dared not utter who shall wonder that his mind in dreams of a sweet possibility now laid open for the first time these many years for was to him now as ever the one dear in all the world the issue of his silent was that he resolved to return to her at the very earliest moment but he could not abandon his professional work on the instant he did not get really quite free from engagements till four months later but though suffering of impatience continually he said to himself every day if she has continued to love me nine years she will love me ten she will think the more tenderly of me when her present hours of solitude shall have done their proper work old times will revive with the of her recent experience and every day will favour my return the enforced interval soon passed and he duly arrived in england reaching the village of on a certain winter day between twelve and thirteen months subsequent to the time of the duke s death it was evening yet such was s impatience that he could not forbear taking this very night one look at the castle which had entered as unhappy mistress ten years before he the park trees gazed in passing at well known outlines which rose against the dim sky and was soon interested in observing that lively country people in parties of two and three were walking before and behind him up the avenue to the castle knowing himself a group of noble to be safe from recognition inquired of one of these what was going on her grace gives her a ball to night to keep up the old custom of the duke and his father before him which she does not wish to change indeed has she lived here entirely alone since the duke s death quite alone but though she doesn t receive company herself she likes the village people to enjoy themselves and often has em here kind hearted as always thought on reaching the castle he found that the great gates at the s entrance were thrown back against the wall as if they were never to be closed again that the passages and rooms in that wing were brilliantly lighted up some of the numerous candles down over the green leaves which decorated them and upon the silk dresses of the happy farmers wives as they passed beneath each on her husband s arm found no difficulty in marching in along with the rest the castle being liberty hall to night he stood unobserved in a comer of the large apartment where dancing was about to begin her grace though hardly out of mourning will be sure to come down and lead off the dance with neighbour said one who is neighbour asked an old man she respects much the oldest of her tenant farmers he was seventy eight his last birthday ah to be sure said at his ease i remember a group of noble the dancers in line and waited a door opened at the farther end of the hall and a lady in black silk came forth she bowed smiled and proceeded to the top of the dance who is that lady said in a puzzled tone i thought you told me that the of that is the said his hut there is another no there is no other hut she is not the of who used to s tongue stuck to his mouth he could get no farther what s the matter said his acquaintance had retired and was supporting himself against the wall the wretched murmured something about a in his side from walking then the music struck up the dance went on and his neighbour became so interested in watching the movements of this strange through its as to forget for a while it gave him an opportunity to brace himself up he was a man who had suffered and he could suffer again how came that person to be your he asked in a firm distinct voice when he had attained complete self command where is her other grace of there certainly was another i know it oh the previous one yes yes she ran away years and years ago with the young mr hill was the young man s name if i recollect no she never did what do you mean by that he said a group of noble yes she certainly ran away she met the in the about a couple of months after her marriage with the duke there were folks who saw the meeting and heard some words of their talk they arranged to go and she sailed from with him a day or two afterward that s not true then tis the lie ever told by man her father believed and knew to his dying day that she went with him and so did the duke and everybody about here ay there was a fine upset about it at the time the duke traced her to traced her to he traced her to and set on his and they found that she went to the shipping office and inquired if mr hill had entered his name as passenger by the western glory and when she found that he had she herself for the same ship but not in her real name when the vessel had sailed a letter reached the duke from her telling him what she had done she	45
never came back here again his grace lived by himself a number of years and married this lady only twelve months before he died was in a state of indescribable bewilderment but as he was he called the next day on the to him of at first she was alarmed at his statement then cold then she was won over by his condition to give confidence for confidence she showed him a letter which had been found among the papers of the late duke what s had detailed it was from a group of noble bearing the date at which the western glory sailed and briefly stated that she had by that ship to america applied himself body and mind to the remainder of the mystery the story repeated to him was always the same she ran away with the a strangely piece of intelligence was added to this when he had pushed his inquiries a little further there was given him the name of a at who had come forward at the time that she was missed and sought for by her husband and had stated that he put her on board the glory at dusk one evening before that vessel sailed after several days of search about the and of during which these impossible words she ran off with the became on his brain found this important he was positive as to the truth of his story still remembering the incident well and he described in detail the lady s dress as he had long ago described it to her husband which description in every particular with the dress worn by on the evening of their parting before proceeding to the other side of the atlantic to continue his inquiries there the puzzled and distracted set himself to ascertain the address of captain who had commanded the western glory in the year of s voyage out and immediately wrote a letter to him on the subject the only circumstances which the sailor could recollect or discover from his papers in connection with such a story were that a woman bearing the name a group of noble which had mentioned as certainly did come aboard for a voyage he made about that time that she took a common berth among the poorest that she died on the voyage out at about five days sail from that she seemed a lady in manners and education why she had not applied for a first class passage why she had no trunks they could not guess for though she had little money in her pocket she had that about her which would have fetched it we buried her at sea continued the captain a young parson one of the cabin passengers read the burial service over her i remember well the whole scene and proceedings darted upon s recollection in a moment it was a fine morning on that long past voyage out and he had been told that they were running at the rate of a hundred and odd miles a day the news went round that one of the poor young women in the other part of the vessel was ill of fever and the tidings caused no little alarm among all the passengers for the conditions of the ship were anything but satisfactory shortly after this the doctor announced that she had died then had learnt that she was laid out for burial in great haste because of the danger that would have been incurred by delay and next the funeral scene rose before him and the prominent part that he had taken in that solemn ceremony the captain had come to him him to as there was no on board this he had agreed to do and as the sun went down with a blaze in his face he read amidst them all assembled we therefore commit her body to the deep to be turned into corruption looking a group of noble for the of the body when the sea shall give up her dead the captain also forwarded the addresses of the ship s matron and of other persons who had been engaged on board at the date to these went in the course of time a description of the clothes of the dead the colour of her hair and other things extinguished for ever all hope of a mistake in identity at last then the course of events had become clear on that unhappy evening when he left in the forbidding her to follow him because it would be a sin she must have she must have followed at his heels silently through the darkness like a poor pet animal that will not be driven back she could have accumulated nothing for the journey more than she might have carried in her hand and thus poorly provided she must have embarked her intention had doubtless been to make her presence on board known to him as soon as she could muster courage to do so thus the ten years chapter of hill s romance wound itself up under his eyes that the poor young woman in the had been the young of was never publicly disclosed hill had no longer any reason for remaining in england and soon after left its shores with no intention to return previous to his departure he confided his story to an old friend from his native town grandfather of the person who now relates it to you a few members including the seemed to be impressed by the quiet gentleman s tale but the a group of noble member we have called the spark who by the way was getting somewhat tinged with the light of other days and owned to eight and thirty walked about the room instead of sitting down by the fire with the majority and said that for his part he preferred something more lively than the last story something in which	45
such long separated lovers were ultimately united he also liked stories that were more modern in their date of action than those he had heard to day members immediately requested him to give them a specimen to which the spark replied that he didn t mind as far as that went and though the vice president the man of family the colonel and others looked at their watches and said they must soon retire to respective quarters in the hotel adjoining they all decided to sit out the spark s story dame the tenth the honourable by the spark a group of noble dame the tenth the honourable by the spark it was a cold and gloomy christmas eve the mass of cloud overhead was almost to such daylight as still lingered on the snow lay several inches deep upon the ground and the which still went on threatened to considerably increase its thickness before the morning the prospect hotel a building standing near the wild north coast of lower looked so lonely and so useless at such a time as this that a passing would have been led to forget summer possibilities and to wonder at the commercial courage which could invest capital on the basis of the popular taste for the picturesque in a country subject to such dreary phases that the district was alive with visitors in august seemed but a dim tradition in weather so totally opposed to all that mankind from home however there the hotel stood immovable and the cliffs and which were the attractions of the spot rising in full view on the opposite side of the valley were now but a group of noble stern outlines while the in front was tinged over with a rather than the gray that in summer lent such beauty to its appearance w the hotel commanding this outlook the landlord walked idly about with his hands in his pockets not in the least expectant of a visitor and yet unable to settle down to any occupation which should in some degree for the losses that winter idleness on his regular profession so little indeed was anybody expected that the coffee room waiter a genteel boy whose buttons in summer were as close together upon the front of his short jacket as peas in a now appeared in the back yard into the shape of a rough country lad in and boots sweeping the snow away and talking the local dialect in all its purity quite of the new polite accent he had learned in the hot weather from the well behaved visitors the front door was closed and as if to express still more fully the sealed and state of the establishment a sand bag was placed at the bottom to keep out the the wind setting in directly from that quarter the landlord entering his own parlour walked to the large fire which it was absolutely necessary to keep up for his comfort no such blaze burning in the coffee room or elsewhere and after giving it a stir returned to a table in the whereon lay the visitors book now closed and pushed back against the wall he carelessly opened it not a name had been entered there since the th of the previous november and that was only the a group of noble name of a man who had arrived on a who indeed had not been asked to enter at all while he was engaged thus the evening grew darker but before it was as yet too dark to distinguish objects upon the road winding round the back of the cliffs the landlord perceived a black spot on the distant white which speedily enlarged itself and drew near the were that this vehicle for a vehicle of some sort it seemed to be would pass by and pursue its way to the nearest railway town as others had done but contrary to the landlord s expectation as he stood it through the yet windows the solitary object on reaching the corner turned into the hotel front and drove up to the door it was a conveyance particularly to such a season and weather being nothing more substantial than an open basket carriage drawn by a single horse within sat two persons of different sexes as could soon be discerned in spite of their muffled attire the man held the reins and the lady had got some shelter from the storm by clinging close to his side the landlord rang the s bell to attract the attention of the stable man for the approach of the visitors had been to by the snow and when the had come to the horse s head the gentleman and lady alighted the landlord meeting them in the hall the male stranger was a foreign looking individual of about eight and twenty he was close shaven excepting a moustache his features being good and even handsome the lady who stood timidly behind him seemed to be much younger possibly not more than r a group of noble eighteen though it was difficult to judge either of her age or appearance in her present the gentleman expressed his wish to stay till the morning explaining somewhat considering that the house was an inn that they had been unexpectedly on their drive such a welcome being given them as can give in dull times the latter ordered fires in the drawing and coffee rooms and went to the boy in the yard who soon himself up dragged his jacket from its box polished the buttons with his sleeve and appeared civilized in the hall the lady was shown into a room where she could take off her snow garments which she sent down to be dried her companion meanwhile putting a couple of sovereigns on the table as if anxious to make everything smooth and comfortable at starting and that a private sitting	45
room might be got ready the landlord assured him that the best upstairs parlour usually public should be kept private this evening and sent the maid to light the candles dinner was prepared for them and at the gentleman s desire served in the same apartment where the young lady having joined him they were left to the rest and refreshment they seemed to need that something was peculiar in the relations of the pair had more than once struck the landlord though wherein that peculiarity lay it was hard to decide but that his guest was one who paid his way readily had been proved by his conduct and conjectures he turned to practical affairs about nine o clock he re entered the hall and everything being done for the day again walked up and a group of noble down occasionally gazing through the glass door at the prospect without to ascertain how the weather was contrary to snow had ceased falling and with the rising of the moon the sky had partially cleared light of cloud drifting across the silvery there was every sign that a frost was going to set in later on for these reasons the distant rising road was even more distinct now between its high banks than it had been in the declining daylight not a track or broke the virgin surface of the white mantle that lay along it all marks left by the lately arrived travellers having been speedily by the falling at the time and now the landlord beheld by the light of the moon a sight very similar to that he had seen by the light of day again a black spot was advancing down the road that the coast he was in a moment or two enabled to perceive that the present vehicle moved onward at a more headlong pace than the little carriage which had preceded it next that it was a drawn by two powerful horses next that this carriage like the former one was bound for the hotel door this desirable feature of resemblance caused the landlord to once more withdraw the sand bag and advance into the porch an old gentleman was the first to alight he was followed by a young one and both came forward has a young lady less than nineteen years of age recently arrived here in the company of a man some years her senior asked the old gentleman in haste a man shaven for the most part having the a group of noble appearance of an opera singer and calling himself we have had lately said the landlord in the tone of having had twenty at least not caring to acknowledge the state of business that afflicted prospect hotel in winter and among them can your memory recall two persons such as those i describe the man a sort of there certainly is or was a young couple staying in the hotel but i could not pronounce on the compass of the gentleman s voice no no of course not i am quite bewildered they arrived in a basket carriage altogether badly provided they came in a carriage i believe as most of our visitors do yes yes i must see them at once pardon ni want of ceremony and show us in to where they are but sir you forget suppose the lady and gentleman i mean are not the lady and gentleman you mean it would be awkward to allow you to rush in upon them just now while they are at dinner and might cause me to lose their future patronage true true they may not be the same persons my anxiety i perceive makes me rash in my upon the whole i think they must be the same uncle said the young man who had not till now spoken and turning to the landlord you possibly have not such a large assemblage of visitors here on this somewhat forbidding evening that you quite a group of noble forget how this couple arrived and what the lady wore his tone of addressing the landlord had in it a quiet that was not without irony ah what she wore that s it james what did she wear i don t usually take stock of my guests clothing replied the landlord for the ready money of the first arrival had decidedly him in favour of that gentleman s cause you can certainly see some of it if you want to he added carelessly for it is drying by the kitchen fire before the words were half out of his mouth the old gentleman had exclaimed ah and himself along what seemed to be the passage to the kitchen but as this turned out to be only the entrance to a dark china closet he hastily emerged again after a collision with the inn had told him of his mistake i beg your pardon i m sure but if you only knew my feelings which i cannot at present explain you would make anything i have broken i will willingly pay for don t mention it sir said the landlord and showing the way they to the kitchen without further the eldest of the party instantly seized the lady s cloak that hung upon a clothes exclaiming ah yes james it is hers i knew we were on their track yes it is hers answered the nephew quietly for he was much less excited than his companion show us their room at once said the old man william have the lady and gentleman in the front sitting room finished dining a group of noble yes sir long ago said the hundred then show up these gentlemen to them at once you stay here to night gentlemen i presume shall the horses be taken out feed the horses and wash their mouths whether we stay or not depends upon circumstances said the placid younger man as	45
he followed his uncle and the waiter to the staircase think nephew james said the former as he paused with his foot on the first step i think we had better not be announced but take them by surprise she may go throwing herself out of the window or do some equally desperate thing yes certainly well enter and he called back the lad who preceded them i cannot sufficiently thank you james for so effectually me in this pursuit exclaimed the old gentleman taking the other by the hand my increasing would have my her to night had it not been for your aid i am only too happy uncle to have been of service to you in this or any other matter i only wish i could have accompanied you on a pleasanter journey however it is advisable to go up to them at once or they may hear us and they softly ascended the stairs on the door being opened a room too large to be comfortable lit by the best branch of the hotel was disclosed before the fire of which apartment the couple were sitting very innocently looking over the hotel scrap book and the containing views of the neighbourhood no sooner had the old a group of noble man entered than the young lady who now showed herself to be quite as young as described and remarkably as to features turned pale when the nephew entered she turned still paler as if she were going to faint the young man described as an opera singer rose with grim civility and placed chairs for his visitors caught you thank god said the old gentleman yes worse luck my lord murmured in native london english that distinguished alien having in fact first seen the light in the vicinity of the city road she would have been mine to morrow and i think that under the peculiar circumstances it would be considering how soon the breath of scandal will a lady s fame to let her be mine to morrow just the same never said the old man here is a lady under age without experience child like in her maiden innocence and virtue whom you have plied by your vile arts till this morning at dawn lord were i not bound to respect your gray hairs till this morning at dawn you tempted her away from her father s roof what blame can attach to her conduct that will not on a full explanation of the matter be readily passed over in her and thrown entirely on you you return at once with me i should not have arrived after all early enough to deliver you if it had not been for the of your cousin captain who on my discovering your flight this morning offered with a a group of noble for which i can never sufficiently thank him to accompany me on my journey as the only male relative i have near me come do you hear put on your things we are off at once i don t want to go the young lady i you don t replied her father but children never know what s best for them so come along and trust to my opinion was silent and did not move the opera gentleman looking helplessly into the fire and the lady s cousin sitting calm as the single one of the four whose position enabled him to survey the whole with the cool criticism of a comparative i say to you as the father of a daughter under age that you instantly come with me what would you compel me to use physical force to you i don t want to return again declared it is your duty to return nevertheless and at once i inform you i don t want to now dear this is what i say return with me and your cousin james quietly like a good and girl and nothing will be said nobody knows what has happened as yet and if we start at once we shall be home before it is light to morrow morning come i am not obliged to come at your bidding father and i would rather not now james the cousin during this dialogue might have been observed to grow somewhat restless and even impatient more than once he had parted his lips to a group of noble speak but second thoughts each time held him back the moment had come however when he could keep silence no longer come madam he spoke out this farce with your father has in my opinion gone on long enough just make no more and step downstairs with us she gave herself an little twist and did not reply by the lord harry i won t stand this he said angrily come get on your things before i come and compel you there is a kind of to which this talk is child s play come madam instantly i say the old nobleman turned to his nephew and said mildly leave me to insist james it doesn t become you i can speak to her sharply enough if i choose james however did not heed his uncle and went on to the troublesome young woman you say you don t want to come indeed a pretty story to tell me that come march out of the room at once and leave that fellow for me to deal with afterward get on quickly come and he advanced toward her as if to pull her by the hand nay nay s father much surprised at his nephew s sudden you take too much upon yourself leave her to me i won t leave her to you any longer you have no right james to address either me or her in this way so just hold your tongue come my dear i have every right insisted james	45
how do you make that out a group of noble i have the right of a husband whose husband hers what she s my wife james well to cut a long story short i may say that she secretly married me in spite of your s about three months ago and i must add that though she cooled down rather quickly everything went on smoothly enough between us for some time in spite of the awkwardness of meeting only by we were only waiting for a convenient moment to break the news to you when this idle turned up and after her mind against me brought her into this disgrace here the who had sat in rather an abstracted and attitude till the cousin made his declaration fired up and cried i declare before heaven that till this moment i never knew she was a wife i found her in her father s house an unhappy girl unhappy as i believe because of the loneliness and of that establishment and the want of society and for nothing else whatever what this statement about her being your wife means i am quite at a loss to understand are you indeed married to him nodded from within her tearful handkerchief it was because of my position in being privately married to him she sobbed that i was unhappy at home and and i didn t like him so well as i did at first and i wished i could get out of the mess a group of noble i was in and then i saw you a few times and when you said run off i thought i saw a way out of it all and then i agreed to come with you oo oo well well well and is this true murmured the bewildered old nobleman staring from james to and from to james as if he fancied they might be of the imagination is this then james the secret of your kindness to your old uncle in helping him to find his daughter good heavens what further depths of are there left for a man to learn i have married her uncle as i said answered james coolly the deed is done and can t be undone by talking here where were you married at st mary s when n the th of september during the time she was visiting there who married you i don t know one of the we were quite strangers to the place so instead of my assisting you to recover her you may as well assist me never never said lord madam and sir i beg to tell you that i wash my hands of the whole affair if you are man and wife as it seems you are get reconciled as best you may i have no more to say or do with either of you i leave you in the hands of your husband and much joy may you bring him though the situation i own is not encouraging saying this the indignant speaker pushed back his a group of noble chair against the table with such force that the rocked on their and left the room s wet eyes from one of the young men to the other now stood glaring face to face and being much frightened at their aspect slipped out of the room after her father him however she could hear going out of the front door and not knowing where to take shelter she crept into the darkness of an adjoining bedroom and there awaited events with a heart meanwhile the two men remaining in the sitting room drew nearer to each other and the opera singer broke the silence by saying how could you insult me in the way you did calling me a fellow and me of her mind toward you when you knew very well i was as ignorant of your relation to her as an babe oh yes you were quite ignorant i can believe that readily sneered s husband i here call heaven to witness that i never knew the excellent and the tone well sustained is it likely that any man could win the confidence of a young fool her age and not get that out of her preposterous tell it to the most improved new pit captain your are as as your wretched person cried the losing all patience and springing forward he the captain in the face with the palm of his hand but slightly and calmly using his handkerchief to learn if his nose was bleeding said i quite expected this insult so i came prepared and a group of noble he drew forth from a black which he carried in his hand a small case of pistols the started at the unexpected sight but recovering from his surprise said very well as you will though perhaps his tone showed a slight want of confidence now continued the husband quite we want no parade no nonsense you know therefore well dispense with seconds the slightly nodded do you know this part of the country well cousin james went on in the same cool and still manner if you don t i do quite at the bottom of the rocks out there just beyond the stream which falls over them to the shore is a smooth sandy space not so much shut in as to be out of the moonlight and the way down to it from this side is over steps cut in the cliff and we can find our way down without trouble we we two will find our way down but only one of us will find his way up you understand quite then suppose we start the sooner it is over the better we can order supper before we go out supper for two for though we are three at present three yes you and i	45
and she oh yes we shall be only two by and by so that as i say we will order supper for two for the lady and a gentleman whichever comes back alive will tap at her door and call her in to share the with him she s not off the premises but we must not alarm her a group of noble now and above all things we must not let the see us go out it would look so odd for two to go out and only one come in ha ha ha ha exactly are you ready quite then i ll lead the way he went softly to the door and downstairs ordering supper to be ready in an hour as he had said then making a of returning to the room again he beckoned to the singer and together they slipped out of the house by a side door the sky was now quite clear and the of the which had borne away s father lord remained distinctly visible soon the verge of the down was reached the captain leading the way and the following silently casting glances at his companion and beyond him at the scene ahead in due course they arrived at the chasm in the cliff which formed the the outlook here was wild and picturesque in the extreme and fully justified the many praises paintings and views to which the spot had given birth what in summer was green and gray was now rendered weird and fantastic by the snow from their feet the plunged downward almost to a depth of eighty or a hundred feet before finally losing itself in the sand and though the stream was but small its upon rocks in its descent divided it into a hundred and that sent up a mist into the upper air a few a group of noble had been frozen into but the centre flowed on the artist looked down as he halted but his thoughts were plainly not of the beauty of the scene his companion with the pistols was immediately in front of him and there was no on the side of the path toward the chasm obeying a quick impulse he stretched out his arm and with a thrust sent s husband over a whirling human shape downward in the moon s rays farther and farther toward a upon the projecting of rock at first louder and heavier than that of the brook and then scarcely to be distinguished from it then a then the of the stream as before and the accompanying murmur of the sea were all the incidents that disturbed the customary flow of the little the singer waited in a fixed attitude for a few minutes then turning he rapidly his steps over the intervening toward the road and in less than a quarter of an hour was at the door of the hotel slipping quietly in as the clock struck ten he said to the landlord over the bar the bill as soon as you can let me have it including charges for the supper that was ordered though we cannot stay to eat it i am sorry to say he added with forced gaiety the lady s father and cousin have thought better of the marriage and after quarrelling with each other have gone home well done sir said the landlord who still sided with this customer in preference to those who had given trouble and barely paid for the horses love a group of noble will find out the way as the saying is wish you joy sir went upstairs and on entering the sitting room found that had crept out from the dark adjoining chamber in his absence she looked up at him with eyes red from weeping and with symptoms of alarm what is it where is he she said captain has gone back he says he will have no more to do with you and am quite abandoned by them and they ll forget me and nobody care about me any more she began to cry afresh but it is the thing that could have happened all is just as it was before they came disturbing us but you ought to have told me about that private marriage though it is all the same now it will be dissolved of course you are a a widow it is no use to reproach me for what is past what am i to do now we go at once to cliff martin the horse has rested thoroughly these last three hours and he will have no difficulty in doing an additional half dozen miles we shall be there before twelve and there are late in the place no doubt there we ll sell both horse and carriage to morrow morning and go by the coach to once in the train we are safe i agree to anything she said in about ten minutes the horse was put in the bill paid the lady s dried put round her and the journey resumed a group of noble when about a mile on their way they saw a glimmering light in advance of them i wonder what that is said the whose manner had become nervous every sound and sight causing him to turn his head it is only a said she that light is the lamp kept burning over the door of course of course dearest how stupid i am on reaching the gate they perceived that a man on foot had approached it apparently by some more direct path than the they pursued and was at the moment they drew up standing in conversation with the it is quite impossible that he could fall over the cliff by accident or the will of god on such a light night as this the was saying these two children i tell you of saw two men	45
go along the path toward the and ten minutes later only one of em came back walking fast like a man who wanted to get out of the way because he had done something queer there is no manner of doubt that he pushed the other man over and mark me it will soon cause a hue and cry for that man the candle shone in the face of the and showed that there had arisen upon it a of glancing toward him for a few moments observed it till the having mechanically swung open the gate her companion drove through and they were soon again enveloped in the white silence her conductor had said to just before that he meant to inquire the way at this but he had certainly not done so a group of noble as soon as they had gone a little farther the or not began to cause them some trouble beyond the secluded district which they now traversed ran the more frequented road where progress would be easy the snow being probably already beaten there to some extent by traffic but they had not yet reached it and having no one to guide them their journey began to appear less than it had done before starting when the little lane which they had entered ascended another hill and seemed to wind round in a direction contrary to the expected route to cliff martin the question grew serious ever since the conversation at the had maintained a perfect silence and had even shrunk somewhat away from the side of her lover why don t you talk he said with forced and suggest the way we should go oh yes i will she responded a curious being audible in her voice after this she uttered a few occasional sentences which seemed to persuade him that she suspected nothing at last he drew rein and the weary horse stood still we are in a fix he said she answered eagerly i ll hold the reins while you run forward to the top of the ridge and see if the road takes a favourable turn beyond it would give the horse a few minutes rest and if you find out no change in the direction we will this lane and take the turning the expedient seemed a good one in the circumstances especially when recommended by the singular a group of noble eagerness of her voice and placing the reins in her hands a quite unnecessary precaution considering the state of their hack he stepped out and went forward through the snow till she could see no more of him no sooner was he gone than with a rapidity which contrasted strangely with her previous stillness made fast the reins to the comer of the and slipping out on the opposite side ran back with all her might down the hill till coming to an opening in the fence she scrambled through it and plunged into the which bordered this portion of the lane here she stood in hiding under one of the large bushes clinging so closely to its as to seem but a portion of its mass and listening intently for the faintest sound of pursuit but nothing disturbed the stillness save the occasional slipping of gathered snow from the boughs or the rustle of some wild animal over the crisp at length apparently convinced that her former companion was either unable to find her or not anxious to do so in the present strange state of affairs she crept out from the bushes and in less than an hour found herself again approaching the door of the prospect hotel as she drew near could see that far from being wrapped in darkness as she might have expected there were ample signs that all the tenants were on the alert lights moving about the open space in front satisfaction was expressed in her face when she discerned that no of her and his pony carriage was causing this sensation but it speedily gave way to grief and dismay when she saw by the lights a group of noble the form of a man borne on a by two others into the porch of the hotel i have caused all this she murmured between her quivering lips he has murdered him running forward to the door she hastily asked of the first person she met if the man on the was dead no miss said the addressed her up and down as an unexpected apparition he is still alive they say but not sensible he either fell or was pushed over the tis he was pushed he is the gentleman who came here just now with the old lord and went out afterward as is with a stranger who had come a little earlier anyhow that s as i had it entered the house and acknowledging without the least reserve that she was the injured man s wife had soon herself as head nurse by the bed on which he lay when the two who had been sent for arrived she learned from them that his wounds were so severe as to leave but a slender hope of recovery it being little short of miraculous that he was not killed on the spot which his enemy had evidently reckoned to be the case she knew who that enemy was and shuddered watched all night but her husband knew nothing of her presence during the next day he slightly recognized her and in the evening was able to speak he informed the that as was he had been pushed over the by but he communicated nothing to her who nursed him not even replying to her remarks he nodded courteously at any act of attention she rendered and that was all a group of noble in a day or two it was declared that everything favoured his recovery notwithstanding the severity of his injuries full search	45
was made for but as yet there was no intelligence of his whereabouts though the communicated all she knew as far as could be judged he had come back to the carriage after searching out the way and finding the young lady missing had looked about for her till he was tired then had driven on to cliff martin sold the horse and carriage next morning and disappeared probably by one of the departing which ran thence to the nearest station the only difference from his original programme being that he had gone alone during the days and weeks of that long and tedious recovery watched by her husband s bedside with a zeal and which would have considerably any fault save one of such magnitude as hers that her husband did not forgive her was soon obvious nothing that she could do in the way of pillows his position shifting or draughts could win from him more than a few measured words of such as he would probably have uttered to any other woman on earth who had performed these particular services for him dear dear james she said one day bending her face upon the bed in an excess of emotion how you have suffered i it has been too cruel i am more glad you are getting better than i can say i have prayed for it and i am sorry for what i have done i am innocent of the worst and i hope you will not think me so very bad james i a group of noble h no on the contrary i shall think you very good as a nurse he answered the severity of his tone being apparent through its weakness let fall two or three silent tears and said no more that day somehow or other seemed to be making good his escape it that he had not taken a passage in either of the suspected though he had certainly got out of the county altogether the chance of finding him was not only did captain survive his injuries but it soon appeared that in the course of a few weeks he would find himself little if any the worse for the catastrophe it could also be seen that while secretly hoping for her husband s forgiveness for a piece of folly of which she saw the more clearly every day was in great doubt as to what her future relations with him would be moreover to add to the whilst she as a wife was by her husband she and her husband as a couple were by her father who had never once communicated with either of them since his departure from the inn but her immediate anxiety was to win the pardon of her husband who possibly might be bearing in mind as he lay upon his couch the familiar words of she has deceived her father and may thee matters went on thus till captain was able to walk about he then removed with his wife to quiet apartments on the south coast and here his recovery was rapid walking up the cliffs one day supporting him by her arm as usual she said to him a group of noble simply james if i go on as i am going now and always attend to your smallest want and never think of anything but devotion to you will you try to like me a little it is a thing i must carefully consider he said with the same gloomy which all his words to her now when i have considered i will tell you he did not tell her that evening though she lingered long at her routine work of making his bedroom comfortable putting the light so that it would not shine into his eyes seeing him fall asleep and then retiring noiselessly to her own chamber when they met in the morning at breakfast and she had asked him as usual how he had passed the night she added timidly in the silence which followed his reply have you considered no i have not considered sufficiently to give you an answer sighed but to no purpose and the day wore on with intense to her and the customary of strength gained to him the next morning she put the same question and looked up in his face as though her whole life hung upon his reply yes i have considered he said ah we must part o james i cannot forgive you no man would enough is settled upon you to keep you in comfort whatever your father may do i shall sell out and disappear from this a group of noble you have absolutely decided she asked miserably i have nobody now to c c care for i have absolutely decided he shortly returned we had better part here you will go back to your father there is no reason why i should accompany you since my presence would only stand in the way of the forgiveness he will probably grant you if you appear before him alone we will say farewell to each other in three days from this time i have calculated on being ready to go on that day bowed down with trouble she withdrew to her room and the three days were passed by her husband in writing letters and attending to other business matters saying hardly a word to her the while the morning of departure came but before the horses had been put in to take the severed twain in different directions out of sight of each other possibly for ever the arrived with the morning letters there was one for the captain none for her there were never any for her however on this occasion something was enclosed for her in his which he handed her she read it and looked up helpless my dear father is dead she said in a few	45
of her in church the other day and she noticed how exactly your hair matched her own ever since then she s been for it and at last decided to get it as she won t wear it till she goes oft abroad she knows nobody will recognize the change i m to get it for her and then it is to be made up i shouldn t have all these miles for any less important employer now mind tis as much as my business with her is worth if it should be known that i ve let out her name but honor between us two and you ll say nothing that would injure i don t wish to tell upon her said coolly but my hair is my own and i m going to keep it now that s not fair after what i ve told you said the you see as you are in the same parish and in one of her cottages and your father is ill and wouldn t like to turn out it would be as well to oblige her i say that as a friend but i won t press you to make up your mind to night you ll be coming to market to morrow i dare say and you can call then if you think it over you ll be inclined to bring what i want i know i ve nothing more to say she answered her companion saw from her manner that it was useless to urge her further by speech as you are a young woman he said i ll put these sovereigns up here for ornament that you may see how handsome they are bring the hair to morrow or return the sovereigns he stuck them into the frame of a small mantle looking glass i hope you ll bring it for your sake and mine i should have thought she could have suited herself elsewhere but as it s her fancy it must be indulged if possible if you cut it off yourself mind how you do it so as to keep all the locks one way he showed her how this was to be done but i sha nt she replied with indifference i value my looks too much to spoil em she wants my hair the to get another lover witb though if stories are she s broke the heart of many a noble gentleman already lord it s wonderful how you things said the pre had it from them that that there certainly is some foreign gentleman in her eye however mind what i ask she s not going to get him through me had retired as far as the door he came back planted his cane on the coffin tool and looked her in the face south he said with deliberate emphasis ve got a lover your and that s why yon won t let it go she so intensely as to pass the mild blush that to beauty she put the yellow leather glove on one hand took up the hook with the other and sat down to her work without turning her face to him again he regarded her head for a moment went to the door and with one look back at her departed on his way homeward pursued her occupation for a few minutes then suddenly laying down the bill hook she jumped up and went to the back of the room where she opened a door which disclosed a staircase so that the grain of the wood was away by such at the top she gently approached a bedroom and without entering said father do you want anything a weak voice inside answered in tiie negative adding i should be all right by to morrow if it were not for the tree i the tree again always the tree oh father don t worry so about that you know it can do you no harm who have ye had talking to ye down stairs f a man called nothing to trouble about she said soothingly father she went on can mrs turn us out of our house if she s minded to turn us out no nobody can turn us out till my poor soul is turned out of my body tis life hold like s but when my life drops be hers not till then his words on this subject so far had been rational and firm enough but now he into his moaning strain and the tree will do it that tree will soon be the death of me the nonsense you know better how can it be she refrained from further speech and descended to the again thank heaven then she said to herself what belongs to me i keep chapter m the lights in the village went out house after house till there only remained two in the darkness one of these came from a residence on the hill side of which there is nothing to say at present the other shone from the window of south precisely the same outward effect was produced here however by her rising when the clock struck ten and hanging up a thick cloth curtain the door it was necessary to keep in hers as in most cottages because of the smoke but she the effect of the ribbon of light through the by hanging a cloth over that also she was one of those people who if they have to work harder than their neighbors prefer to keep the necessity a secret as far as possible and but for the slight sounds of which came from within no would have perceived that here the did not sleep as elsewhere eleven twelve one o clock struck the heap of grew higher and the pile of and ends more even the light on the hill had now been extinguished but still she worked on when	45
the temperature of the night without had fallen so low as to make her she opened a large blue umbrella to ward draught from the door the two sovereigns confronted er from the looking glass in such a manner as to a pair of eyes on the watch for an whenever she sighed for weariness she lifted her gaze towards them but withdrew it quickly her with her fingers for a moment as if to assure herself that they were still secure when the clock struck three she arose and tied up the she had last made in a bundle resembling those that lay against the wall she wrapped round her a long red and the opened the door the night in all its fulness met her on the threshold like the very brink of an absolute void or the gap believed in by her forefathers for her eyes were fresh from the blaze and here there was no street lamp or lantern to form a kindly transition between the inner glare and the outer dark a lingering wind brought to her ear the creaking sound of two over crowded branches in the neighboring wood which were rubbing each other into wounds and other sorrows of the trees together with the of and the fluttering tumble of some awkward wood pigeon ill balanced on its bough but the pupils of her young eyes soon expanded and she could see well enough for her purpose taking a bundle of under each arm and guided by the line of against the sky she went some hundred yards or more down the lane till she reached a long open shed around with the dead leaves that lay about everywhere night that strange personality which within walls brings ominous and self distrust but under the open sky such anxieties as too trivial for thought inspired south with a less and manner now she laid the on the ground within the shed and returned for more going to and fro till her whole stock were deposited here this was the wagon house of the chief man of business mr george the timber bark and ware merchant for whom s father did work of this sort by the piece it formed one of the many rambling out houses which surrounded his dwelling an equally irregular block of building whose immense chimneys could just be discerned even now the four huge under the shed were built on those ancient lines whose proportions have been by modem patterns their shapes and at the base and ends like line of ships with which venerable indeed these a constructed spirit curiously in harmony one was laden with sheep another with another with ash poles and the fourth at the foot of which she had placed her was half full of similar bundles the she was a moment with that sense of accomplishment which follows work done that has been a hard in the doing when she heard a woman s voice on the other side of the hedge say anxiously e in a moment the name was repeated with do come in doors i what are you doing there the cart the garden and before had moved she saw enter the latter from the s back door an elderly woman a candle with her hand the light from which cast a moving thorn pattern of shade on s face its rays soon fell upon a man whose cloth es were roughly thrown on standing in advance of the speaker he was a thin slightly stooping figure with a small nervous mouth and a face shaven and he walked along the path with his eyes bent on the ground in the pair south recognized her employer and his wife she was the second mrs the first having died shortly after the birth of the timber merchant s only tis no use to stay in bed he said as soon as she came up to where he was pacing about i can t sleep i keep thinking of things and worrying about the girl till i m quite in a fever of anxiety he went on to say that he could not think why she knew he was speaking of his daughter did not answer his letter she must be ill she must certainly he said no no tis all right george said his wife and she assured him that such things always did appear so gloomy in the night time if people allowed their minds to run on them that when morning came it was seen that such fears were nothing but shadows grace is as well as you or i she declared but he persisted that she did not see all that she did not see as much as he his daughter s not writing was only one part of his worry on account of her he was anxious concerning money which he would never alarm his mind about otherwise the reason he gave was that as she had nobody to depend upon for a provision but himself he wished her when he was gone to be securely out of risk of poverty to this mrs replied that grace would be sure to the it marry well and that a hundred pounds more or less from him would not make much her husband said that that was what she mrs thought but there she was wrong and in that lay the source of his trouble i have a plan in my head about her he said and according to my plan she won t marry a rich man a plan for her not to marry said his wife surprised well in one sense it is that replied it is a plan for her to marry a particular person and as he has not so much money as she might expect it might be called as you call it i may not be able to carry it out	45
and even if i do it may not be a good thing for her i want her to marry his companion repeated the name well it is all right she said presently he the very ground she walks on only he s close and won t show it much south appeared startled and could not tear herself away yes the timber merchant asserted he knew that well enough had been interested in his daughter for years that was what had led him into the notion of their union and he knew that she used to have no objection to him but it was not any difficulty about that which embarrassed him it was that since he had educated her so well and so long and so far above the level of daughters it was wasting her to give her to a man of no higher standing than the young man in question that s what i have been thinking said mrs well then now you ve hit it answered the with feeling there lies my trouble i vowed to let her marry him and to make her as valuable as i could to him by her as many years and as thoroughly as possible i mean to keep my vow i made it because i did his father a terrible wrong and it was a weight on my conscience ever since that time till this scheme of making amends occurred to me through seeing that liked her wronged his father asked mrs yea wronged him said her husband d the well don t think of it to night she urged come indoors no no the air my head i shall not stay long he was silent a while then he told her as nearly as gather that his first wife his daughter grace s mother was first the sweetheart of f s father who loved her tenderly till he the speaker won her away from him by a trick because he wanted to marry her he sadly went on to say that the other man s happiness ruined by it that though he married s mother it was but a half hearted business with him added that he was afterwards very miserable at what he had done but that as time went on and the children grew up and seemed to be attached to each other he determined to do all he could to right the wrong by letting his daughter marry the lad not only that but to give her the best education he could afford so as to make the gift as valuable a one as it lay in his power to bestow i still mean to do it said do said she b ut all these things trouble me said he for i feel i am sacrificing her for my own sin and i think of her and often come down here and look at this look at what asked his wife he took the candle from her hand held it to the ground and removed a tile which lay in the garden path tis the track of her shoe that she made when she ran down here the day before she went away all those months ago i covered it up when she was gone and when i come here and look at it i ask myself again why should she be sacrificed to a poor man it is not altogether a sacrifice said the woman he is in love with her and he s honest and upright if she him what can you wish for more i wish for nothing definite but there s a lot of things possible for her why mrs is wanting some refined young lady i hear to go abroad with her as companion or something of the kind she d jump at grace that s all uncertain better stick to what s sure true true said and i hope it will be for the best yes let me get em married up as soon as i can so as the to have it over and done with he continued looking at the while he added she should be dying and never make a track on this path any more f she ll write soon depend upon t come tis wrong to stay here and brood so he admitted it but said he could not help it whether she write or no i shall fetch her in a few days and thus speaking he covered the track and preceded his wife in doors perhaps was an unlucky man in having within him the s wh could indulge in this f fond ness the of a daughter s footstep nature does carry on her government with a view to such feelings and when advancing years render the open hearts of those who possess them less than formerly in shutting against the blast they must suffer at will by rain and storm no less than little but her own existence and not mr s was the centre of s consciousness and it was in relation to this that the matter struck her as she slowly withdrew that then is the secret of it all she said and is not for me and the less i think of him the better she returned to her cottage the sovereigns were staring at her from the looking glass as she had left them with a countenance and with tears in her eyes she got a pair of and began cutting off the long locks of her hair arranging and tying them with their points all one way as the had directed upon the pale deal of the coffin stool table they stretched like waving and weeds over the washed gravel bed of a clear stream she would not turn again to the little looking glass out of humanity to herself knowing what a would look back at her and almost break her heart she dreaded	45
the gardens and that had been the blood of the that their human neighbors were on the move withdrew from and were seen and heard no more that day the daylight revealed the whole of mr s home stead of which the wagon sheds had been an it formed three sides of an open and consisted of all sorts of buildings the largest and central one the being the dwelling itself the fourth side of the was the public road it was a dwelling house of respectable almost dignified aspect which taken with the fact that there were the remains of other such buildings indicated that little had at some time or other been of greater importance than now as its old name of st also the house was of no marked antiquity yet of well advanced age older than a stale novelty but no antique faded not looking at you from the still distinct middle distance of the early time and awakening on that the instincts of more decidedly than the and far which have to speak from the misty reaches of the faces dress passions and of the and who had been the first to gaze from those windows and had stood under that key door way could be divined and measured by homely standards of to day it was a house in whose queer old personal tales were yet audible if properly listened for and not as with those of the castle and silent beyond the possibility of echo the garden front remained much as it had always been and there was a porch and entrance that way but the principal house door opened on the square yard or towards the road formerly a regular carriage entrance though the middle of the area was now made use of for timber bundles and other of the wood it was divided from the lane by a wall in which hung a pair of gates by out of the perpendicular with a round white ball on the top of each the building on the left of the was a long backed now used for making and ware manufacture in general opposite were the wagon sheds where had deposited her here had remained after the girl s abrupt departure to see that the wagon loads were properly made up was connected with the family in various ways in addition to the sentimental relationship which arose from his father having been the first mrs s d the lover s aunt had married and with the brother of the timber merchant many years before an alliance that was to place though the poorer on a footing of social intimacy with the as in most villages so secluded as this were of among the inhabitants and there were hardly two houses in little by some matrimonial tie or other for this reason a curious kind of existed between and the younger man a based upon an code by which each acted in the way he thought fair towards the other on a give and take principle with his timber and ware business found that the weight of his labor came in winter and spring was in the apple and trade and his in and other work came in the autumn of each year hence horses and in some degree men were handed over to him when the apples began to fall he in return his assistance to in the season as now before he had left the shed a boy came from the house to ask him to remain till mr had seen him thereupon crossed over to the house where two or three men were already at work two of them being travelling makers from white lane who when this kind of work began made their appearance regularly and when it was over disappeared in silence till the season came again was the one thing abundant in little and a blaze of made the with its light which with that of the day as yet ah the hollow shades of the roof could be seen dangling arms of ivy which had crept through the joints of the and were groping in vain for some support their leaves being and sickly for want of sunlight others were pushing in with such force at the as o lift from their the shelves that were fixed besides the workers there were also present john engaged in the hollow trade who lived hard by old and young top and bottom at work in mr s pit out the side farmer who kept the and robert an old man who worked for and stood warming his hands these latter being in by the blaze though they had no particular business there none of them call for any remark except perhaps to have completely described him it would have been necessary to write a military for he wore under his a cast off soldier s jacket that had seen hot service its collar showing just above the of the frock also a hunting to include the top boots that he had picked up by chance also of and for his pocket knife had been given him by a weather beaten sailor but carried about with him on his rounds these silent of war sport and adventure and thought nothing of their associations or their stories work as it was called being an occupation which the secondary intelligence of the hands and arms could carry on without requiring the sovereign attention of the head the minds of its professors wandered considerably from the objects before them hence the tales and of family history which were here were of a very kind and sometimes so interminable as to defy description seeing that had not arrived stepped back again outside the door and the conversation interrupted by his momentary presence flowed anew reaching his ears as an accompaniment to the regular dripping of the fog from the plantation boughs around	45
the topic at present handled was a highly popular and frequent one the personal character of mrs the owner of the surrounding woods and groves my brother in law told me and i no reason to doubt it said that she d sit down to her dinner with a frock hardly higher than her elbows oh you wicked woman he said to himself when he first see her you go to your church and sit and kneel as if your knee were with very saint s and tell off your hear us good lords like a business man counting money and yet you can eat your such a figure as that whether she s a character by this time i can t say but i don t care the who the man is that s how she went on when my lived there did she do it in her husband s that i don t know hardly i should think considering his temper ah here threw grieved remembrance into physical form by slowly his head to and letting his eyes water that man not if the angels of heaven come down he said shall you do another day s work for me yes he d say anything anything and would as soon take a winged creature s name in vain as yours or mine i well now i must get these home along and to morrow thank god i must see about using em an old woman now entered upon the scene she was mr s servant and passed a great part of her time in crossing the yard between the house door and the shed whither she had come now for fuel she had two one of a soft and kind she used in doors when assisting about the parlor or up stairs the other with stiff lines and comers when she was bustling among the men in the house or out of doors ah said john it do do my heart good to see a old woman like you so and stirring when i bear in mind that after fifty one year counts as two did afore but your smoke didn t rise this morning till twenty minutes past seven by my and that s late if you was a full sized man john people might take notice of your scornful but your growing up was such a and scanty business that really a woman couldn t feel hurt if you were to spit fire and itself at her here she added holding out a to one of the workmen from which a long black here s something for thy breakfast and if you want tea you must fetch it from in doors mr is late this morning said the bottom yes was a dark dawn said mrs even when i op the door so late as i was you couldn t have told poor men from gentlemen or john from a l and i don t think s slept at all well the to night he s anxious his and i know what that is for i ve cried for my own when the old woman had gone said he ll fret his green if he don t soon hear from that maid of his well learning is better than houses and lands but to keep a maid at school tiu he is taller out of than her mother was in em tis tempting providence no time ago that she was a little play ward girl said young i can mind her mother said the hollow always a delicate piece her touch upon your hand was as soft and cool as wind she was for the and had it beautifully fine just about the time that i was out of my ay and a long twas i served that master of mine six years and three hundred and fourteen days the hollow pronounced the days with emphasis as if considering their number they were a rather more remarkable fact than the years mr s father walked with her at one time said old but mr won her she was a child of a woman and would cry like rain if so be he her whenever she and her husband came to a in their walks together he d take her up like a half penny doll and put her over without her a speck and if he keeps the daughter so long at boarding school he ll make her as as her mother was but here he comes just before this moment had seen crossing the court from his door he was carrying an open letter in his hand and came straight to his gloom of the preceding night had quite gone rd no sooner made up my mind to go and see why grace didn t come or write than i get a letter from her wednesday my dear father says she i m coming home to morrow that s to day but i didn t think it worth while to write long beforehand the little rascal and didn t she now as you are going to market to day with your apple trees why not join me and grace there and we ll drive home all together f the he made the proposal with cheerful energy he was hard ly the same man as the man of the small dark ever it happens that even among the the tendency to he cheered is stronger than the tendency to he cast down and a so l stands permanently less than that of the sea of into which it is thrown though not replied to this suggestion with something like alacrity there was not much that grounds for cutting off her hair were substantial enough if s eyes had been a reason for keeping it on as for the timber merchant it was plain that his invitation had been	45
given solely in of his scheme for the pair he had made up his mind to the course as a duty and was bent upon following it out accompanied by he now turned towards the door of the house when his footsteps were heard by the men as well john and lot he said nodding as he entered a morning tis sir i said for not having as yet been able to summon force sufficient to go away and begin work he felt the necessity of throwing some into his speech i don t care who the man is tis the morning we ve had this fall i heard you wondering why kept my daughter so long at boarding school resumed mr looking up from the letter which he was reading anew by the fire and turning to them with the suddenness that was a trait in him hey he asked with affected but you did you know well now though it is mt own business more than anybody else s i ll tell ye when i was a boy another boy the pa son s son along with a lot of others asked me who dragged whom round the walls of what v and i said sam who dragged his wife in a chair round the tower corner when she went to be they laughed at me with such torrents of scorn that i went home ashamed and couldn t sleep for shame and i cried that night till my pillow was wet till at last i thought to myself there and i then they may laugh at me for my bat that the i was father s fault and none o my making and i most bear it but they shall never at my children if i have any ni starve first thank been able to keep her at school without sacrifice and her is such that she stayed on as for a time let em now if they can mrs herself is not better informed than my girl grace there was something between high indifference and emotion in his delivery which made it difficult for them to reply s interest was of a kind which did not show itself in words listening he stood by the fire mechanically stirring the embers with a you ll be then ready continued from a reverie well what was the latest news at yesterday mr f well is still you can t your there unless you ve got money and you can t buy a cup of genuine there whether or no but as the saying is go abroad and you ll hear news of home it seems that our new neighbor this young dr what s is a strange deep gentleman and there s good reason for supposing he has sold his soul to the wicked one od name it all murmured the timber merchant by the n but reminded of other things by the subject of it got to meet a this very morning and yet i ve planned to go to for the maid v t won t praise the doctor s wisdom till i hear what sort of ain he s made said the top tis only an old woman s tale said but it seems that he wanted certain books on some mysterious science or black art and in order that the people should not know anything about his dark he ordered em direct from london and not from the the parcel was delivered by mistake at the pa son s and he wasn t at home so his wife opened it and went into when she read em thinking her husband had turned heathen and be the ruin of the children but when he came he said he knew no more about em than she the and found they were this mr s property so be wrote beware outside and sent em on by the he must be a curious young man mused the he must said nonsense said mr he s only a gentleman fond of science and philosophy and poetry and in fact every kind of knowledge and being lonely here he passes his time in making such matters his well said old tis a strange thing about doctors that the worse they be the better they be i mean that if you hear anything of this sort about em ten to one they can cure ye as nobody else can true said emphatically and for my part i shall take my custom from old jones and go to this one directly i ve anything the matter with me last medicine old jones gave me had no taste in it at u mr as became a well informed man did not listen to these being moreover with the business appointment which had come into his head he walked up and down looking on the floor his usual custom when that about the arm hip and knee joint which was apparent when he walked was the net product of the divers and over exertions that had been required of him in handling trees and timber when a young man for he was of the sort called self made and had worked hard he knew the origin of every one of these that in his left shoulder had come of carrying a from bottom home that in one leg was caused by the crash of an elm against it when they were that in the other was from lifting a on many a morrow after himself by these prodigious muscular efforts he had risen from his bed fresh as usual his had departed apparently forever and confident in the power of his youth he had repeated the strains anew but treacherous time had been only hiding ill results when they could be guarded against for greater when they could in his declining years the store had been unfolded in	45
of and in every one of which recognized some the act which had its been made known he would wisely have from repeating on a summons by to breakfast he left the shed reaching the kitchen where the family in winter to save house labor he sat down by the fire and looked a long time at the pair of dancing shadows cast by each fire iron and dog on the a yellow one from the window and a blue one from the fire i don t quite know what to do to day he said to his wife at last recollected that i promised to meet mrs s steward in bound wood at twelve o clock and yet i want to go for grace why not let fetch her by himself bring em together all the quicker i could do that but i should like to go myself i always have gone without fail every time hitherto it has been a great pleasure to drive into and wait and see her arrive and perhaps she ll be disappointed if i stay away you may be disappointed but i don t think she will if you send said mrs very i ll send him was often persuaded by the of his wife s words when argument would have had no effect this second mrs was a placid woman who had been nurse to his child grace before her mother s death after that melancholy event little grace had clung to the nurse with much affection and ultimately in dread lest the only woman who cared for the girl should be induced to leave her persuaded the mild to marry him the arrangement for it was little more had worked satisfactorily enough grace had and had not repented he returned to the house and found near at hand to whom he explained the change of plan as she won t arrive till five o clock you can get your business very well over in time to receive her said the green will do for her you ll spin along quicker with that and won t be late upon the road her boxes can be called for by one of the d the knowing nothing of the timber merchant s aims quietly thought all this to be a kindly chance wishing even more than her father to despatch his apple tree business in the market before grace s arrival he prepared to start at once was careful that the should be the wheels for instance were not always washed during winter time before a journey the muddy roads rendering that labor useless but they were washed to day the harness was and when the rather elderly white horse had been put in and was in his seat ready to start mr stepped out with a brush and with his own hands touched over the yellow hoofs of the animal you see he said as he coming from a fashionable school she might feel shocked at the of home and tis these little things that catch a dainty woman s eye if they are neglected we living here alone don t notice how the brown out of the earth over us but she fresh from a city why she ll notice everything that she will said and scorn us if we don t mind not scorn us no no no that s only words she s too good a girl to do that but when we consider what she knows and what she has seen since she last saw us tis as well to meet her views as nearly as possible why tis a year since she was in this old place owing to her going abroad in the summer which i agreed to thinking it best for her and naturally we shall look small just at first i only say just at first mr s tone evinced a certain exultation in the very sense of that inferiority he affected to for this advanced and refined being was she not his own all the time not so he felt doubtful perhaps a trifle cynical for that strand was wound into him with the rest he looked at his clothes with then with indifference it was his custom during the planting season to carry a specimen apple tree to market with him as an advertisement of what he dealt in this had been tied across the and as it would be left behind in the town it would cause no inconvenience to miss grace coming home ths he away tbe twigs nodding with each step of the and went in doors before the had passed oat of sight mr reappeared and shouted after here he said l following with some it may be very chilly to night and she may want extra about her and he added when the young man having taken the articles put the horse in motion once more tell her that i should b ve come myself but i had business with mrs s agent which prevented me don t forget he watched out a sight saying with a j a shape into which emotion with him often resolved itself now i hope the two will bring it to a point and have with it lis a pity to let such a girl throw herself away upon him a thousand and yet tis way duty his father s sake j chapter v sped on his way to without and without had he regarded his inner self as lovers are now daily more wont to do he might have felt in the of a t rare power in him tiiat of keeping not only judgment but emotion suspended in difficult cases but he noted no neither did he observe what was also the fact that ik he cherished a true and warm feeling towards grace he was not	45
he suddenly lifted his eyes in a direction away from his face simultaneously with recognition and surprise she followed his gaze and saw walking across to him a young creature in whom she perceived the features of her she had known as miss grace but now looking and refined above her former level being fixed to the spot by his apple tree could not advance to meet her he held out his spare hand with his hat in it and with some embarrassment beheld her coming on through the mud to the middle of the square where he stood miss s arrival so early was as could see unexpected by which accounted for his not being ready to receive her indeed her father had named five o clock as her probable time for which reason that hour had been out all the day in his forward perspective like an important edifice on a plain now here she was come he knew not how and his arranged welcome the his face became gloomy at her for stepping into the road and still at the little look of embarrassment which appeared on hers at having to perform the meeting with him under an apple tree ten feet high in the middle of the market place having had occasion to take off the new gloves she had to come home in she held oat to him a hand from pink at the tips of the fingers to white at the palm and the reception formed a scene with the tree over their heads which was not by any means an ordinary one in streets nevertheless the greeting on her looks and lips was of a restrained type which perhaps was not unnatural for true it was that well attired and well as he was for a looked rough beside her it had sometimes dimly occurred to him in his silence at little that external phenomena such as the or height or color of a the fold of a coat the make of a boot or the chance attitude or occupation of a limb at the instant of view may a ine opinion ol s so frequently founded on but a certain of mental tone towards himself and the world in general had prevented to day as always any enthusiastic action on the strength of that reflection and her momentary instinct of reserve at first sight of him was the penalty he paid for his he gave away the tree to a by as soon as he could find one who would accept the gift and the twain moved on towards the inn at which he had put up made as if to step forward for the pleasure of being recognized by miss but abruptly checking herself she glided behind a s van saying no i wanted there and regarded s companion it would have been very difficult to describe grace with precision either now or at any time nay from the highest point of view to precisely describe a human being the of a universe how impossible i but apart from there never probably lived a person who was in herself more completely a ad of attempts to a woman even by of as the face and speaking generally it may be said that she was sometimes ol at other times not beautiful according to the state of her health and spirits in simple she was of a fair and clear complexion rather pale than pink slim in build and elastic in movement her look expressed a tendency to wait for others thoughts before uttering her own possibly also to wait for others deeds before her own doing in her small delicate mouth which had perhaps hardly settled down to its curves there was a gentleness that might hinder sufficient self assertion for her own good she had eyebrows which had her portrait been painted would probably have been done in front s or brown there was nothing remarkable in her dress just now beyond a natural fitness and a style that was recent for the streets of but indeed had it been the reverse and quite striking it would have meant just as little for there can be hardly anything less connected with a woman s personality than which she has neither designed cut or even seen except by a glance of approval when told that such and such a shape and color must be had because it has been decided by others as imperative at that particular time what people therefore saw of her in a view was very little in truth mainly something that was not she the woman herself was a shadowy creature who had little to do with the outlines presented to eyes a shape in the gloom whose true description could only be by putting together a movement now and a glance then in that patient and long continued which nothing but watchful loving kindness ever troubles to give there was a little delay in their setting out from the town and south took advantage of it to hasten forward with the view of escaping them on the way lest they should feel compelled to spoil their by asking her to ride she walked fast and one third of the journey was done and the evening rapidly darkening before she perceived any sign of them b ind her then while ascending a hill she dimly the saw their vehicle drawing near the lowest part of the incline their heads slightly bent towards each other drawn together no doubt by their as the heads of a pair of horses well in hand are drawn in by the rein she walked stiu faster bat between these and herself there was a carriage a coming in the same direction with lighted lamps when it overtook her which was not soon on of her pace the scene was much darker and the lights glared in	45
her eyes sufficiently to hide the details of the it occurred to that she might take hold behind this carriage and so keep along with it to save herself the mortification of being overtaken and picked up for pity s sake by the coming pair accordingly as the carriage drew abreast of her in climbing the long ascent she walked close to the wheels the rays of the nearest lamp penetrating her very she had only just dropped behind when the carriage stopped and to her surprise the coachman asked her over his shoulder if she would ride what made the question more surprising was that it came in obedience to an order from the interior of the vehicle gladly assented for she was weary very weary after working all night and keeping all day she mounted beside the coachman wondering why this good fortune had happened to her he was rather a great man in aspect and she did not like to inquire of him for some time at last she said who has been so kind as to ask me to rider mrs replied her companion was stirred at the name so closely connected with her last night s experiences is this her carriage she whispered yes she s inside reflected and perceived that mrs must have recognized her up the hill under the blaze of the lamp recognized probably her since she had kept away her face and thought that those were the result of her own desire south was not so very far wrong inside the carriage a pair of eyes looked from a handsome the face and behind bright eyes was a mind of mysteries beneath them there beat a heart of quick warmth a heart which indeed be passionately and warm on certain occasions at present after the girl she had acted on a mere impulse possibly feeling gratified at the appearance which signified the success of her agent in obtaining what she had required tis wonderful that she should ask ye observed the coachman presently i have never known her do it before for as a rule she takes no interest in the village folk at all said no more but occasionally turned her head to see if she could get a glimpse of the creature who as the coachman had truly observed hardly ever descended from her clouds into the of the but she could discern nothing of the lady she also looked for miss and the nose of their horse sometimes came quite near the back of mrs s but they never attempted to pass it till the latter conveyance turned towards the park gate when they sped by here the carriage drew up that the gate might be opened and in the momentary silence heard a gentle sound soft as a breeze what s that she whispered mis ess yawning why should she f oh because she s been used to such wonderfully good life and finds it here she ll soon be off again on ac count of it so rich and so powerful and yet to the girl murmured then things don t with she any more than with we now alighted the lamp again shone upon her and as the carriage rolled on a soft voice said to her from the interior good night good night ma am said but she had not been able to see woman who began so greatly to interest her the second person of her own sex who had strongly on her mind that day the chapter vl and grace had also their little experiences of the same homeward as he drove o e with her out of the town the glances of people fell upon them the younger thinking that mr was in a pleasant place and wondering in what relation he stood towards her himself was unconscious of this occupied solely with the idea of having her in charge he did not notice much with outward eye neither observing how she was dressed nor the of the picture they together composed in the landscape their conversation was in phrase for some time grace being somewhat disconcerted through not having understood till they were about to start that was to be her sole conductor in place of her father when they were in the open country he spoke don t s farm buildings look strange to you now they have been moved bodily from the hollow where the old ones stood to the top of the she admitted that they did though she should not have seen any in them if he had not pointed it out they had a good crop of bitter sweets they couldn t grind them all towards an orchard where some heaps of apples had been left lying ever since the she said yes but looking at another orchard why you are looking at john apple trees you know bitter sweets you used to well enough i am afraid i have forgotten and it is getting too dark to distinguish did not continue it seemed as if the knowledge and interest which had formerly moved grace s mind had quite died away from her he wondered whether the special attributes of his image in the past had like these other things the however tbat might be tbe fact at present was merely this that where he was seeing john apples and farm she was beholding a far scene a scene no less innocent and simple indeed bat a broad lawn in the fashionable of a fast city the leaves shining in the evening sun amid which bounding girls in artistic arrangements of blue brown red black and white were playing at games with laughter and chat in all the pride of life the notes of piano and harp trembling in the air from the open windows adjoining moreover they were girls and this was a fact which grace s delicate	45
could not lose sight of whose would have addressed with a sir or adam beside this scene the homely did not quite hold their own from her present twenty year point of survey for all his knew the primitive simplicity of the subject he had started and now sounded a deeper note twas very odd what we said to each other years ago i often think of it i mean our saying that if we still liked each other when you were twenty and i twenty five we d it was child s h m said suddenly i mean we were young said she more that manner of his in making inquiries reminded her that he was in much yes i beg your pardon miss your father sent me to meet you to day i know it and i am glad of it he seemed satisfied with her tone and went on at that time you were sitting beside me at the back of your father s car when we were coming home from all squeezed in together as tight as sheep in an it got darker and darker and i said i forget the exact words but i put my arm round your waist and there you let it stay till your father sitting in front suddenly stopped telling his story to farmer to light his pipe the shone into the car and showed us all up distinctly my arm flew from your waist like lightning yet not quickly but that some of em had seen and laughed the at us yet your father to oar amazement instead of being milk and seemed quite pleased have you f o ot all that or haven t you she owned that she remembered it very well now that he mentioned the circumstances but goodness i must have been in short she come now miss that won t do short indeed you know better as well as l grace thereupon declared that she would not argue with an old friend she valued so highly as she valued him saying the words with the easy that will be polite at all costs it might possibly be true she added that she was getting on in when that event took place but if it were so then she was no less than an old woman now so far did the time seem removed from her present do you ever look at things instead of personally f she asked i can t say that i do answered his eyes lingering far ahead upon a dark spot which proved to be a i think you may sometimes with advantage she look at yourself as a drifting on the stream with other and consider what are most desirable for avoiding cracks in general and not only for saving your poor one shall i tell you au about bath or or places on the continent that i visited last summer p with all my heart she then described places and persons in such terms as might have been used for that purpose by any woman to any man within the four seas so entirely absent from that description was everything specially to her own existence when she had done she said now do you tell me in return what has happened in since i have been away anything to keep the conversation away from her and me said within him it was true cultivation had so far advanced in the soil of miss s mind as to lead her to talk by of any thing save of that she knew well and had the greatest interest in developing that is to say herself he had not proceeded far with his somewhat bald the tion when they drew near the carriage that had been preceding them for some time miss inquired if he knew whose carriage it was although he had seen it had not taken it into account on examination he said it was mrs s grace watched the vehicle and its easy roll and seemed to feel more nearly akin to it than to the one she was in we can polish off the as well as they come to that said reading her mind and rising to at what it he whipped on the horse this it was which had brought the nose of mr s old gray close to the back of mrs s vehicle there s south sitting up with the coachman said he her by her dress ah poor i must ask her to come to see me this very evening how does she happen to be riding there i don t know it is very singular j hu s these people with went along uie road together till leaving the track of the carriage turned into little where almost the first house was the timber merchant s of dancing light streamed out of the windows sufficiently to show the white flowers and glance over the polished leaves of laurel the interior of tiie rooms could be seen distinctly warmed up by the fire flames which in the parlor were reflected from the glass of the pictures and and in the kitchen from the and ware let us look at the dear place for a moment before we call them she said in the kitchen dinner was preparing for though dined at one o clock at other times to day the m had been kept back for grace a old spit was in motion its end being fixed in the fire dog and the whole kept going by means of a cord conveyed over along the to a lai stone suspended in a corner of the room old came and wound it up with a rattle like that of a mill in the parlor a large shade of mrs s head fell on the the wall and ceiling but before the girl had r this room many	45
moments their presence was discovered and her father and step mother came out to welcome her the character of the family was of that kind which some shyness in showing strong emotion among each other a trait frequent in rural and one which stands in curiously relation to most of the peculiarities villagers from the people of towns thus hiding their warmer feelings under commonplace talk all round grace s reception produced no extraordinary but that more was felt than was appeared from the fact that her father in taking her in doors quite forgot the presence of without as did also grace herself he said nothing but took the round to the yard and called out from the house the man who particularly attended to these matters when there was no conversation to draw him os among the workers inside then returned to the door with the intention of entering the the family had gone into the parlor and were still absorbed in themselves the fire was as before the only light and it grace s face and hands so as to make them look smooth and fair beside those of the two elders shining also through the loose hair about her temples as sunlight through a her father was surveying her in a dazed conjecture so much had she developed and in manner and stature since he last had set eyes on her observing these things remained by the door mechanically tracing with his fingers certain letters carved in the of by gone generations of who had lived and died there no he declared to himself he would not enter and join the family they had forgotten him and it was enough for today that he had brought her home still he was a little surprised that her father s eagerness to send him for grace should have resulted in such an as this he walked softly away into the lane towards his own house looking back when he reached the turning from which he could get a last glimpse of the timber merchant s roof he the as to what grace was saying just at that moment and murmured with some self derision nothing about me i he looked also in the other direction and saw against the sky the hip and solitary chimney of cottage and thought of her too struggling bravely along under that humble shelter among her and pots and at the timber merchant s in the mean time the conversation flowed and as had rightly enough deemed on subjects in which he had no share among the matters there was for one the e upon mr of the womanly mien and manners of his daughter which took him so much unawares that though it did not make him absolutely forget the existence of her conductor homeward thrust s image back into quite the of his brain another was his interview with mrs s agent that morning at which the lady had been present for a few minutes had purchased some standing timber from her a long time before and now that the date had come for it he was left to pursue almost his own course this was what the household were actually talking of during s without and s satisfaction with the clear atmosphere that had arisen between himself and the deity of the groves which enclosed his residence was the cause of a on the side towards so thoroughly does she trust me said that i might fell top or on my own judgment any stick o timber whatever in her wood and fix the price o t and settle the matter but name it all i wouldn t do such a thing however it may be useful to have this good understanding with her i wish she took more interest in the place and stayed here all the year l am afraid tis not her regard for you but her dislike of that makes her so easy about the trees said mrs when dinner was over grace took a candle and began to through the rooms of her old home from which she had become an alien each nook and each object revived a memory and simultaneously the it the chambers seemed lower than they had appeared on any previous occasion of her return the of both walls and standing in such relations to the eye that it could not avoid taking note of their and old fashion her own bedroom wore at once a look more familiar than when she had left it and yet a face the world of little things therein gazed at her in helpless as though they had tried and been unable to make any progress without her presence over the place where her candle had been accustomed to stand when she had used to read in bed till the midnight hour there was still the brown spot of smoke she did not know that her father had taken especial care to keep it from being cleaned off having concluded her of this now edifice grace began to feel that she had come a long journey since the morning and when her father had been up himself as well as his wife to see that her room was comfortable and the fire burning she prepared to retire for the night no sooner however was she in bed than her momentary took itself off and she wished she had stayed up longer she amused herself by listening to the old familiar noises that she could hear to be still going on down stairs and by looking towards the window as she lay the blind had been drawn up as she used to have it when a and she could just discern the dim tree tops against the sky on the neighboring hill beneath this meeting line of light and shade nothing was visible save one solitary point of light which as the tree twigs waved	45
to and fro before its beams from its position it seemed to from the window of a house on the hill side the house had been empty when she was last at home and she wondered who inhabited the place now her conjectures however were not intently carried on and she was watching the light quite idly when it gradually changed color and at length shone blue as thus it remained several minutes and then it passed through violet to red her curiosity was so widely awakened by the phenomenon that she sat up in bed and stared steadily at the shine an the appearance of this sort ii to excite attention anywhere was no less than a in as grace had known the hamlet almost every and effect in that place had hitherto been the direct of the regular roll which produced the season s but here was something from these normal and foreign to local habit and knowledge it was about this moment that grace heard the household below preparing to retire the most emphatic noise in the proceeding being that of her father the doors then the stairs and h father and mother passed her chamber the last to come was grace slid out of bed ran across the room and lifting the latch i am not asleep come in and talk to me before the old woman had entered grace was again under the set down her and seated on the edge of miss s i want yon to tell me what light that is i see on the said grace mr looked oh that she said is from the doctor s he s often doing things of that sort perhaps you don t know that we ve a doctor living here now ms s by name grace admitted that she had not heard of him well then miss he s come here to get up a practice i know him very well through going there to help em sometimes which your father said i might do if i wanted to in my spare time being a bachelor man he ve only a lad in the house oh yes i know him very well sometimes he ll talk to me as if i were his own mother indeed yes he said one day when i asked him why he here where there s hardly anybody living tell you why i here i took a map and i marked m it where dr jones s practice ends to the north of this district and where mr s ends on the south and little green s on the east and somebody else s to the west then i took a pair of and found the exact middle ol the that waa left between these and that middle the was little so here i am bat lord there poor young man i he said been here three months and although there are a good many people in the and the villages round and a scattered practice is often a very good one i don t seem to get many and there s no society at all and i m pretty near melancholy mad he said with a great i should be quite if it were not for my books and my and what not i was made for higher things and then he d and again was he really made for higher things do you think i m an is he clever no how can he be clever he may be able to up a broken man or woman after a fashion and put his finger upon an ache if you tell him nearly where tis but these young men they should live to my time of life and then they d see how clever they were at five and twenty i and yet he s a a real and says the of ah he said at another time let me tell you that everything is nothing there s only me and not me in the whole world and he told me that no man s bands could help what they did any more than the hands of a clock yes he s a man of strange meditations and his eyes seem to see as far as the north star l he will soon go away no doubt i don t think so grace did not say why and hesitated at last she went on don t tell your father or mother miss if i let you know a secret grace gave the required promise well he talks of buying me so he won t go away just yet buying you how not my soul my body when i m dead one day when i was there cleaning he said you ve a large brain sl very large organ of brain he said a woman s is usually four less than a man s but yours is man s size well then bee i after he d flattered me a bit like that he said he d give me ten pounds to have me aa a the after my death well knowing no nor left and nobody with any interest in me i thought faith if i can be of any use to my fellow creatures after fm gone they are welcome to my services so i said i d think it over and would most likely agree and take the ten pounds now this is a secret miss between us two the money would be very useful to me and i see no harm in it of course there s no harm but oh how can you think to do it f i wish you hadn t told me i wish i hadn t if you don t like to know it miss but vou needn t mind lord i shall keep him waiting	45
many a year yet bless ye i hope you will i am sure the girl thereupon fell into such deep reflection that conversation and taking her candle wished miss good night the latter s eyes rested on the distant glimmer around which she allowed her reasoning fancy to play in vague that shaped the doings of the philosopher behind that light on the lines of intelligence just received it was strange to her to come back from the world to little and find in one of its like a tropical plant in a hedge row a of advanced ideas and which had nothing in common with the life around experiments projects and had found a strange home here thus she remained thinking the imagined pursuits of the man behind the light with sketches of his personality till her eyes fell together with their own and she slept chapter vii dreams of a weird surgeon s skeleton and the face of brought grace to the morning of the next day it was a north wind was blowing that not compromise between the of the eastern blast and the of the west quarter she the from her window in the direction of the light of the previous evening and could discern through the trees the shape of the surgeon s house somehow in the broad practical daylight that unknown and lonely gentleman seemed to be of much of the interest which had invested his personality and pursuits in the hours of darkness and as grace s dressing proceeded he faded from her mind meanwhile though half assured of her father s favor was rendered a little restless by miss s behavior despite his dry self control he could not help looking continually from his own door towards the timber merchant s in the probability of somebody s his attention was at length justified by the appearance of two figures that of mr himself and grace beside him they stepped out in a direction towards the quarter of the wood and walked behind them till all three were soon under the trees although the time of bare boughs had now set in there were sheltered hollows amid the and in which a more leave taking than on windy was the rule with the foliage this caused here and there an apparent mixture of the seasons so that in some of the that they passed by in full red were found growing beside oak and whose leaves were as yet not far removed from green and whose was rich and deep as in the month of august to grace these well known peculiarities were as an old painting restored now could be beheld that change from the handsome to the curious which the features of a wood undergo at the of the winter months angles were taking the place of curves and of a change a sudden lapse from the to the primitive on s canvas and to a step from the art of an advanced school of painting to that of pacific followed and kept his eye upon the two figures as they their way through these phenomena mr s long legs and drawn in to the bone at the ankles his slight stoop his habit of getting lost in thought and himself with an exclamation of the r accompanied with an upward jerk of the head composed a personage bj his neighbors as far as he could be seen it seemed as if the and birds knew him one of the former would occasionally run from the path to hide behind the arm of some tree which the little animal carefully edged round with and his daughter s movement onward assuming a mock manner as though he were saying ho ho you are only a and carry no gun they went noiselessly over of moss through tracts of leaves skirted trunks with spreading roots whose made them like hands wearing green gloves old elms and ashes with great forks in which stood pools of water that on rainy days and ran down their stems in green on older trees still than these huge of grew like lungs here as everywhere the intention which makes life what it is was as obvious as it could be among the crowds of a city the leaf was the curve was crippled the was interrupted the eat the vigor of the stalk and the ivy slowly to death the promising they amid under which nothing grew the younger boughs still retaining their leaves that in the breeze with a sound almost like the sheet iron foliage of the wood some of white in grace s had to keep her and her father in view till this time but now he lost sight of them and was obliged to follow by ear no difficult matter for on the line of their course every wood pigeon rose from its perch with a continued clash dashing its wings against the branches with force enough to break every by taking the track of this noise he soon came to a was it worth while to go farther he examined the soil at the foot of the and saw among the large sole and heel tracks an impression of a kind from a boot that was obviously not local for knew all the patterns in that district because they were very few to know the mud picture was enough to make him swing himself over and proceed thk n the character of the now changed the of the smaller trees were bare by and at divers points heaps of fresh made and the newly cut stool of a tree stared white through the there had been a large fall of timber this year which explained the meaning of some sounds that soon reached him a voice was shouting in a sort of human bark which reminded that there was a sale of trees and that very day would	45
naturally be present thereupon remembered that he wanted a few and entered upon the scene a large group of stood round the or followed him when between his pauses he wandered on from one lot of plantation produce to another like some philosopher of the school delivering his lectures in the shady groves of the his companions were farmers villagers and others mostly men who on that account could afford to be curious in their walking sticks which consequently exhibited various of vegetation the chief being cork screw shapes in black and white thorn brought to that pattern by the slow y torture of an during their growth as j the chinese have been said to mould human beings into toys by continued in infancy two women wearing men s on their gowns conducted in the rear of the halting procession a pony cart containing a tapped barrel of beer from which they drew and horns that were handed round with bread and cheese from a basket the adjusted himself to circumstances by using his walking stick as a hammer and knocked down the lot on any convenient object that took his fancy such as the crown of a little boy s head or the shoulders of a by who had no business there except to taste the a proceeding which would have been deemed humorous but for the air of stern which that s face preserved tending to show that the was a result of that absence of mind which is by the press of affairs and no of fancy at all mr stood slightly apart from the rest of the the and grace beside him clinging closely to his arm er modern attire looking almost odd where everything else was old fashioned and throwing over the familiar of the trees a that seemed to demand improvement by the addition of a few contemporary also grace seemed to regard the selling with the interest which to memories revived after an interval of went and stood close to them the spoke and continued his buying grace merely smiled to justify his presence there began bidding for timber and that he did not want pursuing the occupation in an abstracted mood in which the s voice seemed to become one of the natural sounds of the a few of snow descended at the sight of which a robin alarmed at these signs of imminent winter and seeing that no offence was meant by the human invasion came and perched on the tip of the that were being sold and looked into the s face while waiting for some chance from the bread basket standing a little behind grace observed how one would sail downward and settle on a curl of her hair and how another would choose her shoulder and another the edge of her bonnet which took up so much of his attention that his proceeded and when the said every now and then with a nod towards him yours mr he had no idea whether he had bought poles or he regretted with some of humor that her father should show such of temperament as to keep grace tightly on his arm to day when he had quite lately seemed anxious to recognize their as a fact and thus musing and joining in no conversation with other except when directly addressed he followed the assemblage hither and thither till the end of the when for the first time realized what his purchases had been hundreds of and divers lots of timber had been set down to him when all he had had been a few bundles of spray for his odd man robert s use in and fires business being over he to to the timber the merchant bat s manner was short and distant and grace too looked vexed and then discovered that he had been bidding against her father and picking up his favorite lots in spite of him with a very few words they left the spot and pursued their way homeward was extremely sorry at what he had done and remained standing under the trees all the other men having strayed silently away he saw and his daughter pass down a without looking back while they moved slowly through it a lady appeared on horseback in the middle distance the line of her progress upon that of s they met took off his bat and she in her horse a conversation was evidently in progress between grace and her father and this in whom he was almost sure that he recognized mrs less by her outline than by the livery of the groom who had halted some yards off the did not part till after a prolonged pause during which much seemed to be said when and grace resumed their walk it was with something of a lighter tread than before then pursued his own course homeward he was unwilling to let coldness grow up between himself and the for any reason and in the evening he went to their house on drawing near the gate his attention was attracted by the sight of one of the into a state of illumination in it stood grace lighting several candles her light hand the her left hand on her bosom her face thoughtfully fixed on each as it kindled as if she saw in every flame s growth the rise of a life to maturity he wondered what such unusual brilliancy could mean to night on getting in doors he found her father and step mother in a state of suppressed excitement which at first he could not comprehend i am sorry about my to day said i don t know what i was doing i have come to say that any of the lots you may require are yours oh never mind never mind replied the timber merchant with a slight wave of his hand i have so much else the to think	45
of that i nearly had f oi ot it just now too there are matters of a kind from trade to attend to so don t let it concern ye as the timber merchant spoke as it were down to him from a higher moral plane than his own turned to mrs grace is going to the to morrow she said quietly she is looking out her things now i dare say she is wanting me this minute to assist her thereupon mrs left the room nothing is more remarkable than the independent personality of the tongue now and then mr knew that his words had l en a sort of boast he particularly to yet whenever the subject was grace his judgment resigned the of speech in spite of him felt surprise pleasure and also a little apprehension at the news he repeated mrs s words yes said paternal pride not sorry to have dragged out of him what he could not in any circumstances have kept in coming home from the woods this afternoon we met mrs out for a ride she spoke to me on a little matter of business and then got acquainted with grace twas wonderful how she took to grace in a few minutes that of education made em close at once naturally enough she was amazed that such an article ha ha i could come out of my house at last it led on to mis ess grace being asked to the house so she s busy hunting up her and to go in as remained in thought without continued but i ll call her down stairs no no don t do that since she s busy said feeling from the young man s manner that his own talk had been too much at and too little to him repented at once his face changed and he said in lower tones with an effort she s yours as far as i am concerned thanks my best thanks but i think since it is all right between us about the that i ll not interrupt her now i ll step homeward and call another time the on leaving the house he looked ap at the bedroom again grace by a sufficient number of candles to answer all purposes of self criticism was standing before a glass that her father had lately bought expressly for her use she was and and glanced over her shoulder into the mirror her aspect her face was lit with the natural of a young girl hoping to on the morrow an intimate acquaintance with a new interesting and powerful friend chapter vm thb appointment which had led to indulge in a six candle illumination for the arrangement of her attire carried her over the ground the next morning with a tread her sense of being properly appreciated on her own native soil seemed to the atmosphere and round her as the s lamp the grass a she moved of emotion r to empty on she knew not f i twenty minutes walking through copies over a and along an lawn brought her to the verge of a deep at the bottom of which house appeared immediately beneath her eye to describe it as standing in a hollow would not express the situation of the house it stood in a hole notwithstanding that the hole was full of beauty from the spot which grace had reached a stone could easily have been thrown over or into the birds chimneys of the mansion its walls were surmounted by a but the gray lead roofs were quite visible behind it with their rolls and together with and shoe patterns cut by the front of the house exhibited an ordinary of windows and worked in rich snuff colored from local the of the walls where not overgrown with ivy and other was with of every shade the its with its to the ground till below the it in moss above the house to the back was a dense plantation the roots of whose trees were above the level of the chimneys the corresponding high ground on which grace stood was richly with only an old tree here and there a few sheep lay about which as they looked quietly into the bedroom windows the situation of the house to humanity was a to vegetation on which account an endless of the heavy armed ivy was necessary and a continual of trees and shrubs it was an edifice built in times when human were when shelter from the boisterous was all that men thought of in choosing a dwelling place the being beneath their notice and its hollow site was an by its for modern lives of the to which these have declined the highest cunning could have done nothing to make house dry and and ignorance could have done little to make it it was vegetable nature s own home a spot to inspire the painter and poet of still life if they did not suffer too much from the atmosphere and to draw groans from the disposed grace descended the green by a path into the drive which swept round beneath the slope the exterior of the house had been to her from her childhood but she bad never been inside and the approach to knowing an old thing in a new way was a lively experience it was with a little flutter that she was shown in but she recollected that mrs would probably be alone up to a few days before this time that lady had been accompanied in her and by a relative believed to be her aunt however these two ladies had separated owing it was supposed to a quarrel and mrs had been left desolate being a woman who did not care for solitude this might possibly account for her sudden interest in grace mrs was at the end of a gallery	45
opening from the hall when miss was announced and saw her through the glass doors between them she came d with a the on her f ace and told the girl it was good of her to come ah yon have noticed those she said seeing that grace s eyes were attracted by some objects against the walls they are man traps my husband was a in man l traps and spring guns ana articles collecting them from all his he knew the histories of all l which gin had broken a man s leg which had killed a man that one i remember his saying had been set by a game keeper in the track of a notorious but the keeper forgetting what he had done went that way himself received the charge in the lower part of his body and died of the wound i don t like them here but i ve never yet given directions for them to be taken away she added man traps are of rather ominous significance where a person of our sex lives are they no k grace was bound to smile that side of was one which her had no great zest in contemplating they are interesting no doubt as relics of a barbarous time happily past she said looking thoughtfully at the varied designs of these instruments of torture some with jaws some with most of them with long sharp teeth but a few with none so that their jaws look like the blank of old age well we must not take them too seriously said mrs with an indolent turn of her head and they moved on inward when she bad shown her visitor different articles in that she deemed likely to interest her some wood and so on always with a mien of which might either have been constitutional or owing to the situation of the place they sat down to an early cup of tea will you pour it please do she said leaning back in her chair and placing her hand above her forehead while her eyes those long eyes so common to the of early italian art became longer and her voice more she showed that softness which is perhaps most frequent in women of darker complexion and more temperament than m the s was who smile their to men rather than speak them who rather than prompt and take advantage of currents rather than steer i am the most woman when i am here she said i think sometimes i was born to live and do nothing nothing nothing but float as we fancy we do sometimes in dreams but that cannot be really my destiny and i must struggle against such fancies i am so sorry you do not enjoy exertion it is quite sad i wish i could tend you and make you very happy there was something so sympathetic so in the sound of grace s voice that it impelled people to play with their customary in to her it is tender and kind of you to feel that said mrs perhaps i have given you the notion that my languor is more than it really is but this place me and i have a plan of going abroad a good deal i used to go with a relative but that arrangement has dropped through regarding grace with a final glance of criticism she seemed to make up her mind to consider the young girl satisfactory and continued now i am often impelled to record my impressions of times and places i have often thought of writing a new sentimental journey but i cannot find energy enough to do it alone when i am at different places in the south of europe i feel a crowd of ideas and fancies upon me continually but to writing materials take up a cold steel pen and put these impressions down on cold smooth paper that i cannot do so i have thought that if i always could have somebody at my elbow with whom i am in sympathy i might dictate any ideas that come into my head and directly i had made your acquaintance the other day it struck me that you would suit me so well would you like to undertake it f you might read to me too if desirable will you think it over and ask your parents if they are willing oh yes said grace i am almost sure they would be very glad you are so accomplished i hear i should be quite honored by such intellectual company grace modestly blushing any such idea the do you keep np at little f ob no are not unknown at little but they are not carried on by me what another student in that retreat f there is a surgeon lately come and i have heard that he reads a great deal i see his light s through the trees late at night oh yes a doctor i believe i was told of him it is a strange place for him to settle in p it is a convenient centre for a practice t hey but he does not confine his studies to medicine he and and all sorts of subjects what is his name he represents y t the of not a great many from here i am not sufficiently local to know the history of the family i was never in the county till my husband brought me here mrs did not care to pursue this line of investigation whatever mysterious merit might attach to antiquity it was one which though she herself could claim it her wandering nature had grown tired of caring about a peculiarity that made her a contrast to her neighbors it is of rather more importance to know what the man is himself than what his	45
is she said if he is going to practise upon us as a have you seen grace had not i think he is not a very old man she added has he a wife i am not aware that he has well i hope he will be useful here i must get to know him when i come back it will be very convenient to have a medical man if he is clever in one s own parish i get dreadfully nervous sometimes living in such an place and is so far to send to no doubt you feel to be a great change after watering place life i do but it is home it has its advantages and its grace was thinking less of the solitude than of the attendant the thej on for some time grace being set quite at her ease by her mrs was far too a woman not to know that to show a marked patronage to a sensitive young girl who would probably be very quick to discern it was to her dignity rather than to establish it in that young girl s eyes so being violently possessed with her idea of making use of this gentle acquaintance ready and waiting at her own door she took great pains to win her confidence at starting just before grace s departure the two chanced to pause before a mirror which reflected their faces in immediate so as to bring into their and their both looked attractive as back by the faithful but grace s countenance had the effect of making mrs appear more than her full age there are which set off each other to great advantage and there are those which an killing or t neighbor this was the case rs fell into a meditation and replied to a remark of her companion s however she parted from her young friend in the tones promising to send and let her know as soon as her mind was made up on the arrangement she had suggested when grace had ascended nearly to the top of the adjoining slope she looked back and saw that mrs still stood at the door regarding her often during the previous night after his call on the s thoughts ran upon grace s announced visit to house why could he not have proposed to walk with her part of the way something told him that she might not on such an occasion care for his company he was still more of that opinion when standing in his garden next day he saw her go past on the journey with such a pretty pride in the event he wondered if her father s ambition which had purchased for her the means of intellectual light and culture far beyond those of any other native of the village would to the flight of her future interests above and away from the local life which was once to her the movement of the world the l he liad her father s to win her if he could and to this end it became desirable to bring matters soon to a crisis if he ever hoped to do so if she should think herself too good for him he could let her go and make the best of his loss but until he had really tested her he could not say that she despised his suit the question was how to events towards an issue he thought and thought and at last decided that as good a way as any would be to give a christmas party and ask grace and her parents to come as chief guests these were occupying him when there became audible a slight knocking at his front door he descended the path and looked out and beheld south dressed for out door work why didn t you come mr she said been waiting there hours and hours and at last i thought i must try to find you bless my soul i d quite forgot said what he had forgotten was that there was a thousand young fir trees to be planted in a neighboring spot which had been cleared by the wood and that he had arranged to plant them with his own hands he had a marvellous power of making trees grow although he would seem to in the earth quite carelessly there was a sort of sympathy between himself and the fir oak or that he was on so that the roots took hold of the soil in a few days when on the other hand any of the planted although they seemed to go through an similar process one quarter of the trees would die away during the august hence found delight in the work even when as at present he contracted to do it on portions of the in which he had no personal interest who turned her hand to anything was usually the one who performed the part of keeping the trees in a perpendicular position while he threw in the mould he accompanied her towards the spot being stimulated yet further to proceed with the work by the knowledge that the ground was close to the way side along which grace must pass on her return from house the you ve a cold in the head he said as they walked that comes of cutting off your hair i suppose it do yes i ve three going on in my head at the same time three yes a headache in my a sick headache over my eyes and a misery headache in the middle of my brain however i came out for i thought you might be and grumbling like anything if i was not there the holes were already dug and they set to work winter s fingers were endowed with a gentle s touch in spreading the roots of each little tree in a sort of caress	45
under which the delicate all laid themselves out in their proper directions for growth he put most of these roots towards the south west for he said in forty years time when some great gale is blowing from that quarter the trees will require the strongest on that side stand against it and not fall how sigh directly w em upright though while are lying down they don t sigh at all said do they said i ve never noticed it she erected one of the young pines into its hole and held up her finger the soft breathing instantly set in which was not to cease night or day till the grown tree should be probably long after the two should be fell themselves i it seems to me the girl continued as if they sigh cause they are very sorry to begin life in earnest just as i we be just as we be he looked at her you u t not to feel like that only reply was turning to take up the next tree and ihey planted on through a great part of the day almost without another word s mind ran on his contemplated evening party his abstraction being such that he hardly was conscious of s presence beside him from the nature of their in which he handled the and she merely held the tree it followed that he got good exercise and she got none but she was an heroic girl and though her out stretched hand was chill as a stone and her the cheeks and her cold worse than ever she would not complain while he was disposed to continue work but when he paused she said mr can i run down the lane and back to warm my feet f why yes of course he said awakening anew to her existence though i was just thinking what a mild day it is for the season now i warrant that cold of yours is twice as bad as it was you had no business to chop that hair off it serves you almost right look here cut off home at once a run down the lane will be quite enough no it won t you ought not to have come out to day at all but i should like to finish i tell you to go home said he i can manage to keep the rest of them upright with a stick or something she went away without saying any more when she had gone down the orchard a little distance she looked back suddenly went after her it was for your good that i was rough you know but warm yourself in your own way i don t care when she had run off he fancied he discerned a woman s dress through the bushes which divided the from the road it was grace at last on her way back om the interview with mrs he threw down the tree he was planting and was about to break through the belt of when he suddenly became aware of the presence of another man who was looking ov the hedge on the opposite side of the way upon the figure of the unconscious grace he appeared as a handsome and gentlemanly of six or eight and twenty and was h through an eye glass seeing that was noticing him he let his glass drop with a dick upon the rail which protected the hedge and walked away in the opposite direction knew in a moment that this must be mr when he was gone pushed through tiie and emerged close beside the object of their the chapter ix i heard the bushes move long before i saw yoa she began i said first it is some terrible beast next it is a next it is a friend i he regarded her with a slight smile weighing not her speech but the question whether he should tell her that she had been watched he decided in the negative you have been to the house he said but i need not ask the fact was that there shone upon miss s face a species of exaltation which saw no details nor his own occupation nothing more than his bare presence why need you not ask f your face is like the face of moses when he came down from the mount she a little and said how can you be so profane how can you think so much of that class of people well i beg pardon i didn t mean to speak so freely how do you like her house and her exceedingly i had not been inside the walls since i was a child when it used to be let to strangers before mrs s late husband bought the property she is and grace fell into such an abstracted gaze at um imaginary image of mrs and her that it almost up a vision of that lady in mid air before them she has only been here a month or two it seems and cannot stay much longer because she finds it so lonely and damp in winter she is going abroad only think she would like me to go with her s features a little at the news indeed what for but i won t keep you standing here robert i he cried to a swaying collection of clothes in the distance which was the figure of his man go on in there till i come back the fm a sir i m a coming well the reason is this continued she as they went on together mrs has a delightful side to her character a desire to record her impressions of travel like and m ry and and others but she cannot find enough to do it herself and grace proceeded to explain mrs s proposal at large my notion is that mary s style	45
ee when he reached home that evening he said to grace and mrs who were working at a little table by the fire the wants us to go down and spend an with him the day after to morrow and fm thinking that as tis who asks us we ll go they assented without and accordingly the sent the next morning an answer in the affirmative in his modesty or indifference had mentioned no particular hour in his invitation and accordingly mr and his family expecting no other guests chose their own time which chanced to be rather early in the afternoon by reason of the somewhat quicker despatch than usual of the timber merchant s business that day to show their sense of the of the occasion they walked quite slowly to the house as if they were merely out for a and going to nothing special at all or at most intending to pay a casual call and take a cup of tea at this hour stir and bustle pervaded the interior of s from to apple he had planned an elaborate high tea for six o clock or and a good roaring supper to come on about eleven being a bachelor of rather retiring habits the whole of the preparations upon and his man and familiar robert who did everything that required doing from making s bed to catching in his field he was a from the days when s father held the and was a playing boy these two with a certain which to both were now in the heat of preparation in the expecting nobody before six o clock was standing before the brick oven in his shirt sleeves tossing in thorn and stirring about the blazing mass with a long handled three kind of fork the heat shining out upon his streaming face and making his eyes like the thorns and while having ranged the dishes in a row on the table till the oven should be ready was pressing out the crust of a final apple pie with a rolling pin a great pot boiled on the fire and through the open door of the back kitchen a boy was seen seated on the the and the the a row of the latter standing down on the bob to melt ont the looking np from the rolling pin saw passing the window first the timber merchant in his second best suit mrs in her best silk and grace in the fashionable attire which in part brought home with her from the continent she had worn on her visit to mrs s the eyes of the three had been attracted to the proceedings within by the fierce illumination which the oven threw out upon the and their lord lord if they come a ready said no hey said looking round aghast while the boy in the background waved a in his delight as there was no help for it went to meet them in the door way my dear i see we have made a mistake in the time said the timber merchant s wife her face with concern oh it is not much difference i hope you ll come in but this means a regular i said mn glancing round and pointing towards the with his stick well yes said and not great band and surely f i told three of em they might drop in if they d else to do mildly admitted now why the name didn t ye tell us twas going to be a serious kind of thing before how should i know what folk mean if they don t say now shall we come in or shall we go home and come back along in a couple of hours i hope you ll stay if you ll be so good as not to mind now you are here i have it all right and tidy in a very little time i ought not to have been so backward spoke quite anxiously for one of his temperament for he feared that if the once were back in their own house they would not be disposed to turn out ain tis we ought not to have been so forward that s what tis said mr don t keep as here in the the sitting room lead on to the man now we are here we ll help ye get ready for the rest here mis ess take off your things and help him oat in his or he won t get done to night fu finish the oven and set you free to go and up them ducks his eye had passed with pitiless of criticism into yet remote recesses of s awkwardly built premises where the birds were hanging and ni help finish the said grace cheerfully i don t know about that said her father t quite so much in your line as it is in your mother law s and mine of course i couldn t let you grace said with some distress i ll do it of course said mrs taking off her silk train hanging it up to a nail carefully rolling back her sleeves them to her shoulders and of his apron for her own use so grace idly about while her father and his wife helped on the preparations a kindly pity of his household management which saw in her eyes whenever he caught them depressed him much more than her contempt would have done met at the pump after a while when each of the others was absorbed in the difficulties of a based on and provisions that were strange to them he groaned to the young man in a whisper this is a i m much who d ha thought they d ha come so soon f the bitter of s look the he did not care to express have you got the ready he asked quickly now that	45
of the room and r will hold a wa er with that air these marks are y two accompanied by strokes with the chalk on the table then an exclamation an argument a dealing of the cards then the commencement of the anew the timber merchant showed his feelings by talking with a satisfied sense of weight in his words and by the party in a tone when expressed his fear that he and his were not enjoying themselves the oh yes yes pretty much what handsome glasses those are i didn t know you had such glasses in the house now to his wife you ought to get some like them for ourselves and when they had abandoned cards and was talking to by the fire it was the timber merchant who stood with his back to the mantle in a attitude from which post of he regarded s person rather as a than as a solid with ideas and feelings inside it saying what a splendid coat that one is you have on i can t get such coats you dress better than i after supper there was a dance the from great having arrived some time before grace had been away from home so long that she had forgotten the old and hence did not join in the movement then felt that all was over as for her she was thinking as she watched the of a very different measure that she had been accustomed to tread with a of like creatures in muslin in the music room of a large house most of whom were now moving in scenes widely removed from this both as regarded place and character a woman she did not know came and to tell her with the abandoned cards grace assented to the proposal and the woman told her tale for want of practice as she declared mr was standing by and exclaimed contemptuously tell her fortune indeed her fortune has been told by men of science what do you call em you can t teach her anything new she s been too far among the wise ones to be astonished at anything she can hear among us folks in at last the time came for breaking up and his family being the earliest to leave the two card players still pursuing their game in the comer where they had completely covered s mahogany table with chalk the three walked home the distance being short and the night clear well is a very good fellow said mr as they struck down the lane under boughs which formed a black in which the stars seemed set the certainly he is grace quickly and in a tone as to show tiiat he stood no lower if no higher in her regard than he had stood before when they were opposite an opening through which by day the doctor s house could be seen they observed a light in one of his rooms although it was now about two o clock the doctor is not yet said mrs hard study no doubt said her husband one would think that as he seems to have nothing to do about here by day he could at least to go to bed early at night tis astonishing how little we see of him s mind seemed to turn with much relief to the contemplation of mr fit after the scenes of the evening it is natural enough he replied what can a man of that sort find to interest him in i don t expect he ll stay here long his mind to s party and when they were nearly home he spoke i ain his daughter being a few steps in advance it is hardly the line of life for a girl like grace after what she s been accustomed to i didn t foresee that in sending her to boarding school and letting her travel and what not to make her a good bargain for i should be really her for him ah tis a thousand but he ought to have her he ought i at this moment the two exclusive chalk mark men having at last really finished their play could be heard coming along in the rear singing a song to march time and keeping vigorous step to the same in far reaching strides she may go oh i she may go oh i she may go to the d for me the timber merchant turned indignantly to mrs that s the sort of society we ve been asked to meet he said for us old folk it didn t matter but for grace should have known better i meanwhile in the empty house from which the guests had just cleared out the subject of their discourse was walking from room to room surveying the general of the f with no feeling rather the reverse indeed at last he entered the and found there robert sitting over the embers al o lost in contemplation sat down beside him well robert you must be tired you d better get on to bed ay ay what do i call ye i would say but tis well to think the day is done when tis done had taken the and with a wrinkled forehead was abroad the wood embers on the broad hearth till it was like a vast with red hot lying about everywhere do you think it went well f he asked the did that i know and the drink did that i believe from the sound of the barrels honest drink the i ever and the best wine that could rise to and the and ever wrung down leaving out th and i put into it while that egg would ha passed through muslin so little twas good enough to make any king s heart merry ay to make his whole smile i don t deny	45
i m some things didn t go well with he and his nodded in a direction which signified where the lived i m afraid too that it was a failure there if so doomed to be so not but what that might as well have come upon anybody else s plate as hers well there was a little one upon the edge of her plate when i brought it out and so it must have been in her few leaves of how the deuce did a get there f that i don t know no more than the dead but there my gentleman was but robert of all places that was where he shouldn t have been well twas his native home come to that and where else could we expect him to be i don t care who the man is and always will in close to the stump of in that way the he wasn t alive i suppose said with a shudder on grace s account oh no he was well boiled i warrant him well boiled god forbid that a live should be seed on any plate of that s served by robert but lord there i don t mind em myself them small ones for they were bom on and they ve lived on so they must be made of but she the close mouthed little lady she didn t say a word about it though have made good small conversation as to the of such creatures especially as wit ran short among us sometimes oh yes tis all over i murmured to himself shaking his head over the plain of embers and his forehead more than ever do you know robert he said that she s been accustomed to servants and everything these many years how then could she stand our ways all i can say is then that she ought to and elsewhere they shouldn t have her so monstrous high or else bachelor men shouldn t give or if they do give em only to their own race perhaps that s true said rising and yawning a sigh chapter xi tis a pity a thousand her father kept saying next morning at breakfast grace being still in her bedroom but how could he with any self respect s suit at this stage and a scheme he had labor ed to promote was indeed mechanically at this moment a crisis was approaching as a result of his and it would have to be met but here was the fact which could not be disguised since seeing what an immense change her last twelve months of absence had produced in his daughter after the heavy sum that he had been spending for several years up on er education he was reluctant to let her marry occupied as merchant apple farmer and what not even were she willing to marry him herself she will be his wife if you don t upset her notion that she s bound to accept him as an understood thing said mrs bless ye she ll soon shake down here in and be content with s way of living which he ll improve with what money she ll have from you tis the strangeness after her genteel life that makes her feel uncomfortable at first why when saw the first time i thought i never like it but things gradually get familiar and stone floors seem not so very cold and hard and the of the not so very dreadful and loneliness not so very lonely after a while yes i believe ye that s just it i know grace will gradually sink down to our level again and catch our manners and way of speaking and feel a drowsy content in being s wife but i can t bear the thought of dragging down to that old level as promising a piece of as ever lived fit to ornament a palace wi that i ve taken so much trouble to lift up fancy her white hands getting every day and her tongue losing its pretty up country curl in talking and her bounding walk becoming the regular and she may but she ll never replied his wife when grace came down stairs he complained of her lying in bed so late not so much moved by a particular objection to that form of indulgence as by these reflections the comers of her pretty mouth dropped a little down you used to complain with justice when i was a girl she said but i am a woman now and can judge for myself but it is not that it is something else instead of sitting down she went outside the door he was sorry the that relatives show towards other is in truth directed against that ity which has shaped the situation no less for the than the but is too to be and by poor humanity in irritated followed her she had on to ther where the ths si white frost lay and where in flocks of and were walking about watched by a comfortable family of perched in a line along the string course of the chimney themselves in the rays of the sun come in to breakfast my girl he said and as to use your own mind whatever pleases you will please me i am promised to him father and i cannot help thinking that in honor i ought to marry him whenever i do marry he had a strong suspicion that somewhere in the bottom of her heart there an old simple feeling favorable to though it had become with tastes but he would not distinctly express his views on the promise very well he said but i hope i sha n t lose you yet come in to breakfast what did you think of the inside of house the other day f i liked it much different	45
from friend she said nothing but he who knew her was aware that she meant by her silence to reproach him with drawing cruel mrs has asked you to come when did you say she thought tuesday but would send the day before to let me know if it suited her and with this subject upon their lips they entered to breakfast tuesday came but no message from mrs nor was there any on wednesday in brief a fortnight slipped by without a sign and it looked suspiciously as if mrs were not going further in the direction of taking up grace at present her father reasoned immediately after his daughter s two with mrs the interview in the wood and a visit to the house she had attended s party no doubt the out and out of that gathering had made it a topic in the neighborhood and that every one present as guests had been widely spoken of grace with her exceptional qualities above all what then bo natural as that mrs should have heard the the village news and become disappointed in ber expectations of grace at finding kept company full of post argument mr overlooked tbe infinite of possible reasons and for a woman ber mind for instance knowing tbat bis grace was attractive be quite forgot tbat mrs bad also great pretensions to beauty in bis simple estimate an attractive woman attracted all around so it was settled in bis mind tbat ber sudden mingling witb tbe villagers at tbe unlucky s was tbe cause of ber most grievous loss as be deemed it in tbe direction of house tis a i be would repeat to i am ber for conscience sake it was one morning later on were bis mind tbat curiously darkened tbe window just as tbey breakfast looking up tbey saw in person mounted on and straining bis neck forward as be bad been doing for some time to attention tbe window grace bad been tbe first to see bim and involuntarily exclaimed be is and a new on faces as tbey regarded were written suspended and compound feelings concerning bim could be read old panes but be saw bis features just now were for a wonder lit up witb a red smile at some idea so tbey rose from breakfast and went to tbe door grace witb an anxious wistful manner ber in a reverie mrs placid and inquiring we come out to look at your said it could be seen tbat be was pleased at attention and explained tbat be bad ridden a mile or two to try tbe animal s paces i ber be added witb so severely repressed as to seem indifference because been used to carry a lady still mr did not mrs said and is quiet f assured ber tbat was no doubt of it i took care of tbat s five and twenty and very clever for ber age the well get and come in said and accordingly this event was the of s thoughts during the past week or two the want of success with his evening party he had accepted in as philosophic a mood as he was capable of but there had been enthusiasm enough left in him one day at market to purchase this old mare which had belonged to a neighboring parson with several daughters and was offered him to carry either a gentleman or a lady and to do odd of and at a pinch this obliging seemed to furnish with a means of himself in s good opinion as a man of by throwing out future possibilities to grace the latter looked at him with interest this morning in the mood which is altogether peculiar to woman s nature and which when reduced into plain words seems as impossible as the of matter that of entertaining a tender pity for the object of her own unnecessary coldness the which marked in general was now by a freshness and animation that set a brightness in his eye and on his cheek mrs asked him to have some breakfast and he replied that he would join them with his usual lack of observation not perceiving that they had all finished the meal that the hour was late and that the note by the kettle it to be nearly empty so that fresh water had to be brought in trouble taken to make it boil and a general of the table carried out neither did he know so full was he of his tender object in buying that horse how many cups of tea he was down one after another nor how the morning was slipping nor how he was keeping the family from about their duties then he told throughout the humorous story of the horse s purchase looking particularly grim at some fixed object in the room a way he always looked when he anything that amused him while he was still thinking of the scene he had described grace rose and said i have to go and help my mother now mr wm i he ejaculated turning his eyes suddenly upon her s thb she repeated her words with a slight of awkwardness whereupon becoming conscious too conscious jumped up saying to oe sure to be sure p wished them quickly good morning and bolted out of the house nevertheless he had upon the whole strengthened his position with her at least time too was on his side for as her father saw with some regret already the of life was fast becoming from her observation as a just as the first strangeness of a face from which we have for years been separated passes off with renewed intercourse and tones itself down into simple identity with the of the past thus mr went out of the house still to the sacrifice of the he had been at such pains in mounting he	45
had accidentally met the was asking if he had heard what was all over the parish the skin of his face being drawn two ways on the matter towards brightness in respect of it as news and towards concern in respect of it as circumstance why that poor thing south is likely to lose her father he was almost well but is much worse again a man all skin and grief he ever were and if the he leave little for a better land won t it make some to your neighbor can i be a prophet in said won t it i i was only of such a thing yesterday in my poor long seeing way and all the work of the house upon my one shoulders you know what it means it is upon john s life that all mr s houses hang if so be south die and so make his thereupon the law is that the houses fall without the least chance of into hands at the house i told him so but the words of the faithful be only as wind chapter the news was true the life the one fragile life that had been used as a measuring of time by law was in danger of being away it was the last of a group of lives which had served this purpose at the end of whose the small occupied by south himself the larger one of and half a dozen others that had been in the possession of various village families for the previous hundred years and were now s would fall in and become part of the estate yet a short two months earlier s father aged years though something of a anxious being would have been looked on as a man whose existence was so far removed from as any in the parish and as bidding fair to be prolonged for another quarter of a century walked up and down his garden next day thinking of the the sense that the paths he was pacing the plots the apple trees his dwelling cellar house stables and were slipping away over his head and beneath his feet as if they were painted on a magic lantern slide was curious in spite of john south s late he had not anticipated danger to in i his health had b n to the less sympathy than to remain silent considering the material interest he possessed in the s life and he had accordingly made a point of avoiding s while he was here in the garden somebody came to fetch him it was herself and she showed her distress by her of a father is still much troubled in his mind that tree she said s vl know the tree i mean mr the tall one in front of the house that he thinks will blow down and kill us you come and see if you can persuade him out of notion i can do nothing he accompanied her to the cottage and she conducted him up stairs john south was up in a chair between the bed and the window exactly opposite the latter towards which his face was turned ah neighbor he said i wouldn t have minded if my life had only been my own to lose i don t it in much of itself and can let it go if tis required of me but to think what tis worth to you a young man rising in life that do trouble me it seems a trick of towards ye to go off at fifty five i i could bear up i know i could if it were not for the tree yes the tree tis that s killing me there he stands threatening my life every minute that the wind do blow he ll come down upon us and us dead and what will ye do when the life on your property is taken away never you mind me that s of no consequence said think of yourself alone he looked out of the window in the direction of the s gaze the tree was a tall elm familiar to him from childhood which stood at a distance of two thirds its own height from the front of south s dwelling whenever the wind blew as it did now the tree rocked naturally enough and the sight of its motion and sound of its sighs had gradually bred the illusion in the s mind that it would descend and kill him thus he would sit all day in spite of persuasion watching its every sway and listening to the melancholy which the air wrung out of it this fear it apparently was rather than any disease which was eating away the health of john south m the as the tree waved south waved his head making it man with abject obedience ah when it was quite a small tree he and i was a little boy i thought one day of it off with my hook to make a with but i put off doing it and then i again thought that i would but i forgot it and didn t and at last it got too big and now tis my enemy and will be the death o me little did i think when i let that stay that a time would come when it would torment me and dash me into my grave no no said and soothingly but they thought it possible that it might hasten him into his grave though in another way than by falling i tell you what added i ll climb up this afternoon and off the lower boughs and then it won t be so heavy and the wind won t affect it so she won t allow it a strange woman come from nobody knows where she won t have it done you mean	45
the ground beside grace t the bnt he continued motionless and silent in that gloomy or fog land which involved him and she proceeded on her way the spot seemed now to he quite deserted the light from south s window made rays on the fog but did not reach the tree a quarter of an hour passed and all was blackness overhead had not yet come down then the tree seemed to shiver then to heave a sigh a movement was audible and dropped almost noiselessly to the ground he had thought the matter out and having returned the ladder and to their places pursued his way homeward he would not allow this incident to affect his outer conduct any more than the danger to his had done and went to bed as usual two troubles do not always make a double trouble and thus it came to pass that s practical anxiety about his houses which would have been enough to keep him awake half the night at any other time was and not by his sentimental trouble about grace this was in truth more like a burial of her than a with her but he did not realize so much at present even when he arose in the morning he felt quite moody and stem as yet the second note in the of such emotions a tender regret for his loss had not made itself heard a load of oak timber was to be sent away that morning to a whose works were in a town many miles off the proud trunks were taken up from the silent spot which had known them through the and of t growth for the foregoing hundred years chained down like slaves to a heavy timber carriage with enormous red wheels and four of the most powerful of s horses were in front to draw them the horses wore their bells that day there were sixteen to the team carried on a frame above each animal s shoulders and to scale so as to form two running from the highest note on the right or off side of the leader to the lowest on the left or near side of the shaft horse was among the last to retain horse bells in that neighborhood for living at little where the lanes yet remained as narrow as before the days of roads these sound the w were still as al to him and his aa they had ever been in former times much was saved in the course of a year by the warning notes they cast ahead moreover the tones of all the in the district being known to the of each they could tell a long way off on a dark night whether they were about to encounter friends or strangers the fog of the previous evening still lingered so heavily over the woods that the morning could not penetrate the trees till long after its time the load being a ponderous one the lane crooked and the air so thick set out as he often did to accompany the team as far as the comer where it would turn into a wider road so they on shaking the foundations of the roadside cottages by the weight of their progress the sixteen bells over all till they had risen out of the valley and were descending towards the more open route the sparks rising from their creaking and nearly setting fire to the dead leaves along side then occurred of the very incidents against which the bells were an endeavor to guard suddenly there beamed into their eyes quite close to them the two lamps of a carriage of rays by the fog its approach had been quite unheard by reason of their own noise the carriage was a covered one while behind it could be discerned another vehicle laden with luggage went to the head of the team and heard the coachman telling the that he must turn back the declared that this was impossible you can turn if you your string horses said the coachman it is much easier for you to turn than for us said we ve five tons of timber on these wheels if we ve an but i ve another carriage with luggage at my back admitted the strength of the argument but even with that he said you can back better than we and you ought to for you could hear our bells half a mile off and you could see our lights we couldn t because of the fog thb well onr time s said the coachman you are only going to some little village or other in the neighborhood while we are going straight to italy driving all the way i suppose said the argument continued in these terms till a voice from the interior of the carriage inquired what was the matter it was a lady s she was briefly informed of the timber people s obstinacy and then could hear her telling the footman to direct the timber people to turn their horses heads the message was brought and sent the bearer back to say that he begged the lady s pardon but that he could not do as she requested that though he would not assert it to be impossible it was impossible by comparison with the slight difficulty to her party to back their light carriages as fate would have it the incident with grace on the previous day made less gentle than he might otherwise have shown himself his confidence in the sex being rudely shaken in fine nothing could move him and the carriages were compelled to back till they reached one of the or constructed in the bank for the purpose then the team came on and the of its sixteen bells as it passed the carriages up against the bank lent a particularly triumphant tone to the team s progress a	45
tone which in point of fact did not at all attach to its conductor s feelings walked behind the timber and just as he had got past the yet stationary carriages he heard a soft voice say who is that rude man not f the sex of the speaker was so prominent in the voice that felt a pang of regret no ma am a younger man in a smaller way of business in little is his name thus they parted company why mr said the when they were out of hearing that was mrs who d ha thought it what in the world can a woman that does nothing be cock watching out here at this time o day for oh going to italy yes to be the sure i heard she was going abroad she can t endure the winter here was vexed at the incident the more so that he knew mr in his adoration of house would be the first to blame him if it became known but saying no more he accompanied the load to the end of the lane and then turned back with an intention to call at south s to learn the result of the experiment of the preceding evening it chanced that a few minutes before this time grace who now rose soon enough to breakfast with her father in spite of the of the hour had been by him to make the same inquiry at south s had been standing at the door when miss arrived almost before the latter had spoken mrs s carriages released from the up the lane came along and the two girls turned to regard the spectacle mrs did not see them but there was sufficient light for them to discern her outline between the carriage windows a noticeable feature in her was a magnificent mass of locks how well she looks this morning said grace forgetting mrs s slight in her generous admiration her hair so becomes her worn that way i have never seen any more beautiful nor have i miss said unconsciously her crown grace watched the carriages with lingering regret till they were out of sight she then learned of that south was no better before she had come away approached the house but seeing that one of the two girls standing on the door step was grace he suddenly turned back again and sought the shelter of his own home till she should have gone away chapter xiv the encounter with the carriages having sprang upon s mind the image of mrs his thoughts by a natural channel went from her to the fact that several cottages and other houses in the two now his own would fall into her possession in the event of south s he what people could have been thinking about in the past to invent such precarious as these still more what have induced his ancestors at and other village people to exchange their old for but having naturally succeeded to these properties through his father he had done his best to keep them in order though he was much struck with his father s in not south s life after breakfast still musing on the circumstances he went up stairs turned over his bed and drew out a flat canvas bag which lay between the and the in this he kept his which had remained there ever since his father s it was the usual hiding place among for such documents sat down on the bed and looked them over they were ordinary for three lives which a member of the south family some fifty years before this time had accepted of the lord of the in of and other rights in consideration of having the houses by said lord they had come into his father s possession chiefly through his mother who was a south pinned to the of one of the was a letter which had never seen before it bore a remote date the handwriting being that of some or agent and the signature the s it was to the effect that at any time before the last of the stated lives should drop mr senior or his representative should have the privilege of adding his own and his son s the life to the life remaining on payment of a merely sum the concession being in consequence of the elder s consent to one of the houses and its site which stood at an awkward corner of the lane and the way the house had been pulled down years before why s father had not taken advantage of his privilege to his own and his son s lives it was impossible to say the was that death alone had him in the execution of his project as it surely was the elder having been a man who took much pleasure in dealing with house property in his small way since one of the still survived there was not much doubt that could do what his father had left undone as far as his own life was concerned this possibility cheered him much for by those houses hung many things s doubt of the young man s fitness to be the husband of grace had been based not a little on the of his in little and great he resolved to attend to the business at once the fine for renewal being a sum that he could easily muster his scheme however could not be carried out in a day and meanwhile he would run up to south s as he had intended to do to learn the result of the experiment with the tree met him at the door well he said and was surprised to read in her face that the case was not so hopeful as he had ned i am sorry for your labor she said it is all lost he says the tree seems taller	45
than ever looked round at it taller the tree certainly did seem the of its now naked stem being more marked than before it quite terrified him when he first saw what you had done to it this morning she added he declares it will come down upon us and us like the sword of the lord and of well can i do anything else asked he the doctor says the tree ought to be cut down you ve had the doctor i didn t send for him mrs before she left the heard that father was il and told him to attend him at her expense that was very good of her and he says it to be cat down we mustn t cut it down without her knowledge i suppose he went up stairs there the old man sat staring at the now gaunt tree as if his gaze were frozen on to its trunk the tree waved by this time a wind sprung up and blown the fog away and his eyes turned with its they heard footsteps a man s but of a lighter type than usual there is doctor again she said and descended presently his tread was heard on the naked stairs mr entered the sick chamber just as a doctor is more or less wont to do on such occasions and pre eminently when the room is that of a humble looking round towards the patient with that gaze which so plainly that he has forgotten all about the case and the whole circumstances since he dismissed them from his mind at his last exit from the same apartment he nodded to with whom he was already a little acquainted recalled the case to his thoughts and went leisurely on to where south sat was on the whole a finely formed handsome man his eyes were dark and impressive and beamed with the light either of energy or of it was to say which it might have been a little of both that quick glittering practical eye sharp for the surface of things and for nothing beneath it he had not but whether his apparent depth of vision was real or only an artistic accident of his nothing but his deeds could reveal his face was rather soft than stern charming than grand pale than flushed his nose if a sketch of his features be de for a person of his pretensions was beautiful enough to have been worth doing in marble by any not over busy and was hence devoid of those which often mean power while the or classical curve of his mouth was not without a in its close nevertheless either from his readily mien or his manner or the instinct los the profound things which was said to possess him his presence the philosopher rather than the or an effect which was helped by the absence of or other from his attire though this was more finished and up to date than is usually the case among rural strict people of the highly respectable class knowing a little about him by report might have said that he seemed likely to rather in the possession of too many ideas than too few to be a dreamy ist of some sort or too deeply in some false kind of however this may be it will be seen that he was undoubtedly a somewhat rare kind of gentleman and doctor to have descended as from the clouds upon little this is an extraordinary case he said at last to after examining south by conversation look and touch and learning that the about the elm was stronger than ever come down stairs and i ll tell you what i think they accordingly descended and the doctor continued the tree must be cut down or i won t answer for his life tis mrs s tree and i suppose we must get permission i said if so as she is gone away i must speak to her agent oh never mind whose tree it is what s a tree beside a life i cut it down i have not the honor of knowing mrs as yet but i am disposed to risk that much with her tis timber rejoined more scrupulous than he would have been had not his own interests stood so closely involved they ll never fell a stick about here without it being marked first either by her or the agent then we ll a new era forthwith how long has he complained of the tree asked the doctor of weeks and weeks sir the shape of it seems to haunt him like an evil spirit he says that it is exactly his own age that it has got human sense and up when he was bom on purpose to rule him and keep him as its slave others have been like it afore in they could hear south s voice up stairs oh he s rocking this way he must come and then my poor life that s the worth houses upon houses wiu be out o me oh oh that s how he goes on she added and he never look anywhere else but out of the window and scarcely have the curtains drawn down with it then and hang mrs said mr the best plan will be to wait till the evening when it is dark or early in the morning before he is awake so that he doesn t see it fall for that would him worse than ever keep the blind down till i come and then i ll assure him and show him that his trouble is over the doctor then departed and they waited till the evening when it was dusk and the curtains drawn a couple of to bring a saw and the tall threatening tree was soon nearly oft at its base he would	45
not fell it completely then on account of the possible crash but next morning before south was awake they went and lowered it cautiously in a direction away from the cottage it was a business difficult to do quite silently but it was done at last and the elm of the same birth year as the s lay stretched upon the ground the that passed could now set foot on marks formerly made in the upper forks by the shoes of adventurous only once inaccessible nests could be examined and on swaying where birds alone had perched the by sat down as soon as it was broad daylight the doctor came and wiu entered the house with him said that her father was wrapped up and ready as usual to be put into his chair they ascended the stairs and soon seated him he began at once to complain of the tree and the danger to his life and s house property in consequence the doctor to who went and drew back the printed cotton curtains tis gone see said mr as soon as the old man saw the vacant patch of sky in place of the column so familiar to his gaze he sprang up speechless his eyes rose from their hollows till the showed all round he fell back and a whiteness him greatly alarmed they put him on the bed as soon as he the w came a little oat of fit he gasped oh it u gone i where i where his whole system seemed by amazement they were at the result of the experiment and did all they could nothing seemed to avail and went and came but he lingered through the day and died that evening as the sun went down d d if my remedy hasn t killed him murmured the doctor chapter heard what had happened he seemed much moved and walked thoughtfully about the premises on south s own account he was sorry and on s he was the more grieved in that this catastrophe had so closely followed the somewhat harsh dismissal of as the of his daughter he was quite angry with circumstances for so on a second trouble when the needful one in by himself was all that the proper order of events demanded i told s father when he came into those houses not to spend too much money on property held neither for his own life nor his son s he exclaimed but he wouldn t listen to me and now has to suffer for it poor murmured grace now grace between us two it is very very remarkable it is almost as if i had foreseen this and i am thankful for your escape though i am sincerely sorry for had we not dismissed him already we could hardly have found it in our hearts to dismiss him now so i say be thankful i ll do all i can for him as a friend but as a to the position of my son in law that can never be thought of more and yet at that very moment the to which i poor s suit had been reduced was touching grace s heart to a warmer sentiment on his behalf than she had felt for years concerning him he meanwhile was sitting down alone in the old familiar house which had ceased to he his taking a calm if somewhat the dismal survey of affairs the of the clock every now and then against one side of the case in which it swung as the muffled drum to his worldly march looking out of the window he could perceive that a had j come over s occupation of the garden ow i ing obviously to a conviction that they might not be living there long enough to profit by next season s crop he looked at the again and the letter attached there was no doubt that he had lost his houses by an accident which might easily have been if he had known the true conditions of his holding the time for performance had now in strict law but might not the intention be considered by the when she became aware of the circumstances and his moral right to retain the for the term of his life be f his heart sank within him when he perceived that despite all the legal and prepared and written the of the matter amounted to this that it depended upon the mere caprice good or of the woman ne had met the day before in such an unfortunate way whether he was to possess his houses for life or no while he was sitting and thinking a step came to the door and appeared looking very sorry for his position welcomed him by a word and a look and went on with his examination of the his visitor sat down he said this is very awkward and i am sorry for it what are you going to do informed him of the real state of affairs and how barely he had missed himself of his chance of renewal what a misfortune why was this neglected well the best thing you can do is to write and tell her all about it and throw yourself upon her generosity i would rather not murmured but you must said in short he argued so that allowed himself to be persuaded and the letter to mrs was written and sent to house whence as he knew it would at once be forwarded to her feeling that he had done so good an action in the coming as almost to his arbitrary conduct to nothing went home and was alone to the suspense of waiting for a reply from the divinity who shaped the ends of the population by this time all the villagers knew of the circumstances and being like one family a keen interest was the result	45
all round everybody thought of nobody thought of had any of them looked in upon her during those moonlight nights which preceded the burial of her father they would have seen the girl absolutely alone in the house with the dead man her own chamber being nearest the stairs the coffin had been placed there for convenience and at a certain hour of the night when the moon arrived opposite the window its beams streamed across the still of south by the august presence of death and onward a few feet farther upon the face of his daughter lying in her little bed in the stillness of a repose almost as dignified as that of her companion the repose of a soul that had nothing more left on earth to lose except a life which she did not south was buried and a week passed and watched for a reply from mrs was very sanguine as to its tenor but had not told him of the encounter with her carriage when if ever he had heard an tone on a woman s lips he had heard it on hers the s time for passing was just after s men had assembled in the house and who when not busy on his own account would lend assistance there used to go out into the lane every morning and meet the at the end of one of the green rides through the in the straight stretch of which his laden figure could be seen a long way off grace also was very anxious more anxious than her father more perhaps than himself this anxiety led her into the house on some pretext or other almost every while they were awaiting the reply too though he did not personally appear was much interested and not altogether easy in his mind for he had been informed by an authority of what he had himself that if the tree had been allowed to stand the i the old man would have gone on complaining but might have lived for twenty years eleven times had gone to that of the ride and looked up its long straight slope through the wet of winter dawn but though the s bowed figure loomed in view pretty regularly he brought nothing for on the twelfth day the man of while yet in the extreme distance held up his hand and saw a letter in it he took it into the house before he broke the seal and those who were there gathered round him while he read grace looking in at the door the letter was not from mrs herself but her agent at glanced it over and looked up it s all over he said ah said they altogether her lawyer is instructed to say that mrs sees no reason for disturbing the n course of things particularly as she the down he said quietly only think of that said several had turned away and said vehemently to himself then let her pull em down and be d d to her looked at him with a face of seven sorrows saying ah twas that that lost em for ye i subdued his feelings and from that hour whatever they were kept them entirely to himself there could be no doubt that up to this last moment he had nourished a feeble hope of grace in the event of this turning out a success not being aware of the fact that her father could have settled upon her a fortune to enable both to live in comfort he deemed it now an absurdity to dream any longer of such a vanity as making her his wife and sank into silence forthwith yet whatever the value of to a man among strangers it is apt to express more than when he dwells among friends the who is obliged to judge the time of day from changes in external nature sees a thousand successive tints and traits in the landscape which are never discerned by him who hears the regular of thk a clock because they are never in request in like manner do we use our eyes on our comrade the movement of muscle curve hair and which when accompanied by a voice goes is watched and in the lack of it till the whole surrounding circle of is charged with the reserved one s moods and this was the condition of between and his neighbors after his stroke of ill luck he held his tongue and they observed him and knew that he was mr in his thought more of the matter than any one else except his daughter had been going on in the old fashion grace s father could have alluded to his of the alliance every day with the greatest frankness but to speak any further on the subject he could not find it in his heart to do now he hoped that would of his own accord make some final announcement that he entirely withdrew his pretensions to grace and so get the thing past and done with for though had in a measure in the wish of her family he could make matters unpleasant if he chose to work upon grace and hence when saw the young man approaching along the road one day he kept friendliness and exactly balanced in his eye till he could see whether s manner was or not his manner was that of a man who abandoned all claims i am glad to meet ye mr he said in a low voice whose quality he endeavored to make as practical as possible i am afraid i shall not be able to keep that mare i bought and as i don t care to sell her i should if you don t object to give her to miss the horse is very quiet and would be quite safe for her mr was rather affected at this you	45
be worth much i have not altered it but you have no it is altered go and see she went and read that in spite of losing his he would keep his grace came back surprised well i never she said who can have made such nonsense of it who indeed said he i have rubbed it all out as the point of it is quite gone you d no business to rub it out i didn t tell you to i meant to let it stay a little longer some idle boy did it no doubt she murmured as this seemed very probable and the actual was said no more and dismissed the matter from his mind from this day of his life onward for a considerable time though not absolutely out of his house as yet retired into the background of human life and action a feat not particularly of performance any thb where when the has the assistance of a lost grace thinking that saw her write made no ther sign and the frail bark of fidelity that she had thus timidly launched was and lost chapter xvi dr lived on the slope of the hill in a house of less both as to architecture and as to magnitude than the timber merchant s the latter had without doubt been once the residence to the snug and modest domain of little of which the boundaries were now lost by its with others of its kind into the adjoining estate of mrs though the themselves were unaware of the fact there was every reason to believe at least so the parson said that the owners of that little had been s own ancestors the family name in numerous documents relating to of land about the time of the civil wars mr s dwelling on the contrary was small and comparatively modem it had been occupied and was in part occupied still by a retired farmer and his wife who on the surgeon s arrival in quest of a home had him by receding from their front rooms into the kitchen quarter whence they administered to his wants and emerged at regular intervals to receive from him a not unwelcome addition to their income the cottage and its garden were so regular in their arrangement that they might have been laid out by a dutch of the time of william and mary in dense hedge cut to was a door over which the hedge formed an arch and from the inside of the door a straight path bordered with box ran np the slope of the garden to the porch which was exactly in the middle of the house front with two windows on each side right and left of the path were first a bed of bushes next of next of next of next of old fashioned at the comers opposite the porch being of the w box resembling a pair of school over the roof of the could be seen the orchard on yet higher ground and behind the orchard the forest trees reaching up to the crest of the hill opposite the garden door and visible from the parlor window was a swing gate leading into a field across which there ran a foot path the swing gate had just been and on one fine afternoon before the paint was dry and while were still dying the surgeon was standing in his sitting room looking out at the different who passed and along that route being of a philosophical stamp he perceived that the character of each of these travellers exhibited itself in a somewhat amusing manner by his or her method of handling the gate as regarded the men there was not much variety they gave the gate a kick and passed through the women were more to them the wood work was a a disgust a menace a treachery as the case might be the first that he noticed was a woman with her skirts tucked up and her hair she grasped the gate without looking giving it a push with her shoulder when the white drew from her an exclamation in language not too refined she went to the green bank sat down and rubbed herself in the grass cursing ike while ha i ha ha laughed the doctor the next was a girl with her hair short in whom the surgeon recognized the daughter of his late patient the south moreover a black bonnet that she wore by way of mourning reminded him that he had ordered the of a tree which had caused her parent s death and s losses she walked and thought and not but her led her to grasp the bar of the gate and touch it with her arm felt sorry that she should have soiled that new black frock poor as it was for it was probably her only one she looked at her hand and arm seemed but little wiped off the with an almost unmoved face and as if without her original thoughts thus she went on her way the then there came over the green quite a different sort of personage she walked as delicately as if she had been bred in town and as firmly as if she had been bred in the country she seemed one who dimly knew her appearance to be attractive but who retained some of the charm of being ignorant of that fact by forgetting it in a general she approached the gate to let such a creature touch it even with a tip of her glove was to almost like letting her proceed to self destruction he jumped up and looked for his hat but was unable to find the right one glancing again out of the window he saw that he was too late having come up she stopped looked at the gate picked up a little stick and using it as	45
dew which through the waste air s blue to some far desert she did seem beside me gathering beauty as she grew like the bright shade of some immortal dream which walks when deep the wave of life s dark stream the of the lines seemed to though he divined that they were a quotation to be somehow the result of his lost love s charms upon you seem to be in love with her sir he said with a sensation of heart sickness and more than ever resolved not to mention grace by name oh no i am not that people living as i do by the solitude of this place get charged with like a jar with electric for want of some conductor at hand to it love is a thing the essence itself of man as that great the philosopher says it is joy accompanied by an idea which we project against any suitable object in the line of our vision just as the rainbow is projected against an oak ash or elm tree indifferently so that if any other young lady had appeared instead of the one who did appear i should have felt just the same interest in her and have quoted precisely the lines from about her as about this miserable creatures of circumstance are we all r well it is what we in love down in these parts whether or no said you are right enough if you admit that i am in love with something in my own head and no thing in itself outside it at all is it part of a country doctor s duties to learn that view of things may i ask sir said the with such well assumed simplicity that answered readily oh no the real is that medical practice in places like this is a very rule of thumb matter a bottle of bitter stuff for this aod that old woman the the the better from ft few simple occasional attendance at where mere presence is almost sufficient so healthy and strong are the people and a lance for an now and then investigation and experiment cannot be carried on more than one has here i have attempted it a did not enter into this view of the case what he had been struck with was the curious between mr s manner and grace s as shown by the fact of both of them into a subject of discourse so to themselves that it made them forget it was foreign to him nothing further passed between himself and the doctor in relation to grace till they were on their way back they had stopped at a way side inn for a glass of brandy and hot and when they were again in motion possibly a little warmed by the liquor resumed the subject by saying i should like very much to know who that young lady was what difference can it make if she s only the tree your rainbow falls on f ha ha i true you have no wife sir f i have no wife and no idea of one i hope to do better things than marry and settle in not but that it is well for a medical man to be married and sometimes be pleasant enough in this place with the wind roaring round the house and the rain and the boughs beating against it i hear that you lost your life holds by the death of south r i did i lost in more ways than one they had reached the top of lane or street if it could be called such where three quarters of the road side consisted of and orchard one of the first houses to be passed was s a light was shining from a bedroom window facing of the lane glanced at it and saw what was coming he had withheld an answer to the doctor s inquiry to hinder his knowledge of grace but as he thought to himself who hath gathered the wind in his fists who hath bound the waters in a garment he could not what was doom to arrive might just the as well have been as they came np to the grace s was distinctly visible drawing the two white curtains together which were used here instead of blinds why there she is said how does she come in the most natural way in the world it is her home mr is her father oh indeed indeed indeed i how comes he to have a daughter of that stamp laughed coldly won t money do anything he said if you ve promising material to work upon why shouldn t a girl taken early from home and put under proper instruction become as finished as any other young lady if she s got brains and good looks to begin with no reason at all why she shouldn t murmured the surgeon with disappointment only i didn t quite that kind of origin for her and you think an inch or two less of her now there was a little tremor in s voice as he spoke well said the doctor with recovered warmth i am not so sure that i think less of her at first it was a sort of blow but i ll stick up for her she s charming every inch of her i so she is said but not to me from this expression of the s dr inferred that disliked miss because of some in her bearing towards him and had on that account withheld her name the supposition did not tend to his admiration for her chapter grace s exhibition of herself in the act of pulling to the window curtains had been the result of an unfortunate incident in the house that day nothing less than the illness of a woman who had	45
never till now lain down for such a reason in her life like others to whom unbroken the of health has made the idea of keeping their bed almost as as death itself she had continued on foot till she literally fell on the floor and though she had as yet been scarcely a day off duty she had into quite a different personage from the independent of the yard and house ill as she was on one point she was firm on no account would she see a doctor in other words the room in which grace had been discerned was not her own but the old woman s on the girl s way to bed she had received a message from to the effect that she would much like to speak to her that night grace entered and set the candle on a low chair beside the bed so that the of as she lay cast itself in a keen shadow upon the wall her large head being still further by an enormous which was really her wound in a wreath round her temples grace put the room a little in order and approaching the sick woman said i am come as you wish do let us send for the doctor before it gets later i will not have him said then somebody to sit up with you can t it no i wanted to see you miss grace because ch have something on my mind dear miss grace took that money of the doctor after what money the ten pounds grace did not quite understand the ten pounds he offered me for my head because i ve a large brain i signed a paper when i took the money not feeling concerned about it at all i have not liked to tell ye that it was really settled with him because you showed such horror at the notion well having thought it over more at length i wish i hadn t done it and it upon my mind john south s death of fear about the tree makes me think that i shall die of this oh have been going to ask him again to let me off but i hadn t the face i ve spent some of the more n two pounds o t it do me terribly and i shall die o the thought of the that paper i signed with my holy cross as died of his trouble if you ask him to bum the paper he will fm sure and think no more of it ch have done it once already miss but he laughed cruel like yours is such a fine brain er said that science couldn t afford to lose you besides youve taken my money don t let your father know of this please on no account whatever i no no i will let you have the money to return to him rolled her head upon the pillow even if i should be well enough to take it to him he won t like it though why he should so particular want to look into the works of a poor old woman s head piece like mine when there s so many other folks about i don t know i know how he ll answer me a lonely person like you er say what difference is it to you what becomes of ye when the breath s out of your body v oh it do trouble me i if you only knew how he do me round the in my dreams you d pity me how i could do it i can t think but ch was always so if i only had anybody to plead for me mrs would i am sure ay but he wouldn t to she i it wants a younger face than hers to work upon such as he grace started with comprehension tou don t think he would do it for me she said oh wouldn t he i couldn t go to him on any account i don t know him at all ah if i were a young lady said the artful and could save a poor old woman s from a heathen doctor instead of a christian grave i would do it and be glad to but nobody will do anything for a poor old familiar friend but push her out of the way you are very ungrateful to say that but you are ill i know and that s why you speak so now believe me you are not going to die yet remember you told me yourself t you meant to keep him waiting many a year ay one can joke when one is well even in old age but the in sickness one s to grief and that which seen ed small looks large and the grim far off seems near grace s eyes had tears in them i don t like to go to him on such an errand she said but i will to ease your mind it was with extreme reluctance that grace herself next morning for the undertaking she was all the more to the journey by reason of s allusion to the effect of a pretty face upon dr and hence she most did that which had the doctor never seen her would have to the sole motive of her journey that is to say she put on a veil which hid all her face except an occasional spark of her eyes her own wish that nothing should be known of this strange and proceeding no less than s own desire led grace to take every precaution against being discovered she went out by the garden door as the safest way all the household having occupations at the other side the morning looked forbidding enough when she stealthily opened it the battle between frost and was continuing in mid air the	45
trees on the garden plots where no vegetables would grow for the dripping though they were planted year after year with that curious mechanical regularity of country people in the face of the moss which covered the once broad gravel terrace was and grace stood then she thought of poor and her dreams of the doctor running after her in hand and the possibility of a case so curiously similar to south s ending in the same way thereupon she stepped out into the the nature of her errand and s account of the compact she had made lent a fascinating horror to grace s conception of she knew that he was a young man but her single object in seeking an interview with him put all considerations of his age and social aspect from her mind standing as she stood in s shoes he was simply a jove of the who would not have mercy and would have sacrifice a man whom save for this she would have preferred to avoid knowing bat since in such a small village it was improbable the that any long time pass without their meeting there was not much to in her having to meet him now but as need hardly be said miss s view of the doctor as a merciless irresistible was not quite in accordance with fact the real dr was a man of too many to show of rising to any great eminence in the profession he had chosen or even to acquire any wide practice in the rural district he had marked out as his field of survey for the present in the course of a year his mind was accustomed to pass in a grand sweep through all the signs of the intellectual heaven sometimes it was in the ram sometimes in the bull one month he would be in another in one month in the of and then in the of literature and in justice to him it must be stated that he took such studies as were immediately related to his own profession in turn with the rest and it had been in a month of without the possibility of a subject that he had proposed to the terms she had mentioned to her mistress as may be inferred from the tone of his conversation with he had lately plunged into abstract philosophy with much zest perhaps his keenly modem mind found this a realm more to his taste than any other though his aims were s mental constitution was not without its admirable side a keen he honestly was even if the midnight rays of his lamp visible so far through the trees of lighted rank of emotion and passion as often as or oftener than the books and of science but whether he meditated the or the philosophers the loneliness of life was beginning to tell upon his nature winter in a solitary house in the country without society is tolerable nay even and delightful given certain conditions but these are not the conditions which attach to the life of a professional man who drops down into such a place by mere accident they were present to the lives of and grace but not to the doctor s they are old association an almost ox historical acquaintance with every the object and within the observer s horizon he must know all about those invisible ones of the days gone by whose feet have traversed the fields which look so gray from his windows recall whose creaking has turned those from time to time whose hands planted the trees that form a crest to the opposite hill whose horses and hounds have torn through that what birds affect that particular what domestic of love jealousy revenge or disappointment have been in the cottages the mansion the street or on the green the spot may have beauty grandeur convenience but if it lack memories it will ultimately p upon him who settles there without opportunity of intercourse with his kind in such circumstances maybe an old man dreams of an ideal friend till he throws himself into the arms of any who chooses to wear that title on his face a young man may dream of an ideal friend likewise but some humor of the blood will probably lead him to think rather of an ideal mistress and at length the rustle of a woman s dress the sound of her voice or the of her form across the field of his vision will his soul with a flame that blinds his eyes the discovery of the attractive grace s name and family would have been enough in other circumstances to lead the doctor if not to put her personality out of his head to change the character of his interest in her instead of her image as a he would at most have played with it as a toy he was that kind of a man but situated here he could not go so far as cruelty he dismissed all thought about her but he could not help taking her seriously he went on to imagine the impossible so far indeed did he go in this futile direction that as others are wont to do he constructed and scenes in which grace had turned out to be the mistress of house the mysterious mrs particularly ready and willing to be by himself and nobody else well she isn t that he said finally but she s a very sweet nice exceptional girl the next morning be alone as it was the id with a fine to make the gray without ever whiteness there was not a single letter for only a medical circular and a weekly newspaper to sit before a large fire on such mornings and read and gradually acquire energy till the evening came and then with lamp alight and feeling full of vigor to pursue some subject or other till	45
the small hours had hitherto been his practice but to day he could not settle into his chair that self contained position he had lately occupied in which the only attention demanded was the of the inner eye all outer regard being quite seemed to have been taken by and for the first time he had an interest outside the house he walked from one window to another and became aware that the most irksome of is not the solitude of but that which is just outside desirable company the breakfast hour went by heavily enough and the next followed in the same half snowy half rainy style the weather now being the inevitable which sooner or later a time too radiant for the season such as they had enjoyed in the late at to people at home there these tricks had their interests the strange mistakes that some of the more sanguine trees had made in before their month to be up by frozen now the similar sanguine errors of impulsive birds in nests that were now by and other such incidents prevented any sense of in the minds of the natives but these were features of a world not familiar to and the inner visions to which he had almost exclusively attended having suddenly failed in their power to him he felt dreary he wondered how long miss was going to stay in the season was for accidental with her out of doors and except by accident he saw not how they were to become acquainted one thing was clear any acquaintance with her could only with a due regard to is future be casual at most of the nature of a he had high aims and they would some day lead him other than t ir id thus be flung himself down upon the couch which as in many old country houses was constructed with a hood being in fact a legitimate development from the settle he tried to read as he but having sat up till three o clock that morning the book slipped from his hand and he fell asleep chapter it was at this time that grace approached the house her knock always soft in virtue of her nature was softer to day by reason of her strange errand however it was heard by the farmer s wife who kept the house and grace was admitted opening the door of the doctor s room the glanced in and imagining absent asked miss to enter and wait a few minutes while she should go and find him believing him to be somewhere on the premises grace went in and sat down close to the door as soon as the door was shut upon her she looked round the room and started at perceiving a handsome man in the couch like the figure within some tomb of the century except that his hands were by no means clasped in prayer she had no doubt that this was the doctor awaken him herself she could not and her immediate impulse was to go and pull the broad ribbon with a brass which hung at one side of the fireplace but expecting the landlady to re enter in a moment she abandoned this intention and stood gazing in great embarrassment at the philosopher the windows of s soul being at present he probably appeared less impressive than in his hours of animation but the light abstracted from his material presence by sleep was more than by the mysterious influence of that state in a stranger upon the consciousness of a so sensitive so far as she could at all she became aware that she had encountered a specimen of creation altogether unusual in that locality the occasions on which grace had observed men of this stamp were when the w had been far removed away from and even then such examples as had met her eye were at a distance and mainly of fibre than the one who now confronted her she nervously wondered why the woman had not discovered her mistake and returned and went again towards the bell pull approaching the chimney her back was to but she could see him in the glass an thrill passed through her as she perceived that the of the reflected image were open gazing at and under the curious of the sight she as if almost powerless to turn her head and regard the original however by an effort she did turn when there he lay asleep the same as before her startled perplexity as to what he could be meaning was sufficient to lead her to abandon her errand she crossed quickly to the door opened and closed it noiselessly and went out of the house unobserved by the time that she had gone down the path and through the garden door into the lane she had recovered her here by the hedge she stood and considered a while fell the rain upon her umbrella and around she had come out on such a morning because of the seriousness of the matter in hand yet now she had allowed her mission to be by a momentary concerning an incident which perhaps had meant nothing after all in the mean time her departure from the room stealthy as it had been had roused and he sat up in the reflection from the mirror which grace had beheld there was no mystery he had opened his eyes for a few moments but had immediately into if indeed he had ever been positively awake that somebody had just left the room he was certain and that the lovely form which seemed to have visited him in a dream was no less than the real of the person departed he could hardly doubt looking out of the window a few minutes later down the edged gravel path which led to the bottom he saw the garden door gently open and through	45
it enter the young girl of his thoughts grace having just at this juncture v to and attempt the interview a second time that he saw her coming instead of going made him ask himself if his first impression of her were not a dream indeed she came hesitatingly along carrying her umbrella so low over her head that he hardly see her face when she reached the point where the bushes ended and the bed began she made a pause feared that she might not be coming to him even now and hastily the room he ran down the path to meet her the nature of her errand he could not divine but he was prepared to give her any amount of encouragement i beg pardon miss he said i saw you from the window and fancied you might imagine that i was not at home if it is i you were coming for i was coming to speak one to you nothing more she replied aiid i can say it here no no please do come in well then if you will not come into the house come as far as the porch thus pressed she went on to the porch and they stood together inside it closing her umbrella for her i have merely a request or petition to make she said my father s servant is ill a woman you know and her illness is serious i am sorry to hear it you wish me to come and see her at once no i particularly wish you not to come oh indeed yes and she wishes the same it would make her seriously worse if you were to come it would almost kill her my errand is of a peculiar and awkward nature it is concerning a subject which on her mind that unfortunate arrangement she made with you that you might have her body after death oh the old woman with the fine head seriously ill is she i and disturbed by her rash compact i have brought the money back will you please return to her the agreement she signed grace held out to him a couple of five pound notes which she had kept ready tucked in her glove without replying or considering the notes al the his thoughts to follow his eyes and upon grace s personality and the sudden close relation in which he stood to her the porch was narrow the rain increased it ran off the porch and on the and from the upon the edge of grace s cloak and skirts the rain is your dress please do come in he said it really makes my heart ache to let you stay here immediately inside the front door was the door of his sitting room he flung it open and stood in a attitude try how she would grace could not resist the written in the face and manner of this man and resignation sat on her as she glided past him into the room brushing his coat with her elbow by reason of the he followed her shut the door which she somehow had hoped he would leave open and placing a chair for her sat down the concern which grace felt at the development of these commonplace incidents was of course mainly owing to the strange effect upon her nerves of that view of him in the mirror gazing at her with open eyes when she had thought him sleeping which made her fancy that his slumber might have been a based on inexplicable reasons she again proffered the notes he awoke from looking at her as at a piece of live and listened as she said will you then and the bond which poor so foolishly gave i ll it without though you will allow me to have my own opinion about her foolishness is a very wise woman and she was as wise in that as in other things you think there was something very in the compact do you not miss but remember that the most eminent of our in past times have entered into such not strange tes that may be since strangeness is not in the nature of a thing but in its relation to something in this case an observer he went to his desk and searching a while found a paper which he unfolded and brought to her a thick cross appeared in ink at the bottom evidently from the band of the grace put the paper in her pocket with a look of much relief as did not take up the money half of which had come from grace s own purse she pushed it a little nearer to him no no i shall not take it from the old woman he said it is more strange than the fact of a surgeon arranging to obtain a subject for that our acquaintance should be formed out of it i am afraid you think me in showing my dislike to the notion but i did not mean to be oh no no he looked at her as he had done before with puzzled interest i cannot think i cannot think he murmured something me greatly he still reflected and hesitated last night i sat up very late he at last went on and on that account i fell into a little nap on that couch about half an hour ago and during my few minutes of i dreamed what do you think that you stood in the room should she tell she merely blushed you may imagine continued now persuaded that it had indeed been a dream that i should not have dreamed of you without considerable thinking about you first he could not be acting of that she felt assured i fancied in my vision that you stood there he said pointing to where	45
she had paused i did not see you directly but reflected in the glass i thought what a lovely creature the design is for once carried out nature has at last recovered her lost union with the idea my thoughts ran in that direction because i had been reading the work of a philosopher last night and i dare say it was the dose of that i received from it that made me scarcely able to distinguish between reality and fancy i almost wept when i awoke and found that you had appeared to me in time but not in space alas at moments there was something theatrical in the delivery of s yet it would have been to say that it was theatrical it often happens that in situations of where there is no thought of the eye of criticism real feeling into a mode of not easily from a of the affectation a bulk of with the evil consequence if perceived that the substance is estimated by the and the whole rejected grace however was no in men s manners and she admired the sentiment without thinking of the form and she was lovely creature made explanation awkward to her gentle modesty but can it be said he suddenly that you really were i have to confess that i have been in the room once before faltered she the woman showed me in and went away to fetch you but as she did not return i left and you saw me asleep he murmured with the faintest show of humiliation yes if you were asleep and did not deceive me why do you say if i saw your eyes open in the glass but as they were closed when i looked round upon you i thought you were perhaps deceiving me never said fervently never could i deceive to the distance of a year or so in of them might have spoiled the effect of that pretty speech j never deceive her but they knew nothing and the had its day grace began now to be anxious to the interview but the compelling power of s atmosphere still held her there she was like an inexperienced who having at last taken up her position on the boards and spoken her speeches does not know how to move off the thought of occurred to her i ll go at once and tell poor of your generosity she said it will relieve her at once s a nervous disease how singular he answered accompanying her to the door one moment look at this it is something which may interest you he had thrown open the door on the other side of the passage and she saw a on the table of the room look into it please you ll be interested he repeated the ers she applied her eye and saw the circle of light all over with a of some indescribable sort what do you think that is f said she did not know that s a fragment of old john south s brain which i am she start back not with aversion but with wonder as to how it should have got there laughed here am i he said to carry on simultaneously the study of and philosophy the material world and the ideal so as to discover if possible a point of contrast between them and your finer sense is offended oh no mr said grace earnestly it is not so at all i know from seeing your light at night how deeply you and work instead of you for your studies i admire you very much t her face from the was so sweet sincere and self forgetful in its aspect that the susceptible more than wished to the yard which separated it from his own whether anything of the kind showed in his eyes or not remained no longer at the but quickly went her way into the rain chapter xix instead of his investigation of south s brain which perhaps was not so interesting under the as might have been expected from the importance of that organ in life and on the interview grace s curious to his presence though it was as if the currents of her l e were disturbed rather than attracted by him added a special interest to her general charm was in a distinct degree scientific being ready and zealous to all physical but he was an he believed that behind the imperfect lay the perfect that rare things were to be thb amid a bulk of commonplace that results in a new and case might be different from those in other cases where the conditions had been precisely similar his own personality as one of unbounded possibilities because it was his own notwithstanding that the of his life had worked out a sorry product for thousands he saw nothing but what was regular in his discovery at of an altogether exceptional being of the other sex who for nobody else would have had any existence one habit of s in of more advanced age than in men of his years was that of talking to himself he paced round his room with a tread upon the more prominent of the carpet and murmured this girl will be the light of my life while i am at and the special beauty of the situation is that our attitude and relations to each other will be purely spiritual we can never be intimate anything like matrimonial intentions towards her charming as she is would be ey would spoil the ethereal character of my and indeed i have other aims on the practical side of my life bestowed a ht on the marriage he was bound to make with a woman of f am y as good as his own and of purse much longer but as an object of contemplation for the	45
present as it rather than presence grace would serve to keep his soul alive and to relieve the monotony of his days his first notion acquired from the mere sight of her without converse that of an idle and vulgar with a timber merchant s pretty daughter painfully upon him now that he had found what grace was personal intercourse with such as she could no lower form than intellectual communion and mutual of the world of thought since he could not call at her father s having no practical views in the lane in the wood coming and going to and from church or in passing her dwelling were what the acquaintance would have to feed on such anticipated glimpses of her now and then realized the themselves in the event of not more than a s frequently repeated will build up mutual interest even an intimacy in a lonely place theirs grew as as the tree twigs there never was a particular moment at which it could be said they became friends yet a delicate understanding now existed between two who in the winter had been strangers spring weather came on rather suddenly the of that had long been swollen itself in the space of one warm night the rush of sap in the veins of the trees could almost be heard the flowers of late april took up a position unseen and looked as if they had been blooming a long while though there had been no trace of them the day before birds began not to mind getting wet in door people said they had heard the to which out door people replied contemptuously that they had heard him a fortnight before the young doctor s practice being scarcely so large as a london surgeon s he frequently walked in the wood indeed such practice as he had he did not follow up with the that would have been necessary for developing it to exceptional proportions one day book in hand he walked in a part of the wood where the trees were mainly oaks it was a calm afternoon and there was everywhere around that sign of great on the part of vegetable nature which is apt to fill human beings who are not undertaking much themselves with a sudden uneasiness at the contrast he heard in the distance a curious sound something like the of a duck which though it was common enough here about this time was not common to him looking through the trees soon perceived the origin of the noise the barking season had just commenced and what he had heard was the tear of the tool as it its way along the parting between the trunk and the did a large business in bark and as he was grace s father and possibly might be found on the spot was attracted to the scene even more than he might have been by its interest when he got nearer he recognized among the workmen the thb two and robert who probably had been lent by south also assisted each tree doomed to this process was first attacked by with a small he freed the collar of the tree from twigs and patches of moss which it to a height of a foot or two above the ground an operation to the toilet of the s victim after this it was in its erect position to a point as high as a man could reach if a fine product of v nature could ever be said to look ridiculous it was the case now when the oak stood naked legged and as if ashamed till the axe man came and cut a ring round it and the two finished the work with the as soon as it had fallen the attacked it like and in a short time not a of was left on the trunk and larger limbs south was an at the upper parts and there she stood amid the mass of twigs and like a great bird running her tool into the smallest branches beyond the farthest points to which the skill and patience of the men enabled them to proceed branches which in their lifetime had swayed high above the bulk of the wood and caught the latest and earliest rays of the sun and moon while the lower part of the forest was still in darkness you seem to have a better instrument than they said no sir she said holding up the tool a horse s fitted into a handle and filed to an edge tis only that they ve less patience with the twigs because their time is worth more than mine a little shed had been constructed on the spot of and boughs and in front of it was a fire over which a kettle sung sat down inside the shelter and went on with his reading except when he looked up to observe the scene and the actors the thought that he might settle here and become in with this life by marrying grace crossed his mind for a moment why should he go farther into the world than where he was the secret of quiet happiness lay in the ideas the and aspirations these men s were with the margin of the and why should not his be likewise limited a small practice among the people around him being the bound of his desires presently south her operations upon the quivering boughs came out from the oak and prepared tea when it was ready the men were called and being in a mood to join sat down with them the latent reason of his lingering here so long revealed itself when the faint creaking of the joints of a vehicle became audible and one of the men said here s he turning their heads they saw s approaching the wheels by the moss the timber merchant	45
as outside that the rs apple valley was never seen the blue the were in a blaze of bloom some of the richly trees almost up to where they drove along over a gate which opened down the incline a man leaned on his arms regarding this fair promise so intently that he did not observe their passing that was said when they had gone by was it poor said she all that means heavy autumn work for him and his hands if no happens before the setting the apple yield will be such as we have not had for years meanwhile in the wood they had come from the men had sat on so long that they were to begin work again that evening they were paid by the ton and their time for labor was as they chose they placed the of bark in rows for the which led them farther and farther away from the shed and thus they gradually withdrew as the sun went down lingered yet he had opened his book again though he could hardly see a word in it and sat before the dying fire scarcely knowing of the men s departure he dreamed and mused till bis consciousness seemed to occupy the whole space of the around so little was there of sight or sound to hinder perfect unity with the sentiment of the place the idea returned upon him of sacrificing all practical aims to live in calm contentment here and instead of going on new with infinite pains to accept quiet according to oldest and notions these reflections detained him till the wood was with the coming night and the shy little bird of this dusky time had begun to pour out all the intensity of his eloquence from a bush not very far ofl s eyes commanded as much of the ground in front as was open entering upon this he saw a figure whose direction of movement was towards the spot where he sat the surgeon was quite from observation by the shadow of the hut and there was no reason why he should move till the stranger had passed by the shape resolved itself into a woman s she was looking on the ground and walking slowly as if searching for something thb that had been lost her course being precisely that of mr s by a sort of to the idea that the figure was s her nearer approach made the guess a certainty yes she was looking for and she came round by the prostrate trees that would have been invisible but for the white which enabled her to avoid them easily thus she approached the heap of ashes and acting upon what was suggested by a still shining or two me took a stick and stirred the heap which thereupon burst into a flame on looking around by the light thus obtained she for the first time saw the face of precisely in the spot where she had left him grace gave a start and a scream the place had been associated with him in her thoughts but she had not expected to find him there still lost not a moment in rising and going to her side i frightened you dreadfully i know he said i ought to have spoken but i did not at first expect it to be you i have been sitting here ever since he was actually supporting her with his arm as though under the impression that she was quite overcome and in danger of falling as soon as she could collect her ideas she gently withdrew from his grasp and explained what she had returned for in getting up or down from the or when sitting by the hut fire she had dropped her purse now we will find it said he threw an of last year s leaves on to the fire which made the flame leap higher and the shades to themselves into a contrast turning eve into night in a moment by this radiance they about on their hands and knees till rested on his elbow and looked at grace we must always meet in odd circumstances he said and this is one of the i wonder if it means anything oh no i am sure it doesn t said grace in haste quickly assuming an erect posture pray don t say it any more i hope there was not much money in the purse said rising to his feet more slowly and brushing the leaves from his trousers the scarcely any i cared most about the purse itself because it was given me indeed money is of little more use at than on s island there s hardly any way of spending it they had given up the search when discerned something by his foot here it is he said so that your father mother friend or admirer will not have his or her feelings hurt by a sense of your after all oh he knows nothing of what i do now the admirer said i don t know if you would call him that said with simplicity the admirer is a superficial creature and this person is quite different he has all the cardinal virtues perhaps though i don t know them precisely you unconsciously practise them miss which is better according to they are self control per wisdom and love and his is the best list that am afraid poor she was going to say that she feared the of the purse years before had not much perseverance though he had all the other three but she determined to go no further in this direction and was silent these half revelations made a perceptible difference in his sense of personal superiority wasted away and grace assumed in his eyes the true aspect of a mistress in her lover s regard miss he said suddenly i divine that	45
this virtuous man you mention has been refused by you she could do no otherwise than admit it i do not inquire without good reason ood forbid that i should kneel in another s place at any shrine but my dear miss now that he is gone may i draw near i i can t say anything about t t she cried quickly because when a man has been refused you feel pity for him and like him more than you did before this increasing added still more value to grace in the surgeon s eyes it rendered her but cannot you say he pleaded i d rather not i think i must go home at once i he oh yes said but as he did not move she felt it awkward to walk straight away from him and so they stood silently together a diversion was created by the accident of two birds that had either been above their heads or there tumbling one over the other into the hot ashes at their feet apparently engrossed in a desperate that prevented the use of their wings they speedily parted however and flew up and were seen no more at s the end of what is called love t said some one tb speaker was neither grace nor but south who approached with her face turned up to the sky in her endeavor to trace the birds suddenly perceiving grace she oh miss i have been following they and didn t see you and here s mr she continued as she looked towards who stood in the background grace interrupted i want you to walk home with me will you come along and without lingering longer she took hold of s arm and led her away they went between the arms of the trees as they lay and onward among the growing trees by a path where there were no oaks and no barking and no nothing but wood between which the could be discerned in pale i didn t know mr was there said breaking the silence when they had nearly reached grace s door nor was he said grace but miss i saw him no said grace it was somebody else is nothing to me chapter xx thb leaves over grew in their substance and the seemed to change from an open to a solid body of infinitely larger shape and importance the boughs cast green shades which hurt the complexion of the girls who walked there and a fringe of them which over the hung mr s garden on his seed plots when it rained their surface all over as with marks till declared that gardens in such a place were no good at all the two trees that had all the winter left off creaking the of the night jar however forming a very satisfactory of music from that quarter except at mid day the sun was not seen complete by the people but rather in the form of numerous little stars staring through the leaves such an appearance it had on eve of this year and as the hour grew later and nine o clock drew on the of the became broken up by weird shadows and ghostly of imagination could trace upon the trunks and boughs strange faces and figures shaped by the dying lights the of the leaves would here and there shine like peeping eyes while such fragments of the sky as were visible between the trunks assumed the aspect of forms and tongues this was before the later on when that planet was getting command of the upper heaven and consequently shining with an unbroken face into such open as there were in the neighborhood of the hamlet it became apparent that the margin of the wood which approached the timber merchant s premises was not to be left to the customary stillness of that time having heard a voice or voices was looking over his garden gate where he now looked more frequently than into his books that grace might be abroad with some friends he was now committed in heart to grace though he was by no means sure that she was so far committed to him that the idea had for once completely fulfilled itself in the substance which he had hitherto deemed an impossibility he was enchanted enough to fancy must be the case at last it was not grace who had passed however but several of the ordinary village girls in a group some steadily walking some in a mood of wild he quietly asked his landlady who was also in the garden what these girls were intending and she informed him that it being old eve they were about to attempt some spell or enchantment which would afford them the a glimpse of their partners for life she declared it to be an performance and one which she for her would never countenance saying which she entered her and retired to bed the young man lit a cigar and followed the of maidens slowly up the road they had turned into the wood at an opening s and south s but could easily track them by their voices low as they endeavored to keep their tones in the mean time other inhabitants of little had become aware of the experiment about to be tried and were also stealthily after the maidens miss had been informed by south during the day of the proposed peep into and being only a girl like the rest she was sufficiently interested to wish to see the issue the moon was so bright and the night so calm that she had no difficulty in persuading mrs to accompany her and thus joined by these went onward in the same direction passing s house they heard a noise of explained it this was the last night on which his paternal roof would	45
shelter him the days of grace since it fell into hand having expired and was t ng down his and with a view to an early exit next morning his encounter with mrs had cost him dearly when they had proceeded a little farther was joined by who was as young as the youngest in such matters and grace and mrs went on by themselves till they had arrived at the spot chosen by the village daughters whose intention of keeping their expedition a secret had been quite defeated grace and her step mother paused by a tree and at a little distance stood under the shade of a young oak intently observing grace who was in the full rays of the moon he watched her without speaking and by any but and who had drawn up on the dark side of the same which sheltered mrs and miss on its bright side the two former conversed in ion tones the if they two come up in wood next night they ll come as one said and grace instead of my he ll carry home her living before long but though she s a lady in herself and worthy of any such as he it do seem to me that he ought to marry somebody more of the sort of mrs and that miss grace should make the best of returned no comment and at that minute the girls some of whom were from great were seen advancing to work the it being now about midnight directly we see anything we ll run home as fast as we can said one whose courage had to fail her to this the rest assented not knowing that a dozen neighbors in the bushes around i wish we had not thought of trying this said another but had contented ourselves with the hole digging to morrow at twelve and hearing our husbands trades it is too much like having dealings with the evil one to try to raise their forms however they had gone too far to and slowly began to march forward in a line through the trees towards the deeper recesses of the wood as far as the listeners could gather the particular form of black art to be practised on this occasion was one connected with the of seed a handful of which was carried by each girl at the moment of their advance they looked back and discerned the figure of miss who alone of all the stood in the full face of the moonlight deeply engrossed in the proceedings by contrast with her life of late years they made her feel as if she had a couple of centuries in the world s history she was rendered doubly conspicuous by her light dress and after a few whispered words one of the girls a maiden to young asked her if she would join in grace with some excitement said that she would and moved on a little in the rear of the rest soon the listeners could hear nothing of their proceedings beyond the faintest occasional rustle of leaves whispered again to why didn t ye go and try your luck with the rest of the maids the i don t believe in it said shortly why half the parish is here the silly should have kept it quiet i see mr through the leaves just come up with robert we ought to act the part o providence sometimes do go and tell him that if he stands just behind the bush at the bottom of the slope miss grace must pass down it when she comes back and she will most likely rush into his arms for as soon as the clock strikes they ll bundle back home along like i ve seen such before do you think i d better f said reluctantly oh yes he ll bless ye for it i don t want that kind of blessing but after a moment s thought she went and delivered the information and had the satisfaction of seeing walk slowly to the bend in the leafy along which grace would have to return meanwhile mrs deserted by grace had perceived and and also the move of the latter an improvement on s idea entered the mind of mrs for she had lately discerned what her husband had not that grace was rapidly fascinating the surgeon she therefore drew near to you should be where mr is standing she said to him significantly she will run down through that opening much faster than she went up it if she is like the rest of the girls did not require to be told twice he went across to and stood beside him each knew the probable purpose of the other in standing there and neither spoke to look upon as a rival and to the off hand manner of indifference which had grown upon him since his dismissal neither nor south had seen the surgeon s and still to help as she supposed the old woman suggested to the wood girl that she should walk forward at the heels of grace and her down the required way if she showed a tendency to run in another direction poor always doomed to sacrifice desire to obligation walked forward accordingly and waited as a the con still and silent for the retreat of grace and her giddy companions now quite out of hearing the first sound to break the silence was the distant note of great clock striking the significant hour about a minute later that quarter of the wood to which the girls had wandered with the flapping of disturbed birds then two or three and bounded down the from the same direction and after these the rustling and of leaves and dead twigs the hurried approach of the whose fluttering gowns soon became visible miss having gone forward quite in the rear of the	45
rest was one of the first to return and the excitement being she ran laughing towards who still stood as a hand post to guide her then passing on she flew round the fatal bush where the to a arrived at her heels just in time to see the result had quickly stepped forward in front of who to shift his position had turned on his heel and then the surgeon did what he would not have thought of doing but for mrs s encouragement and the sentiment of an eve which stretching out his arms as the white figure burst upon him he captured her in a moment as if she had been a bird oh cried grace in her fright you are in my arms dearest said and i am going to claim you and keep you there all our two lives she rested on him like one utterly mastered and it was several seconds before she recovered from this helplessness subdued screams and struggles audible from neighboring revealed that there had been other for a similar purpose grace unlike most of these companions of hers instead of gasping and said in a trembling voice mr will you let me go certainly he said laughing as soon as you have recovered i she waited another few moments then quietly and pushed him aside and glided on her path the moon her hot blush away but it had been enough new relations between them had begun the case of the other girls was as has been said the they and only escaping after a desperate struggle hear these still going on after grace had left him and he remained on the spot where he had her having gone away on a sudden another girl came bounding down the same descent that had been followed by grace a fine framed young woman with naked arms seeing standing there she said with playful may st kiss me catch me tim recognized her as a of the hamlet who was plainly him for her lover he was disposed to profit by her error and as soon as she began racing away he started in pursuit on she went under the boughs now in light now in shade looking over her shoulder at him every few moments and kissing her hand but so about among the trees and moon shades that she never allowed him to get near her thus they ran and doubled warming with the chase till the sound of their companions had quite died away he began to lose hope of ever her when all at once by way of encouragement she turned to a fence in which there was a and leaped over it outside the scene was a changed one a meadow where the half made hay lay about in heaps in the shine of the now high moon saw in a moment that having to open ground she had placed herself at his mercy and he promptly over after her she a little way down the when all at once her light form disappeared as if it had sunk into the earth she had buried herself in one of the hay now thoroughly excited was not going to let her escape him thus he approached and set about turning over the heaps one by one as soon as he paused and puzzled he was directed anew by an kiss which came from her hiding place and by of a local ballad in the smallest voice she could assume o come in from the dew in a minute or two he uncovered her oh tis not tim i said she burying her face the however disregarded her resistance by reason of its stooped and the kiss then sunk down on the next hay cock panting his race whom do you mean by tim i he asked presently my young man tim said she now honor bright did you really think it was did at first but you didn t at last i didn t at do you much mind that it was no she answered did not pursue his questioning in the moonlight looked very beautiful the and to her ou occupation being invisible under these pale rays q they remain silent the coarse of the eternal night jar burst ly from the top of a tree at the nearest comer of the s i besides this not a sound of any kind reached their ears the time of being now past and lying at a distance of two miles at least in the opposite direction the hay field stretched away into till it was lost to the eye in a soft mist chapter when the general occurred had also been looking on and one of the girls had asked her what caused them all to fly she said with solemn that they had seen something very from what they had hoped to see and that she for one would never attempt such ceremonies again we saw satan pursuing us with his hour glass it was terrible this account being a little went forward towards the spot from which the girls had retreated after listening there a few minutes he heard slow footsteps rustling over the leaves and looking through a tangled screen of which hung from a bough he saw in the open space beyond a short stout man in evening dress carrying on one the arm a light overcoat and also lis bat so awkwardly arranged as possibly to have suggested the hour glass to his timid if this were the person whom the girls had seen with the other hand he silently and the moonlight falling upon his bare brow showed him to have dark hair and a high forehead of the shape seen oftener in old prints and paintings than in real life his curious and altogether alien aspect his strange gestures like those of one who is a scene	45
to himself and the unusual place and hour were sufficient to account for any among the daughters at him he paused and looked round as if he had forgotten where he was not observing who was of the color of his the latter advanced into the light the gentleman held up his hand and came towards the two meeting half way i have lost my way said the stranger perhaps you can put me in the path again he wiped his forehead with the air of one under an agitation more than that of simple fatigue the road is over there said i don t want the road said the gentleman impatiently i came from that i want house is there not a path to it across here well yes a sort of path but it is hard to find from this point i ll show you the way sir with great pleasure thanks my good friend the truth is that i decided to walk across the country after dinner from the hotel at where i am staying for a day or two but i did not know it was so far it is about a mile to the house from here they walked on together as there was no path occasionally stepped in front and bent aside the of the trees to give his companion a passage saying every now and then when the twigs on being released flew back like mind your eyes sir to which the stranger replied yes yes in a tone so they went on the leaf shadows running in their usual quick succession over the forms of the till the stranger said the is it far not much farther said the tion runs up into a corner here close behind the house he added with hesitation you know i suppose sir that mrs is not at home you mistake said the other quickly mrs has been away for some time but she s at home now did not contradict him though he felt sure that the gentleman was wrong you are a native of this place f the stranger said yes well you are happy in having a home it is what i don t possess you come from far seemingly i come now from the south of europe oh indeed sir you are an italian or spanish or french gentleman perhaps f i am not either did not fill the pause which ensued and the gentleman who seemed of an nature unable to resist friendship at length answered the question i am an american a south by birth he said i left my native country on the failure of the southern cause and have never returned to it since he spoke no more about himself and they came to the verge of the wood here over the fence out upon the they could at once see the chimneys of the house in the immediately beneath their position silent still and pale can you tell me the time the gentleman asked my watch has stopped it is between twelve and one said his companion expressed his astonishment i thought it between nine and ten at latest i dear me dear me he now begged to return and offered him a gold coin which looked like a sovereign for the assistance rendered declined to accept anything to the surprise of the stranger who on putting the money back into his pocket said awkwardly i it because i want you to utter no word about this meeting with me will you promise the promised readily he stood still while the other ascended the slope at the bottom he looked back would no longer remain when he was so evidently desired to leave and returned through the boughs to he suspected that this man who seemed so distressed and melancholy might be that lover and persistent of mrs whom he had heard so frequently spoken of and whom it was said she had treated but he received no confirmation of his suspicion beyond a report which reached him a few days later that a gentleman had called up the servants who were taking care of house at an hour past midnight and on learning that mrs though returned from abroad was as yet in london he had sworn bitterly and gone away without leaving a card or any trace of himself the girls who related the story added that he sighed three times before he swore but this part of the narrative was not anyhow such a gentleman had driven away from the hotel at next day in a carriage hired at that inn thb sunny leafy week which followed the tender doings of eve brought a visitor to s door a voice that he knew sounded in the passive mr had called at first he had a particular objection to enter the parlor because his boots were dusty but as the surgeon insisted he the point and came in looking neither to the right nor to the left hardly at himself he put his hat under bis chair and with a gaze at the floor he said i ve called to ask you doctor quite privately a question that troubles me a daughter grace an only daughter as you may have heard weu she s been out in the dew on eve in particular she went out in thin slippers to watch some of the maids and she s got a cough a distinct and that makes me uneasy now i have the decided to send her away to some place for a change send her away i s countenance had fallen yes and the question is where would you advise me to send the timber merchant had happened to call at a moment when was at the spring tide of a sentiment that grace was a necessity of his existence the sudden pressure of her form upon his breast as	45
she came headlong round the bush had never ceased to linger with him ever since he adopted the for which the hour and the moonlight and the occasion had been the only excuse now she was to be sent away ambition it could be postponed family culture and of tastes had taken the place of family nowadays he allowed himself to be carried forward on the wave of his desire how strange how very strange it is he said that you should have come to me about her just now i have been thinking every day of coming to you on the very same er ah you have noticed too that her health i have noticed nothing the matter with her health because there is nothing but mr i have seen daughter several times by accident i have admired her infinitely and i was coming to ask you if i may become better acquainted with her pay my addresses to her was looking down as he listened and did not see the air of half at his own that spread over s face as he made this declaration you have got to know her said a spell of dead silence having preceded his utterance during which his emotion rose with almost visible effect yes said and you wish to become better acquainted with you mean with a view to marriage of course that is what you mean yes said the young man i mean get acquainted with her with a view to being her accepted lover and if we suited each other what would naturally follow the timber merchant was much surprised and fairly the his band trembled as he laid by his walking stick this takes me unawares said he his voice breaking down i don t mean that there is anything unexpected in a gentleman being attracted by her but it did not occur to me that it would be you i always said continued he with a lump in his throat that my grace would make a mark at her own level some day that was why i educated her i said to myself fu do it cost what it may though her mother law was pretty frightened at my paying out so much money year after year i knew it would tell in the end where you ve not good material to work on such doings would be waste and vanity i said but where you have that material it is sure to be worth while i am glad you don t object said almost wishing that grace had not been quite so cheap for him if she is willing i don t object certainly indeed added the honest man it would be deceit if i were to pretend to feel anything else than highly honored personally and it is a great cr it to her to have drawn to her a man of such good professional station and venerable old family that fellow little thought how wrong he was about her i take her and welcome sir i ll endeavor to ascertain her mind yes yes but she will be agreeable i should think she ought to be i hope she may well now you ll expect to see me frequently oh yea but name it ail about her cough and her going away i had quite forgot that that was what i came about i assure you said the surgeon that her cough can only be the result of a slight cold and it is not necessary to banish her to any place at all looked doubting whether he ought to take s professional opinion in circumstances which naturally led him to wish to keep her there the doctor saw this and honestly to lose sight of her he said elderly between ourselves if i am successful with her i will take her away myself for a month or two as soon as we are married which i hope will be before the chilly s ther the comes on this will be so very better than letting her go now the proposal pleased much there be hardly any danger in any desirable change of air as long as the warm weather lasted and for such a reason suddenly himself he said your time must be precious doctor ru get home along i am much obliged to ye as you will see her often you ll discover for yourself if anything serious is the matter i can assure you it is nothing said who had seen grace much oftener already than her father knew of when he was gone paused silent his sensations like a man who has made a plunge for a pearl into a medium of which he knows not the or temperature but he had done it and grace was the sweetest girl alive as for the departed visitor his own last words lingered in s ears as he walked homeward he felt that what he had said in the emotion of the moment was very stupid and to a dialogue with an educated gentleman the of whose practice was more than by the former greatness of his family he had uttered thoughts before they were weighed and almost before they were shaped they had expressed in a certain sense his feeling at s news but yet they were not right looking on the ground and planting his stick at each tread as if it were a staff he reached his own where as he passed through the court he stopped to look at the men working in the shed and around one of them asked him a question about wagon hey said looking hard at him the man repeated the words stood then turning suddenly away without answering he went up the court and entered the house as time was no object with the except as a thine to get past they leisurely surveyed the	45
door through which he had disappeared what has the got in his head now f said the elder to do with that of his when you ve got a maid of yer own john that costs ye what she costs him that will take the out of your im the sunday shoes john bat yoa ll never be tall enough to accomplish such as she and tis a thing for ye john as things be well he ought to have a dozen that bring him to reason i see em walking together last and when they came to a he lifted her over like a doll he ought to have a dozen he d let em walk for themselves then meanwhile had entered the house with the look of a man who sees a vision before him his wife was in the room without taking o e his hat he sat down at random we ve done it i he said yes tbe thing is as i expected the spell that i foresaw might be worked has worked she s done it and done it well where is she grace i mean f in her room what has happened f mr explained the circumstances as as he could i told you so he said a maid like her couldn t stay hid long even in a place like this but where is grace let s have her down here a ace she appeared after a reasonable interval for she was sufficiently spoiled by this father of hers not to put herself in a hurry however impatient his tones what is it father f said she with a smile why you what s this you ve been doing not home here more than six months yet instead of yourself to your father s rank making in the educated classes though accustomed to show herself instantly of her father s grace was fairly unable to look anyhow but at a loss now no of course you don t know what i mean or you pretend you don t though for my part i believe women can see these things through a double hedge but i suppose i must tell ye why you ve flung your over the doctor and he s coming only think of that my dear i don t you feel it a triumph f said mrs coming i ve done nothing to make him grace exclaimed t necessary that you should tis voluntary that the in these things well he has behaved very and asked my consent you ll know what to do when he gets here i dare say i needn t tell yon to make it all smooth for him you mean to lead him on to marry me f i do haven t i educated you for it grace looked out of the window and at the fireplace with no animation in her face why is it settled off hand in this way said she you ll wait till you hear what i think of him i suppose oh yes of course but you see what a good thing it will be she weighed the statement without speaking you will be restored to the society you ve been taken away from continued her father for i don t suppose he ll stay here long she admitted the advantage but it was plain that though exercised a certain fascination over her when he was present or even more an almost influence and though his impulsive act in the wood had stirred her feelings she had never regarded him in the light of a destined husband i don t know what to answer she said i have learned that he is very clever he s all right and he s coming here to see you that she could not resist him if he came moved of course father you remember that it is only lately that you know that you can t think of him he has given up all claim to you she could not explain the of her feeling as he could state his opinion even though she had skill in speech and her father had none that acted upon her like a exciting her throwing her into a o s which her doings until the influence was over when she felt something of the nature of regret for the mood she had experienced still more if she reflected on the silent almost sarcastic criticism apparent in s air towards her could not be told to this worthy couple in words it so happened that on this very day was called away from by an engagement to attend some the and his visits therefore did not be n at a note however arrived from him addressed to grace his enforced absence as a material object this note was pretty and a note of a sort that she had been to see since her return to except when a school friend wrote to her a rare instance for the girls were of persons and many cooled down towards the timber dealer s daughter when she was out of sight thus the receipt of it pleased her and she afterwards walked about with a air in the evening her father who knew that the note had come said why be ye not sitting down to answer your letter that s what young folks did in my time she replied that it did not require an answer oh you know best he said nevertheless he went about his business doubting if she were right in not replying possibly she might be so matters as to tm the loss of an alliance which would bring her much happiness s respect for was based less on his professional position which was not much than on the standing of his family in the county in by gone days that faith in members	45
of long established families as such of their personal condition or character which is still found among old fashioned people in the rural districts reached its full intensity in his daughter s was descended from a family he had heard of in his ther s time as being once great a family which had conferred its name upon a neighboring village how then could anything be amiss in this i must keep her up to this be said to his wife she sees it is for her happiness but still she s young and may want a little from an older tongue chapter with this in view he took her ont for a walk a custom of his when he wished to say anything specially impressive their way was over the top of that lofty ridge dividing their from the district whence they had in the spring beheld the miles of apple trees in bloom all was now deep green the spot recalled to grace s mind the last occasion of her presence there and she said the promise of an enormous apple crop is itself is it not i suppose is getting his mills and presses ready this was just what her father had not come there to talk about without replying he raised his arm and moved his finger till he fixed it at a point there he said you see that plantation reaching over the hill like a great and just behind the hill a particularly green sheltered bottom that s where mr s family were lords of the for i don t know how many hundred years and there stands the village of a wonderful property twas wonderful but they are not lords of the there now why no but good and great things die as well as little and foolish the only ones representing the family now i believe are our doctor and a maiden lady living i don t know where you can t help being happy grace in yourself with such a family you ll feel as if you ve stepped into history we ve been at as long as they ve been at buck bury is it not so you say our name occurs in old deeds continually oh yes as and such like but think how much better this will be for ee you ll be living a high intellectual life such as has now become natural to you and though the doctor s practice is small here he ll no doubt go to a dashing town when he s got his hand in and keep a carriage and you ll be brought to know a good the many ladies of excellent society if yon should ever meet me then grace yon can drive past me looking the other way i shouldn t expect you to speak to me or wish such a thing unless it happened to be in some lonely private place where t lower ye at all don t think such men as neighbor your equal he and i shall be good friends enough but he s not for the like of you he s lived our rough and homely life here and his wife s life must be rough and homely likewise so much pressure could not but produce some as grace was left very much to herself she took advantage of one fine day before s return to drive into the where stood the village of leaving her father s man at the inn with the horse and she onward to the ruins of a castle which stood in a field hard by she had no doubt that it represented the ancient of the family the remains were few and consisted mostly of of the lower supported on low stout columns sur mounted by the capital of the period the two or three arches of these that were still in position were by the adjoining farmer as shelter for his the floor being spread with straw amid which the young creatures their thirsty tongues by the quaint carving which with the moisture it was a degradation of even such a rude form of art as this to be so she thought and for the first time the family of assumed in her imagination the hues of a melancholy it was soon time to drive home and she traversed the distance with a mind the idea of so modem a man in science and as the young surgeon springing out of relics so ancient was a kind of novelty she had never before experienced the combination lent him a social and intellectual interest which she dreaded so much weight did it add to the strange influence he exercised upon her came near her is an excitement which was not love not ambition rather a fearful consciousness of hazard in the air she awaited his return n ths meanwhile her father was awaiting him also in his there was an old work on medicine published towards the end of the last century and to put himself in harmony with events spread this work on his knees when he had done his day s business and read about and of the the the and other of that have arisen in history and thence proceeded to the of and the rules for their treatment as laid down in this valuable book with absolute precision regretted that the was so old fearing that he might in consequence be unable to hold as complete a conversation as he could wish with mr no doubt with more recent discoveries the day of s return arrived and he sent to say that he would call immediately in the little time that was afforded for putting the house in order the sweeping of s parlor was as the sweeping of the parlor at the which choked the pilgrim at the end of it mrs sat down folded her hands and lips and	45
waited her husband walked in and out from the timber yard stared at the interior of the room jerked out ay ay and retreated again between four and five arrived his horse to the hook outside the door as soon as he had walked in and perceived that grace was not in the room he seemed to have a nothing less than her actual presence could long keep him to the level of this impassioned enterprise and that lacking he appeared as one who wished to his steps he mechanically talked at what be considered a matron s level of thought till a rustling was heard on the stairs and grace came in was for once as as she over and above the genuine emotion which she raised in his heart there hung the sense that he was casting a die by impulse which he might not have thrown by judgment mr was not in the room having to attend to matters in the yard he had delayed putting on his afternoon coat and waistcoat till the doctor s appearance when not wishing to be backward in receiving him he entered the the parlor hastily op those garments grace s was a little distressed that should see by this action the strain his visit was patting upon her father and to make matters worse for her just then old seemed to have a passion for incessantly in the back kitchen leaving the doors open so that the and were distinct above the parlor conversation whenever the chat over the tea sank into pleasant mr broke in with speeches of labored precision on very remote topics as if he feared to let s mind dwell on the subject nearest the hearts of all in truth a constrained manner was natural enough in just now for the greatest interest of his life was reaching its crisis the real have been beheld instead of the merely the comer of the room in which he sat have been filled with a form typical of anxious suspense large eyed tight awaiting the issue that paternal hopes and fears so intense should be bound up in the person of one child so peculiarly d and not have dispersed themselves over larger field of a whole family involved dangerous risks to future s did not stay more than an hour but that time had apparently advanced his sentiments towards grace once and for all from a vaguely to an shape she would not have accompanied him to the door in response to his whispered come if her mother had not said in a matter of fact way of course grace go to the door with mr accordingly grace went both her parents remaining in the room when the young pair were in the great brick hall the lover took the hand in his drew it under his arm and thus led her on to the door where he stealthily kissed her she broke from him trembling blushed and turned hardly knowing how things had advanced to this drove off kissing his hand to her and waving it to who was visible through the window her father returned the surgeon s action with a great flourish of his own hand and a satisfied smile the that had as usual produced in grace s brain during the visit passed off somewhat with his the she felt like a woman who did not know what she had been doing for the hour hot supposed with that the afternoon s proceedings though vague had amounted to an engagement between herself and the handsome irresistible this visit was a type of many which followed it during the long summer days of that year grace was borne along upon a stream of arguments and it must be added by inclinations of her own at times no woman is without aspirations which may be innocent enough within certain limits and grace had been so trained and educated as to see clearly enough a pleasure in the position of wife to such a man as his material standing of itself either present or future had little in it to g ve her ambition but the possibilities of a refined and cultivated inner life of subtle intercourse had their charm it was this rather than any vulgar idea of marrying well which caused her to float with the current and to yield to the immense influence which exercised over her whenever she shared his society any observer would have that whether or not she loved him as yet in the ordinary sense she was pretty sure to do so in time one evening just before dusk they had taken a rather long walk together and for a short cut homeward passed through the of house still deserted and still with its windows the surrounding foliage and slopes grace was tired and they approached the wall and sat together on one of the stone still warm with the sun that had been pouring its rays upon them all the afternoon this place would just do for us would it not dearest said her as they sat turning and looking idly at the old oh yes said grace plainly showing that no such fancy had ever crossed her mind she is away from home still grace added in a minute rather sadly for she could not forget that she had somehow lost the valuable friendship of the lady of this bower thk who b t oh you mean mrs do you know dear that at one time i thought you lived here indeed i said grace how was that f he explained as far as he could do so without mentioning his disappointment at finding it was otherwise and then wont on well never mind that now i want to ask you something there is one detail of our wedding which i am sure you will leave to me my inclination is not to be	45
fu marry if you say i must as an alternative her father s face settled into he turned pale and came deliberately out of the plot before he answered her she had never seen him look so before now to me he said there s a time for a woman to alter her mind and there s a time when she can no longer alter it if she has any right eye to her parents honor and the of things that time has come i won t say to ye you shall marry him but i will say that if you refuse i shall forever be ashamed and a weary of ye as a daughter and shall look upon you as the hope of my life no more what do you know about life and what it can bring forth and how you ought to act to lead up to best ends oh you are an ungrateful maid grace you ve seen that fellow and he has got over ye that s where the secret lies warrant me no father no it is not it is something i cannot tell you of well make fools of us all make us laughing stocks break it off have your own way but who knows of the engagement as how can breaking it disgrace then by degrees admitted that he had mentioned the engagement to this acquaintance and to that till she perceived that in his restlessness and pride he had published it everywhere she went away to a bower of laurel at the top of the garden her father followed her it is that i he said with an gaze at her no it is not though for that matter you encouraged him once she said troubled to the verge of despair it is not it is mr you ve had a a lovers that s all i suppose it is some woman ay ay you are jealous the old story don t tell me now do you bide here til send to you ths w i him in front of his but a by gone he went off hastily out of the garden gate and down the lane but she would not stay where she was and through a in the garden fence walked away into the wood here the trees were large and wide apart and there was no so that she could be seen to some distance a like white creature as toned by the sunlight and she heard a foot fall crushing dead leaves behind her and found herself by himself approaching gay and fresh as the morning around them his remote gaze at her had been one of mild interest rather than of rapture but she looked so lovely in the green world about her her pink cheeks her simple light dress and the delicate of her movement acquired such from their wild wood setting that his eyes kindled as he drew near my darling what is it tour father says you are in the and jealous and i don t know what ha i ha i ha i as if there were any rival to you except vegetable nature in this home of we know better jealous oh no it is not so said she gravely that s a mistake of his and yours sir i spoke to him so closely about the question of marriage with you that he did not apprehend my state of mind but there s something eh he asked her narrowly and bending to kiss her she shrank away and his kiss what is it t he said more seriously for this little defeat she made no answer beyond mr i have had no breakfast i must go in come he insisted fixing his eyes upon her tell me at once i say it was the greater strength against the smaller but she was mastered less by his manner than by her own sense of the of silence i looked out of the window she said with hesitation tell you by and by i must go in doors i have had no breakfast by a sort of his conjecture went straight to the the fact nor i said he lightly indeed i rose late to day i have had a broken night or rather morning a girl of the village i don t know her name came and rang at mj bell as soon as it was light between four and five i should think it was perfectly with an aching tooth as nobody heard her ring she threw some gravel at my window till at last i heard her and slipped on my dressing gown and went down the poor thing begged me with tears in her eyes to take out her if i dragged her head ofl down she sat and out it came a lovely not a speck upon it and oft she went with it in her handkerchief much contented though it would have done good work for her for years to come it was all so plausible so completely explained knowing nothing of the incident in the wood on old grace felt that her suspicions were unworthy and absurd and with the readiness of an honest heart she jumped at the opportunity of his word at the moment of her mental the bushes about the garden had moved and her father emerged into the shady well i hope it is made up f he said cheerily oh yes said with his eyes fixed on grace whose eyes were bent downward now said her father tell me the pair of ye that you still mean to take one another for good and all and on the strength o t you shall have another couple of hundred paid down i swear it by the name took her hand we declare it do we not my dear grace	45
t said he believed of her doubt somewhat and ever anxious to please she was disposed to settle the matter yet she would not her opportunity of asking a concession of some sort if our wedding can be at church i say yes she answered in a measured voice if not i say no was generous in his turn it shall be so he rejoined gracefully to holy church we ll go and much good may it do us they returned through the bushes in doors grace walking fall of thought between the other two somewhat comforted the both by s ingenious explanation and by the sense that she was not to be deprived of a ceremony so let it be she said to herself pray god it is for the best from this there was no attempt at on her part kept himself continually near her any rebellious impulse and her will into passive with all his desires apart from his lover like anxiety to possess her the few golden hundreds of the timber dealer ready to hand formed a warm background to grace s lovely face and went some way to remove ms uneasiness at the prospect of his professional and social chances by an alliance with the family of a simple the closed up its perspective surely and silently whenever grace had any doubts of her position the sense of time was like a chamber at other moments she was comparatively day after day and the one or two who shaped on her father s premises at this season of the year regularly came and unlocked the doors in the morning locked them in the evening leaned over their garden gates for a of evening air and to catch any last and farthest throb of news from the outer world which entered and expired at little like the exhausted swell of a wave in some of some creek of an sea yet no news interfered with the purpose at their neighbor s house the green tips of the season s growth would not she thought be on the day she became a wife so near was the time the tints of the foliage would hardly have changed everything was so much as usual that no stranger would have supposed a woman s fate to be hanging in the balance at that summer s decline but there were preparations imaginable readily enough by those who had special knowledge in the remote and fashionable town of something was growing up under the hands of several persons who had never seen grace never would see her or care anything about her at all though their creation had such interesting relation to her the life that it would her very heart at a moment when that heart would beat if not with more at least with more than at any previous time why did mrs s van instead of passing along at the end of the smaller village to great direct turn one saturday night into little lane and never pull up till it reached mr s gates the shine of evening fell upon a large flat box not less than a yard square and safely tied with cord as it was handed out from under the with a great deal of care but it was not heavy for its size mrs herself carried it into the house tim the hollow and others looked knowing and made remarks to each other as they watched its entrance stood at the door of the timber shed in the attitude of a man to whom such an arrival was a trifling domestic detail with which he did not condescend to be concerned yet he well divined the contents of that box and was in truth all the while in a pleasant exaltation at the proof that thus far at any rate no disappointment had while mrs remained which was rather long from her sense of the importance of her errand he went into the out house but as soon as she had had her say been paid and had away he entered the dwelling to find there what he knew he should find his wife and daughter in a flutter of excitement over the wedding gown just arrived from the leading dress maker of watering place during these weeks was nowhere to be seen or heard of at the close of his in he had sold some of his furniture packed up the rest a few pieces by associations or necessary to his occupation in the house of a friendly neighbor and gone away people said that a certain had crept into his life that he had never gone near a church and had been sometimes seen on sundays with boots lying on his elbow under a tree with a cynical gaze at surrounding objects he was likely to return to when the season came round his apparatus being stored there and travel with his mill and press from village to village the the narrow internal that stood before the day diminished jet there was in grace s mind sometimes a certain satisfaction the satisfaction of feeling that she would be the heroine of an hour moreover she was proud as a cultivated woman to be the wife of a cultivated man it was an opportunity denied very frequently to young women in her position nowadays not a few those in whom parental discovery of the value of education has tastes which parental circles fail to gratify but what an was this cold pride of the of her youth in which she had pictured herself walking in state towards the altar flushed by the purple light and bloom of her own passion without a single as to the of the bond and fervently receiving as her due the homage of a thousand hearts the fond deep love of one everything had been clear then in imagination now something was	45
she had little anxieties a curious seemed to rule her and she experienced a mournful want of some one to confide in the day loomed so big and nigh that her prophetic ear could in fancy catch the noise of it hear the murmur of the villagers as she came out of church imagine the of the three thin toned bells the seemed to grow louder and the of those three more persistent she awoke the morning had come five hours later she was the wife of xxv the chief hotel at was an old stone inn with a yawning arch under which were driven by stooping to back premises of wonderful the windows to the street were into narrow lights and only commanded a view of the opposite houses hence perhaps it arose that the best and most luxurious private sitting room that the inn could afford over the looked tbe parts of tbe where beyond the yard were to be seen gardens and now nay with scarlet and gold stretching to infinite distance under a mist the time was early autumn when the fair apples red as evening sky do bend the tree unto the fruitful ground when and of black do dance in air and call the eyes around the landscape the window might indeed have been part of the identical stretch of country which the had in his mind this room sat she who had been the maiden grace tiu the finger of fate touched her and turned her to a wife it was two months after the wedding and she was had walked out to see the abbey by the light of sunset but she had been too fatigued to accompany him they had reached the last stage of a long eight weeks tour and were going on to that night in the yard between grace and the there a scene natural to the locality at this time of the year an apple mill and press had been erected on the spot to which some men were bringing fruit from divers points in baskets while others were grinding them and others wringing down the whose sweet forth into and the of these proceedings to whom the others spoke as master was a young of manner and aspect whose form she recognised in a moment he had hang his coat to a nail of the out house wall and wore his shirt sleeves rolled up beyond his elbows to keep them while he the into the bags of horse hair fragments of had alighted upon the brim of his hat probably from the bursting of a bag while brown of the same fruit were sticking among the down upon his fine round arms she realized in a moment how he had come there down in the heart of the apple country every kept np a making apparatus and house for his own building up the in great straw as the w thej were called bnt here on the of s plain was a land neither orchard nor where the apple produce was hardly sufficient to warrant each proprietor in keeping a mill of his own this was the field of the travelling maker his press and mill were fixed to wheels instead of being set np in a and with a couple of horses and an assistant or two he wandered from place to place very satisfactory for his trouble in such a season as the present the back parts of the town were just now with apple they stood in the yards in carts baskets and loose heaps and the blue air of autumn which hung over everything was heavy with a sweet smell cakes of lay against the walls in the yellow sun where they were to be used as fuel yet it was not the great make of the year as yet before the standard crop came in there accumulated in abundant times like this a lai e of early apples and from the trees of later harvest which would not keep long thus in the baskets and quivering in the of the mill she saw specimens of mixed dates including the mellow countenances of and other well known friends of her youth grace watched the head man with interest the slightest sigh escaped her perhaps she thought of the day not so far distant when that friend of her childhood bad met her by her father s arrangement in this same town warm with hope though and trusting in a promise rather implied than given or ae might have thought of days earlier yet days of childhood when her mouth was somewhat more ready to receive a kiss from his than was his to bestow one however all that was over she had felt superior to him then and she felt to him now she wondered why he never looked towards her open window she did not know that in the slight commotion caused by their arrival at the inn that afternoon had caught sight of her through the had turned red and was continuing his work with more concentrated attention on the very account of his discovery the robert too who travelled with had been incidentally informed by the that dr and his wife were in the hotel after which news kept shaking his head and saying to himself ah very audibly between his at the screw of the press why the do yon sigh like that robert f asked at last ah tis my thoughts tis my thoughts i tes lost a hundred load o timber well lost five hundred pound in good money ye ve lost the house that s big enough to hold a dozen families ye ve lost your share of half a dozen good and their horses all lost through your letting slip she that was once yer own i good god you ll drive me	45
mad said sternly don t speak of that any more thus the subject had ended in the yard meanwhile the passive cause of all this loss still regarded the scene she was beautifully dressed she was seated in the most comfortable room that the inn afforded her long journey had been full of variety and almost performed for did not study economy where pleasure was in question hence it perhaps arose that and all his seemed sorry and common to her for the moment moving in a plane so far removed from her own of late that she could scarcely believe she had ever found therein no i could never have married him she said gently shaking her head dear father was right it would have been too coarse a life for me and she looked at the rings of and upon her white and slender fingers that had been gifts from seeing that still kept his back turned and with a little of the above described pride of life easily to be understood and possibly excused in a young inexperienced woman who thought she had married well she said at last with a smile on her lips mr he appeared to take no heed and she said a second time mr r even now he seemed not to hear though a person close enough to him to see the expression of his face might have the doubted it and she said a third time with a timid what have yon forgotten my voice f she remained with her lips parted in a smile he tamed surprise and came deliberately towards the window why do you call me f he said a that took her completely unawares his face being now pale is it not enough that yon see me here and for my daily bread while you are sitting there in your success that you can t refrain from opening old wounds by calling out my name f she flushed and was struck dumb for some moments but she forgave his anger knowing so weu in what it had its root i am sorry i offended you by speaking she replied meekly believe me i did not to do that i could hardly sit here so near you without a word of recognition s heart had swollen big and his eyes grown moist by this time so much had the gentle answer of that familiar voice moved him he assured her hurriedly and without looking at her that he was not angry he then managed to ask her in a clumsy constrained way if she had had a pleasant journey and seen many interesting sights she spoke of a few places that she had visited and so the time passed till he withdrew to take his place at one of the which pulled round the screw forgotten her voice indeed he had not forgotten her voice as his bitterness showed but though in the heat of the moment he had reproached her keenly his second mood was a far more tender one that which could regard her of such as he as her glory and her e his own fidelity notwithstanding he could have declared with a poet hi forget the salt creek may forget the ocean if i f the heart whence flows my heart s bright motion may i sink than the worst abandoned outcast crushed if i forget the though jou forget no word of mine shall mar your pleasure though you forget you filled my barren life with treasure you may the gift you gave you still are queen i still am slave though you forget she had tears in her eyes at the thought that she could not remind him of what he ought to have remembered that not herself but the pressure of events had dissipated the dreams of their early youth grace thus unexpectedly in her encounter with her old friend she had opened the window with a faint sense of triumph but he had turned it into sadness she did not quite comprehend the reason why in truth it was because she was not cruel enough in her cruelty if you have to use the knife use it say the great and for her own peace grace should have thoroughly or not at all ab it was on closing the window an indescribable some might have said dangerous pity in her bosom for him presently her husband entered the room and told her what a wonderful sunset there was to be seen i have not noticed it but i have seen somebody out there that we know she replied looking into the court followed the direction of her eyes and said he did not recognize anybody why mr there he is he that with his other business you know oh that fellow said his curiosity becoming extinct she reproachfully what call mr a fellow it is i was just saying to myself that i never could have married him but i have much regard for him and always shall well do by all means my dear one i dare say i am and and proud of my poor old family but i do confess to you that i feel as if i belonged to a different species from the people who are working in that yard the and from me too then for my blood is no better than theirs he looked at her with a droll sort of awakening it was indeed a startling that this woman of the tribe without should be standing there beside him as his wife if his sentiments were as he had said in their travels together she had ranged so at his level in ideas tastes and habits that he had almost forgotten how his heart had played with his principles in taking her to him ah you you are refined and educated into	45
something quite different he said self i don t quite like to think that she murmured with soft regret and i think you remember i was brought up with him till i was sent away to school so i cannot be different at any rate i don t feel so that is no doubt my fault and a great in me but i hope you will put up with it said that he would endeavor to do so and as it was now getting on for dusk they prepared to perform the last stage of their journey so as to arrive at before it grew very late in less than half an hour they started the makers in the yard having ceased their labors and gone away so that the only sounds audible there now were the of the from the tightly press and the of a single which had drunk itself so that it was unconscious of nightfall grace was very cheerful at the thought of being soon in her home but sat beside her almost silent an indescribable had overtaken him with the near approach of the journey s end and the realities of life that lay there you don t say a word she observed aren t you glad to get back i am you have friends here i have none but my friends are yours oh yes in that sense the conversation and they drew near the end of lane it had been decided that they should at least for a time take up their abode in her father s house one wing of which was quite at their service being al the most by the workmen had been painting and this set of rooms in the wedded pair s absence and so had been the timber dealer that there should occur no or disappointment on their arrival that not the smallest detail remained undone to make it all complete a ground floor room had been fitted up as a with an independent outer door to which s brass plate was for mere ornament such a sign being quite superfluous where everybody knew the latitude and of his neighbors for miles round and his wife welcomed the twain with affection and all the house with deference they went up to explore their rooms that opened from a passage on the left hand of the staircase the entrance to which could be shut off on the landing by a door that had hung for the purpose a friendly fire was burning in the grate although it was not cold said it was too soon for any soil of meal they only having dined shortly before leaving he would walk across to his old lodging to learn how his had got on in his absence in leaving s door he looked back at the house there was economy in living under that roof and economy was desirable but in some way he was dissatisfied with the arrangement it him so deeply in son in to he went on to his former residence his was out and fell into conversation with his former landlady well mrs what s the best news he asked of her with cheery weariness she was a little at losing by his marriage so profitable a tenant as the surgeon had proved to be during his residence under her roof and the more so in there being hardly the remotest chance of her getting such another in the tis what i don t wish to repeat sir least of all to you she never mind me mrs go ahead it is what people say about your hasty marrying dr whereas they won t believe you know such clever doctrines in as they once supposed of ye seeing as you the could marry into mr s family which is only bom such as me they are kindly welcome to their opinion said not allowing himself to recognize that he anything yes she s come home at last who s she mrs oh indeed said with bat slight interest ive seen her li e has seen yon sir whether or no never yes she saw you in some hotel or street for a minute or two while you were away travelling and accidentally heard your name and when she made some remark about yon miss that s her maid told her you was on your tower with mr s daughter and she said he ou t to have done better than that i fear he has spoiled his chances she did not t k much longer to this cheering and walked home with no very brisk step he entered the door quietly and went straight up stairs to the for their use by in his and bis bride s absence expecting to find her there as he had left her the fire was burning still but there were no lights he looked into the next apartment fitted up as a little dining room but no supper was laid he went to the top of the stairs and heard a chorus of voices in the s parlor below grace s being occasionally i and looking into the room from the door way he found quite a large gathering of neighbors and other acquaintances and mrs on her return among them being the farmer and the master blacksmith from great also the the hollow the and some others with their wives who lived hard by grace girl that she was had quite forgotten her new dignity and her husband s she was in the midst of them blushing and receiving their compliments with all the pleasure of old the experienced a for the situation was nowhere in the room but s wife pe the doctor to him we thought grace and i she said that as they have called hearing you were come we could do no less than ask them to supper and then	45
grace proposed that we should all sup together as it is the first night of your return by this time grace had come round to him is it not good of them to welcome me so warmly she exclaimed with tears of friendship in her eyes after so much good feeling i could not think of our shutting ourselves up away from them in our own dining room certainly certainly not said and he entered the room with the heroic smile of a martyr as soon as they sat down to table came in and seemed to see at once that would much rather have received no such reception he aj bis wife for her in the matter mrs declared that it was as much grace s doing as hers after which there was no more to be said by that young woman s tender father by this time was making the best of his position among the wide and genial company who sat eating and drinking and laughing and joking around him and getting warmed himself by the good cheer was obliged to admit that after all the supper was not the least he had ever known at times however the words about his having spoiled his opportunities repeated to him as those of mrs haunted him like a handwriting on the wall then his manner would become suddenly abstracted at one moment he would mentally put an indignant why mrs or any other woman should make it her business to have opinions about his opportunities at another he thought that he could hardly be angry with her for taking an interest in the doctor of her own parish then he would drink a glass of and so get rid of the these and were soon perceived by grace as well as by her father and hence both of them were much relieved when the first of the guests to discover that the hour was growing late rose and declared that he must think of moving homeward the at the words rose as as if lifted by a spring and in ten minutes tbey were gone now grace said her husband as soon as he himself alone with her in their private apartments had a very pleasant evening and everybody has been very kind but we must come to an understanding about our way of living here if we continue in rooms there must be no mixing in witb your people below i can t stand it and that s the truth she had been sadly surprised at the suddenness of his for those old fashioned forms of life which in his courtship he had professed to regard with so much interest but she assented in a moment we must be simply your father s tenants he continued and our and must be as independent as if we lived elsewhere certainly i quite see that it must be so but you joined in with all those people in my absence without knowing whether i should approve or when i came i couldn t help myself at all she sighing yes i see i ought to have waited though they came unexpectedly and i thought i had acted for the best thus the discussion ended and the next day went on his old rounds as usual but it was easy for so an eye as his to discern or to think he discerned that he was no longer regarded as an gentleman of scientific and social but as mr s and therefore in a degree only one of themselves the held with all the strength of inherited conviction to the aristocratic principle and as soon as they had discovered that was one of the old they had accorded to him for nothing a touching of hat of service and deference of approach which had to do without though he paid for it over and over but now having proved a traitor to his own cause by this marriage was believed in no more as a superior by his own divinity while as doctor he began to be rate q higher th i s whom had so long despised the his few seemed in his two months absence to have considerably in number and no sooner had he returned than there came to him from the board of a complaint that a had been neglected by his substitute in a fit of pride resigned his appointment as one of the to the union which had been the of his practice here at the end of a fortnight he came in doors one evening to grace more briskly than usual they have written to me again about that practice in that i once for he said to her the asked is eight hundred pounds and i think that between your father and myself it ought to be raised then we can get away from this place forever the question had been between them before and she was not unprepared to consider it they had not proceeded far with the discussion when a knock came to the door and in a minute ran up to say that a message had arrived from house dr to attend there at once mrs had met with a slight accident through the of her carriage this is something anyhow said rising with an interest which he could not have defined i have had a that this mysterious woman and i were to be better acquainted the latter words were murmured to himself alone good night said grace as soon as he was ready i shall be asleep probably when you return gk od he replied and went downstairs f as the first time since their marriage that he had left her without a chapter xxvi s house had been pulled down on this account his face had been seen but in and he would probably have disappeared from the place altogether but for his slight	45
business connection with on whose premises kept hb ni ng now that he the had no place of his own to it in coming here one evening on his way to a beyond the wood where he now slept he noticed that the familiar brown of his paternal roof had vanished from its site and that the walls were in present circumstances he had a feeling for the spot that might have been called morbid and when he had in the hut he made use of the spare hour before to return to little in the twilight and over the patch of ground on which he had seen the day he repeated this evening visit on several like occasions even in the gloom he could trace where the different rooms had stood could mark the shape of the kitchen in which he had apples and potatoes in his boyhood cast his bullets and burned his on articles that did and did not belong to him the apple trees still remained to show where the garden had been the oldest of them even now retaining the crippled to north east given them by the great november gale of which carried a bodily over the bank they were at present bent to still greater by the of their produce apples against his head and in the grass beneath he scores of them as he walked there was nobody to gather them now it was on the evening under notice that half sitting half leaning against one of these inclined trunks had become lost in his thoughts as usual till one little star after another had taken up a position in the piece of sky which now confronted him where his walls and chimneys had formerly raised their outlines the house had awkwardly into the road and the opening caused by its absence was very distinct in the silence the trot of horses and the spin of became audible and the vehicle soon shaped itself against the blank sky bearing down upon him with the bend in the lane which here occurred and of which the house had been the cause he could discern the figure of a woman high up on the driving seat of a a groom being just visible behind presently there was a slight scrape t en a scream went across to the spot and found the the its driver sitting on the heap of rubbish which had once been his dwelling and the man seizing the horses heads the was mrs s and the that lady herself to his inquiry if she were hurt she made some reply to the effect that she did not know the damage in respects was little or none the was mrs placed in it and the reins given to the servant it appeared that she had been deceived by the removal of the house imagining the gap caused by the to be the opening of the road so that she turned in upon the instead of at the bend a few yards farther on drive drive home cried the lady impatiently and they started on their way they had not however gone many paces when the air being still heard her say stop tell that man to the doctor mr and send him on to the house i find i am hurt more seriously than i thought took the message from the groom and proceeded to the doctor s at once having delivered it he stepped back into the darkness and waited till he had seen leave the door he stood for a few minutes looking at the window which by its light revealed the room where grace was sitting and went away under the gloomy trees duly arrived at house whose doors he now saw open for the first time contrary to his expectation there was visible no sign of that confusion or alarm which a serious accident to the mistress of the abode would have occasioned he was shown into a room at the top of the staircase and draped where by the light of the shaded lamp he saw a woman of full round figure upon a couch in such a position as not to disturb a pile of magnificent hair on the crown of her head sa deep purple dressing gown formed an admirable foil to the peculiarly rich brown of her hair her left arm which was naked nearly up to the shoulder was thrown upward and between the fingers of her right hand she held a while she idly breathed from her plump lips a thin of smoke towards the ceiling the the doctor s first feeling was a sense of his exaggerated in having brought for a serious case the next something more curious while the scene and the moment were new to him and the sentiment and essence of the moment were familiar what could be the cause of it probably a dream mrs did not move more than to raise her eyes to him and he came and stood by her she glanced up at his face across her brows and forehead and then he observed a blush creep slowly over her decidedly handsome cheeks her eyes which had lingered upon him with an inquiring conscious expression were hastily withdrawn and she mechanically applied the again to her lips for a moment he forgot his errand till suddenly himself he addressed her formally with her and made the usual professional inquiries about what had happened to her and where she was hurt that s what i want yon to tell me she murmured in tones of reserve i quite believe in you for i know you are accomplished because you study so hard ril do my best to justify your good opinion said the young man bowing and none the less that i am happy to find the accident has not been serious i am very much shaken she said oh	45
t wish me to stay any longer he inquired when he found that she remained musing i think not then tell me that i am to be gone why f cannot you go without i may consult my own feelings only if left to myself well if you do what then do you suppose you ll be in my way f i feared it might be so then fear no more but good night come to morrow and see if i am going on right this renewal of acquaintance touches me i have a friendship for you if it depends upon myself it shall last forever my best hopes that it may good by went down the stairs absolutely unable to decide whether she had sent for him in the natural alarm which mi ht have followed her or with the single view of herself known to him as she had done for which the had afforded excellent opportunity outside the house he mused over the spot under the light of the stars it seemed very strange that he should have come there more than once when its was absent and observed the house with a nameless interest that he should have assumed off hand before he knew grace that it was here she lived that in short at sundry times and seasons the individuality of house should have forced itself upon him as to some existence with which he was concerned the of his with mrs the for a day or two in the p t had created a interest in ha at the time bat it had been o that in the ordinary onward roll of affairs he would scarce hare recalled it again to find her here in romantic that and tenderness to indescribable proportions on entering little he f himself r it in a new way from the point of view ra er than from his own and the the household had all gone to bed and as he went up stairs he heard the of the timber merchant from his of the building and turned into the passage communicating with his own rooms in a strange access of sadness a light was burning for him in the chamber but grace though in bed was not asleep in a moment her sympathetic voice came from behind the curtains is she seriously hurt f had so entirely lost sight of mrs as a patient that he was not on the instant ready with a reply ob no he said there are no bones broken but she is shaken i am going again to morrow another inquiry or two and grace said did she ask for me f well i think she did i don t quite remember but i am under the impression that she spoke of you you recollect at all what she i cannot just this minute at any rate she did not talk much about me f said grace with disappointment oh no but you did perhaps she added innocently fishing for a compliment on yes you may depend upon that i replied he warmly though scarcely thinking of what he was saying so vividly was there present to his mind the personality of mrs chapter the doctor s professional visit to was promptly repeated the next day and the next he always found mrs on a sofa and generally as became a patient who was in no great harry to lose that title on each occasion he looked gravely at the little scratch on her arm as if it had been a serious wound he had also to his further satisfaction found a slight on her temple and it was very convenient to put a piece of black plaster on this conspicuous part of her person in preference to gold s skin so that it might catch the eyes of the servants and make his presence appear decidedly necessary in case there should be any doubt of the fact oh you hurt me she exclaimed one day he was os the bit of plaster on her arm under which the scrape had turned the color of an previous to vanishing altogether wait a moment then m damp it said he put his lips to the place and kept them there till the plaster came easily it was at your request i put it on said he i know it she replied is that blue vein still in my temple that used to show there the must be just upon it if the cut had been a little deeper it would have my hot blood indeed examined so closely that his breath touched her tenderly at which their eyes rose to an encounter hers showing themselves as deep and mysterious as space she turned her face away suddenly ah i none of that i none of that i cannot with you i she cried don t suppose i consent to for one mo i ment our poor brief youthful hour of love making was too long ago to bear continuing now it is as well that we should understand each other on that point before we go fur ther nor i with you as it was when i found the historic gloves so it is now i might have been and may be the foolish but i am no i naturally cannot f that little space in which i across the field of vision in those days of the past and the recollection opens np all sorts of suppose my mother bad not taken me away t she her dreamy eyes resting on the swaying tip of a distant tree i should have seen yon again and then r then the fire would hare higher and higher what would hare immediately followed i not but row and sickness of heart at last that s the end of all love according to n law i can	45
this horse to see a patient in the it was about five o clock in the evening when he went away and at he had not reached home there was nothing very singular in this though she was not aware that he had any patient more than five or six miles distant in that direction the clock had struck one before entered the house and he came to his room softly as if anxious not to disturb her the next morning she was stirring considerably earlier than he in the yard there was a conversation going on about the mare the man who attended to the horses included insisted that the latter was rid for when he had ar thb at the stable that morning she was in such a state as no be in by honest riding it was true that the doctor had her himself when he got home so that she was not looked after as she have been if he had and fed her but that did not account for the appearance she presented if mr s journey had been only where he had stated the exhaustion of darling as thus related was sufficient to develop a whole series of tales about riding and the of which occupied a considerable time grace returned in doors in passing through the outer room she picked up her husband s overcoat which he had carelessly flung down across a chair a ticket fell out of the breast pocket and she saw that it had been issued at he had therefore visited the previous night a distance of at least five and thirty miles on horseback there and back during the day she made some inquiries and learned for the first time that mrs was staying at abbey she could not resist an as that was a few days later he prepared to start again at the same time and in the same direction she knew that the state of the who lived that way was a mere pretext she was quite sure he was going to mrs grace was at the of the passion which the suspicion in her she was but little excited and her jealousy was languid even to it told tales of the nature of her affection for him in truth her regard for had been rather of the quality of awe towards a superior being than of tender solicitude for a it had been based upon mystery and the mystery of his past of his knowledge of his professional skill of his when this structure of was by the intimacy of common life and she found him as merely human as the people themselves a new foundation was in demand for an enduring and affection a sympathetic wherein mutual weaknesses were made the grounds of a alliance had furnished none of that single minded confidence and truth out of which the alone such a second union could spring hence it was with a emotion that she now watched the mare brought round ni walk with you to the hill if you are not in a great hurry she said rather after all to let him go do there s plenty of time replied her husband accordingly he led along the horse and walked beside her impatient enough thus they proceeded to the road and ascended rub down hill to the he had been leaning over when she surprised him ten days ore this was the end of her excursion bade her adieu with affection even with tenderness and she observed that he looked weary eyed why do you go to night f she said you have been called up two nights in succession already i must go ne answered almost gloomily don t wait up for me with these words he mounted his horse passed through the gate which grace held open for him and down the steep bridle track to the valley she closed the gate and watched his descent and then his journey onward his way was east the evening sun which stood her back beaming full upon him as soon as he got out from the shade of the hill notwithstanding this proceeding she was determined to be loyal if he proved true and the determination to love one s best will carry a heart a long way towards making that best an ever growing thing l e conspicuous coat of the active though mare made horse and rider easy objects for the vision though darling had been chosen with such pains by for grace she had never ridden the sleek creature but her husband had found the animal exceedingly convenient particularly now that he had taken to the saddle plenty of staying power being left in darling yet like others of his character while and his station did not at all disdain to spend s money or appropriate to hb own use the horse which belonged to s daughter and so the young surgeon went along through the gorgeous autumn landscape of white surrounded by with the of apple crops her th lies and foliage the whole by the of the declining sun the earth this year had been and now was the moment of her in the poorest spots the hedges were bowed with and cracked and the burst of lay exposing their counts as if arranged by anxious in a f market all this proud show some were as her situation and she wondered if there were one world in the where the fruit had no worm and marriage no sorrow still moved on his nodding rendering him distinctly visible yet could she have heard s voice at that moment she would have found him murmuring towards the of my one desire i as a in the but he was a silent spectacle to her now soon he rose out of the valley and a high of the chalk formation on his right which rested abruptly upon	45
the district of clay the character and of the two being so distinct that the appeared but as a deposit of a few years antiquity upon the level he kept along the edge of this high country and the sky behind him being deep violet she could still see white darling in relief upon it a mere speck now a reduced to dimensions upon this s he gradually disappeared thus she had beheld the pet animal purchased for her own use in pure love of her by one who had always been true impressed to convey her husband away from her to the side of a new found idol while she was musing on the of horses and wives she discerned shapes moving up the valley towards her quite near at hand till now hidden by the hedges surely they were with his two horses and apparatus conducted by robert up upward they crept a stray beam of the sun eveiy now and then like a star on the blades of the which had been converted to steel by the action of the she opened the gate when he m came nd die as thej the how do do the m to be with him he replied with much m mn he added it is now no i em the the gate and walked by her in the rear of the i mill he looked and like s his m being to wheat color his eyes as his boots and with his hands with the sweet of apples his hat with and everywhere him that atmosphere of which at its return each season has such an indescribable fascination for those who have been bom and bred among the her heart rose from its late sadness like a released ring her senses in the sudden lapse back to nature the consciousness of having to be genteel because of her husband s the of which she had acquired at the fashionable schools were and she became the crude country ml of her latent earliest instincts was she thought no sooner had she been starved off by than another being bare and had arisen out of the earth ready to hand this was an excursion of the imagination which she did not encourage and she said suddenly to disguise the confused regard which had followed her thoughts did you meet my husband f with some hesitation yes where did you meet him f at bay cross i come from abbey i have been making there for the last week haven t they a mill of their own f yes but it s out of repair i think i heard that mrs had gone there to yes i have seen her at the windows once or twice thb once waited aa interval before went on did mr take the way to f yes i met him on darling as she did not reply he added with a yon know why the mare was called that r oh yes of course she answered quickly they had risen so far over the crest of the hill that the whole west sky was revealed between the broken they see far into the recesses of heaven the eye on under a species of golden and past fiery fancied stones and of deeper than this their gaze passed thin of till it plunged into a medium of soft green fire her to the time after her sense ol ill usage her revolt for the against social law her desire for primitive life may have showed in her face was at her his eyes lingering on a that she wore in her bosom almost with the abstraction of a he stretched out his hand and gently c the flower she drew back what are you doing winter borne i she exclaimed with a look of severe surprise the evident absence of all from the act however speedily led her to think that it was not necessary to stand upon her dignity here and now you must bear in mind she said kindly that we are not as we were and some people might have said that what you did was taking a liberty it was more than she need have told him his action of forgetfulness had made him so angry with himself that he flushed through his tan i don t know what i am coming to he exclaimed savagely ah i was not once like this tears of vexation were in his eyes no now it was nothing i was too it would not have to me if i had not seen something like it done elsewhere at lately he said thoughtfully after a while by whom the she him narrowly i know well enough she indifferently it was by my husband and the woman was mrs association of ideas reminded yon when yon saw me tell me all yon know that please do bat i won t hear it let the subject cease and as yon are my friend say nothing to my father they reached a place where their ways divided continued along the highway which kept outside tjie and opened a gate that entered it chapter hb walked up the soft grassy ride on either hand by nut bushes just now heavy with clusters of and and a little way on the track she pursued was crossed by a similar one at right angles here grace stopped some few yards up the ride the was visible her gown tucked up hi h through her and no bonnet on her head m the act of pulling down boughs from which she was gathering and eating nuts with great rapidity her lover tim standing near her engaged in the same pleasant meal crack crack went s jaws every second or two by an chain of thought grace s mind to the tooth drawing scene described	45
her face over and above her uneasiness and did not like the look of it telling the men he would be with them again soon he walked beside her into the road and partly up the hill whence she had watched the night before across the great white or valley they halted beneath a half dead oak hollow and with white its roots spreading out like claws grasping the ground a chilly wind round them upon whose currents the seeds of a neighboring lime tree supported wise by the wing attached out of the boughs downward like from their nest the was wrapped in a dim atmosphere of and the east was like a livid curtain edged with pink there was no sign nor sound of it is no use standing here said her he may u the come borne fifty ways why look here here be darling s tracks tamed and nearly blown dry and hai i he must come in ago seeing bim he not done tbat said tbey went back on entering own gates tbey perceived tbat tbe men had left the and were standing round tbe door of the stable which bad been appropriated to the doctor s use is there anything tbe matter cried grace ob no ma am all s well that ends well said old beard of such things before among though not among your people that s true they entered the stable and saw tbe pale shape of darling standing in the middle of her stall with on her back sound asleep darling was hay as well as she could with the bit in her mouth and the reins which bad fallen from s band upon her neck grace went and touched bis hand shook it before she could he moved started opened bis eyes and exclaimed l i oh it s graces i could not see in tbe am i in tbe yes said how do you he collected his thoughts and in a few minutes stammered i was riding along through tbe very very sleepy having been up so much of late when i came opposite spring tbe mare turned her bead that way as if wanted to drink i let her go in and drank i thought she would never finish while was drinking tbe clock of church struck twelve i distinctly remember counting tbe strokes from tbat moment i positively recollect till i saw you here by my side tbe name if it bad been any other horse he d have bad a broken neck murmured tis wonderful sure bow a quiet will bring a man home at such times said john and what s more wonderful than keeping your seat in a deep sleep f i ve men off walking home from where tbe and other gone round well and keep walking for more than a mile on end without waking the doctor i don t care the man is tis a mercy yon wasn t a or a or a hanged up to a tree like also a handsome gentleman like as the say true murmured old from the soul of his foot to the crown of his head there was no in him or you might ha been a into a most and no doctor to your few limbs together within seven mile while this grim address was proceeding had dismounted and taking grace s arm walked stiffly in doors with her stood staring at the horse which in addition to being very weary was with mud there was no mud to speak of about the just now only in the hollows of the beyond the stiff soil of which retained moisture for weeks after the were dry while they were rubbing down the mare s mind coupled with the foreign quality of the mud the name he had heard muttered by the surgeon when grace took his who was why mrs and she as he knew was staying at b had indeed upon the image that filled s half awakened soul wherein there had been a picture of a recent interview on a lawn with a passionate woman who had begged him not to come again in tones whose him to what are you doing here why do you pursue me another belongs to you if they were to see you they would seize you as a thief and she had admitted to his wringing questions that her visit to had been en less because of the invalid relative than in fear of her own weakness if she remained near his home a triumph then it was to poor and as he had become to recognize his real conquest of this beauty delayed so many year is was the selfish passion of s to love s supreme delight lay in that heart which others for f or when the horse had been attended to stood uneasily here and there about his premises he was rudely dis the in the comfortable views which had lately possessed him on his domestic concerns it is true that he had for some days discerned that grace more and more sought his company preferred his kitchen and with her step mother to occupying herself with the lighter details of her own apartments she seemed no longer able to find in her own hearth an adequate for her life and hence like a weak queen bee after leading off to an independent home had hovered again into the parent hive but he had not these and other incidents of the kind till now something was wrong in the dove cot a ghastly sense that he alone would be responsible for whatever should be brought upon her for whom he almost solely lived whom to retain under his roof he had faced the numerous involved in giving up the best part of his house to there was no room for doubt that had	45
he allowed events to take their natural course she would have accepted and realized his old dream of to that young man s family that could allow himself to look on any other creature for a moment than grace filled with grief and astonishment in the pure and simple life he had led it had scarcely occurred to him that after marriage a man might be that he could sweep to the heights of mrs s position lift the veil of so to speak would have amazed by its audacity if he had not suspected encouragement from that quarter what could he and his simple grace do to the passions of such as those two beings in the world s ways armed with every apparatus for victory in such an encounter the homely timber dealer felt as inferior as a bow and arrow savage before the precise weapons of modem warfare grace came out of the house as the morning drew on the village was silent most of the folk having gone to the fair had retired to bed and was sleeping off his fatigue she went to the stable and looked at poor darling in si probability by obtaining for her a horse of such intelligence and had been the means of saving her husband s life she paused over the strange the and then there appeared her father behind her she saw that he knew thin were not as they ought to be from the troubled of his eye and from his face different points of which had independent motions and unknown to himself and involuntary he was detained i suppose last night f said oh yes a bad case in the she replied calmly nevertheless he should have stayed at home but he couldn t father her father turned away he could hardly bear to see his truthful girl brought to the humiliation of having to talk like that that night care sat beside s pillow and his stiff limbs tossed at its presence i can t lie here any longer he muttered striking a light he wandered about the room what have i what have i done for her he said to his wife who had anxiously awakened i had long planned that she should marry the son of the man i wanted to make amends to do ye mind how i told you all about it the night before she came home ah but i was not content with doing right i wanted to do more don t yourself without good need george she replied i won t quite believe that things are so much amiss i won t believe that mrs has encouraged him even supposing she has encouraged a great many she can have no motive to do it now what so likely as that she is not yet quite well and doesn t care to let another doctor come near her he did not heed grace used to be so busy every day with fixing a curtain here and driving a tin tack there but she cares for no employment now do you know anything of mrs s past history perhaps that would throw some light upon things before she came here as the wife of old four or five years ago not a soul seems to have heard aught of her why not make inquiries and then do ye wait and see more there ll be plenty of opportunity time enough to cry when you know a crying matter and tis bad to meet troubles half way th there was some good sense in the notion of seeing further resolved to inquire and wait hoping still but oppressed between with much fear chapter xxx grace as her father might she would admit nothing for the present therefore he simply watched the suspicion that his darling child was being wrought almost a miraculous change in bury s nature no man so for the time as the who finds that his has been abused s heretofore confidential towards his gentlemanly son in law was by a that did injury to his every action thought and mood he knew that a woman once given to a man for life took as a rule her lot as it came and made the best of it without external e but for the first time he asked himself why this so gen y should be si moreover this case was not he argued like ordinary cases leaving out the question of grace being anything but an ordinary woman her peculiar situation as it were in mid air between two of society together with the loneliness of made a husband s neglect a far more matter to her than it would be to one who had a large circle of friends to fall back upon wisely or and whatever other fathers did he resolved to fight his daughter s battle still mrs had returned but house scarcely gave forth signs of life so quietly had she re entered it he went to church at great one afternoon as usual there being no service at the smaller village a few minutes before his departure he had casually heard who was no church tell his wife that he was going to walk in the wood entered the building and sat down in his the parson came in then mrs then mr the service proceeded and the jealous father was quite sure that a mutual consciousness was main the between those two he fancied that more than once their eyes met at the end so timed his movement into the that it exactly with s from the opposite side and they walked oat with their garments in contact the surgeon being that two or three inches in her rear which made it convenient for his eyes to rest upon her cheek the cheek warmed up to a richer tone this was a worse feature in the than he had expected	45
if she had been playing with him in an idle the game might soon have wearied her but the smallest of passion and women of the world do not change color for nothing was a threatening development the mere presence of in the after his statement was as far as he was concerned but resolved yet to watch he had to wait long autumn drew to its end one day something seemed to be gone from the gardens the leaves of vegetables had shrunk under the first smart frost and hung like faded linen rags then the forest leaves which had been descending at leisure descended in haste and in multitudes and all the golden colors that had hung overhead were now crowded together in a degraded mass where the fallen got and and curled themselves up to rot the only suspicious features in mrs s existence at this season were two the first that she lived with no companion or relative about her which considering her age and attractions was somewhat unusual conduct for a young widow in a lonely country house the other that she did not as in previous years start from to winter abroad in the only change from his last autumn s habits lay in his of night study his lamp never shone from his new dwelling as from his old if the suspected ones met it was by such that even s vigilance could not encounter them together a simple call at her house by the doctor had nothing irregular about it and that he had paid two or three such calls was certain what had passed at those was known only to the parties themselves but that tl thb was some one s influence soon had opportunity of perceiving winter had come on began to be noisy in the mornings and evenings and flocks of wood made themselves prominent again one day in february about six months after the marriage of was returning from great on foot through the lane when he saw before him the surgeon also walking would have overtaken him but at that moment turned in through a gate to one of the rambling drives among the trees at this side of the wood which led to nowhere in particular and the beauty of whose curves was the only justification of their existence almost simultaneously trotted down the lane towards the timber dealer in a little basket carriage which she sometimes drove about the estate by a servant she turned in at the same place without having seen either or apparently was soon at the spot despite his and his sixty years mrs had come up with the doctor who was standing immediately behind the carriage she had turned to him her arm being thrown carelessly over the back of the seat they looked in each other s faces without uttering a word an arch yet gloomy smile her lips clasped her hanging hand and while she still remained in the same attitude looking volumes into his eyes he stealthily her glove and stripped her hand of it by rolling back the over the fingers so that it came off inside out he then raised her hand to his mouth she still watching him as she might have watched a fly upon her dress at she said well sir what excuse for this i make none then go your way and let me go mine she snatched away her hand touched the pony with the whip and left him standing there holding the reversed glove s first impulse was to reveal his presence to and him bitterly but a moment s thought was sufficient to show him the of any such simple proceeding there was not after all so much in what he had witnessed as in what that scene might be the surface the and of probably a state of mind on which as an rather than as a cure moreover he said to himself that the point of attack should be the woman if either he therefore kept out of sight and ing sadly even for he was meek as a child in matters concerning his daughter continued his way towards the insight which is bred of deep sympathy was never more finely than in this instance through her guarded manner her dignified speech her placid countenance he discerned the interior of grace s life only too truly hidden as were its incidents from every outer eye these incidents had become painful enough had developed an irritable discontent which itself in when grace was present to hear them the early morning of this day had been dull after a night of wind and on looking out of the window had observed some of s men dragging away a large limb which had been snapped off a tree everything was y good heaven t he said as he stood in his this is life he did not know whether grace was awake or not and he would not turn his head to ascertain ah fool he went on to himself to your own wings when you were free to i but i could not rest till i had done it why do i never recognize an opportunity till i have missed it nor the good or ill of a step till it is i fell in love love indeed love s but the of the mind when tis not with ambition joined jl sickly dame which if not fed and feeding in self fires t ah old author of the way of the world you knew you knew i grace moved he thought she had heard some part of his he was sorry though he had not taken any precaution to prevent her he expected a scene at breakfast but she only exhibited an extreme reserve it was enough however to make him repent that he should have done	45
anything to produce the fort for he attributed her manner entirely to what he had said bat grace s manner had not its cause either in his sayings or in his doings she had not heard a single word of his regrets something even nearer home than her husband s prospects if they were was the origin of her mood a mood that was the mere of what her father had noticed when he would have preferred a passionate jealousy in her as the more natural she had made a discovery one which to a girl of honest nature was almost appalling she had looked into her heart and found that her early interest in had become into luxuriant growth by her of what was great and little in life his no longer offended her acquired tastes his comparative want of so called culture did not now jar on her intellect his country dress even pleased her eye his exterior fascinated her having discovered by marriage how much that was not great could co exist with of an exceptional order there was a in her sentiments from all that she had formerly clung to in this kind honesty goodness tenderness devotion for her only existed in their purity now in the breasts of men and here was one who had manifested them towards her from his youth up there was further that never ceasing pity in her soul for as a man whom she had wronged a man who had been unfortunate in his worldly transactions while not without a touch of be had like borne himself throughout his as one in suffering all that suffers nothing it was these and no subtle catching of her husband s murmurs that had bred the abstraction visible in her when her father approached the house after witnessing the interview between and mrs grace was looking out of her sitting room window as if she had nothing to do or think of or care for he stood ah grace he said regarding her yes father ah the waiting for your dear he inquired speaking with the sarcasm of pitiful affection oh no not especially he has a great many to see this afternoon came quite close grace what s the use of talking like that when you know here come down and walk with me out in the garden child he the door in the ivy wall and waited this apparent indifference alarmed him he would far rather that she had rushed in all the fire of jealousy to house regardless of confronted and attacked et and accused her even in exaggerated shape of stealing away her husband such a storm might have cleared the air she emerged in a minute or two and they went inside together you know as well as i do he resumed that there is something threatening mischief to your life and yet you pretend you do not do you suppose i don t see the trouble in your face every day i am very sure that this is wrong conduct in you you should look more into matters i am quiet because my sadness is not of a nature to stir me to action wanted to ask her a dozen questions did she not feel jealous was she not indignant but a natural delicacy restrained him you are very tame and let alone i am bound to say he remarked i am what i feel father she repeated he glanced at her and there returned upon his mind the scene of her offering to wed instead of in the last days before her marriage and he asked himself if it could be the fact that she loved now that she had lost him more than she had ever done when she was comparatively free to choose him what would you have me do f she asked in a low voice he recalled his mind from the pain to the practical matter before them i would have you go to mrs he said to mrs what for f said she well if i must speak plain dear to ask her the appeal to her in the name of your common womanhood and your many like sentiments on things not to make ness between yon and your husband it lies with her entirely to do one or the other that i can see grace s face had heated at her father s words and the very rustle of her skirts upon the box i shall not think of going to her father of course i could not i she answered don t ee want to be happier than yon be at present said more moved on her account than she was herself i don t wish to be more if i have anything to bear i can bear it in silence but my dear maid you are too you don t know what the present state of things may lead to just see the harm done a ready your husband would have gone away to to a bigger practice if it had not been for this although it has gone such a little way it is your future even now mrs is bad not bad by calculation and just a word to her now might save ee a of woes ah i loved her once said grace with a broken and she would not care for me then now i no longer love her let her do her worst i don t care you ought to care you have got into a very good position to start with you have been well educated well tended and you have become the wife of a professional man of unusually good family surely you ought to make the best of your position i don t see that i ought i wish i had never got into it i wish you	45
had never never thought of me i wish i worked in the woods like south i hate genteel life and i want to be no better than she why said her amazed father t cultivation has only brought me a d troubles i say again i wish you had never sent me to those fashionable schools you set your mind on it all arose out of that father if i had stayed at home i should have married she closed up her mouth suddenly and was silent and he saw that she was not far from crying the was much grieved what and you like to have grown np as we be here in knowing no more and with no more chance of seeing good life than we have here f yes i have never got any happiness outside that i know of and i have suffered many a at being sent away oh the misery of those january days when i had got back to school and left you all here in the wood so happy i used to wonder why i had to bear it and i was a little despised by the other girls at school because they knew where i came from and that my parents were not in so good a station as theirs her poor father was much hurt at what he thought her ingratitude and he had admitted to himself bitterly enough that he should have let young hearts have their way or rather should have helped on her for and given her to him according to his original plan but he was not prepared for her of those whose completion had been a labor of years and a severe tax upon his purse very well he said with much of spirit if you don t like to go to her i don t wish to force you and so the question remained for him still how should he remedy this perilous state of things for days he sat in a moody attitude over the fire a of standing on the beside him and his drinking horn upon the top of it he spent a week and more thus a letter to the chief which he would every now and then attempt to complete and suddenly up in his hand chapter as february in march and lighter evenings broke the gloom of the s homeward journey the great and little began to have ears for a of the events out of which had grown the timber dealer s troubles it took the form of a wide of conjecture wherein no man knew the exact truth phenomena at b the once showing and concealing the real relationship of sons concerned a of excited surprise honest people as the were it was hardly to be expected that they could remain in the study of their trees and gardens amid such circumstances or sit with their backs turned like the good of at the passage of the beautiful lady for a wonder exaggerated little there were in fact in this case as in thousands the well worn incidents old as the hills which with individual variations made a of a by word of and a corpse of the there were accidental and contrived stealthy correspondence sudden on one side sudden self reproaches on the other the inner state of the twain was one as of confused noise that would not allow the accents of calmer reason to be heard to go in this direction and headlong in that dignified not a single rash step by deliberate intention and against judgment it was all that had expected and feared it was more for he had overlooked the that would be likely to result as it now had done what should he appeal to mrs himself since grace would not he himself of and resolved to consult him feeling the strong need of some friend of his own sex to whom he might his mind he had entirely lost faith in his own judgment that judgment on which he had relied for so many years seemed recently like a false companion to have disclosed unexpected depths of and where all had seemed he felt almost afraid to form a conjecture on the weather or the time or the fruit promise so great was his self it was a evening when he set out to look for the woods seemed to be in a cold sweat beads of perspiration hung from every bare the sky had no color and the trees rose before him as haggard gray whose days of were passed seldom saw now but he believed him to be occupying a the lonely hat just beyond the boundary of mrs s estate still within the of the the timber merchant s thin legs stalked on through the pale damp scenery his eyes on the dead leaves of last year while every now and then a hasty ay escaped his lips in reply to some bitter proposition his notice was attracted by a thin blue haze of smoke behind which arose sounds of voices and bending his steps that way he saw just in front of him it just now happened that after being for a long time and had become of the men in the neighborhood it is often thus fallen friends lost sight of we expect to find starving we discover them going on fairly well without any or desire for profit on his part he had been asked to execute during that winter a very large order for and other ware for which purpose he had been obliged to buy several acres of standing he was now engaged in the cutting and manufacture of the same proceeding with the work daily like an the tree did not its name to day the whole of the wood where the mist had cleared returned purest tints of that hue amid which himself was in	45
the act of making a the being driven firmly into the ground in a row over which he bent and the twigs beside him was a square compact pile like the altar of formed of already finished which on all sides with the sharp points of their at a little distance the men in his employ were assisting him to carry out his contract rows of wood lay on the ground as it had fallen under the axe and a shelter had been constructed near at hand in front of which burned the fire whose smoke had attracted him the air was so that the smoke hung heavy and crept away amid the bushes without rising from the ground after wistfully regarding a while drew nearer and briefly inquired of how he came to be so busily engaged with an of slight surprise that could seem so after being deprived of grace was not without emotion at the meeting the for grace s affairs had divided and ended their intimacy of old times explained just as briefly without raising his eyes from his of a that he held in front of him i p iii be ap in april before yon get it all cleared said yes there or said a chop of the the last word into two pieces there s ther interval still looked on a from s hook occasionally flying against the waistcoat and legs of his visitor who took no heed ah you should have been my partner you should have been my son in law the old man said at last it would have been far better for her and for me saw that something had gone wrong with his former friend and throwing down the he was about to he responded only too readily to the mood of the timber dealer is she ill he said hurriedly no no stood without speaking for some minutes and then as though he could not bring himself to proceed to go away told one of his men to pack up the tools for the night and walked after heaven forbid that i should seem too inquisitive sir he said especially since we don t stand as we used to stand to one another but i hope it is well with them all over your way no said no he stopped and the smooth trunk of a young ash tree with the flat of his hand i would that his ear had been where that is i he exclaimed i should have treated him to little compared wi what he deserves now said don t be in a hurry to go home i ve put some down to warm in my shelter here and we ll sit and drink it and talk this over as took his arm and they went back to where the fire was and sat down under the screen the other having gone he drew out the from the ashes and they drank together the to have bad her as i said now tu tell yoa why for the first time he th told as with great relief the story of how he won away s father s chosen one by nothing worse than a s it is bat by means which except in love certainly haye been and unfair he explained how he had always intended to make to the father by giving grace to the son till the devil tempted him in the person of and he broke his tow how highly i thought of tliat man to be who d have supposed he d have been so weak and wrong headed as this tou ought to have had her and there s an end on t knew how to preserve his calm under this unconsciously cruel tearing of a healing wound to which s on the more vital subject had blinded him the young man endeavored to make the best of the case for grace s sake she hardly have been happy with me he said in the dry voice under which he hid his feelings i was not well educated too rough in short i couldn t have surrounded her with the she looked for anyhow at all nonsense you are quite wrong there said the unwise old man she told me only this day that she hates and such like all that my trouble and money bought for her in that way is thrown away upon her quite she d fain be like that that s the top of her ambition perhaps she s right she loved you the and what s more she loves ye still worse luck for the poor maid if only had what fires he was stirring up he might have held his peace was silent a long time the darkness had closed in round them and the monotonous of the fog from the branches quickened as it turned to fine rain oh she never cared much for me managed to say aa he stirred the embers with a brand the she did and does i tell ye said the other however all that s vain talking now what i come to ask you about is a more practical matter how to make the best of things as they are i am thinking of a desperate step of calling on the woman i am going to appeal to her since grace will not tis she who holds the balance in her hands not he while she s got the will to lead him astray he will follow poor and how long she ll do it depends upon her whim did ye ever hear about her character before she came to f she s been a bit of a in her time i believe replied with the same level as he regarded the red coals one who has smiled where she has not loved and	45
loved where she has not married before mr made her his wife she was a play hey but how close you have kept all this i what besides f mr was a rich man engaged in the iron trade in the north twenty or thirty years older than she he married her and retired and came down here and bought this property as they do nowadays yes yes i know all about that but the other i did not know i fear it no good for how can i go and appeal to the forbearance of a woman in this matter who has made cross loves and crooked her trade for years i thank ye for finding it out but it makes my plan the harder that she should have belonged to that tribe another pause ensued and they looked gloomily at the smoke that beat about the which sheltered them through whose a large drop of rain fell at intervals and into the fire mrs had been no friend to but he was manly and it was not in his heart to let her be condemned without a trial she is said to be generous he answered you might not appeal to her in vain it shall be done said rising for good or for evil to mrs i ll go chapter at nine o clock the next morning himself np in with folding and of and started for house he was the more impelled to go at once by the absence of his son in law in london for a few days to attend really or some professional meetings he said nothing of his destination either to his wife or to grace fearing that they might entreat him to abandon so a project and went out unobserved he had chosen his time with a view as he of conveniently catching mrs when she had just finished her breakfast before any other business people should be about if any came thoughtfully onward he crossed a lying between little woods and the plantation which id on the park and the spot being open he was discerned there by from the on the next hid where he and his men were working knowing his mission the younger man hastened down from the and managed to the i have been thinking of this ar he said am of opinion that it would be best to put off your visit for the present but would not even stop to hear him his mind was made up the appeal was to be made and stood and watched him sadly till he entered the second plantation and disappeared rang at the s door of the house and was at once informed that the lady was not yet visible as indeed he might have guessed had he been anybody but the man he was said he would wait whereupon the young man informed him in a way that between themselves she was in bed and asleep never mind said retreating into the j the stand about here chained so folly with his he shrank from contact with anybody bat he walked the paved court till he was tired and still nobody came to him at last he entered the house and sat down in a small waiting room from which lie got glimpses of the kitchen corridor and of the white maids flitting hither and thither they had heard of his arrival but had not seen him enter and imagining him still in the court discussed freely the possible reason of his calling they at his for though most of the tongues which had been let loose attributed the chief to these of her household preferred to regard their mistress as the deeper sinner sat with his hands resting on the familiar walking stick whose growing he had seen before he enjoyed its use the scene to him was not the material of his person but a tragic vision that travelled with him like an envelope through this vision the incidents of the moment but gleamed here and there as an outer landscape through the high colored scenes of a stained window he waited thus an hour an hour and a half two hours he began to look pale and ill whereupon the butler who came in asked him to have a glass of wine roused himself and said no no is she almost ready she is just finishing breakfast said the butler she will soon see you i am just going up to tell her you are here what haven t you told her before said oh no said the other you see you came so very early at last the bell rang mrs could see him she was not in her private sitting room when he reached it but in a minute he heard her coming from the front staircase and she entered where he stood at this time of the morning mrs looked her full age and more she might almost have been taken for the typical de am though she was really not more than seven or eight and twenty there being no fire in the room she came in with a shawl thrown loosely round her shoulders and obviously without the least suspicion that thb bury bad called upon any errand timber waa indeed the only woman in the parish who had not heard the of her own weaknesses she was at this moment living in a fool s paradise in respect of that not in respect of the weaknesses themselves which if the be told caused her grave do sit down mr yon have all the trees that were to be purchased by you this season except the oaks i yes said how very nice i it must be so charming to work in the woods just now i she was too careless to affect an interest in an person s affairs so as to deceive in the manner	45
of the perfect social machine hence her words very nice so charming were uttered with a that made them sound unreal yes yes said in a reverie he did not take a chair and she also remained standing resting upon his stick he began mrs i have called upon a more serious matter at least to me than tree throwing and whatever mistakes i make in my manner of speaking upon it to you madam do me the justice to set em down to my want of practice and not to my want of care mrs looked ill at ease she might have begun to guess his meaning but apart from that she had such of contact with anything painful harsh or even earnest that his alone were enough to distress her yes what is it she said i am an old man said whom somewhat late in life god thought fit to bless with one child and she a daughter her mother was a very dear wife to me but she was taken away from us when the child was young and the child became precious as the apple of my eye to me for she was all i had left to love for her sake entirely i married as second wife a woman who had been kind as a mother to her in due time the question of her education came on and i said i will the maid well if i live upon bread to do it of her possible marriage i could not bear to think for it seemed like a death that she should the to another man and grow to think his house her home rather than mine but i saw it was the law of nature that this should be and that it was for the maid s happiness that she should ha e a home when i was gone and made up my mind without a murmur to help it on for her sake in my youth i had wronged my dead friend and to make amends i determined to give her my most precious possession to my friend s son seeing that they liked each other well things came about which made me doubt if it would be for my daughter s happiness to do this inasmuch as the young man was poor and she was delicately reared another man came and paid court to one her equal in breeding and accomplishments in every way it seemed to me that he only could give her the home which her training had made a necessity almost i urged her on and she married him but ma am a fatal mistake was at the root of my reckoning i found that this well born gentleman i had calculated on so surely was not of heart and that therein lay a danger of great sorrow for my daughter madam he saw you and you know the rest i have come to make no demands to utter no threats i have come simply as a father in great grief about this only child and i you to deal kindly with my daughter and to do nothing which can turn her husband s heart away from her forever forbid him your presence ma am and speak to him on his duty as one with your power over him well can do and i am hopeful that the rent between them may be patched up for it is not as if you would lose by so doing your course is far higher than the courses of a simple professional man and the gratitude you would win from me and mine by your kindness is more than i can say mrs had first rushed into a mood of indignation on s story hot and cold by turns she had murmured leave me leave me but as he seemed to take no notice of this his words began to influence her and when he ceased speaking she said with hurried hot breath what has led you to think this of me who says i have won your daughter s husband away from her some monstrous are of which i have known nothing until now the started and looked at her simply bat surely ma am yon know the truth better than if her features became a little pinched and the touches of powder on her handsome face for the first time showed themselves as an will you leave me to myself f she said with a f which suggested a guilty conscience this is so utterly unexpected you obtain admission to my presence by as god s in heaven ma am that s not true j made no pretence and i thought in reason you would know why i had come this gossip i have heard nothing of it tell me of it i say tell you ma am not i what the gossip is no matter what really is you know set facts right and the scandal will right of itself but pardon me i speak roughly and i came to speak gently to you beg you to be my daughter s friend she loved you once ma am you began by liking her then you dropped her without a reason and it hurt her warm heart more than i can tell ye but you were within your right as the superior no doubt but if you would consider her position now surely surely you would do her no harm certainly i would do her no harm i s eye met hers it was curious but the allusion to grace s former love for her seemed to touch her more than all s other arguments oh she burst out you have made me so unhappy how could you come to me like this it is too dreadful i now go away go i will he said	45
in a tone as soon as he was out of the room she went to a comer and there sat and under an emotion in which hurt pride and vexation mingled with better sentiments mrs s spirit was subject to these fierce periods of stress and storm she had never so clearly per till now that her soul was being slowly invaded by ai delirium which had brought about all this that she was los ing judgment and dignity under it becoming an impulse only a passion a fascination had led her on it was as if she had been seized by a hand of velvet and the this was where she found herself with night as if a had passed by while she sat or rather crouched by the interview lunch time came and then the early almost without her consciousness then a strange gentleman who says it is not necessary to give his name was suddenly cannot see him whoever he may be i am not at home to she heard no more of her visitor and shortly after in an attempt to recover some mental serenity by violent physical exercise she put on her hat and cloak and went out of doors taking a path which led her up the slopes to the nearest spur of the wood she disliked the woods but they had the advantage of being a place in which she could walk comparatively unobserved chapter t was agitation to day in the lives of all whom these matters concerned it was not till the dinner time one o clock that grace discovered her father s absence from the house after a departure in the morning under somewhat unusual conditions by a little reasoning and inquiry she was able to come to a conclusion on his destination and to divine his errand her husband was absent and her father did not return he had in truth gone on to after the interview but this grace did not know in an indefinite dread that something serious would arise out of s visit by reason of the of temper and nervous irritation to which he was subject something possibly that would bring her much more misery than accompanied her present negative state of mind she left the house about three o clock and took a walk in the track by which she imagined he would come home this track under the bare trees and over the sticks and in from the outer the world of wind and by a net work of boughs led her slowly on till in time she had left the larger trees behind her and swept round into the where and his men were clearing the had s attention been concentrated on his he would not have seen her but ever since s passage across the opposite in the morning he had been as uneasy and unsettled as grace herself and her advent now was the one appearance which since her father s could arrest him more than s return with his tidings fearing that something might be the matter he hastened up to her she had not seen her old lover for a long time and too conscious of the late of her heart she could not behold him calmly am only looking for my father she said in an i was looking for him too said i think he may perhaps have gone on farther then you knew he was going to the house she said turning her large tender eyes anxiously upon him did he tell you what for glanced at her and then softly hinted that her father had visited him the evening before and that their old friendship was quite restored on which she guessed the rest oh i am glad indeed that you two are friends again she cried and then they stood facing each other fearing each other troubling each other s souls grace experienced acute misery at the sight of these wood cutting scenes because she had herself from them craving even to its defects and that homely life of her father which in the best probable succession of events would shortly be denied her at a little distance on the ed e of the clearing south was to take home for manufacture during the evenings while and mrs stood looking at her in their mutual embarrassment at each other s presence they beheld approaching the girl a lady in a dark fur mantle and a black hat having a white veil tied round it she spoke to who turned and the aod the lady fell into conversation with her it was mrs on leaving her house mrs had walked on and onward the fret and fever of her mind with more vigor than she was accustomed to show in her normal moods a fever which the solace of a did not entirely reaching the she observed at work threw away her and came near chop chop chop went s little with never more till mrs spoke who is that young lady i see talking to the yonder she asked mrs ma am said oh said mrs with something like a start for she had not recognized grace at that distance and the man she is talking that s mr a stole into s face as she mentioned s name which mrs did not fail to notice informed her of the state of the girl s heart are you engaged to him f she asked softly no ma am said she was once and i think but could not possibly explain the of her thoughts on this matter which were nothing less than one of extraordinary for a girl so young and inexperienced namely that she saw danger to two hearts naturally honest in grace being thrown back into s society by the neglect of her husband mrs however with the almost means to knowledge which women	45
have on such occasions quite understood what had intended to convey and the picture thus exhibited to her of lives drifting away the wreck of poor s hopes prompted her to more generous than all s had been able to full of the new feeling she bade the girl good afternoon and went on over the of to where grace and were standing they saw her approach and said she is coming to you it is a good omen she me so til go away he accordingly retreated to where he had been working before grace came and the grace s formidable rival approached her each woman taking the other s measure as she came near dear mrs said with some inward turmoil which stopped her speech i have not seen you for a long time she held oat her hand while grace stood like a wild animal on first a mirror or other product of civilization was it really mrs speaking to her thus if it was she could no longer form any guess as to what life signified i want to talk to you said mrs for the gaze of the young woman had chilled her through can you walk on with me till we are quite alone sick with grace nevertheless complied as by and they moved side by side into the deeper recesses of the woods they went farther much farther than mrs had meant to go but she could not begin her conversation and in of it kept walking i have seen your father she at length resumed and i am much troubled by what he told me what did he tell you i have not been admitted to his confidence on anything he may have said to you nevertheless why should i repeat to you what you can easily divine true true returned grace mournfully why should you repeat what we both know to be in our minds already mrs your husband the moment that the speaker s tongue touched the dangerous subject a vivid look of self consciousness flashed over her in which her heart revealed as by a lightning gleam what filled it to overflowing so was the expression that none but a sensitive woman and she in grace s position would have had the power to catch its meaning upon her the phase was not lost then you do love him she exclaimed in a tone of much surprise what do you mean my young friend why cried grace i thought till now that you had only been cruelly with my husband to amuse your idle moments a rich lady with a poor professional gentleman whom in her heart she despised not much less than her the who belongs to him bat i from manner that you love him desperately and i don t hate you as i did before indeed mrs with a trembling tongue since it is not playing in your case at all but real oh i do pity you more than i despise yon for you will a s mrs was now aa agitated aa grace i ought not to allow myself to argue with you she exclaimed i myself by doing it but i liked you once and for the sake of that time i try to tell you how mistaken you are i much of her confusion resulted from her wonder and alarm at finding herself in a sense mentally and by this simple school girl i do not love him she went on with desperate it was a kindness my making somewhat more of him than one usually does of one s doctor i was lonely i talked well i with him i am very sorry if such child s playing out of pure friendship has a serious matter to you who could have expected it but the world is so simple here oh that s affectation said grace shaking her head it is no use you love him i can see in your face that in this matter of my husband you have not let your acts your feelings during these last four or six months you have been terribly but you have not been and that almost me i have been if you will have the word i mean i have and do not love him but grace clung to her position like a you may have with others but him you love as you never loved another man oh well i won t argue said mrs laughing faintly and you come to reproach me for it child no said grace you may go on loving him if you like i don t mind at all you ll find it let me tell you a business for yourself than for me in the end he u get tired of you soon as tired as can be you don t know liim so well as i and then you may wish you had never seen him mrs had grown quite pale and weak under this the prophecy it was that grace whom every one would have as a gentle girl should be of stronger fibre than her you silly young woman she with little agonies it is nothing but playful friendship nothing i it will be proved by my future conduct i shall at once refuse to see him more since it will make no difference to my heart and much to my name i question if you will refuse to see him again said grace as with eyes she bent a down but i am not against you as you are against me she added the tree to its natural perpendicular before i came i had been you for wanton cruelty now i only pity you for affection when has gone out of the house in hope of seeing you at hours and when i	45
have found him riding miles and miles across the country at midnight and his life and getting covered with mud to get a glimpse of you i have called him a foolish man the of a finished i thought that what was getting to be a tragedy to me was a comedy to yon but now i see that tragedy lies on your side of the situation no less than on mine and more that if i have felt trouble at my position you have felt anguish at yours that if i have had disappointments you have had heaven may k d help you i cannot attempt to reply to your eloquence returned the other struggling to restore a dignity which had completely my acts will be my proofs in the world which you have seen nothing of between men and women are not unknown and it would have been better both for you and your father if you had each judged me more respectfully and left me alone as it is i wish never to see or speak to you madam any more grace bowed and mrs turned away the two went apart in directly opposite courses and were soon hidden from each other by their surroundings and by the shadows of eve in the excitement of their long argument they had walked onward and about without r direction or the distance all of the had long since faded into and even had not the heen too great for hearing them thej would have heen and homeward bound at this twilight bat grace went on her coarse without any mis though there was here with only the passages for walking across which hung she had not however traversed this the wildest part of the wood since her childhood and the of outlines had been great old trees which once were had been or blown down and the bushes which then had been small and were now large and overhanging she soon found that her ideas as to direction were vague that she had indeed no ideas as to direction at all if the evening had not been growing so dark and the wind had not put on its night moan so distinctly grace would not have minded but she was rather frightened now and b an to strike across hither and thither in random courses grew the darkness more developed the wind voices and still no spot or outlet of any kind appeared nor any sound of the floated near though she had wandered probably between one and two hours and began to be weary she was vexed at her foolishness since the ground she had covered if in a straight line must inevitably have taken her out of the wood to some remote village or other but she had wasted her forces in and now in much alarm wondered if she would have to pass the night here she stood still to and fancied that between the of the wind she heard shuffling footsteps on the leaves heavier than those of or though fearing at first to meet anybody on the chance of his being a friend she decided that the fellow night even u a would not injure her and that he might possibly be some one sent to search for her she accordingly shouted a rather timid the cry was immediately returned by the other person and grace running at once in the direction whence it came beheld an indistinct figure hastening up to her as rapidly they were almost in each other s arms when she recognized in her a the outline and white veil of her the whom he had parted from an and a half before mrs t have lost my way i have lost my way cried that lady oh is it yon i am to meet yon or anybody i have been wandering np and down ever since we parted and am nearly dead terror and misery and so am v said grace what shall we shall we do f you won t go away from me asked her companion no indeed are you very tired f i can scarcely move and i am scratched dreadfully about the ankles grace reflected perhaps as it is dry under foot the best thing for us to do would be to sit down for half an hour and then start again when we have thoroughly rested by walking straight we must come to a track somewhere before the morning they found a of which afforded a shelter from the wind and sat down under it some of dead crisp and dry that remained from the previous season forming a sort of nest for them but it was cold nevertheless on this night particularly for grace who with the sanguine of youth in matters of dress had considered it spring time and hence was not so warmly clad as mrs who still wore her winter fur but after sitting a while the latter lady shivered no less than grace as the warmth imparted by her hasty walking began to go off and they felt the cold air drawing through the leaves which scratched their backs and shoulders moreover they could hear some drops of rain falling on the trees though none reached the nook in which they had themselves if we were to cling close together said mrs we should keep each other warm but she added in an voice i suppose you won t come near me for the world why not r because well you know yes i i don t hate you at all the they crept ap to another and being in the dark lonely and weary did what neither had dreamed of doing beforehand clasped each other closely mrs s grace s cold face and each one s body as she breathed alternately against that of her companion when a few minutes	45
his mind it seemed even than it was his practice had been slowly of late and now threatened to die out altogether the irrepressible old dr jones up to s very door w only too well the latest and greatest cause of his and yet so is man the second branch of his sadness grew out of a measure proposed for the first a letter from imploring him not to see her again to bring about their still more effectually she added she had decided during his absence upon almost immediate departure for the continent the time was that dull interval in a s life which with great activity in the life of the itself a period following the close of the winter and preceding the barking season when the are just beginning to heave with the force of lifts inside all the trunks of the forest s contract was completed and the were deserted it was dusk there were no leaves as yet the would not begin to sing for a fortnight and the mother of the months was in her most phase starved and bent to a mere bowed skeleton which glided along behind the bare twigs in s company when he reached home he went straight up to bis wife s sitting room he found it deserted and without a fire he had mentioned no day for his return nevertheless he wondered why she was not there waiting to receive him on descending to the other wing of the house and inquiring of mrs he learned with much surprise that grace had gone on a visit to an acquaintance at three days earlier that tidings had on this morning reached her father of her being very there in consequence of which he had ridden over to see her went up stairs again and the little drawing room now lighted by a solitary candle was not rendered more cheerful by the entrance of with an apron thk f al of wood which she threw on the hearth she oat the grate and rattled about the fire irons with a view to making things comfortable considered that grace ought to have let him know her plans more accurately before leaving home in a like this he went to the window the blind of which had not been pulled down and looked out at the thin fast sinking moon and at the tall stalk of smoke rising from the top of s chimney that the young woman had just lit her fire to prepare supper me became conscious of a discussion in progress on the opposite side of the court somebody had looked over the wall to talk to the and was telling them in a loud voice news in which the name of mrs soon ar rested his ears don t make so much noise with that grate said the surgeon at which reared herself upon her knees and held the fuel suspended in her hand half opened the she is off to foreign lands again at last made up her mind quite sudden like and it is she ll leave in a day or two she s been all as if her mind were low for some days past with a sort of sorrow in her face as if she reproached her own soul she s the wrong sort of woman for hardly knowing a from a that i own but i don t care who the man is she s been a very kind friend to me well the day after to morrow is the sabbath day and without charity we are but but this i do say that her will be a blessed thing for a certain married couple remain the fire was lighted and sat down in front of it restless as the last leaf upon a tree a sort of sorrow in her face as if she reproached her own soul poor how s frame must be under the conditions of which he had just heard the how her fair temples must ache what a mood of wretchedness she must be in but for the mixing up of his name with hers and her determination to their too close acquaintance on that account she would probably have sent for him the she was now alone perhaps wishing that she had not forbidden him to come again unable to remain in this lonely room any longer or to wait for the meal which was in coarse of preparation he made himself ready for riding descended to the yard stood by the stable door while darling was being and rode down the lane he would have preferred walking but was weary with his day s travel as he approached the door of south s cottage which it was necessary to pass on his way she came from the porch as if she had been awaiting him and met him in the middle of the road holding up a letter took it without stopping and asked over his shoulder from whom it came hesitated from me she said though with noticeable firmness this letter contained in fact s declaration that she was the original owner of mrs s locks and enclosed a from the native stock which had grown considerably by this time it was her long contemplated apple of discord and much her hand trembled as she handed the document up to him but it was impossible on account of the gloom for to read it then while he had the curiosity to do so and he put it in his pocket his imagination having already itself on house in his pocket the letter remained and forgotten all the while that was its excellent effect upon him he was not long in reaching the of the house he drew rein under a group of dark oaks commanding a view of the front and reflected a while his entry would	45
not be altogether unnatural in the circumstances of her possible but upon the whole he thought it best to avoid riding up to the door by silently approaching he could retreat unobserved in the event of her not being alone thereupon he dismounted darling to a stray bough hanging a little below the general line pf the trees and proceeded to the door on foot in the mean time had returned from s s the the great court or of the timber merchant s house divided from the shady lane by an ivy covered wall was entered by two white gates one standing near each extremity of the wall it so happened that at the moment when was riding out at the lower gate on his way to the house was approaching the upper gate to enter it being in front of was seen by the latter but the surgeon never turning his head did not observe his father in law slowly and silently along under the trees though his horse too was a gray one how is grace said his wife as soon as he looked gloomy she is not at all well he said i don t like the looks of her at all i couldn t bear the notion of her away in a strange place any longer and i begged her to let me get her home at last she agreed to it but not till after much persuading i was then sorry that i rode over instead of driving but i have hired a nice comfortable carriage the easiest going i could get and she ll be here in a couple of hours or less i rode on ahead to tell you to get her room ready but i see her husband has come back yes said mrs she expressed her concern that her husband had hired a carriage all the way from what it will cost she said i don t care what it costs he exclaimed i was determined to get her home why she went away i can t think she acts in a way that is not at all likely to mend matters as far as i can see grace had not told her father of her interview with mrs and the disclosure that had been whispered in her startled ear since is come he continued he might have waited in till i got home to ask me how she was if only for a compliment i saw him out where is he gone f mrs did not know positively but she told her husband that there was not much doubt about the place of his first visit after an absence she had in fact seen take the direction of the house said no more it was to him that just at this moment when there was every reason for to stay in doors or at any rat ride along the sh i l t the ford road to meet his wife he should be doing despite to her by going elsewhere the old man went out of doors again and his horse being hardly as yet he told to the when he again mounted and rode off at the heels of the surgeon by the time that reached the park he was prepared to go any in his rank and reckless of his daughter s t he would fetch home to night by some rough or fair in his view there could come of his interference nothing worse than what existed at present and yet to every bad there is a had entered by the bridle gate which admitted to the park on this side and over the soft turf almost in the tracks of s horse till he reached the of trees under which his had halted the object that was visible here in the gloom of the boughs he found to be darling as left by d n him why did he not ride up to the house in an honest way said he by s example he tied his horse under an adjoining tree and went on to the house on foot as the other had done he was no longer disposed to stick at trifles in his investigation and did not hesitate to gently open the front door without ringing the large square hall with its oak floor staircase and was lighted by a dim lamp hanging from a beam not a soul was visible he went into the corridor and listened at a door which he knew to be that of the there was no sound and on turning the handle he found the room empty a fire burning low in the grate was the sole light of the apartment its beams flashed on the somewhat furniture and here in style as unlike that of the parts of the building as it was possible to be and probably introduced by to the fine old english gloom of the place disappointed in his hope of his son in law here he went on to the dining room this was without light or fire and pervaded by a cold atmosphere which that she had not dined there that day the by this time s mood had a little everything here was so pacific so in its repose that he was no longer to provoke a collision with or with anybody the comparative of the apartments influenced him to an emotion rather than to a belief that where all was outwardly so good and proper there could not be quite that within which he had suspected it occurred to him too that even if his suspicion were justified his abrupt if not entry into the house might end in its at the ex of his daughter s dignity and his own any ill result would be pretty sure to hit grace hardest in the long run he would after all adopt the more rational course	45
and plead with privately as he had pleaded with mrs he accordingly retreated as silently as he had come passing the door of the drawing room anew he fancied that he a noise within which was not the of the fire gently the door to a distance of a few inches and saw at the opposite window two figures in the act of stepping out a man and a woman in whom he recognized the lady of the house and his son in law in a moment they had disappeared amid the gloom of the lawn he returned into the hall and let himself out by the carriage entrance door coming round to the lawn front in time to see the two figures parting at the railing which divided the of the house from the open park mrs turned to hasten back immediately that had left her side and he was speedily absorbed into the of the trees waited till mrs had re entered the drawing room and then followed after thinking that he would allow the latter to mount and ride ahead a way before him and giving him a piece of his mind his son in law might possibly see the second horse near his own but that would do him no harm and might prepare him for what he was to expect the event however was different from the plan on plunging into the thick shade of the of oaks he could not perceive his horse blossom anywhere but feeling his the way carefully along he by and by discerned s mare darling still standing as before under the adjoining tree for a moment thought that his own horse being young and strong had broken away from her but on listening intently he her comfortably along a little way ahead and a creaking of the saddle which showed that she had a walking on as far as the small gate in the corner of the park he met a who in reply to s inquiry if he had seen any person on a gray horse said that he had only met dr it was just what had begun to suspect had mounted the mare which did not belong to him in mistake for his own an ht easily in a man ever in horse flesh by the darkness of the spot and the near of the animals in appearance though s was readily enough seen to be the horse by day he hastened back and did what seemed best in the circumstances got upon old darling and rode rapidly after had just entered the wood and was winding along the cart way which led through it deep in the leaf mould with large that were formed by the in the spoil of the when all at once he in front at a point where the road took a turning round a large chestnut tree the form of his own horse blossom at which quickened darling s pace thinking to come up with nearer view revealed that the horse had no rider at s approach it galloped away under the trees in a homeward direction thinking something was wrong the timber merchant dismounted as soon as he reached the chestnut and after feeling about for a minute or two discovered lying on the ground here help i cried the latter as soon as he felt s touch i have been thrown but there s not much harm done i think since could not now very well read the younger man the lecture he had intended and as friendliness would be his instinct was to speak not a single word to his son in law he raised into a sitting m the and found that he was a little stunned and bat as he had said not otherwise how this fall had come about was readily there was only old darling under him had been taken unawares by the younger horse s was a traveller of the old fashioned sort having just come from he still had in his pocket the pilgrim s of rum which he always carried on journeys exceeding a dozen miles though he seldom drank of it he poured it down the surgeon s with such effect that he quickly revived got him on bis legs but the question was what to do with him he could not walk more than a few steps and the other horse had gone away with great exertion contrived to get him darling mounting himself behind and holding round his waist with one arm darling being broad and high in the was well able to carry double at any rate as far as and at a gentle pace chapter mare paced along with firm and cautious tread through the where had worked and into the heavier soil where the oaks grew past great the largest oak in the wood and thence towards bottom intensely dark now with and to be haunted by the spirits of the from house by this time was quite recovered as to physical strength but he had eaten nothing since making a hasty breakfast in london that morning his anxiety about having hurried him away from home before dining as a consequence the old rum administered by his father in law flew to the young man s head and loosened his tongue without his ever having recognized who it was that had lent him a kindly hand he began to speak in sentences still supporting him the d ive come all the way from london to day said ah that s the place to meet your equals i live at worse at little and i am lost there there s not a man within ten miles of who can comprehend me i tell you farmer what s your name that i m a man of education i know several languages the poets and i are familiar friends i used	45

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