Datasets:

NicholasSynovic
/

Modified-VEAA

Dataset card Data Studio Files Files and versions Community

Split (2)

train · 42.9k rows

text stringlengths 1.96k 5.76k	author int64 1 50
to the wardrobe room in which she had left yes it is my brother she said with difficult composure i just caught his voice he has no doubt come back from paris to stay this is a rather indolent way he has never to write to prepare me i can easily go away said by this time however her brother had been shown into the house and the footsteps of the page were audible coming in search of lady if you will wait there a moment she said directing st into a which you will be quite safe from interruption and i will quickly come back taking the light she left him two on a tower waited in darkness not more than ten minutes had passed when a whisper in her voice came through the he opened the door yes he is come to stay she said he is at supper now very well don t be dearest shall i stay too as we planned i fear she replied anxiously you see how it is to night we have broken the arrangement that you should never come here and this is the result will it you if i ask you to leave not in the least upon the whole i prefer the comfort of my little cabin and to the and of this place there now i fear you are offended i she said a tear collecting in her eye i wish i was going back with you to the cabin how happy we were those three days of our stay there but it is better perhaps just now that you should leave me yes these rooms are oppressive they require a large household to make them cheerful yet she added after reflection i will not request you to go do as you think best i will light a night light and leave you here to consider for myself i must go downstairs to my brother at once or he ll wonder what i am doing she kindled the little light and again retreated closing the door upon him stood and waited some time till he considered that upon the whole it would be to leave with this intention he emerged and went softly along the dark passage towards the extreme end where there was a little crooked staircase that would conduct him down to a side door descending this stair he duly arrived at the other side of the house facing the quarter whence the wind blew and here he was surprised to catch the noise of rain beating against two on a tower the windows it was a state of weather which fully accounted for the visitor s impatient ringing st was in a minor kind of the rain reminded him that his hat and great coat had been left downstairs in the front part of the house and though he might have gone home without either in ordinary weather it was not a pleasant feat in the winter rain his steps to s room he took the light and opened a closet door that he had seen on his way down within the closet hung various articles of apparel lumber of all kinds filling the back part thought he might find here a cloak of hers to throw round him but finally took down from a p a more suitable garment the only one of the sort that was there it was an old eaten great coat heavily trimmed with fur and in removing it a companion cap of was disclosed whose can they be he thought and a gloomy answer suggested itself he then said the scientific side of his nature matter is matter and mental association only a delusion putting on the garments he returned the light to lady s bedroom and again prepared to depart as before scarcely however had he regained the corridor a second time when he heard a light footstep seemingly s again on the front landing wondering what she wanted with him further he waited taking the precaution to step into the closet till sure it was she the figure came onward bent to the of the bedroom door and whispered supposing him still inside on second thoughts i think you may stay with safety having no further doubt of her personality he came out with thoughtless from the closet behind her and looking round suddenly she beheld i two on a tower his shadowy fur clad outline at once she raised her hands in horror as if to protect herself from him she uttered a shriek and turned to the wall covering her face would have picked her up in a moment but by this time he could hear footsteps rushing upstairs in response to her cry in consternation and with a view of not her he affected his retreat as fast as possible reaching the bend of the corridor just as her brother louis appeared with a light at the other extremity what s the matter for heaven s sake said louis my husband i she involuntarily exclaimed what nonsense o yes it is nonsense she added with an effort it was nothing but what was the cause of your cry she had by this time recovered her reason and judgment it was a trick of the imagination she said with a faint laugh i live so much alone that i get superstitious and i thought for the moment i saw an apparition of your late husband yes but it was nothing it was the outline of the tall clock and the chair behind would you mind going down and leaving me to go into my room for a moment she entered the bedroom and her brother went downstairs thought it best to leave well alone and going noiselessly out of the house through the rain homeward it was plain that of one sort and another had so weakened s nerves as	45
to lay her open to every impression that the clothes he had borrowed were some cast off garments of the late sir had occurred to st in taking them but in the moment of returning to her side he m two on a tower had forgotten this and the shape they gave to his figure had obviously been a of too sudden a sort for her musing thus he walked along as if he were still as before the lonely student from all mankind and with no shadow of right or interest in house or its mistress the great coat and cap were unpleasant companions but having been reared or having reared himself in the scientific school of thought would not give way to his sense of their to do so would have been treason to his own and aims when nearly home at a point where his track on path there approached him from the latter a group of indistinct forms the tones of speech revealed them to be and other was about to say a word to them till his disguise he deemed it advisable to hold his tongue lest his attire should tell a too dangerous tale as to where he had come from by degrees they drew closer their walk being in same direction good night said the stranger did not reply all of them paced on abreast of him and he could perceive in the gloom that their were turned upon his form then a whisper passed from one to another of them then who was the dropped immediately behind his heels and followed there for some distance taking dose observations of his outline after which the men again and whispered thinking it best to let them pass on his pace and they went ahead of him apparently without much reluctance there was no doubt that they had been impressed by the clothes he wore and having no wish to provoke similar comments from his grandmother and took the precaution on arriving at two on a tower bottom to enter the by the here he deposited the cap and coat in secure hiding afterwards going round to the front and opening the door in the usual way in the he met who said only to hear what have been seed to night mr the work folk have dropped in to tell us in the kitchen were the men who had him on the road their countenances instead of wearing the usual had a smoothed out expression of blank concern s entrance was and quiet as if he had merely come down from his study upstairs and they only noticed him by their gaze so as to include him in the audience we was in a deep talk at the moment continued and had just brought up that story about old s crossing tiie park one night at one o clock in the morning and seeing sir a shutting my lady out o doors and we was saying that it seemed a true return that he should perish in a foreign land when we happened to look up and there was sir a walking along did it overtake you or did you overtake it whispered i don t say twas returned god forbid that i should drag in a word about what perhaps was still solid manhood and has to die but he or it closed in upon us as yes closed in upon us said and i said good night added yes good night that yer words i support ye in it and then he closed in upon us still more we closed in upon he rather said well well tis the same thing in such matters and the form was sir s my nostrils told me t i i two on a tower for there a yes i could smell n being to lord lord what scandal s this about the ghost of a respectable gentleman said mrs martin who had entered from the sitting room now wait ma am i don t say a low smell mind ye a high smell a sort of calling to mind and hare just as you d expect of a great squire not like a poor man s at all and that was what strengthened my faith that twas sir the skins that old coat was made of well well i ve not held out against the figure o starvation these five and twenty year on nine shillings a week to be of a walking sweet or said so here s home along bide a bit longer and i m going too continued well when i found twas sir my dried up within my mouth for neither hedge nor bush were there for refuge against any foul spring a might have made at us twas very curious but we had likewise a mentioned his name just afore in talking of the confirmation that s shortly coming on said is there soon to be a confirmation yes in this parish the first time in church for twenty years as i say i had told em that he was confirmed the same year that i went up to have it done as i have very good cause to mind when we went to be examined the pa son said to me the articles of thy belief mr as he was then was me and he whispered women and wine women and wine says i to the pa son and for that i was sent back till next confirmation sir never that he was the rascal confirmation was a sight different at that time two on a tower mused the didn t lay it on so strong then as they do now now a days yer bishop both hands to every jack rag and tom straw that drops the knee afore him but twas six to one blessing when we was boys the bishop o	45
that time would stretch out his palms and run his fingers over our row of crowns as off hand as a bank gentleman telling money the great lords of the church in them days wasn t particular to a soul or two more or less and for my part i think living was easier for t the new bishop i hear is a bachelor man or a widow gentleman is it asked mrs martin bachelor i believe ma am mr san making so bold you ve never faced him yet i think mrs martin shook her head no it was a piece of neglect i hardly know how it happened she said i am going to this time said and turned the chat to other matters could not sleep that night for thinking of his nothing told so significantly of the conduct of her first husband towards the poor lady as the abiding dread of him which was revealed in her by any sudden revival of his image or memory but for that consideration her almost terror at s disguise would have been ludicrous he waited anxiously through several following days for an opportunity of seeing her but none was afforded her brother s presence in the house sufficiently accounted for this at length he ventured to write a note her to signal to him in a way she had done once or twice before by pulling down a blind in a particular window of the house one of the few visible from the top of the rings hill column this to be done on any evening when she could see him after dinner on the terrace when he had the glass at that window for five successive nights he beheld the blind in the position suggested three hours later quite in the dusk he repaired to the place of appointment my brother is away this evening she explained and that s why i can come out he is only gone for a few hours nor is he likely to go for longer just yet he keeps himself a good deal in my company which has made it for me to venture near you two on a tower has he any suspicion none apparently but he rather me how feared from her manner that this was something serious i would rather not tell but well never mind yes i will tell you there should be no secrets between us he upon me the necessity of marrying day after day for money and position of course yes but i take no notice i let him go on really this is sad said the young man i must work harder than ever or you will never be able to own me o yes in good time she replied i shall be very glad to have you always near me i felt the gloom of our position keenly when i was obliged to disappear that night without assuring you it was only i who stood there why were you so frightened at those old clothes i borrowed don t ask don t ask i she said burying her face on his shoulder i don t want to speak of that there was something so ghastly and so in your putting on such garments that i wish you had been more thoughtful and had left them alone he assured her that he did not stop to consider whose they were by the way they must be sent back he said no i never wish to see them again i cannot help feeling that your putting them on was ominous nothing is ominous in serene philosophy he said kissing her things are either causes or they are not causes when can you see me again in such wise the hour passed away the evening was typical of others which followed it at irregular intervals through the winter and during the months of the season frequent falls of snow lengthened two on a tower even more than other difficulties had done the periods of between the pair with all the more to the letter of his promise not to intrude into the house from his sense of her to compel him to keep out should he choose to rebel a student of the greatest forces in nature he had like many others of his sort no personal force to speak of in a social point of view mainly because he took no interest in human ranks and and hence he was as as a child in her hands wherever matters of that kind were concerned her brother at but whether because his experience of had him for the of britain or for some other reason he seldom showed himself out of doors and caught but passing glimpses of him now and then s impulsive affection would overcome her sense of risk and she would press to call on her at all costs this he would by no means do it was obvious to his more logical mind that the secrecy to which they had bound themselves must be kept in its fulness or might as well be abandoned altogether he was now sadly exercised on the subject of his uncle s will there had as yet been no pressing reasons for a full and candid reply to the who had communicated with him owing to the fact that the were not to begin till was one and twenty but time was going on and something definite would have to be done soon to own to his marriage and consequent for the was easy in itself but it involved telling at least one man what both and himself had great reluctance in telling anybody moreover he wished to know nothing of his loss in making her his wife all he could think of doing for the present was to write a letter to his uncle s lawyer and wait events the one comfort	45
of this dreary winter time was his two on a tower perception of a returning ability to work with the regularity and much of the spirit of earlier days one bright night in april there was an of the moon and mr by arrangement brought to the several men and boys to whom he had promised a sight of the phenomenon through the the coming confirmation fixed for may was again talked of and st learnt from the parson that the bishop had arranged to stay the night at the and was to be invited to a grand luncheon at house immediately after the this seemed like a going back into life again as regarded the mistress of that house and st was a little surprised that in his communications with she had mentioned no such probability the next day he walked round the mansion wondering how in its present state any entertainment could be given therein he found that the shutters had been opened which had restored an unexpected to the aspect of the windows two men were putting a chimney pot on one of the chimney and two more were green mould from the front wall he made no inquiries on that occasion three days later he strolled again now a great cleaning of window panes was going on and being the for which purpose their services must have been borrowed from the neighbouring dashed water at the glass with a force that threatened to break it in the broad face of being inside smiling at the in addition to these green and another were the gravel walks and putting fresh plants into the flower beds neither of these reasonable operations was a great undertaking singly looked at but the life had m two on a tower led and the mood in which she had hitherto regarded the premises rendered it somewhat significant however was rather curious than concerned at the proceedings and returned to his tower with feelings of interest not entirely confined to the worlds overhead lady may or may not have seen him from the house but the same evening which was fine and while he was occupying in the with cleaning the eye pieces of the skull cap on head observing jacket on and in other ways for sweeping the customary stealthy step on the winding staircase brought her form in due course into the rays of the bull s eye lantern the meeting was all the more pleasant to him from being unexpected and he at once lit up a larger lamp in honour of the occasion it is but a hasty visit she said when after putting up her mouth to be kissed she had seated herself in the low chair used for observations panting a little with the labour of ascent but i hope to be able to come more freely soon my brother is still living on with me yes he is going to stay until the confirmation is over after the confirmation he will certainly leave so good it is of you dear to please me by agreeing to the ceremony the bishop you know is going to lunch with us it is a wonder he has promised to come for he is a man averse to society and mostly keeps entirely with the clergy on these confirmation or or whatever they call them but mr s house is so very small and mine is so close at hand that this arrangement to relieve him of the fuss of one meal at least naturally suggested itself and the bishop has fallen in with it very readily how are you getting on with your observations have you not wanted me dreadfully to write down notes well i have been obliged to do without you whether or no see here how much i have done two on a tower and he showed her a book ruled in columns headed object right features remarks and so on she looked over this and other things but her mind speedily winged its way back to the confirmation it is so new to me she said to have persons coming to the house that i feel rather anxious i hope the luncheon will be a success you know the bishop said i have not seen him for many years i knew him when i was quite a girl and he held the little living of sub near us but after that time and ever since i have lived here i have seen nothing of him there has been no confirmation in this village they say for twenty years the other bishop used to make the young men and women go to he wouldn t take the trouble to come to such an out of parish as ours this cleaning and preparation that i observe going on must be rather a tax upon you my brother louis sees to it and what is more bears the expense your brother said with surprise well he insisted on doing so she replied in a hesitating tone he has been active in the whole matter and was the first to suggest the invitation i should not have thought of it well i will hold aloof till it is all over thanks dearest for your i wish it was not still advisable but i shall see you on the day and watch my own philosopher all through the service from the corner of my i hope you are well prepared for the she added turning tenderly to him it would perhaps be advisable for you to give up this till the confirmation is over in order to devote your attention exclusively to that more serious matter two on a tower more serious well i will do the best i can i am sorry to see that you are less interested in than you used to be no it is only that these preparations for the bishop my mind	45
from study now put on your other coat and hat and come with me a little way xxiv he morning of the confirmation was come it was mid may time bringing with it weather not perhaps quite so blooming as that assumed to be natural to the month by the joyous poets of hundred years ago but a very tolerable well wearing that the average rustic would willingly have for in of occasionally fairer but usually more foul among the larger shrubs and flowers which composed the of the gardens the the and the rose hung out their respective colours of purple yellow and white whilst within these round firom every disturbing gale rose the the the and the solomon s seal the things that moved amid this scene of colour were bees and numerous young feminine for the impending confirmation who having gaily themselves for the ceremony were their own appearance by walking about in and till it was time to start st whose preparations were somewhat than those of the village waited till his grandmother and had set out and then the door followed towards the distant on reaching the churchyard gate he met mr i i two on a tower ham who shook hands with him in the manner of a man with several irons in the fire and telling where to sit disappeared to hunt up some who had not yet made themselves visible casting his eyes round for and seeing nothing of her went on to the church porch and looked in from the north side of the smiled a host of uniform in dress age and a temporary of their natural tendency to like a hare over the of good counsel their white muslin dresses their round white caps from beneath whose borders hair knots and curls of various shades of brown escaped upon their low shoulders as if against their will lighted up the dark and grey stone work to an unwonted warmth and life on the south side were the young men and boys heavy and massive as indeed was rather necessary considering what they would have to bear at the hands of wind and weather before they returned to that for the last time over the heads of all these he could see into the to the square on the north side which was attached to house there he discerned lady already arrived her brother louis sitting by her side entered and seated himself at the end of a bench and she who had been on the watch at once showed by subtle signs her consciousness of the presence of the young man who had reversed the ordained of the church services on her account she appeared in black attire though not strictly in mourning a touch of red in her bonnet setting off the richness of her complexion without making her gay woman in the church she decidedly was and yet a disinterested spectator who had known all the circumstances would probably have felt that the future considered s more natural mate would have been two on a tower one of the muslin clad maidens who were to be presented to the bishop with him that day when the bishop had arrived and gone into the and blown his nose the congregation were sufficiently impressed by his presence to leave off looking at one another the right reverend d d ninety fourth of the throne of the revealed himself to be a personage of dark complexion whose darkness was thrown still further into by the lawn that now rose upon his two shoulders like the eastern and western in stature he seemed to be tall and imposing but something of this aspect may have been derived from his robes the service was as usual of a length which severely tried the powers of the young people assembled and it was not till the youth of all the other had gone up that the turn came for the and some older ones were nearly the last when at the heels of mr he passed lady s he lifted his eyes from the red of that gentleman s hood sufficiently high to catch hers she was abstracted tearful regarding him with all the mingling of religion love and hope which such women can feel at such times and which men know nothing of how she watched the bishop place his hand on her beloved youth s head how she saw the great ring glistening in the sun among s brown curls how she waited to hear if dr uttered the form this thy child which he used for the younger ones or this thy servant which he used for those older and how when he said this thy she felt a of conscience like a person who had an innocent youth into marriage for her own gratification till she remembered that she had raised his social two on a tower position thereby all this could only have been told in its by herself as for he felt ashamed of his own utter lack of the high enthusiasm which beamed so from her eyes when he passed her again on the return journey from the bishop to his seat her face was warm a blush which her brother might have observed had he r her whether he had observed it or not as soon as st had sat himself down again louis turned and looked hard at the young this was the first time that st and s brother had been ace to face in a distinct light their first meeting having occurred in the dusk of a was not in the habit of noticing people s features he scarcely ever observed any detail of in his friends a from their whole aspect forming his idea of them and he now only noted a young man of perhaps thirty who a good deal and in whose small dark eyes	45
seemed to be concentrated the activity that the rest of his frame decidedly lacked this gentleman s eyes were to the end of the service continually fixed upon but as this was their natural direction from the position of his seat there was no great strangeness in the circumstance wanted to say to now i hope you are pleased i have to your ideas of my duty leaving my fitness out of consideration but as he could only see her bonnet and forehead it was not possible even to look the intelligence he turned to his left hand where the organ stood with miss lark seated behind it it being now sermon time the youthful had fallen asleep over the handle of his and pulled out her handkerchief intending to him awake with it with the handkerchief tumbled out two on a tower a whole family of unexpected articles a silver a photograph a little purse a scent bottle some loose nine green a key they rolled to s feet and obeying his first instinct he picked up as many of the articles as he could find and handed them to her amid the smiles of the neighbours was half dead with humiliation at such an event happening under the very eyes of the bishop on this glorious occasion she turned pale as a sheet and could hardly keep her seat fearing she might faint who had bent over and whispered don t mind it shall i take you out into the air she declined his offer and presently the sermon came to an end lingered behind the rest of the congregation sufficiently long to see lady accompanied by her brother the bishop the bishop s mr and several other clergy and ladies enter to the grand luncheon by the door which admitted from the churchyard to the lawn of house the whole group talking with a vivacity all the more intense as it seemed from the recent two hours enforced of their social qualities within the adjoining building the young man stood till he was left quite alone in the churchyard and then went slowly homeward over the hill perhaps a trifle depressed at the impossibility of being near in this her one day of gaiety and joining in the conversation of those who surrounded her not that he felt much jealousy of her situation as his wife in comparison with his own he had so clearly understood from the beginning that in the event of marriage their outward lives were to run on as before that to rebel now would have been in n two on a tower himself and cruel to her by adding to that were great enough already his momentary doubt was of his own strength to achieve sufficiently high things to render him in relation to her other than a young favourite whom she had married at an immense sacrifice of position now at twenty he was doomed to even from a wife could it be that at say thirty he would be welcomed everywhere but with motion through the sun and air his mood assumed a lighter complexion and on reaching home he remembered with interest that was in a favourable aspect for observation that afternoon meanwhile the interior of house was rattling with the progress of the luncheon the bishop who sat at lady s side seemed enchanted with her company and from the beginning she engrossed his attention almost entirely the truth was that the circumstance of her not having her whole soul on the success of the and the pleasure of bishop imparted to her in a great measure the mood to both her brother louis it was who had laid out the plan of entertaining the bishop to which she had assented but indifferently she was secretly bound to another on whose career she had all her happiness having thus other interests she evinced to day the ease of one who nothing and there was no sign of that with which so often makes the hostess hardly as the charming woman who a friend s home the day before in marrying lady had played her card perhaps but she had played it it could not be withdrawn and she took this morning s luncheon as an episode that could result in nothing to her beyond the day s entertainment hence by that power of to accomplish in an hour what will not effect in a two on a tower life time she fascinated the bishop to an d a bachelor he rejoiced in the commanding period of life that stretches between the time of impulse and the time of when a woman can reach the male heart neither by awakening a young man s passion nor an old man s he must be made to admire or he can be made to do nothing that is how on her guest lady to external view was in a position to desire many things and of a sort to desire them she was obviously by nature impulsive to but instead of exhibiting to correspond recently gratified affection lent to her manner just now a sweet serenity a truly christian contentment which it puzzled the learned bishop exceedingly to find in a warm young widow and increased his interest in her every moment thus matters stood when the conversation round to the morning s confirmation that was a singularly engaging young man who came up among mr s said the bishop to her somewhat abruptly but does not catch a woman without her wit which one she said innocently that youth with the corn coloured hair as a poet of the new school would call it who sat just at the side of the organ do you know who he is in answering showed a little for the first time that day o yes he is the son of an unfortunate gentleman who was formerly here a mr st i	45
never saw a young man in my life said the bishop lady blushed there was a lack of self consciousness too in his manner of presenting himself which very much won me a mr st do you say a s son his must have been st of all angels whom i two on a tower knew how comes he to be staying on here what is he doing mr who kept one ear on the bishop all the lunch time finding that lady was not ready with an answer hastened to reply your is right his father was an all angels man the youth is rather to be pitied he was a man of talent affirmed the bishop but i quite lost sight of him he was to the late resumed the parson and was much liked by the parish but being in his tastes and tendencies he contracted a marriage with the daughter of a farmer and then quarrelled with the local gentry for not taking up his wife this lad was an only child there was enough money to him and he is sufficiently well provided for to be independent of the world so long as he is content to live here with great economy but of course this gives him few opportunities of himself yes naturally replied the bishop of better have been left entirely dependent on himself these half do men little good unless they happen to be either or lady would have given the world to say he is a genius and the hope of my life but it would have been decidedly and in another moment was unnecessary for mr said there is a certain genius in this young man i sometimes think well he really looks quite out of the common said the bishop youthful genius is sometimes observed not believing it in the least yes said the bishop though it depends lady on what you understand by it may produce nothing visible to the world s eye and two on a tower yet may complete its development within to a very perfect degree achievements though the only ones which are counted are not the only ones that exist and have value and i for one should be sorry to assert that because a man of genius dies as unknown to the world as when he was bom he therefore was an instance of wasted material achievements were however those that lady had a weakness for in the present case and she asked her more experienced guest if he thought early development of a special talent a good sign in youth the bishop thought it well that a particular bent should not show itself too early lest disgust should result still argued lady rather firmly for she felt this opinion of the bishop s to be one throwing doubt on sustained is with early bias showed quite a passion for the system when he was but a youth and so did and james had a surprising knowledge of the stars by the time he was eleven or twelve yes sustained the bishop rather liking the words is certainly with early bias f preached at fourteen he mr st is not in the church said lady he is a scientific young man my lord explained mr an she added with suppressed pride an really that makes him still more interesting than being handsome and the son of a man i knew how and where does he study he has a beautiful he has use of an old column that was erected on this to the memory of one of the it has been very two on a tower adapted for his purpose and he does very good work there i believe he occasionally sends up a paper to the royal society or or somewhere and to i should have had no idea from his boyish look that he had advanced so r the bishop answered and yet i saw on his face that within there was a book worth studying his is a career i should very much like to watch a thrill of pleasure chased through lady s heart at this praise of her chosen one it was an compliment to her taste and in him out for her own despite its temporary her brother louis now spoke i fancy he is as interested in one of his fellow creatures as in the science of observed the in whom said lady quickly in the fair maiden who sat at the organ a pretty girl rather i noticed a sort of by play going on between them occasionally during the sermon which meant if i am not mistaken she said lady she is only a village girl a s daughter lark who used to come to read to me she may be a savage for all that i know but there is something between those two young people nevertheless the bishop looked as if he had allowed his interest in a stranger to carry him too and mr was at the and easy of louis s talk in the presence of a consecrated bishop as for her tongue lost all its she felt quite faint at heart and hardly knew how to herself i have never noticed anything of the sort said mr two on a tower it would be a matter for regret said the bishop if he should follow his father in forming an attachment that would be a to him in any honourable career though perhaps an early marriage considered would not be bad for him a youth who looks as if he had come straight from old greece may be exposed to many temptations should he go out into the world without a friend or to guide him despite her sudden jealousy s eyes grew moist at the picture of her innocent going into the world without a friend or but she was sick in soul	45
and still by louis s dreadful remarks who as he was in human virtue could have no reason whatever for representing as engaged in a private love affair if such were not his honest impression she was so absorbed during the remainder of the luncheon that she did not even observe the kindly light that her presence was shedding on the right reverend by her side he reflected it back in tones duly by his position the minor clergy caught up the rays thereof and so the gentle influence played down the table the company soon departed when luncheon was over and the remainder of the day passed in the bishop being occupied in his room at the with writing letters or a sermon having a long journey before him the next day he had expressed a wish to be for the night without ceremony and would have dined alone with mr but that by a happy thought lady g and her brother were asked to join them however when louis crossed the churchyard and entered the drawing room at seven o clock his sister was not in his company she was he said suffering from a slight headache and much regretted that she was on that account unable to come at this intelligence two on a tower the social sparkle disappeared from the bishop s eye and he sat down to table endeavouring to mould into the form of serenity an expression which was really one of common human disappointment in his simple statement louis had by no means expressed all the circumstances which accompanied his sister s refusal at the last moment to dine at her neighbour s house louis had strongly urged her to bear up against her slight if it were that and not and come along with him on just this one occasion perhaps a more important episode in her life than she was aware of thereupon knew quite well that he alluded to the favourable impression she was producing on the bishop notwithstanding that neither of them mentioned the bishop s name but she did not give way though the argument strong between them and louis left her in no very amiable mood saying i don t believe you have any more headache than i have it is some provoking whim of yours nothing more in this there was a of truth when her brother had left her and she had seen him from the window entering the gate seemed to be much relieved and sat down in her bedroom till the evening grew dark and only the lights shining through the trees from the dining room revealed to the eye where that dwelling stood then she arose and putting on the cloak she had used so many times before for the same purpose she locked her bedroom door to be supposed within in case of the accidental approach of a servant and let herself privately out of the house lady paused for a moment under the windows till she could sufficiently well hear the voices of the to be sure that they were actually within and then went on her way which was towards the rings hill column she appeared a mere spot n two on a tower hardly from the grass as she crossed the open ground and soon became absorbed in the black mass of the fir plantation meanwhile the conversation at mr s dinner table was not of a highly quality the parson in long self during the afternoon had decided that the whose annual at had occurred in the month previous would afford a solid and subject to during the meal whenever conversation and that it would be one likely to win the respect of his spiritual for himself as the accordingly in the further belief that you could not have too much of a good thing mr not only acted upon his idea but at every pause rallied to the point with unbroken firmness ever which had been discussed at that last such as the introduction of the lay element into the of the church the of the courts church the question was revived by mr and the excellent remarks which the bishop had made in his addresses on those subjects were quoted back to him as for bishop himself his instincts seemed to be to allude in a spirit to the incidents of the past day to the flowers in lady s beds the date of her house perhaps with a view of hearing a little more about their owner from louis who would very readily have followed the bishop s lead had the parson allowed him room but this mr seldom did and about half past nine they prepared to separate louis had risen from the table and was standing by the window looking out upon the sky and privately yawning the topics discussed having been hardly in his line a fine night he said at last two on a tower i suppose our young is hard at work now said the bishop following the direction of louis s glance towards the clear sky yes said the parson he is very whenever the nights are good for observation i have occasionally joined him in his tower and looked through his with great benefit to my ideas of celestial phenomena i have not seen what he has been doing lately suppose we stroll that way said louis would you be interested in seeing the bishop i am quite willing to go said the bishop if the distance is not too great i should not be at all averse to making the acquaintance of so exceptional a young man as this mr st seems to be and i have never seen the inside of an in my life the intention was no sooner formed than it was carried out mr leading the way xxvi an hour before this time st had	45
been sitting in his cabin at the base of the column working out some figures from observations taken on preceding nights with a view to a theory that he had in his head on the motions of certain so called fixed stars the evening being a little chilly a small fire was burning in the stove and this and the shaded lamp before him lent a remarkably air to the chamber he was awakened from his by a scratching at the window pane like that of the point of an ivy leaf which he knew to be really caused by the tip of his sweetheart wife s forefinger he rose and opened the door to admit her not without astonishment as to how she had been able to get away from her friends dearest why what s the matter he said perceiving that her face as the fell on it was sad and even stormy i thought i would run across to see you i have heard something so so to your and i know it can t be true i know you are constancy itself but your constancy produces strange effects in people s eyes good heavens nobody has found us out no no it is not that you know that i am always sincere and willing to own if i am to two on a tower blame in anything now will you prove to me that you are the same by some fault to me yes dear indeed directly i can think of one worth i wonder one does not rush upon your tongue in a moment i confess that i am sufficiently a not to experience that don t speak so when you know so well what i mean is it nothing to you that after all our vows for life you have thought it right to with a village girl o interrupted taking her hand which was hot and trembling you who are full of noble and generous feelings and regard me with devoted tenderness that has never been surpassed by woman how can you be so greatly at fault by thinking that you injure yourself in my eyes why i am so far from doing so that i continually pull myself up for watching you too as to day when i have been the effect upon you of other company in my absence and thinking that you rather shut the gates against me when you have big to entertain do you she cried it was evident that the honest tone of his words was having a great effect in clearing away the clouds she added with an uncertain smile but how can i believe that after what was seen to day my brother not knowing in the least that i had an of interest in you told me that he witnessed the signs of an attachment between you and lark in church this morning ah cried with a burst of laughter now i know what you mean and what has caused this misunderstanding how good of you to come at once and have it out with me instead of brooding over it and thinking bitter things two on a tower of me as many women would have done he told the whole story of little adventure with that morning and the sky was clear on both sides when shall i be able to claim you he added and put an end to all such accidents as these she partially sighed her perception of what the outside world was made of somewhat obscured by solitude and her lover s company had been revived to day by her entertainment of the bishop and more particularly s wives and it did not her sense of the difficulties in s path to see anew how little was thought of the greatest gifts mental and spiritual if they were not backed up by substantial however the pair made the best of their future that circumstances permitted and the interview was at length drawing to a close when there came without the slightest a smart rat upon the little door o i am lost said seizing his arm why was i so it is nobody of consequence whispered somebody from my grandmother probably to know when i am coming home they were so far for the only window which gave light to the hut was by a curtain at that moment they heard the sound of their visitors voices and with a consternation as great as her own discerned the tones of mr and the bishop of where shall i get what shall i do said the poor lady clasping her hands looked around the cabin and a very little look was required to take in all its resources at one end as previously explained were a table stove chair cupboard and so on while the other was completely occupied by a hung with x two on a tower curtains of pink and white on the inside of the bed there was a narrow channel about a foot wide between it and the wall of the hut into this cramped retreat slid herself and stood trembling behind the curtains by this time the knock had been repeated more loudly the light through the window blind unhappily revealing the presence of some threw open the door and mr introduced his visitors the bishop shook hands with the young man told him he had known his and at s invitation weak as it was entered the cabin the and louis remaining on the threshold not to crowd the limited space within bishop looked around the apartment and said quite a settlement in the quite far enough from the world to afford the of science the seclusion he needs and not so far as to limit his resources a might apparently live here in as much solitude as in a forest his has been good enough to express	45
an interest in your studies said mr to st and we have come to ask you to let us see the with great pleasure stammered where is the inquired the bishop peering round again the staircase is just outside this door answered i am at your s service and will show you up at once and this is your little bed for use when you work late said the bishop yes i am afraid it is rather and here are your books the bishop continued two on a tower turning to the table and the shaded lamp you take an observation at the top i presume and come down to record your observations the young man explained his precise processes as well as his state of mind would let him and while he was doing so mr and louis waited patiently without looking sometimes into the night and sometimes through the door at the and listening to their scientific converse when all had been exhibited here below ut his lantern and inviting his visitors to follow led the way up the column no small sense of relief as soon as he heard the footsteps of all three on the behind him he knew veiy well that once they were inside the was out of danger her knowledge of the her to find her way with perfect safety through the plantation and into the park home at the top he uncovered his and for the first time at ease to them its beauties and revealed by its help the glories of those stars that were eligible for inspection the bishop spoke as as could be expected on a topic not peculiarly his own but somehow he seemed rather more abstracted in manner now than when he had arrived thought that perhaps the long up the stairs coming after a hard day s work had taken his out of him and mr was afraid that his was getting bored but this did not appear to be the case for though he said little he stayed on some time longer examining the construction of the dome after the while occasionally caught the eyes of the bishop fixed hard on him perhaps he sees some likeness of my father in me the young man thought and the party making ready to leave at has time he conducted them to the bottom of the tower two on a tower was not prepared for what followed their descent all were standing at the foot of the staircase the lantern in hand offered to show them the way out of the plantation to which mr replied that he knew the way very well and would not trouble his young friend he strode forward with the words and louis followed him after waiting a moment and finding that the bishop would not take the the latter and were thus left together for one moment whereupon the bishop turned mr st he said in a strange voice i should like to speak to you privately before i leave to morrow morning can you meet me let me see in the churchyard at half past ten o clock o yes my lord certainly said and before he had recovered from his surprise the bishop had joined the others in the shades of the plantation immediately opened the door of the hut and the nook behind the bed as he had expected his bird had flown all night the s mind was on the stretch with curiosity as to what the bishop could wish to say to him a dozen conjectures his brain to be abandoned in turn as unlikely that which finally seemed the most plausible was that the bishop having become interested in his pursuits and entertaining friendly recollections of his was going to ask if he could do anything to help him on in the profession he had chosen should this be the case thought the suddenly sanguine youth it would seem like an encouragement to that spirit of firmness which had led him to reject his late uncle s offer because it involved the of lady at last he fell asleep and when he awoke it was so late that the hour was ready to solve what conjecture could not after a hurried breakfast he paced across the fields entering the churchyard by the south gate precisely at the appointed minute the was well adapted for a private interview being bounded by bushes of laurel and nearly on all sides he looked round the bishop was not there nor any living creature save himself sat down upon a to await bishop s arrival while he sat he fancied he could hear voices in con two on a tower not hi off and further attention convinced him that they came from lady s lawn which was divided from the churchyard by a high wall and only as the bishop still delayed his coming though the time was nearly eleven and as the lady whose sweet voice mingled with those heard from the lawn was his personal property became exceedingly curious to learn what was going on within that a way of doing so occurred to him the key was in the church door he opened it entered and ascended to the in the west tower at the back of this was a window commanding a full view of s garden front the flowers were all in bloom and the on the walls of the house were bursting into of young green a broad gravel walk ran from end to end of the in a large in the walk were three people pacing up and down lady s was the central figure her brother being on one side of her and on the other a stately form in a hat of glossy and black breeches this was the bishop carried over her shoulder a lined with red which she idly they were laughing and gaily and when	45
the group approached the churchyard many of their remarks entered the silence of the church tower through the of the window the conversation was general yet interesting enough to at length louis stepped upon the grass and picked up something that had lain there which turned out to be a bowl throwing it forward he took a second and it towards the first or jack the bishop who seemed to be in a mood followed suit and one in a curve towards the jack turning and speaking to lady as he concluded the feat as she had not the two on a tower terrace he raised his voice so that the words reached distinctly do you follow us he asked gaily i am not skilful she said i rs bowl narrow the bishop paused this moment reminds one of the scene in richard the second he said i mean the duke of york s garden where the queen and her two ladies play and the queen says what sport shall we devise here in this garden to drive away the heavy thought of care to which her lady answers madam we ll play at that s an unfortunate quotation for you said lady for if i don t forget the queen saying make me think the world is full of and that my fortune runs against the bias then i h but it is an interesting old game and might have been played at that very date on this very green the bishop lazily another and while he was doing it s glance rose by accident to the church tower window where she recognized s face her surprise was only momentary and waiting till both her companions backs were turned she smiled and blew him a kiss in another minute she had another opportunity and blew him another afterwards blowing him one a third time her were put a stop to by the bishop and louis throwing down the and her in the path the house clock at the moment striking eleven this is a fine way of keeping an engagement said two on a tower to himself i have waited an hour while you indulge in those trifles he turned and behold somebody was at his elbow lark started and said how did you come here in the course of my calling mr st said the smiling girl i come to practise on the organ when i entered i saw you up here through the tower arch and i crept up to see what you were looking at the bishop is a striking man is he not yes rather said i think he is much devoted to lady and i am glad of it aren t you o yes very said wondering if had seen the tender little between lady and himself i don t think she cares much for him added or even if she does she could be got away from him in no time by a younger man that s nothing said impatiently then remarked that her had not come to time and that she must go to look for him upon which she descended the stairs and left again alone a few minutes later the bishop suddenly looked at his watch lady having withdrawn towards the house apparently to louis the bishop came down the terrace and through the door into the churchyard hastened downstairs and joined him in the path under the sunny wall of the aisle their glances met and it was with some consternation that beheld the change that a few short minutes had wrought in that countenance on the lawn with lady the rays of an almost perpetual smile had brightened his dark aspect like flowers in a shady place now the smile was gone as completely as yesterday the lines of his face were two on a tower firm his dark eyes and whiskers were with gravity and as he gazed upon from the repose of his stable figure it was like an king of come to have it out with the of hearts to return for a moment to louis he had been somewhat struck with the of the bishop s departure and more particularly by the circumstance that he had gone away by the private door into the churchyard instead of by the regular exit on the other side true great men were known to suffer from absence of mind and bishop having a dim sense that he had entered by that door yesterday might have unconsciously turned now louis upon the whole thought little of the matter and being now left quite alone on the lawn he seated himself in an and began smoking the was situated against the churchyard wall the atmosphere was as still as the air of a hot house only fourteen inches of divided louis from the scene of the bishop s interview with st and as voices on the lawn had been audible to in the churchyard voices in the churchyard could be heard without difficulty from that close comer of the lawn no sooner had louis lit a cigar than the dialogue began ah you are here st said the bishop hardly replying to s good morning i fear i am a little late well my request to you to meet me may have seemed somewhat unusual seeing that we were strangers till a few hours ago i don t mind that if your wishes to see me i thought it best to see you regarding your confirmation yesterday and my reason for taking a more active step with you than i should otherwise have done is that i have some interest in you through having two on a tower known your father when we were his rooms were on the same staircase with mine at all angels and we were friendly till time and affairs separated us even more completely than usually happens however about your presenting yourself	45
for confirmation the bishop s voice grew stern if i had known yesterday morning what i knew twelve hours later i wouldn t have confirmed you at all indeed my lord yes i say it and i mean it i visited your last night you did my lord in it i noticed something which i may truly describe as extraordinary i have had young men present themselves to me who turned out to be unfit either from from being profane or or from some bad quality or other but i never remember a case which equalled the cool of this while the first principles of social decorum you might at least have respected the sufficiently to have stayed away from it altogether now i have sent for you here to see if a last entreaty and a direct appeal to your sense of manly will have any effect in you to change your course of life the voice of in his next remark showed how this attack of the bishop had told upon his feelings louis of course did not know the reason why the words should have affected him precisely as they did to any one in the secret the double embarrassment arising fix m and inability to set matters right because his word of secrecy to another was would have accounted for the young man s emotion sufficiently well i am very sorry your should have seen anything objectionable said may i ask what it was two on a tower you know what it was something in your chamber which forced me to the above conclusions i disguised my feelings of sorrow at the time for obvious reasons but i never in my whole ufe was so shocked at what my lord at what i saw pardon me bishop but you said just now that we are strangers so what you saw in my cabin concerns me only there i contradict you twenty four hours ago that remark would have been plausible enough but by presenting yourself for confirmation at my hands you have invited my investigation into your principles sighed i admit it he said and what do i find them you say but you might at least let me hear the proof i can do more sir i can let you see it there was a pause louis was so highly interested that he stood upon the seat of the and looked through the over the wall the bishop had produced an article from his pocket what is it said laboriously the thing why don t you see said the bishop holding it out between his finger and thumb in s face a a coral i found the wanton object on the bed in your cabin and of the sex of the owner there can be no doubt more than that she was concealed behind the curtains for i saw them move in the decision of his opinion the bishop threw the coral down on a nobody was in my room my lord who had not a perfect right to be there said the younger man well well that s a matter of assertion now don t get into a passion and say to me in your haste what you ll repent of saying afterwards two on a tower i am not in a passion i assure your i am too sad for passion very well that s a hopeful sign now i would ask you as one man of another do you think that to come to me the bishop of this large and important as you came yesterday and pretend to be something that you are not is quite upright conduct leave alone religious think it over we may never meet again but bear in mind what your bishop and spiritual head says to you and see if you cannot mend before it is too late was meek as moses but he tried to appear sturdy my lord i am in a difficult position he said mournfully how difficult nobody but myself can tell i cannot explain there are reasons against it but will you take my word of assurance that i am not so bad as i seem some day i will prove it till then i only ask you to your judgment on me the bishop shook his head and went towards the as if he had lost his hearing followed him with his eyes and louis followed the direction of s before the bishop had reached the entrance lady crossed in front of him she had a basket on her arm and was in fact going to visit some of the poorer cottages who could believe the bishop now to be the same man that he had been a moment before the darkness left his face as if he had come out of a cave his look was all sweetness and shine and gaiety as he again greeted he conversation which arose between the bishop and lady was of that lively and kind which cannot be ended during any reasonable halt of two people going in opposite directions he turned and walked with her along the lane that bordered the churchyard till their voices died away in the distance then aroused himself from his thoughtful regard of them and went out of the churchyard by another gate seeing himself now to be left alone on the scene louis descended from his post of observation in the he came through the private doorway and on to that spot among the graves where the bishop and st had conversed on the still lay the coral which dr had flung down there in his indignation for the agitated mood into which had been thrown had from his mind all thought of securing the and putting it in his pocket louis picked up the little red scandal breeding thing and while walking on with it in his hand he observed lark approaching the church	45
in company with the young whom she had gone in search of to inspire her organ within louis immediately put together with that rare of io two on a tower which he was proud the little scene he had witnessed between and during the confirmation and the bishop s stem statement as to where he had found the he had no longer any doubt that it belonged to her poor girl he said to himself and sang in an n est pas when she drew nearer louis called her by name she sent the boy into the church and came forward blushing at having been called by so fine a gentleman louis held out the here is something i have found or somebody else has found he said to her i won t state where put it away and say no more about it i will not mention it either now go on into the church where you are going and may heaven have mercy on your soul my dear thank you sir said with some perplexity yet inclined to be pleased and only in the situation the fact that lady s humorous brother was making her a present you are much obliged to me o yes well miss lark i ve discovered a secret you see what may that be mr that you are in love i don t admit it sir who told you so nobody only i put two and two together now take my advice beware of lovers they are a bad lot and bring young women to tears some do i dare say but some don t and you think that in your particular case the latter alternative will hold good we generally think we shall be lucky ourselves though all the world before us in the same situation have been otherwise two on a tower o yes or we should die outright of despair well i don t think you will be lucky in your case please how do you know so much since my case has not yet arrived asked tossing her head a little but less than she might have done if he had not obtained a for his discourse by giving her the i tell you it has not arrived she said with some anger i have not got a lover and everybody knows i haven t and it s an thing for you to say so louis laughed thinking how natural it was that a girl should so emphatically deny circumstances that would not bear curious inquiry why of course i meant myself he said soothingly so then you will not accept me i didn t know you meant yourself she replied but i won t accept you and i think you ought not to jest on such subjects well perhaps not however don t let the bishop see your and all will be well but mind lovers are laughed and they parted the girl entering the church she had been feeling almost certain that having accidentally found the somewhere he had presented it in a whim to her as the first girl he met yet now she began to have momentary doubts whether he had not been under a mistake and had imagined her to be the owner the was not valuable it was in fact a mere toy the pair of which this was one being a little present made to lady by on the day of their marriage and she had not worn them sufficient out of doors for to recognize either as positively her s but when out of sight of the the girl tried it on in a comer two on a tower by the organ it seemed to her that the ornament was possibly lady s now that the pink beads shone before her eyes on her own arm she remembered having seen a with just such an effect the wrist of lady upon one occasion a temporary self surrender to the that if mr louis chose to give away anything belonging to his sister she had a right to take it without question was soon checked by a resolve to carry the tempting strings of coral to her that evening and inquire the truth about them this decided on she slipped the into her pocket and played her with a light heart bishop did not tear himself away from till about two o clock that afternoon which was three hours later than he had intended to leave it was with a feeling of relief that looking from the top of the tower saw the carriage drive out from the into the road and whirl the right reverend gentleman again towards the coast being now clear of him meditated how to see and explain what had happened with this in view he waited where he was till evening came on meanwhile lady and her brother dined by themselves at house they had not met since the morning and as soon as they were left alone louis said you have done very well so but you might have been a little warmer done well she asked with surprise yes with the bishop the difficult question is how to follow up our advantage how are you to keep yourself in sight of him heavens louis you don t seriously mean that the bishop of has any feelings for me other than friendly i two on a tower i this is affectation you know he has as well as i do she sighed yes she said i own i had a suspicion of the same thing what a misfortune a misfortune surely the world is turned down you will drive me to despair about our future if you see things so exert yourself to do something so as to make of this accident a stepping stone to higher things the gentleman will give us the slip if we don t pursue the friendship	45
at once i cannot have you talk like this she cried impatiently i have no more thought of the bishop than i have of the pope i would much rather not have had him here to lunch at all you said it would be necessary to do it and an opportunity and i thought it my duty to show some hospitality when he was coming so near mr s house being so small but of course i understood that the opportunity would be one for you in getting to know him your prospects being so indefinite at present not one for me if you don t follow up this chance of being spiritual queen of you will never have another of being anything mind this you are not so young as you were you are getting on to be a middle aged woman and your black hair is precisely of the sort which time quickly turns grey you must make up your mind to or young men won t look at you or if they do just now in a year or two more they ll despise you as an party lady young men what she asked say that again said it was no use to think of young men they won t look at you much longer or if they do it will be to look away again very quickly two on a tower you imply that if i were to many a man younger than myself he would speedily acquire a contempt for me how much younger must a man be than his wife to get that feeling for her she was resting her elbow on the chair as she faintly spoke tho words and covered her eyes with her hand an exceedingly small number of years said louis now the bishop is at least fifteen years older than you and on that account no less than on others is an excellent match you would be head of the church in this what more can you require after these years of miserable obscurity in addition you would escape that minor thorn in the flesh of wives of being only mrs while their husbands are she was not listening his previous observation still detained her thoughts louis she said in the case of a woman marrying a man much younger than herself does he get to dislike her even if there has been a social advantage to him in the union yes not a whit less ask any person of experience but what of that let s talk of our own af you say you have no thought of the bishop and yet if he had stayed here another day or two he would have proposed to you straight off seriously louis i could not accept him why not i don t love him oh oh i like those words cried louis throwing himself back in his chair and looking at the ceiling in enjoyment a woman who at two married for convenience at thirty talks of not marrying without love the rule of that is in which more requires less and less requires more as your only brother older than yourself and more experienced i insist that you encourage the bishop two on a tower don t quarrel with me louis she said we don t know that he thinks anything of me we only guess i know it and you shall hear how i know i am of a curious and nature as you are aware last night when everybody had gone to bed i stepped out for a five minutes smoke on the lawn and walked down to where you get near the windows while i was there in the dark one of them opened and bishop out the illuminated of your window shone him full in the face between the trees and presently your shadow crossed it he waved his hand and murmured some tender words though what they were exactly i could not hear what a vague imaginary story as if he could know my shadow besides a man of the bishop s dignity wouldn t have done such a thing when knew him as a younger man he was not at all romantic and he s not likely to have grown so now that s just what he is likely to have done no lover is so extreme a specimen of the species as an old lover come no more of this i have entered into the project heart and soul so much that i have postponed my departure till the matter is well under way louis my dear louis you will bring me into some disagreeable position said she clasping her hands i do entreat you not to interfere or do anything rash about me the step is impossible i have something to tell you some day i must live on and endure everything except this replied louis unmoved come i have begun the campaign by inviting bishop and i ll take the responsibility of carrying it on all i ask of you is not to make a of yourself come give me your promise two on a tower no i cannot i don t know how to i i only know one thing that i am in no hurry no hurry be hanged i agree like a good sister to charm the bishop i must consider she replied with it being a fine evening louis went out of the house to enjoy his cigar in the on reaching his seat he found he had left his cigar case behind him he immediately returned for it when he approached the window by which he had emerged he saw st standing there in the dusk talking to inside st s back was towards louis but whether at a signal from her or by accident he quickly turned and recognized whereupon raising his	45
hat to lady the young man passed along the terrace walk and out by the churchyard door louis rejoined his sister i didn t know you allowed your lawn to be a public for the parish he said i am not exclusive especially since i have been so poor replied she then do you let everybody pass this way or only that illustrious youth because he is so good looking i have no strict rule in the case mr st is an acquaintance of mine and he can certainly come here if he chooses her colour rose somewhat and she spoke warmly louis was too cautious a bird to reveal to her what had suddenly dawned upon his mind that his sister in common with the to his thinking unhappy lark had been foolish enough to get interested in this phenomenon of the parish this scientific but he resolved to cure at once her tender feeling if it existed by letting out a secret which would her dignity against the weakness p two on a tower a good looking young man he said with his eyes where had vanished but not so good as he looks in act a regular young sinner what do you mean oh only a little feature i discovered in st s history but i suppose he has a right to sow his wild as well as other young men tell me what you allude to do louis it is hardly fit that i should however the case is amusing enough i was sitting in the to day and was an unwilling listener to the interview i ever heard of our friend the bishop discovered when we visited the last night that our was not alone in his seclusion a lady shared his romantic cabin with him and finding this the bishop naturally enough felt that the of confirmation had been so his sent for master this morning and meeting him in the churchyard read him such an lecture as i warrant he won t forget in his lifetime ha ha ha twas very good very he watched her face narrowly while he spoke with such seeming carelessness instead of the agitation of jealousy that he had expected to be aroused by this hint of another woman in the case there was a curious expression more like embarrassment than anything else which might have been fairly attributed to the subject can it be that i am mistaken he asked himself the possibility that he might be mistaken restored louis to good humour and lights having been brought he sat with his sister for some time talking with purpose of s low rank on one side and the sordid struggles that might be in store for him st being in the unhappy case of his existence through two channels of society it resulted that he seemed to belong to either this or that according to the of the louis threw the light two on a tower entirely on s agricultural side bringing out old mrs martin and her and her ways of life with luminous distinctness till lady became greatly depressed she in her had almost forgotten that the element so represented by messrs and the rest entered into his condition at all to her he had been the son of his father alone but she would not reveal the depression to which she had been subjected by this of the homely half of poor presently putting an end to the subject by walking hither and thither about the room what have you lost said louis observing her movements nothing of consequence a coral he inquired calmly yes how did you know it was coral you have never seen it have you he was about to make answer but the amazed which her announcement had produced in him through knowing where the bishop had found such an article led him to himself then like an man by no means sure of the dimensions of the he might be he said carelessly i found such a one in the churchyard to day but i thought it appeared to be of no great and i gave it to one of the village girls who were passing by did she take it who was she said the really i don t remember i suppose it is of no consequence o no its value is nothing comparatively it was only one of a pair such as young girls wear lady could not add that in spite of this she two on a tower herself valued it as s present and the best he could afford panic struck by his although revealing nothing by his manner louis soon after went up to his room to write letters he gave vent to a low whistle when he was out of hearing he of course remembered perfectly well to whom he had given the and resolved to seek out the next morning to ascertain whether she could possibly have owned such a as well as his sister which at present he very greatly doubted though hoping that she might the effect upon of the interview with the bishop had been a very marked one he felt that he had good ground for that s tone in assuming that all must be sinful which at the first blush appeared to be so and in narrowly refusing a young man the benefit of a single doubt s assurance that he would be able to explain all some day had been taken in contemptuous incredulity he may be as virtuous as his but he s an old all the same said st yet on the other hand s nature was so fresh and notwithstanding that recent affairs had somewhat him that for a man in the bishop s position to think him was almost as overwhelming as if he had actually been so and at moments he could scarcely bear existence	45
under so gross a suspicion what was his union with lady worth to him when by reason of it he was thought a by almost the only man who had professed to take an interest in him certainly by contrast with his air built image of himself as a worthy received by all the world and the envied husband of the present was humiliating the glorious light of two on a tower this tender and refined passion seemed to have become to hues by pure accident and his no less than his taste was offended by such an anti he who had amid the remotest of nature had been taken to task on a question of morals which had never been a question with him at all this was what the of an awkward attachment had brought him to but he blamed the circumstances and not for one moment lady having now set his heart against a longer concealment he was disposed to think that an excellent way of beginning a revelation of their marriage would be by writing a confidential letter to the bishop the whole case but it was impossible to do this on his own responsibility he still recognized the understanding entered into with before the marriage to be as binding as ever that the in their union should come from her yet he doubted that she would take that when he told her of his extraordinary in the churchyard this was what he had come to do when louis saw him standing at the but before he had said half a dozen words to she him to go on which he mechanically did ere he could sufficiently collect his thoughts on its or otherwise he did not however go while louis and his sister were discussing him in the he lingered musing in the churchyard hoping that she might be able to escape and join him in the consultation he so earnestly desired she at last found opportunity to do this as soon as louis had left the room and shut himself in upstairs she ran out by the window in the direction had taken her footsteps began on the gravel he came forward from the churchyard door two on a tower they embraced each other in haste and then in a few short panting words she explained to him that her brother had heard and witnessed the interview on that spot between himself and the bishop and had told her the substance of the bishop s accusation not knowing she was the woman in the cabin and what i cannot understand is this she added how did the bishop discover that the person behind the bed curtains was a woman and not a man explained that the bishop had found the on the bed and had brought it to him in the churchyard what do you say found the coral what did you do with it clapped his hand to his pocket dear me i recollect i left it where it lay on heath s oh my dear dear she cried miserably you have me by your forgetfulness i have claimed the article as mine my brother did not tell me that the bishop brought it from the cabin what can i can i do that neither the bishop nor my brother may conclude was the woman there but if we announce our e even as your wife the position was too too i don t know what for me ever to admit that i was there right or wrong i must declare the was not mine such an why it would make me ridiculous in the county and anything rather than that i was in hope that you would agree to let our marriage be known said with some disappointment i thought that these circumstances would make the reason for doing so doubly strong yes but there are alas reasons against it still stronger i let me have my way certainly dearest i promised that before you two on a tower agreed to be mine my reputation what is it perhaps i shall be dead and forgotten before the next of she soothed him tenderly but could not tell him why she felt the reasons against any announcement as yet to be stronger than those in favour of it how could she when her feeling had been cautiously fed and developed by her brother louis s exhibition of s material position in the eyes of the world that of a young man the of a family of farmers recently her tenants living at the with his grandmother mrs martin to soften her refusal she said in declaring it one concession i certainly will make will see you oftener i will come to the cabin and tower frequently and will contrive too that you come to the house occasionally during the last winter we passed whole weeks without meeting don t let us allow that to happen again very well dearest said good i don t care so terribly much for the old man s opinion of me after all for the present then let things be as they are nevertheless the youth felt her refusal more than he owned but the unequal temperament of s age so soon depressed on his own account was also soon to recover on hers and it was with almost a child s forgetfulness of the past that he took her view of the case when he was gone she hastily re entered the house her brother had not reappeared from upstairs but she was informed that lark was waiting to see her if her would pardon the said for coming so late lady made no objection and saw the young girl at once when lady entered the waiting room behold in s outstretched hand lay the coral two on a tower ornament which had been causing so much anxiety i guessed	45
on second thoughts that it was yours my lady said with rather a frightened and so i have brought it back but how did you come by it mr gave it to me he must have thought it was mine i took it at the moment that he handed it to me because i happened to come by first after he had found it lady saw how the situation might be improved so as to effect her from this troublesome little web of evidence oh you can keep it she said brightly it was very good of you to bring it back but keep it for your very own take mr at his word and don t explain and divide the into two there are enough of them to make a pair the next morning in of his resolution louis wandered round the grounds till he saw the girl for whom he was waiting enter the church he her over the wall but to view a coral blushed on each of her young arms for she had promptly carried out the suggestion of lady you are wearing it i see with the other he murmured then you mean to keep it yes i mean to keep it you are sure it is not lady s i find she has one like it quite sure but you had better take it to her sir and ask her said the girl oh no that s not necessary replied louis considerably shaken in his convictions when louis met his sister a short time after he did not catch her as he had intended to do by saying p two on a tower suddenly i have found your i know who has got it you cannot have found it she replied quietly for i have discovered that it was never lost and stretching out both her hands she revealed one on each having performed the same operation with her remaining that she had advised to do with the other louis was but by no means convinced in spite of this attempt to him his mind returned to the subject every hour of the day there was no doubt that either or had been with in the cabin he every case that had occurred during his visit to in which his sister s manner had been of a colour to justify the suspicion that it was she there was that strange incident in the corridor when she had screamed at what she described to be a shadowy resemblance to her late husband how very improbable that this fancy should have been the only cause of her agitation then he had noticed during s confirmation a blush upon her cheek when he passed her on his way to the bishop and the in her glance during the few moments of the of hands then he suddenly recalled the night at the railway station when the accident with the whip took place and how when he reached house an hour later he had found no there running thus from incident to incident he increased his suspicions without being able to from the circumstances anything to evidence but evidence he now determined to acquire without saying a word to any one his plan was of a cruel kind to set a trap into which the pair would blindly walk if any secret understanding existed between them of the nature he suspected louis began his by calling at the tower one afternoon as if on the impulse of the moment after a friendly chat with whom be found there having watched him enter louis invited the young man to dine the same evening at the house that he might have an opportunity of showing him some interesting old scientific works in which according to louis s account he had stumbled on in the library louis set no great bait for st in this statement for old science was not old art which having itself has died and left its secret hidden in its remains but was a fellow and readily agreed to come being moreover always glad of a chance of meeting he hoped to tell her of a scheme that had lately suggested itself to him as likely to benefit them both that he should go away for a while and endeavour to raise sufficient funds to visit the great of europe with an eye to a post in one of them hitherto the only bar to the plan had been the exceeding of his income which though sufficient for his present life was absolutely inadequate to the of a travelling meanwhile louis had returned to the house and told his sister in the most innocent manner two on a tower that he had been in the company of st that afternoon getting a few wrinkles on that they had grown so friendly over the subject as to leave him no alternative but to invite st to dine at the same evening with a view to certain in the library afterwards i could quite make for any youthful errors into which he may have been betrayed louis continued since for a he is really admirable no doubt the bishop s caution will not be lost upon him and as for his birth and those he can t help lady showed such alacrity in the idea of having to dinner and she ignored his youthful errors so completely as almost to betray herself in fulfilment of her promise to see him oftener she had been intending to run across to on that identical evening now the trouble would be saved in a very delightful way by the exercise of a little hospitality which herself would not have dared to suggest dinner time came and with it exhibiting rather a blushing and nervous manner that was unfortunately more likely to betray their cause than was s own more practised bearing throughout the meal louis sat like a spider in	45
the comer of his web observing them narrowly and at moments flinging out an artful thread here and there with a view to their but they the ordeal well perhaps the actual tie between them through being so much closer and of so much more practical a nature than even their critic supposed it was in itself a protection against their exhibiting that of manner which if they had been merely lovers might have betrayed them after dinner the duly to the library as had been planned and the volumes were brought two on a tower forth by louis with the zest of a had seen most of them before and thought but little of them but the pleasure of in the house made him welcome any reason for doing so and he willingly looked at whatever was put before him from s to s the evening thus passed away and it began to grow late who among other things had planned to go to next day to view the royal would every now and then start up and prepare to leave for home when would some other volume and so detain him yet another half hour by george he said looking at the clock when was at last really about to depart i didn t know it was so late why not stay here to night st it is very dark and the way to your place is an awkward cross cut over the fields it would not inconvenience us at all mr st if you would care to stay said lady i am afraid the fact is i wanted to take an observation at twenty minutes past two began oh now never mind your observation said louis that s only an excuse do that to morrow night now you will stay it is settled say he must stay and we ll have another hour of these charming intellectual obeyed with delightful ease do stay mr st she said sweetly well in truth i can do without the observation replied the young man as he gave way it is not of the greatest consequence thus it was arranged but the among the were not prolonged to the extent that louis had suggested in three quarters of an hour from that time they had all retired to their respective rooms i q s being on one side of the west two on a tower corridor s and louis s at the further end had a person followed louis when he withdrew that would have discovered on peeping through the key hole of his door that he was engaged in one of the of occupations for such a man sweeping down from the ceiling by means of a walking cane a long which lingered on high in the corner keeping it stretched upon the cane he gently opened the door and set the candle in such a position on the mat that the light shone down the corridor thus guided by its rays he passed out till he reached the door of st s room where he applied the dangling spider s thread in such a manner that it stretched across like a tight rope from to in its fragile way entrance and the operation completed he retired again and his light went through his bedroom window out upon the flat roof of the to which it gave access here louis made himself comfortable in his chair and smoking cap enjoying the fragrance of a cigar for something like half an hour his position commanded a view of the two windows of lady s room and from these a dim light shone having the window partly open at his back and the door of his room also scarcely closed his ear retained a command of any noises that might be made in due time movements became audible whereupon returning to his room he re entered the corridor and listened intently all was silent again and darkness reigned from end to end however his way along the passage till he again reached s door where he examined by the light of a wax match he had brought the condition of the spider s thread it was gone somebody had carried it off bodily as carried off the pin and the web in other words a person had passed through the door two on a tower still holding the faint wax light in his hand louis turned to the door of lady s where he observed first that though it was pushed together so as to appear to view the door was not really closed by about a quarter of an inch he dropped his light and extinguished it with his foot listening he heard a voice within s voice in a subdued murmur though speaking earnestly without any hesitation louis then returned to s door opened it and walked in the from without was sufficient now that his eyes had become accustomed to the darkness to reveal that the room was and that nothing therein had been disturbed with a heavy tread louis came forth walked loudly across the corridor knocked at lady s door and called she heard him instantly replying yes in startled tones immediately afterwards she opened her door and confronted him in her dressing gown with a light in her hand what is the matter louis she said i am greatly alarmed our visitor is missing missing what mr st yes i was sitting up to finish a cigar when i thought i heard a noise in this direction on coming to his room i find he is not there good heaven i wonder what has happened she exclaimed in apparently intense alarm i wonder said grimly suppose he is a if so he may have gone out and broken his neck i have never heard that he is one but they say that sleeping in strange places the minds of people who are given	45
to that sort of thing and them to it unfortunately for your theory his bed not been touched two on a tower oh what then can it be her brother looked her full in the lace he said sternly she seemed puzzled well she replied in simple tones i heard voices in your room he continued voices a voice yours yes you may have done so it was mine a listener is required for a speaker true louis well to whom were you speaking god i am ashamed of you i was saying my prayers prayers to god i to st rather what do you mean louis she asked flushing up warm and drawing back from him it was a form of prayer i use particularly when i am in trouble it was recommended to me by the bishop and mr it very highly on your honour if you have any he said bitterly whom have you there in your room no human being i don t believe you she gave a dignified little bow and waving her hand into the apartment said very well then search and see louis entered and glanced round the room behind the curtains under the bed out of the window a view from which showed that escape thence would have been impossible everywhere in short capable or incapable of affording a retreat to humanity but discovered nobody all he observed was that a light stood on the low table by her bedside that on the bed lay an open prayer book the being except into a little pit beside the prayer two on a tower book apparently where her head had rested in kneeling but where is st he said turning in bewilderment from these evidences of innocent devotion where can he be she in with real distress i should so much like to know look about for him i am quite uneasy i will on one condition that you own that you love him why should you force me to that she murmured it would be no such wonder if i did come you do well i do now i ll look for him louis took a light and turned away astonished that she had not indignantly resented his intrusion and the nature of his questioning at this moment a slight noise was heard on the staircase and they could see a figure rising step by step and coming forward against the long lights of the staircase window it was in his ordinary dress and carrying his boots in his hand when he beheld them standing there so motionless he looked rather disconcerted but came on towards his room lady was too agitated to speak but louis said am glad to see you again hearing a noise a few minutes ago i came out to learn what it could be i found you absent and we have been very much alarmed i am very sorry said with i owe you a hundred apologies but the truth is that on entering my bedroom i found the sky remarkably clear and though i told you that the observation i was to make was of no great consequence on thinking it over alone i felt it ought not to be allowed to pass so i s tempted to run across to the and make it as i had hoped without two on a tower disturbing anybody if i had known that i should alarm you i would not have done it for the world spoke very earnestly to louis and did not observe the tender reproach in s eyes when he showed by his tale his decided notion that the prime use of dark nights lay in their of practical and not of visits to her everything being now satisfactorily explained the three retired to their several chambers and louis heard no more noises that night or rather morning his attempts to solve the mystery of s life here and her relations with st having thus far resulted chiefly in perplexity true an admission liad been from her and even without such an admission it was clear that she had a tender feeling for how to that romantic folly it now became his object to consider s midnight excursion to the tower in the cause of science led him to himself and when the brother and sister met at in the morning he did not appear don t disturb him don t disturb him said louis what are you reading there that makes you flame up so she was glancing over a letter that she had just opened and at his words looked up with the incident of the previous night left her in great doubt as to what her bearing towards him ought to be she had made no show of his conduct at the time from a momentary supposition that he must know all her secret and afterwards finding that he did not know it it seemed too late to affect indignation at his suspicions so she preserved a quiet even had she resolved on an artificial part she might have forgotten to play it at this instant the letter being of a kind to banish previous considerations it is a letter from bishop she faltered well done i i hope for your sake it is an offer that s just what it is no surely said louis beginning a laugh of surprise yes she returned indifferently you can read it if you like s two on a tower i don t wish to into a communication of that sort oh you may read it she said tossing the letter across to him louis thereupon read as under the palace june my dear lady during the two or three weeks that have elapsed since i experienced the great pleasure of my acquaintance with you the varied agitation of my feelings has clearly proved that my	45
only course is to address you by letter and at once whether the subject of my communication be acceptable to you or not i can at least assure you that to suppress it would be far less natural and upon the whole less advisable than to speak out frankly even if afterwards i hold my peace for ever the great change in my experience during the past year or two the change that is which has resulted from my advancement to a has frequently suggested to me of late that a in my domestic life of the solitude of past years was a question which ought to be seriously contemplated but whether i should ever have contemplated it without the great good fortune of my meeting with you is doubtful however the thing has been considered at last and without more i candidly ask if you would be willing to give up your life at and relieve my household loneliness here by becoming my wife i am far from desiring to force a hurried decision on your part and will wait your good pleasure patiently should you feel any uncertainty at the moment as to the step i am quite by habits and experience for the delightful of urging my two on a tower suit in the ardent terms which would be so appropriate towards such a lady and so expressive of my inmost feeling in truth a of five and forty wants encouragement to make him eloquent of this however i can assure you that if admiration esteem and devotion can in any way for the lack of those qualities which might be found to bum with more brightness in a younger man those it is in my power to bestow for the term of my earthly life your steady to church principles and your interest in as was shown by your bright questioning on those subjects during our morning walk round your grounds have indicated strongly to me the grace and with which you would fill the position of a bishop s wife and how greatly you would add to his reputation should you be disposed to honour him with your hand formerly there have been times when i was of opinion and you will rightly appreciate my in it that a wife was an to a bishop s due but constant observation has convinced me that far from this being the truth a meet life into influence and teaching should you reply in the affirmative i will at once come to see you and with your permission will among other things show you a few plain practical rules which i have interested myself in drawing up for our future guidance should you refuse to change your condition on my account your decision will as i need hardly say be a great blow to me in any event i could not do less than i have done after giving the subject my full even if there be a slight deficiency of warmth on your part my earnest hope is that a mind comprehensive as yours will perceive the immense power for good that you might exercise in the position in which a union with me would place you and two on a tower allow that perception to weigh in your answer i remain my dear lady with the highest respect and affection yours always c well you will not have the to decline now that the question has actually been i should hope said louis when he had done reading certainly i shall she replied you will really be such a flat you speak without much compliment i have not the least idea of accepting him surely you will not let your for that young fellow carry you so after my you with the shady side of his character you call yourself a religious woman say your prayers out loud follow up the revived methods in church practice and what not and yet you can think with partiality of a person who from having any religion in him breaks the most in the i cannot agree with you she said turning her face for she knew not how much of her brother s language was sincere and how much assumed the extent of his discoveries with regard to her secret ties being a mystery at moments she was disposed to declare the whole truth and have done with it but she hesitated and left the words and louis continued his breakfast in silence when he had finished and she had eaten little or nothing he asked once more how do you intend to answer that letter here you are the poorest woman in the county abandoned by people who used to be glad to know you and leading a life as dismal and dreary as a s when an opportunity is offered you of leaping at once into a leading position in this part two on a tower of england are given to hospitality you would be welcomed everywhere in short your answer must be yes and yet it will be no she said in a low voice she had at length learnt from the tone of her brother s latter remarks that at any rate he had no knowledge of her actual marriage whatever ties he might suspect her guilty of louis could restrain himself no longer at her answer then conduct your affairs your own way i know you to be leading a life tliat won t bear investigation and i m hanged if i ll stay here any longer saying which jerked back his chair and strode out of the room in less than a quarter of an hour and before she had moved a step from the table she heard him leaving the house what to do she not tell the step which had entreated her to take objectionable and premature as it had seemed in a county aspect	45
would at all events have saved her from this had she allowed him to tell the bishop his simple story in its fulness who could say but that that divine might have generously his own impulses entered into the case with sympathy and forwarded with zest their designs for the future owing to his interest of old in s father and in the naturally attractive features of the young man s career a puff of wind from the open window the bishop s letter to the floor aroused her from her reverie with a sigh she stooped and picked it up glanced at it again then arose and with the of inevitable action wrote her reply house my dear bishop of i confess to you that your letter so gracious and flattering as it is has taken your friend somewhat unawares the least i can do in return for its contents is to reply as quickly as possible there is no one in the world who your high qualities more than myself or who has greater i two on a tower faith in your ability to adorn the seat that you have been called on to fill but to your question i can give only one reply and that is an negative to state this decision me without affectation j and i trust you will believe that though i decline the distinction of becoming your wife i shall never cease to interest myself in au that to you and your office and shall feel the keenest regret if this refusal should operate to prevent a friendship between us i am my dear bishop of ever sincerely yours a sudden from the of writing as if she were still a widow wrought in her mind a feeling of dissatisfaction with the whole scheme of concealment and pushing aside the letter she allowed it to remain unfolded and in a few minutes she heard approaching when she put the letter out of the way and turned to receive him entered quietly and looked round the room seeing with unexpected pleasure that she was there alone he came over and kissed her her at some event was soon obvious has my staying caused you any trouble he asked in a whisper where is your brother this morning she smiled through her perplexity as she took his hand the things happen to me dear she said do you wish particularly to know what has happened now yes if you don t mind telling me i do mind telling you but i must among other things i am to give way to your representations in part at least it will be best to tell the bishop everything and my brother if not other people i am truly glad to hear it said he cheer q two on a tower fully i have felt for a long time that honesty is the best policy i at any rate feel it now but it is a that requires a great deal of courage it certainly requires some courage i should not say a great deal and indeed as far as i am concerned it demands less courage to speak out than to hold my tongue but you silly boy you don t know what has the bishop has made me an offer of marriage good gracious what an impertinent old man what have you done about it dearest well i have hardly accepted him she replied laughing it is this event which has suggested to me that i should make my refusal a reason for confiding our situation to him what would you have done if you had not been already appropriated that s an inscrutable mystery he is a worthy man but he has very pronounced views about his own position and some other qualities still who knows you must bless your stars that you have secured me now let us consider how to draw up our confession to him i wish i had listened to you at first and allowed you to take him into our confidence before his declaration arrived he may possibly resent the concealment now however this cannot be helped i tell you what said after a thoughtful pause if the bishop is such an earthly sort of man as this a man who goes falling in love and wanting to marry you and so on i am not disposed to confess anything to him at all i fancied him altogether different from that but he s none the worse for it dear i think he is to lecture me and love you all in one breath two oi a still that s only a passing phase and you first proposed making a of him i did veiy well then we are to tell nobody but the bishop and my brother louis i must tell him it is he me in a way i could never have of him i as was before stated had arranged to start for that morning permission having been accorded him by the royal to view the and their final decision was that as he could not afford time to sit down with her and write to the bishop in each should during the day compose a well considered letter their position from his and her own point of view lady leading up to her confession by her refusal of the bishop s hand it was necessary that she should know what contemplated saying that her statements might precisely he ultimately agreed to send her his letter by the next morning s post when having read it she would in due course despatch it with her own as soon as he had went his way promising to return from by the end of the week passed the remainder of that long summer day during which her young husband was receding towards the capital in an almost	45
motionless state at some she felt at the idea of announcing her marriage and general opinion at another her heart her and she was tormented by a fear lest should some day accuse her of having his deliberately shaped plan of life by her that was often the trick of men who had sealed by marriage in their inexperienced youth a love for those whom their judgment would have rejected as too obviously in years two on a tower however it was now too late for these thoughts and herself she began to frame the new reply to bishop the plain tale that was to the answer written she was engaged on this difficult problem till daylight faded in the west and the broad faced moon edged upwards like a plate of old gold over the elms towards the village by that time had reached her brother had gone she knew not whither and she and loneliness dwelt solely as before within the walls of house at this hour of sunset and the new entered to inform her that mr head clerk from particularly wished to see her mr was her and she knew of nothing whatever that required his just at present but he would not have sent at this time of day without excellent reasons and she directed that the young man might be shown in where she was on his entry the first thing she noticed was that in his hand he carried a newspaper in case you should not have seen this evening s paper lady mr has directed me to bring it to you at once on account of what appears there in relation to your he has only just seen it himself what is it how does it concern me i will point it out read it yourself to me though i am afraid there s not enough light i can see very well here said the lawyer s clerk stepping to the window folding back the paper he read news from south africa cape town may a correspondent of the cape chronicle states that he has two on a tower an englishman just arrived from the interior and from him that a considerable exists in england concerning the death of the traveller and hunter sir he s living my husband is alive she cried sinking down in nearly a fainting condition no my lady sir is dead enough i am sorry to say dead did you say certainly lady there is no doubt of it she sat up and her intense relief almost made itself perceptible like a fresh atmosphere in the room yes then what did you come for she asked calmly that sir has died is replied the lawyer s clerk gently but there has been some mistake about the date of his death he died of fever on the banks of the october no he only lay ill there a long time it seems it was a companion who died at that date but i ll read the account to your with your permission the of this somewhat eccentric wanderer did not occur at the time hitherto supposed but only in last december the following is the account of the englishman alluded to given as nearly as possible in his own words during the illness of sir and his friend by the three of the servants went away taking with them a portion of his clothing and effects and it must be they who spread the report of his death at this time after his companion s death he mended and when he was strong enough he and i travelled on to a district i urged him not to delay his return to two on a tower england but he was much against going back there again and became so rough in his manner towards me that we parted company at the first opportunity i could find i joined a party of white returning to the west coast i stayed here among the for many months i then found that an english travelling party were going to explore a district adjoining that which i had formerly traversed with sir they said they would be glad of my services and i joined them when we had crossed the territory to the south of and drew near to i heard tidings of a man living there whom i suspected to be sir although he was not known by that name being so near i was induced to seek him out and found that he was indeed the same he had dropped his old name altogether and had married a native princess married a native princess said lady that s what it says my lady married a native princess according to the rites of the tribe and was living very happily with her he told me he should never return to england again he also told me that having seen this princess just after i had left him he had been attracted by her and had thereupon decided to reside with her in that country as being a land which afforded him greater happiness than he could hope to attain elsewhere he asked me to stay with him instead of going on with my party and not reveal his real title to any of them after some hesitation i did stay and was not uncomfortable at first but i soon found that sir drank much harder now than when i had known him and that he was at times very greatly depressed in mind at his position one morning in the middle of december last i heard a shot from his dwelling his wife rushed past me as i hastened to the spot and when i entered i found that he had put an end to himself two on a tower with his revolver his princess was broken hearted all that day when we had	45
buried him i discovered in his house a little box directed to his at in england and a note for myself saying that i had better get the first chance of returning that offered and me to take the box with me it is supposed to contain papers and articles for friends in england who have deemed him dead for some time the clerk stopped his reading and there was a silence the middle of last december she at length said in a whisper has the box arrived yet not yet my lady we have no further proof of anything as soon as the comes to hand you shall know of it immediately such was the clerk s mission and leaving the paper with her he withdrew the intelligence amounted to thus much that sir having been alive till at least six weeks after her marriage with st st was not her husband in the eye of the law that she would have to consider how her marriage with the latter might be instantly repeated to establish herself as that yoimg man s wife morning received a visit from mr himself he informed her that the box spoken of by the servant had arrived quite unexpectedly just after the departure of his clerk on the previous evening there had not been sufficient time for him to thoroughly examine it as yet but he had seen enough to enable him to state that it contained letters dated in sir s handwriting notes referring to events which had happened later than his supposed death and other proofs that the account in the newspapers was correct as to the main fact the comparatively recent date of sir s she looked up and spoke with the helplessness of a child on the circumstances i cannot think how i could have allowed myself to believe the first tidings she said everybody else believed them and why should you not have done so said the lawyer how came the will to be permitted to be proved as there could after all have been no complete evidence she asked if i had been the i would not have attempted it as i was not i know very little about how the business was pushed through in a veiy way i think two on a tower well no said mr feeling himself morally called upon to defend legal from such it was done in the usual way in all cases where the proof of death is only the evidence such as it was was laid before the court by the your husband s cousins and the servants who had been with him to his death with a that was deemed sufficient their error was not that somebody died for somebody did die at the time affirmed but that they one person for another the person who died being not sir the court was of opinion that the evidence led up to a reasonable that the deceased was actually sir and was granted on the strength of it as there was a doubt about the exact day of the month the were allowed to swear that he died on or after the date last given of his existence which in spite of their error then has really come true now of course they little think what they have done to me by being so ready to swear she murmured mr supposing her to allude only to the pecuniary straits in which she had been placed by the will taking effect a year before its due time said true it has been to your s loss and to their gain but they will make ample no doubt and all will be wound up lady was far from explaining that this was not her meaning and after some further conversation of a purely nature mr left her presence when she was again with the necessity of exhibiting a proper bearing the sense that she had greatly suffered in pocket by the undue haste of the weighed upon her mind with a pressure quite beside the greater gravity of her personal position what was her position as two on a tower to her situation as a woman her face with a flush which she was almost ashamed to show to the daylight as she hastily the following note to at certainly one of the most documents she had ever written thursday my dear what i have to tell you is so sad and so humiliating that i can hardly write it and yet i must though we are dearer to each other than all the world besides and as firmly united as if we were one i am not your wife sir did not die till some time after we in england supposed the service must be repeated instantly i have not been able to sleep all night i feel so frightened and ashamed that i can scarcely arrange my thoughts the newspapers sent with this will explain if you have not seen particulars do come to me as soon as you can that we may consult on what to do bum this at once your when the note was despatched she remembered that there was another hardly less important question to be answered the proposal of the bishop for her hand his communication had sunk into beside the momentous news that had so greatly distressed her the two replies lay before her the one she had first written simply to become dr s wife without giving reasons the second which she had with so much care on the previous day relating in confidential detail the history of her love for their secret marriage and their hopes for the future asking his advice on what their should be to escape the of a world it was the letter she had barely finished writing when mr s clerk announced two on a tower news to	45
a that she was no wife at all this she now destroyed and with the less reluctance in knowing that had been somewhat averse to the confession as soon as he found that bishop was also a victim to tender sentiment concerning her the first in which at the time of writing the was too strong for her conscience had now become an honest letter and sadly folding it she sent the on its way the sense of her position kept her from much repose on the second night also but the following morning brought an unexpected letter from written about the same hour as hers to him and it comforted her much he had seen the account in the papers almost as soon as it had come to her knowledge and sent this line to her in the she must naturally feel she was not to be alarmed at all they two were husband and wife in moral intent and belief and the legal flaw which accident had so curiously uncovered could be mended in half he would return on saturday night at latest but as the hour would probably be far advanced he would ask her to meet him by slipping out of the house to the tower any time during service on sunday morning when there would be few persons about likely to observe them meanwhile he might state that their best course in the emergency would be instead of to anybody that there had already been a of marriage between them to arrange their re marriage in as open a manner as possible as if it were the just reached climax of a sudden affection instead of a back to an old departure pre it by a public announcement in the usual way this plan of approaching second union with i two on a tower all the show and circumstance of a new thing recommended itself to her strongly but for one objection that by such a course the wedding could not without appearing like an act of haste take place so quickly as she desired for her own moral it might take place somewhat early say in the course of a month or two without bringing down upon her the charge of levity for sir a unkind husband had been out of her sight four years and in his grave nearly one but what she naturally desired was that there should be no more delay than was positively necessary for obtaining a new license two or three days at longest and in view of this it was next to impossible to make due preparation for a wedding of ordinary performed in her own church from her own house with a feast and amusements for the villagers a tea for the school children a and other of those which by meeting wonder half way deprive it of much of its intensity it must be admitted too that she even now shrank from the shock of surprise that would inevitably be caused by her openly taking for husband such a mere youth of no position as still appeared notwithstanding that in years he was by this time within a trifle of one the straightforward course had nevertheless so much to recommend it so well avoided the disadvantage of future revelation which a private repetition of the ceremony would that assuming she could depend upon as she knew she could do good sense its serious consideration she became more composed at her queer situation hour after hour passed and the first impulse of womanly decorum not to let the sun go down upon her present improper state was quite she could regard the strange that had two on a tower arisen with something like philosophy the day slipped by she thought of the awkwardness of the accident rather than of its humiliation and loving now in a far calmer spirit than at that past date when they had rushed into each other s arms and vowed to be one for the first time she ever and anon caught herself reflecting were it not that for my honour s sake i must re marry him i should perhaps be a nobler woman in not allowing him to his bright future by a union with me at all this thought at first raised as little more than a mental exercise became by stages a genuine conviction and while her heart enforced her reason regretted the necessity of from self sacrifice the being obliged despite his curious escape from the first attempt to lime s young wings again solely for her credit s sake however the deed had to be done was to be made hers selfishness in a of this sort was and even taking brighter views she hoped that upon the whole this of the young fellow with her a woman and his senior would not greatly his career in such a mood night overtook her and she went to bed that had by this time arrived in the parish was perhaps even at that moment passing homeward beneath her walls and that in less than twelve hours she would have m t him have the secret which oppressed her and have arranged with him the details of their sunday came and complicated her previous emotions by bringing a new and unexpected shock to mingle with them the had delivered among other things an illustrated newspaper sent by a hand she did not recognize and on opening the cover the sheet that met her eyes filled her with a horror which she could not express the print was one which drew largely on its imagination for its and it already contained an illustration of the death of sir in this work of art he was represented as standing with his pistol to his mouth his brains being in process of flying up to the roof of his chamber and his native	45
princess rushing terror stricken away to a remote position in the thicket of palms which the dwelling the crude of the picture possibly harmless enough in its effect upon others overpowered and her by a curious fascination she would look at it again and again till every line of the s performance seemed really a from what had happened before his eyes with such details fresh in her thoughts she was going out of the door to make arrangements for by repetition her marriage with another no interval was available for serious reflection on the tragedy or for allowing the two on a tower softening effects of time to operate in her mind it was as though her first husband had died that moment and she was keeping an appointment with another in the presence of his corpse so revived was the of sir s recent life and death by this incident that the distress of her personal relations with was the single force in the world which could have her into to him the interval she would fain have set apart for getting over these new and painful impressions self pity for ill usage afforded her good reasons for ceasing to love sir but he was yet too closely with her past life to be on the instant as a memory but there was no choice of occasions for her now and she steadily waited for the church bells to cease at last all was silent the surrounding had gathered themselves within the walls of the adjacent building lark s first voluntary then from the tower window and lady left the garden in which she had been and went towards rings hill the sense of her situation obscured the morning prospect the country was unusually silent under the sun the season of birds having just set in choosing her path amid the that were upon the outer slopes of the plantation she wound her way up the tree camp to the wooden cabin in the centre the door was but on entering she found the place empty the tower door was also partly open and listening at the foot of the stairs she heard above shifting the and round the dome apparently in preparation for the next there was no doubt that he would descend in a minute or two to look for her and not wishing to interrupt him till he two on a tower was ready she re entered the cabin where she patiently seated herself among the books and papers that lay scattered about she did as she had often done before when waiting there for him that is she occupied her moments in turning over the papers and examining the progress of his labours the notes were mostly of course and she had managed to keep sufficiently abreast of him to catch the meaning of a good many of these the litter on the table however was somewhat more marked this morning than usual as if it had been hurriedly among the rest of the sheets lay an open note and in the entire confidence that existed between them she glanced over and read it as a matter of course it was a most business like communication and beyond the address and date contained only the following words dear sir we beg leave to draw your attention to a letter we addressed to you on the th to which we have not yet been favoured with a reply as the time for payment of the first of the six hundred pounds per settled on you by your late uncle is now at hand we should be obliged by your giving directions as to where and in what manner the money is to be handed over to you and shall also be glad to receive any other definite instructions from you with regard to the future we are dear sir yours faithfully st esq an income of six hundred a year for whom she had hitherto understood to be possessed of an of eighty pounds at the outside with no prospect of increasing the sum but by hard work what could this communication mean he whose custom two on a tower and delight it was to tell her all his heart had breathed not a syllable of this matter to her though it met the very difficulty towards which their invariably tended how to secure for him a that should enable him to establish his pursuits on a wider basis and throw himself into more direct communion with the scientific world quite bewildered by the lack of any explanation she rose from her seat and with the note in her hand ascended the winding reaching the upper she perceived him under the dome moving about as if he had never been absent an hour his light hair out from under the edge of his velvet skull cap as it was always wont to do no question of marriage seemed to be disturbing the mind of this husband of hers the of his was apparently the which she had given him and which he was carefully by means of and hearing her movements he turned his head o here you are my dear i was just beginning to expect you he exclaimed coming for ard i ought to have been looking out for you but i have found a little defect here in the instrument and i wanted to set it right before evening comes on as a rule it is not a good thing to your glasses but i have found that the rings are not perfect circles i learnt at how to correct them so kind they have been to me there and so i have been the and gently shifting the glass till i think that i have at last made the illumination equal all round i have so much to tell you about my visit one thing	45
is that the world is getting quite excited about the coming of there is to be a regular expedition fitted out how i should like to join it s r two on a tower he spoke and with eyes sparkling at the mental image of the said expedition and as it was rather gloomy in the dome he rolled it round on its till the for the directly faced the morning sun which thereupon the interior touching the bright metal work of the and lighting up her pale troubled face but she my letter to you our marriage o yes this marriage question he added i had not forgotten it dear or at least only for a few minutes can you forget it for a moment o how can you she said reproachfully it is such a distressing thing it drives away all my rest forgotten is not the word i should have used he temporarily dismissed it from my mind is all i meant the simple fact is that the of the field of every thing to dimensions do not trouble dearest the remedy is quite easy as i stated in my letter we can now be married in a public way yes early or late next week next month six months hence just as you choose say the word when and i will obey the absence of all anxiety or consternation from his contrasted strangely with hers which at last he saw and looking at the writing she held inquired but what paper have you in your hand a letter which to me is actually inexplicable said she her curiosity returning to the letter and for the instant her immediate concerns what does this income of six hundred a year mean why have you never told me about it dear or does it not refer to you he looked at the note flushed slightly and was absolutely unable to begin his reply at once two on a tower i did not mean you to see that he murmured why not i thought you had better not as it does not concern me now the are under a mistake in supposing that it does i have to write at once and inform them that the is not mine to receive what a strange mystery in your life she said forcing a perplexed smile something to balance the tragedy in mine i am absolutely in the dark as to your past history it seems and yet i had thought you told me everything i could not you that because it would have our relations though not in the way you may suppose you would have me you who are so generous and noble would have forbidden me to do what i did and i was determined not to be forbidden to do what to marry you why should i have forbidden must i tell what i would not he said placing his hands upon her arms and looking somewhat sadly at her well perhaps as it has come to this you ought to know all since it can make no possible difference to my intentions now we are one for ever legal notwithstanding for happily they are quickly and this question of a devise from my uncle only concerned me when i was a single man thereupon with obviously no consideration of the possibilities that were of the of their marriage contract he related in detail and not without for having concealed them so long the events that had occurred on the morning of their wedding day how he had met the on his way to s two on a tower after dressing in the cabin and how he had received from him the letter his dead uncle had confided to his family lawyers informing him of the and of the important request attached that he should remain unmarried until his five and twentieth year how in comparison with the possession of her dear self he had reckoned the income as abandoned all idea of it there and then and had come on to the wedding as if nothing had happened to interrupt for a moment the working out of their plan how he had scarcely thought with any of the circumstances of the case since until reminded of them by this note she had seen and a previous one of a like sort received from the same o she cried bursting into tears as she realized it all and sinking on the observing chair i have ruined you yes i have ruined you the young man was dismayed by her unexpected grief and endeavoured to soothe her but she seemed touched by a remorse which would not be comforted and now she continued as soon as she could speak when you are once more free and in a position actually in a position to claim the that would be the making of you i am compelled to come to you and you to undo yourself again merely to save me not to save you but to bless me you do not ask me to re marry it is not a question of at all it is my straight course i do not dream of doing otherwise i should be wretched if you thought for one moment i could entertain the idea of doing otherwise but the more he said the worse he made the matter it was a state of affairs that would not bear discussion at all and the view two on a tower he took of his course seemed to increase her responsibility why did your uncle attach such a cruel condition to his she cried bitterly he little thinks how hard he me from the grave me who have never done him wrong and you too are you sure that he makes that condition indispensable perhaps he meant that you should not marry beneath	45
you perhaps he did not mean to object in such a case as your marrying forgive me for saying it a little above you there is no doubt that he did not contemplate a case which has led to such happiness as this has done the youth murmured with hesitation for though he scarcely remembered a word of his uncle s letter of advice he had a dim apprehension that it was in terms alluding to lady are you sure you cannot retain the money and be my lawful husband too she asked o what a wrong i am doing you i did not dream that it could be as bad as this i knew i was wasting your time by letting you love me and your projects but i thought there were advantages this of your future at my hands i did not contemplate you are sure there is no escape have you his letter with the conditions or the will let me see the letter in which he expresses his wishes i assure you it is all as i say he returned even if i were not bound by the conditions i should be morally but how does he put it how does he justify himself in making such a harsh do let me see the letter i shall think it a want of confidence if you do not i may discover way out of the difficulty if you let me look at two on a tower the papers eccentric wills can be in all sorts of ways still he hesitated i would rather you did not see the papers he said but she persisted as only a fond woman can her conviction was that she who as a woman many years his senior should have shown her love for him by guiding him straight into the paths he aimed at had blocked his attempted career for her own happiness this made her more intent than ever to find out a device by which while she still retained him he might also retain the life interest under his uncle s will her entreaties were at length too potent for his resistance accompanying her downstairs to the cabin he opened the desk from which the other papers had been taken and against his better judgment handed her the ominous communication of ni st which lay in the envelope just as it had been received three quarters of a year earlier don t read it now he said don t spoil our meeting by entering into a subject which is past and done with take it with you and look it over at your leisure merely as an old curiosity remember and not as a still document i have almost forgotten what the contents are beyond the general advice and that i was to remain a bachelor at any rate she rejoined do not reply to the note i have seen from the till i have read this also he promised but now about our public wedding he said like certain royal personages we shall have had the religious and the civil contract performed on independent occasions will you fix the day when is it to be and shall it take place at a s office since there is no necessity for having th sacred part r again two on a tower ru think replied she fu think it over and let me know as soon as you can how you decide to proceed i will write to morrow or come i do not know what to say now i cannot forget how i am you this is almost more than i can bear to divert her mind he began talking about and the great instruments therein and how he had been received by the and the details of the expedition to observe the of together with many other subjects of the sort to which she had not power to lend her attention i must reach home before the people are out of church she at length said wearily i wish nobody to know i have been out this morning and forbidding to cross into the open in her company she led t him on the edge of the isolated plantation which had known her tread so well lady crossed the field and the park beyond and found on passing the church that the was still within there was no hurry for getting indoors the open windows her to hear that mr had only just given out his text so instead of entering the house she went through the garden door to the old green and sat down in the that louis had occupied when he overheard the interview between and the bishop not until then did she find courage to draw out the letter and papers relating to the which in a critical moment had handed to her had he been ever so little older he would not have placed that confidence in which had led him to give way to her curiosity but the influence over him which eight or nine years lent her was immensely increased by her higher position and wider experiences and he had yielded the point as he all social points while the same conditions him from any deep consciousness that it was his duty to protect her even from herself the of dr st s letter in which he referred to his pleasure at hearing of the young man s promise as an disturbed her not at two on a tower all indeed somewhat her in of the old gentleman who had written it the first item of what he called news namely the allusion to the of s income to the wants of a scientific man whose lines of work were not calculated to produce pecuniary for many years deepened the cast of her face to concern she reached the second item of the so called news and her	45
face flushed as she read how the doctor had learnt that there was something in your path worse than narrow means and that something is a woman to save you if possible from ruin on these heads she read on i take the measures below and then followed the announcement of the a year settled on the youth for life on the single condition that he remained unmarried till the age of twenty five just as had explained to her she next learnt that the was for a definite object that he might have resources sufficient to enable him to travel in an way and begin a study of the southern which according to the shrewd old man s judgment were a mine not so thoroughly worked as the northern and therefore to be recommended this was followed by some sentences which hit her in the face like a the only other step in my power is that of st don t make a fool of yourself as your father did if your studies are to be worth anything believe me they must be carried on without the help of a woman avoid her and every one of the sex if you mean to achieve any worthy thing all of that sort for many a year yet moreover i say the lady of your acquaintance avoid in particular she has two on a tower in addition to her original as a companion for you that is that of sex these two special she is much older than yourself lady s indignant flush her and pale despair succeeded in its stead alas it was true handsome and in her prime she might be but she was too old for and she is so beyond this frankly i don t think well of her i don t think well of any woman who upon a man younger than to care to be the first fancy of a young fellow like you shows no great common sense in her if she were worth her salt she would have too much pride to be intimate with a youth in your position to say no more s face by this time hot again she is old enough to know that a with her may and almost certainly would be your ruin and on the other hand that a marriage would be preposterous unless she is a complete fool and in that case there is even more reason for avoiding her than if she were in her few senses a woman of honourable feeling nephew would be careful to do nothing to hinder you in your career as this putting of herself in your way most certainly will yet i hear that she a great anxiety on this same future of yours as a the best way in which she can show the reality of her anxiety is by leaving you to yourself leaving him to himself she again as if chilled by a conviction that in this the old man was right she ll your most secret plans and theories to every one of her acquaintance and make you appear ridiculous by announcing them before they are if you attempt to study with a woman you ll be ruled by her to entertain instead of theories two on a tower air castles instead of intentions instead of opinions sickly instead of reasoned conclusions an experienced woman waking a young man s passions just at a moment when he is endeavouring to shine is doing little less than committing a crime thus much the letter and it was enough for her indeed the of indignation which had passed over her as she gathered this man s opinion of herself combined with of grief and shame when she considered that her dear was perfectly acquainted with this cynical view of her nature that reject it as he might and as he unquestionably did such thoughts of her had been in him and lay in him stifled as they were they lay in him like seeds too deep for which accident might some day bring near the surface and into life the humiliation of such a possibility was almost too much to endure the mortification she had known nothing like it till now but this was not all there succeeded a feeling in comparison with which resentment and mortification were happy moods a miserable conviction that this old man who spoke from the grave was not altogether wrong in his speaking that he was only half wrong that he was perhaps right only those persons who are by nature with that ready esteem for others positions which an of their own fully experience the deep smart of such convictions against self the wish for that is in the moment of despair at feeling that at length we our best and friend cease to believe in our cause could hear the people coming out of church on the of the garden wall their footsteps two on a tower and their cheerful voices died away the bell rang for lunch and she went in but her life during that morning and afternoon was wholly knowing the full circumstances of his situation as she knew them now as she had never before known them ought she to make herself the legal wife of st and so secure her own honour at any price to him such was the formidable question which lady to her startled understanding as a honest woman alone beginning her charity at home there was no doubt that she ought save was sound old testament doctrine and not altogether in the new but was there a line of conduct which mere and would it not be an excellent thing to put it in practice now that she had wronged st by marrying him that she would wrong him infinitely more by the marriage	45
there was in her opinion no doubt she in her experience had sought out him in his and had led him like a child she remembered as if it had been her fault though it was in fact only her misfortune that she had been the one to go for the license and take up residence in the parish in which they were wedded he was now just one and twenty without her he had all the world before him six hundred a year and leave to cut as straight a road to fame as he should choose with her this story was no money from his uncle no power of advancement but a bondage with a woman whose of years though just now would operate in the future as a wet blanket upon his social and that content with life as it was which she had noticed more than once in him a content his scientific spirit by his zeal for progress two on a tower it was impossible in short to blind herself to the that marriage with her had not him matters might improve in the future but to take upon herself the whole of s life as she would do by him of the help his uncle had offered was a fearful responsibility how could she an woman replace such assistance his recent visit to which bad revived that zest for his pursuit that was now less constant than heretofore should by rights be by other such it would be true benevolence not to deprive him of means to continue them so as to keep his alive regardless of the cost to herself it could be done by the extraordinary favour of a unique accident she had now an opportunity of s seriously future and restoring him to a state no worse than his first his could be enjoyed by him his travels undertaken his studies pursued his high by one little sacrifice that of herself she only had to refuse to their marriage to part from him for ever and all would be well with him the pain to him would after all be but slight what ever it might be to his wretched the of retaining him at her side lay not only in the fact itself of injury to him but in the of his living to see it as such and her for selfishness in not letting him go in this opportunity for a move proved to be false he wished to examine the southern heavens perhaps his uncle s letter was the father of the wish and there was no telling what good might not result to mankind at large from his exploits there why should she to save her narrow honour waste the wide promise of his ability that in herself by refusing him and two on a tower leaving him free to work wonders for the good of his fellow creatures she would in all probability add to the sum of human felicity consoled her by its breadth as an idea even while it tortured her by making herself the or single on whom the evil would fall ought a possibly large number included to remain because the one individual to whom his release would be an injury chanced to be herself love between man and woman which in moses and other early of life is mere desire had for centuries past so sir as to include sympathy and friendship surely it should in this advanced stage of the world include benevolence also if so it was her duty to set her young man free thus she with a generosity more worthy even than its object to sink her love for her own decorum in devotion to the world in general and to in particular to counsel her by her understanding rather than by her emotions as usual s hard work for a tender woman but she strove hard and made advance the self attitude natural to one in her situation was becoming by the s attitude which though it had to be at first gave her by degrees a certain sweet sense that she was rising above self love that maternal element which had from time to time evinced itself in her affection for the youth and was imparted by her superior in experience and years appeared now again as she drew nearer the resolve not to secure propriety in her own social condition at the expense of this youth s earthly utility unexpectedly grand fruits are sometimes forced forth by harsh the letter of s uncle was suggesting to lady an whose would probably have amazed that two on a tower queer old gentleman into a of the conditions that had induced it to love st so better than herself as this was to the love of women as understood and as mostly existing before however her decision by any definite step she worried her little brain by every kind of ingenious scheme in the hope of lighting on one that might show her how that decision could be avoided with the same good result but to secure for him the advantages offered and to retain him likewise reflection only showed it to be impossible yet to let him go or ever was more than she could endure and at length she jumped at an idea which promised some sort of improvement on that design she would propose that should not be entirely abandoned but simply postponed namely till after his twenty fifth birthday when he plight be her husband without at any rate the loss to him of the income by this time he would to a man s full judgment and that painful aspect of her as one who had his raw would have passed for ever the plan somewhat appeased her honour to let a marriage sink into for four or five years was not	45
to it and though she would leave it to him to move its at the end of that time without present she had not much doubt upon the issue the clock struck five this silent mental debate had occupied her whole afternoon perhaps it would not have ended now but for an unexpected incident the entry of her brother louis he came into the room where she was sitting or rather and after a few words to explain how he had got there and about the mistake in the date of sir s death he walked up close to her his next remarks were two on a tower in form but in essence they were bitterness itself he said i am sorry for my hasty words to you when i last left this house i readily withdraw them my suspicions took a wrong direction i think now that i know the truth you have been even than i supposed in what way she asked i lately thought that unhappy young man was only your too favoured lover you thought wrong he is not he is not i believe you for he is more i now am persuaded that he is your lawful husband can you deny it i can on your sacred word on my sacred word he is not that either thank heaven for that assurance said louis a breath of relief i was not so positive as i pretended to but i wanted to know the truth of this mystery since you are not to him in that way i care nothing louis turned away and that afforded her an opportunity for leaving the room those few words were the last that had turned the balance and settled her doom she would let go all the voices in her world seemed to for that the morning s mortification the afternoon s benevolence and the evening s instincts of had joined to carry the point accordingly she sat down and wrote to a summary of the thoughts above detailed we shall separate she concluded you to obey your uncle s orders and explore the southern skies i to wait as one who can trust you do not see me again till the years have expired you will find two on a tower still the same i am your wife through all time the letter of the law is not needed to it at present while the absence of the letter your fortune nothing can express what it cost lady to her arguments but she did it and self comfort by a sense of the general it may be affirmed that the only reason which might have dictated such a step was non that is to say a serious decline in her affection tenderly she had loved the youth at first and tenderly she loved him now as time and her after conduct proved women the most delicate get used to strange moral situations eve probably regained her normal sweet composure about a week after the fall on first learning of her position lady had blushed hot and her pure instincts had prompted her to her marriage without a moment s delay heaven and earth were to be moved at once to effect it day after day had passed her union had remained and the idea of its had gradually ceased to be strange to her till it became of little account beside her bold resolve for the young man s sake he immediate effect upon st of the receipt of her well reasoned argument for was a bitter attack upon himself for having been guilty of such cruel carelessness as to leave in her way the lawyer s letter that had first made her aware of his uncle s provision for him as he was he could realize s position sufficiently well to perceive what the poor lady must suffer at having suddenly thrust upon her the responsibility of her own situation as a wife by his as a true it was by the purest that his sacrifice of means had been discovered but he should have taken special pains to render such a impossible if on the first occasion when a revelation might have been made with he would not put it in the power of her good nature to relieve his position by refusing him he should have shown double care not to do so now when she could not exercise that benevolence without the loss of honour with a young man s to issues he had not considered how sharp her feelings as a woman must be in this it had seemed the easiest thing in the world to remedy the defect in their marriage and therefore nothing to be anxious two on a tower about and in his innocence of any thought of the by taking advantage of the in his matrimonial bond he the importance of concealing the existence of that the fear of between them revived in the warm emotions of their earlier acquaintance almost before the sun had set he hastened to house in search of her the air was disturbed by stiff summer productive of and premature of it was an hour when apples shower down in and descend in their upon the park there was no help for it this afternoon but to call upon her in a direct manner regardless of suspicions he was when while waiting in the full expectation of being admitted to her presence the answer brought back to him was that she was unable to see him this had never happened before in the whole course of their acquaintance but he knew what it meant and turned away with a vague he did not know that lady was just above his head listening to his movements with the emotions and while praying for him to go longing for him to insist on seeing her and spoil all but the faintest symptom being	45
it on a reasonable basis only like the philosophers they assumed themselves to be but this intention was scarcely to in all its integrity she duly appeared on the edge of the field with the radiance that marked the close of this day whereupon he quickly descended the steps and met her at the cabin door they entered it together as the evening grew darker and darker he listened to her reasoning which was precisely a repetition of that already sent him by letter and by degrees accepted her decision since she would not it time came for them to say bye and then he d and saw the terror in her eyes that d upon him shining in such wise as a star in the midnight fix d it was the misery of her own condition that showed forth hitherto obscured by her for his they closed together and kissed each other as though the emotion of their whole half s acquaintance had settled down upon that moment i won t go away from you said why did you propose it for an instant thus the nearly ended interview was again prolonged and yielded to all the passion of her first union with him time however was merciless and the hour approached midnight and she was compelled to depart walked with her two on a tower towards the house as he had walked many times before believing that all was now smooth again between them and caring it must be owned yery little for his fame as an of the southern just then when they reached the silent house he said what he had not ventured to say before fix the day you have decided that it is to be soon and that i am not to go but youthful was far very far from being up to the fond of this evening i cannot decide here she said gently herself from his arm i will speak to you from the window wait for me she vanished and he waited it was a long time before the window opened and he was not aware that with her customary of feeling she had knelt for some time inside the room before looking out well said he it cannot be she answered i cannot ruin you but the day after you are five and twenty our marriage shall be confirmed if you choose o my how is this i he cried i have not altered but i feared for my powers and not tell you whilst i stood by your side i ought not to have given way as i did to night take the and go you are too young to be i should have thought of it do not communicate with me for at least a year it is do not tell me your plans if we part we do part i have vowed a vow not to further the course you had decided on before you knew me and my ways and by heaven s help i ll keep that vow now go these are the parting words of your own who was stable as a g ant in all that two on a tower to nature and life outside humanity was a mere pupil in domestic matters he was quite awed by her firmness and looked at her for a time till she closed the window then he mechanically tamed and went as she had commanded a week had passed away it had been a time of cloudy mental weather to and but the only act about it was that what had been planned to happen therein had actually taken place had gone from and would shortly go from england she became aware of it by a note that he posted to her on his way through there was much evidence of haste in the note and something of reserve the latter she could not understand but it might have been obvious enough if she had considered on the morning of his departure he had sat on the edge of his bed the sunlight streaming through the early mist the house scratching the back of the ceiling over his head as they scrambled out from the roof for their day s chasing the on the garden stones outside with the of little at work on little the sun in sending its rods of yellow fire into his room sent as he suddenly thought mental illumination with it for the first time as he sat there it had crossed his mind that might have reasons for this separation which he knew not of there might be family reasons mysterious blood necessities which two on a tower are said to rule members of old families and are unknown to other classes of and they may have been just now brought before her by her brother louis on the condition that they were concealed the idea that some family skeleton like those he had read of in had been by louis and held before her terrified understanding as a matter which rendered s departure and the of the marriage no less indispensable to them than it was an advantage to himself seemed a very plausible one to just now might have taken louis into her confidence at last for the sake of his advice knew that of her own heart she would never wish to get rid of him but by louis might she not have grown to entertain views of its events made such a supposition on st s part as natural as it was and with his own excitement at the thought of seeing a new heaven overhead influenced him to write but the and most hurried final note to her in which he fully obeyed her sensitive request that he would omit all reference to his plans these at the last moment had been modified to fall with the winter	45
above mentioned incident lady after meditating a while arose with a strange personal conviction that bore curiously on the she realized a of things that she had never anticipated and for a moment the discovery of her state so overwhelmed her that she thought she must die outright in her terror she said she had sown the wind to reap the then the instinct of self preservation up in h r like a fire her in her self love to benevolence and letting go away from her was by the new necessity as if it had been a web there was no resisting or the spontaneous plan of action which in her mind in five minutes where was how could he be got at instantly that was her ruling thought she searched about the room for his last short note hoping yet doubting that its contents were more explicit on his intended movements than the few meagre which alone she could call to mind she could not find the letter in her room and came downstairs to louis as pale as a ghost he looked up at her and with some concern said what s the matter i am searching everywhere for a letter a note from mr st just a few words telling me when the sails that i think he goes in why do you want that unimportant document it is of the utmost importance that i should know whether he has actually sailed or not said she in tones where can that letter be louis knew where that letter was for having seen it on her desk he had without reading it torn it up and thrown it into the waste paper basket thinking the less that remained to remind her of the young philosopher the better two on a tower i destroyed it he said o louis why did you she cried i am going to follow him i think it best to do so and i want to know if he is gone and now the date is lost going to run after st absurd yes i am she said with vehement firmness i must see him i want to speak to him as soon as possible good lord are you mad o what was the date of that ship but it cannot be helped i start at once for i have made up my mind to do it he was going to his uncle s in the north first then he was coming back to he cannot have sailed yet i believe he has sailed muttered louis sullenly she did not wait to argue with him but returned upstairs where she rang to tell green to be ready with the pony to drive her to station in a quarter of an hour s determination to no longer had led her as has been shown to any weak impulse to entreat his return by forbidding him to furnish her with his foreign address his ready disposition his fear that there might be other reasons behind made him obey her only too literally thus to her terror and dismay she had placed a difficulty in the way of her present endeavour she was ready before green and urged on that so wildly as to leave him no time to change his and boots in which he had been he turned himself into a coachman as ur down as his waist merely clapping on his proper coat hat and waistcoat and a rug over his half below in this compromise he appeared at the door mounted and reins in hand seeing how sad and determined was louis pitied her so far as to put nothing in the way of her starting though he to help her he thought her conduct sentimental the of mistaken pity and such a kind of gain giving as would trouble a woman and he decided that it would be better to let this mood bum itself out than to keep it by t two on a tower do you remember the date of his sailing she said finally as the pony carriage turned to drive off he sails on the th that is to day but it may not be till late in the evening with this she started and reached in time for the up train how much longer than it really is a long journey can seem to be was fully learnt by the unhappy that day the procession of country seats past which she was dragged the names and memories of their owners had no points of interest for her now she reached about midday and drove straight to the on approaching the gates she was met by a crowd of people and coming out men women children police and carts the had just sailed the adverse intelligence came upon her with such odds after her si that she could scarcely crawl back to the cab which had brought her but this was not a time to as she had no luggage she dismissed the man and without any real consciousness of what she was doing crept away and sat down on a pile of after long thinking her case assumed a more hope ful complexion much might probably be done towards communicating with him in the time at her command the obvious step to this end which she should have thought of sooner would be to go to his grandmother in bottom and there obtain his in detail no doubt well known to mrs martin there was no leisure for her to consider longer if she would be home again that night j and returning to the railway she waited on a seat without eating or drinking till a train was ready to take her back by the time she again stood in the sun rested his chin upon the meadows and enveloped the two on a tower distant	45
outline of the rings hill column in his rays an empty fly that chanced to be at the station she was driven through the little town onward to which she approached about eight o clock at tier request the man set her down at the entrance to the park and when he was out of sight instead of pursuing her way to the house she went along the high road in the direction of mrs martin s dusk was drawing on and the were over the green basin called bottom by the time she arrived and had any other errand her call she would have postponed it till the morrow nobody responded to her knock but she could hear footsteps going hither and thither upstairs and dull noises as of articles moved from their places she knocked again and again and ultimately the door was opened by as usual i could make nobody hear said lady who was so weary she could scarcely stand i am very sorry my lady said slightly awed on beholding her visitor but we was a putting poor mr s room to rights now that he is as a woman may say dead and buried to us so we didn t hear your i ll call mrs martin at once she is up in the room that used to be his work room here s voice implied moist eyes and lady s instantly no i ll go up to her said and almost in advance of she passed up the ash stairs the light was not enough to reveal to mrs martin s aged gaze the personality of her visitor till explained i u get a light my lady said she no i would rather not what are you doing mrs martin weu the poor boy is nd he s two on a tower gone for good to me i am a woman of over years my lady my days are over and whether tis or whether tis in the land will soon be nothing to me but his life may be long and active and for the sake of him i care for what i shall never see and wish to make pleasant what i shall never enjoy i am setting his room in order as the place will be his own when i am gone so that when he comes back he may find all his poor jim cracks and as he left em and not fed that i have betrayed his trust mrs martin s voice revealed that she had burst into such few tears as were left her and then b an crying likewise whereupon lady whose h had been bursting all day and who indeed considering her coming trouble had reason enough for tears broke into sobs than either sobs of absolute pain that could no longer be concealed was the first to discover that lady was weeping with them and her feelings being probably the least intense among the three she instantly controlled herself yourself my dear woman she said hastily to mrs martin don t ye see how it do my lady and turning to she whispered her years be so great your that perhaps ye ll excuse her for out afore ye we know when the mind is dim my lady there s not the manners there should be but decayed people can t help it poor old soul that will do now perhaps lady con would like to speak to me alone said mrs martin and when had retreated mrs martin continued such a charge as she is my lady on account of her great age pardon her here as if she were one of the i put up with two on a tower such things because of her long service and we know that years lead to what are you doing can i help you asked as mrs martin after speaking turned to lift some large article oh tis only the skeleton of a that s got no works in his inside said s grandmother seizing the huge that had and abandoned because he could get no to suit it i am going to hang it up to these hooks and there it will bide till he comes again lady took one end and the was hung up against the wall by strings that the old woman had tied round it here s all his lines and his topics of and i don t know what besides mrs martin continued pointing to some on the wall i shall never rub em out no though tis such as i was never brought up to i shall never rub em out where has gone to first asked anxiously where does he say you are to write to him nowhere yet my lady he s gone all over europe and america and then to the south pacific ocean about this of that s going to be done there he is to write to us first god knows when for he said that if we didn t hear from him for six months we were not to be at all at so much worse than she had expected lady stood mute sank down and would have to the floor if there had not been a chair behind her herself by a effort she disguised her despair and asked from america to the south pacific two on a tower of s arrangement to accompany the expedition had been made at the last moment and therefore she had not as yet been informed yes to a lone island i believe yes a lone my lady echoed who had crept in and made herself one of the family again in spite of mrs martin he is going to meet the english and american there at the end of the year after that he will most likely go on to the cape but before the end	45
of the year what places did he teu you of visiting let me collect myself he is going to the of cambridge united states to meet some gentlemen there and spy through the great then there s the of and i think he has a letter to make him to a gentleman in the at and he wants to go to and too he means to take in his way there being great instruments and a lot of at each place does he take europe or america first she asked faintly for the account seemed hopeless mrs martin could not tell till she had heard from it depended upon what he had decided to do on the day of his leaving england lady bade the old people good bye and dragged her weary limbs homeward the of fo had seldom been evinced more had she done nothing to hinder him he would have kept up an communication with her and all might have been well for that night she could undertake nothing further and she waited for the next day then at once she wrote two letters to directing one to one to the of two on a tower bridge u s as being the only two spots on the face of the globe at which they were likely to him each letter stated to him the urgent reasons which existed for his return and contained a passionately intimation that the on which his hopes depended must of necessity be sacrificed by the completion of their original contract without delay but letter conveyance was too slow a process to satisfy her to send an of her by telegraph was after all indispensable such an imploring sentence as she desired to address to him it would be to despatch from and she took a dreary journey to a strange town on purpose to send it from an office at which she was unknown there she handed in her message addressing it to the port of arrival of the and again returned home she waited and there being no return the was that he had somehow missed hers for an answer to either of her letters she would have to wait long enough to allow him time to reach one of the a tedious while then she considered the weakness the nature of her attempt at recall events her on all sides by the of an accident and by her own immense exertions against her instincts had been restored to the that he had nearly on her account he had just started off to it when she without a moment s warning was asking him again to cast it away she had set a certain machinery in motion to stop it before it had once a horrid apprehension possessed her it had been easy for to give up what he had never known the advantages of keeping but having once begun to enjoy his possession would he give it up now could two on a tower he be depended on for such self sacrifice before leaving he would have done anything at her request but the had now passed suppose there arrived no reply from him for the next three months and that when his answer came he were to inform her that having now in her original decision he found the life he was leading so profitable as to be unable to abandon it even to please her that he was very sorry but having embarked on this course by her advice he meant to to it by his own there was indeed eveiy probability that moving about as he was doing and as he had been by her very self against listening to her too readily she would receive no reply of any sort from him for three or perhaps four months this would be on the eve of the and what was there that a young man full of for that spectacle would forego it at the last moment to return to a with a woman who was no longer a novelty if she could only leave him to his career and save her own situation also but at that moment the proposition seemed as impossible as to a of two straight lines in her walk home pervaded by these hopeless views she passed near the dark and deserted tower night in that solitary place which would have caused her some uneasiness in her years of had no terrors for her now she went up the and the door being unlocked felt her way to the top the open sky greeted her as in times previous to the dome and period but there was not a star to suggest to her in which direction had gone the absence of the dome suggested a way out of her difficulties a leap in the dark and all would be over but she had not reached that two on a tower stage of action as yet and the thought was dismissed as quickly as it had come the new consideration which at present occupied her mind was whether she could have the courage to leave to himself as in the original plan and singly meet her impending trial the shame till he should return at five and twenty and claim her yet was this assumption of his return so very safe how altered things would be at that time at twenty five he would still be young and handsome she would be three and thirty to middle age and from a junior s point of view a fear sharp as a frost settled down upon her that in any such scheme as this she would be building upon the sand she hardly knew how she reached home that night entering by the lawn door she saw a red coal in the direction of the louis was smoking there and he came forward he had not seen	45
her since the morning and was naturally anxious about her she blessed the chance which enveloped her in night and lessened the weight of the encounter one half by him of vision did you accomplish your object he asked no said she how was that he has sailed a very good thing for both i say i believe you would have married him if you could have overtaken him that would i she said good god i would marry a for that matter i have reasons for being any man s wife she said only i should prefer to drown myself louis held his breath and stood rigid at the meaning her words conveyed u two on a tower but louis you don t know all cried i am not so bad as you think mine has been folly not vice i thought i had married him and then i found i had not the marriage was invalid sir was alive and now has gone away and will not come back for my calling how can he his fortune is left him on condition that he forms no legal tie o will he will he come again never if that s the position of said louis firmly after a pause what then shall i do said louis escaped the formidable difficulty of replying by pretending to continue his and she bowed down to dust by what she had revealed crept from him into the house louis s cigar went out in his hand as he stood looking intently at the ground l got up the next morning with an idea in his head he had dressed for a journey and hastily before he had started came downstairs louis who was now greatly disturbed about her went up to his sister and took her hand us he said gravely i have a plan i have a dozen said she you have yes but what are they worth and yet there must there must be a way said louis promise that you will wait till i come home to night before you do anything her distracted eyes showed slight comprehension of his request as she said yes an hour after that time louis entered the train at and was speedily crossing a country of ragged which though on by the plough at places remained largely from times and still with of gigantic growth and oaks with it was the route to on setting foot in that city he took the cathedral two on a tower spire as his guide the place being strange to him and went on till he r u the dividing sacred from thence he his course into the of the damp and venerable level as a green and beloved of who from their elm on high threatened any with the of at the comer of this spot stood the palace louis entered the gates rang the bell and looked around here the trees and seemed older if possible than those in the close behind him everything was dignified and he felt himself like in the king s chambers verily in the present case was not a man to stick at trifles any more than his illustrious and on the servant bringing a message that his would see him at once louis marched boldly in through an old dark corridor with old dark beams the servant led the way to the heavily door of the bishop s room dr was there and welcomed louis with considerable but his condescension was tempered with a curious anxiety and even with he asked in pointed tones after the health of lady if louis had brought an answer to the letter he had addressed to her a day or two earlier and if the contents of the letter or of the previous one were known to him i have brought no answer from her said louis but the contents of your letter have been made known to me since entering the building louis had more than once felt some hesitation and it might now with a manner from his have to him from going further with his intention two on a tower but the bishop had personal weaknesses that were fatal to sympathy for more than a moment then i may speak in confidence to you as her nearest relative said the and explain that i am now in a position with regard to lady which in view of the important office i hold i should not have cared to place myself in unless i had felt quite sure of not being refused by her and hence it is a great grief and some mortification to me that i was refused owing of course to the fact that i risked making my proposal at the very moment when she was under the influence of those strange tidings and therefore not herself and scarcely able to judge what was best for her the bishop s words disclosed a mind whose sensitive fear of danger to its own dignity it from criticism elsewhere things might have been worse for louis s like idea of mis his with this throwing a strong colour of earnestness into his mien he replied bishop is my only sister i am her only brother and friend i am alarmed for her health and state of mind hence i have come to consult you on this very matter that you have i come absolutely without her knowledge and i hope may be excused in me on the score of my anxiety for her certainly i trust that the prospect opened up by my proposal combined with this other news has not proved too much for her my sister is distracted and distressed bishop she wants comfort not distressed by my letter said the bishop turning red has it lowered me in her estimation on the contrary while your disinterested offer was uppermost	45
that she might jump at it and commit herself without an interval for reflection on certain aspects of the proceeding nothing accordingly did he say and that she would be hardly likely to take any desperate step that night he left her to herself his anxiety at this crisis continued to be great everything depended on the result of the bishop s would he or would he not come the next day perhaps instead of his important presence there would appear a letter the visit if so all would be lost louis s suspense kept him awake and he was not alone in his through the night he heard his sister walking up and down in a state which that for every pang of grief she had disclosed twice as many had remained he almost feared that she might seek to end her existence by violence so sudden were her moods and he lay and longed for the day it was morning she came down the same as usual and asked if there had arrived any or letter but there was neither louis avoided her knowing that nothing he could say just then would do her any good no communication had reached him from the bishop and that looked well by one and another as the day went on he led her away from contemplating the remote possibility of hearing from and induced her to look at the worst as her probable fate it seemed as if she really made up her mind to this for by the afternoon u two on a tower she was like a woman who neither hoped nor feared and then a fly drove up to the door louis who had been standing in the hall the greater part of that day glanced out through a private window and went to the bishop has called he said be ready to see him the bishop of said bewildered yes i asked him to come he comes for an answer to his letters an answer to his letters she murmured an immediate reply of yes or no her face showed the workings of her mind how entirely an answer of assent at once acted on for better or for worse would clear the from her path there needed no tongue to tell it would moreover accomplish that end without the of the inevitable result if she had adopted the legitimate road out of her trouble hitherto there had seemed to her dismayed mind as to any course save one of honesty no possible achievement of both her desires the saving of and the saving of herself but behold here was a way i a had shown it to her it involved a great wrong which to her had quite obscured its but she perceived now that it was indeed a way nature was forcing her hand at this game and to what will not nature compel her weaker victims in extremes louis left her to think it out when he reached the drawing room dr was standing there with the air of a man too good for his destiny which to be just to him was not far from the truth time have you broken my message to her asked the two on a not your message your visit said louis i leave the rest in your s hands i have done all i can for her she was in her own small room to day and feeling that it must be a bold stroke or none he led the bishop across the hall till he reached her apartment and opened the door but instead of following he shut it behind his visitor then passed an anxious time he walked from the foot of the staircase to the star of old swords and on the wall from these to the horns thence down the corridor as far as the door where he could hear murmuring inside but not its import the longer they remained the more excited did he become that she had not n the proposal at the outset was a strong sign of its success it showed that she had admitted argument and the worthy bishop had a on his side whom he knew little of the very weather seemed to favour dr in his suit a i ind had blown up from the west howling in the chimneys and suggesting to the feminine mind storms at sea a tossing ocean and the hopeless of au and men on the other side of the same the bishop had entered s room at ten minutes past three the long hand of the hall dock lay level at forty five minutes past when the of the door moved and he came out louis met him where the passage joined the hall dr was decidedly in an state his face being slightly flushed louis looked his anxious inquiry without speaking it she me said the bishop in a low voice and the wedding is to be soon her long solitude and sufferings justify haste what you said was true sheer weariness and distraction have driven her to two on a tower me she was quite passive at last and agreed to anything i proposed such is the force of trained logical reasoning a good and wise woman she perceived what a true shelter from sadness was offered in me and was not the one to despise heaven s gift xl he silence of was to be accounted for by the circumstance that neither to the nor to america had he in the first place directed his steps feeling himself absolutely free he had on arriving at decided to make straight for the cape and hence had not gone aboard the at all his object was to leave his heavier luggage there examine the of the spot for his purpose find out the necessity or otherwise of shipping over his own and	45
had it from those that know the cutting from the newspaper was an ordinary announcement of marriage between the bishop of and lady was so astounded at the intelligence of what two on a tower for the seemed s wanton that he quite omitted to look at the second letter and remembered nothing about it till an hour afterwards when sitting in his own room at the hotel it was in her handwriting but so altered that its had not arrested his eye it had no beginning or date but its contents soon acquainted him with her motive for the act the few concluding sentences are all that it will be necessary to quote here there was no way out of it even if i could have found you without one of the conditions i had previously laid down the long desire of my heart has been not to you or mar your career the new desire was to save myself and still more another yet i have done a desperate thing yet for myself i could do no better and for you no less i would have sacrificed my single self to honesty but i was not alone concerned what woman has a right to a coming life to preserve her personal integrity the one bright spot is that it you and your from further and preserves you to the pleasant paths of scientific fame i no longer lie like a log across your path which is now as open as on the day before you saw me and ere i encouraged you to win me alas i ought to have known better the folly was great and the suffering be upon my head i i ought not to have consented to that last interview all was well till then well i have borne much and am not unprepared as for you by simply pressing straight on your triumph is assured do not communicate with me in any not even in answer to this do not think of me do not see me ever any more your unhappy two on a tower s heart swelled within him in sudden pity for her first then he i ith a sense of what she had done and at his own relation to the deed he felt like an awakened who should find that he had been to a tragedy during his she had loosened the knot of her difficulties by cutting it through and through the big tidings rather dazed than crushed him his feeling being soon again one of keenest sorrow and sympathy yet one thing was obvious he could do nothing absolutely nothing the event which he now heard of for the first time had taken place five long months ago he reflected and regretted and mechanically went on with his preparations for settling down to work under the shadow of table mountain he was as one who suddenly finds the world a stranger place than he thought but is excluded by age temperament and situation from being much more than an astonished spectator of its strangeness the royal was about a mile out of the town and hither he repaired as soon as he had established himself in lodgings he had decided on his first visit to the cape that it would be highly advantageous to him if he could the occasional use of the large instruments here by the use at his own house of his own and had accordingly given directions that it might be sent over from england the precious possession now arrived and although the sight of it of the on which her hand had often rested of the through which her dark eyes had beamed some decidedly bitter regrets in him for a time he could not long afford to give to the past the days that were meant for the future m two on a tower unable to get a room convenient for a private he resolved at last to fix the instrument on a solid pillar in the garden and several days were spent in it to its new position in this latitude there was no necessity for clear nights as he had been obliged to do on the old tower at there it had happened more than once that after waiting idle through days and nights of cloudy weather would fix her time for meeting him at an hour when at last he had an opportunity of seeing the sky so that in giving to her the golden moments of he was losing his chance with the above those features which usually attract the eye of the visitor to a new latitude are the novel forms of human and vegetable life and other such things but the young man glanced at these e changes overhead had all his attention the old subject was there but in a new type here was a heaven fixed and ancient as the northern yet it had never appeared above the hills since they were heaved up from beneath here was an region but the patterns in history and l end without which it had almost seemed that a sky could not exist had never been seen therein st as was natural b an by which were not likely to be of much utility to the world or to himself he wasted several indeed above two months in a comparatively idle survey of southern in the mere luxury of looking at objects whose wonders were known and long before his own personality had been heard of w th a child s simple delight he allowed his instrument to evening after evening from the gorgeous glitter of to the clouds of before he had well finished two on a tower this there floated over to him from the other side of the the to the of his lost it came in the of a common newspaper under	45
the head of april loth at the palace the wife of the bishop of of a son years passed away and still remained at the cape quietly pursuing the work that had brought him there his of observations had accumulated to a load and he was beginning to shape them into a which should possess some scientific utility he had the southern skies with greater results than even he himself had anticipated those un which to the casual are at most a new arrangement of ordinary points of light were to this professed as to his brethren a far greater matter it was below the surface that his material lay there in regions revealed only to the observer were of kind fire floating that flew in groups like of bees and other extraordinary sights which when by s turned out to be the beginning of a new series of phenomena instead of the end of an old one there were gloomy deserts in those southern skies such as the north shows scarcely an example of set apart for the position of which for some un reason were left their two on a tower places remaining ever since conspicuous by their the inspection of these brought him a second of that old horror which he had used to describe to as produced in him by in the north heaven the ghostly finger of touched him now on the other side infinite in the north r on had a homely familiarity about them when compared with infinite in the region of the south pole this was an even more unknown tract of the unknown space here being less the historic haunt of human thought than overhead at home seemed to be pervaded with a more lonely loneliness were there given on paper to these of st a space to that occupied by his year with at this narrative would its length but not a single additional glimpse would be afforded of in his relations with old emotions in these experiments with and glasses important as they were to human intellect there was little food for the sympathetic instincts which create the changes in a life that which is the and measuring base of one perspective draught may be the vanishing point of another perspective draught while yet they are both draughts of the same thing s doings and discoveries in the southern system were no doubt incidents of the highest importance to him and yet from an point of view they served but the humble purpose of killing time while other doings more nearly allied to his heart than to his understanding developed themselves at home in the intervals between his professional occupations he took walks over the sand near or among the arms which were gradually the country two on a tower in the vicinity of cape town he grew with the outline of table mountain and die devil s table cloth which used to settle on its top when the wind was south east on these he would more particularly think of and of that curious pathetic chapter in his life with her which seemed to have wound itself up and ended for ever those scenes were rapidly receding into distance and the intensity of his sentiment r them had he felt that there had been something wrong therein and yet he could not exactly define the boundary of the wrong s sad and amazing to that chapter had still a fearful aspect in his eyes but instead of musing over it and its bearings he the subject as we by night the shady scene of a disaster and keep to the open road he sometimes contemplated her apart from the past leading her life in the cathedral close at and wondered how often she looked south and thought of where he was on one of these afternoon walks in the neighbourhood of the royal he turned and gazed towards the signal post on the lion s this was a high to the north west of table mountain and overlooked table bay before his eyes had left the scene the signal was suddenly hoisted on the staff it announced that a mail steamer had appeared in view over the sea in the course of an hour he his steps as he had often done on such occasions and strolled leisurely across the intervening mile and a half till he arrived at the post office door there was no letter from england for him but there was a newspaper addressed in the handwriting of his grandmother who in spite of her great age still retained a steady hold on two on a tower life he turned away disappointed and resumed his walk into the opening the paper as he went along a cross in black ink attracted his attention and it was opposite a name among the deaths his blood ran as he discerned the words the palace but it was not she her husband the bishop of had after a short illness departed this life at the comparatively early age of fifty years all the of the days at now started up like an awakened army from the ground but a few months were wanting to the time when he would be of an age to marry without sacrificing the which formed his means of it was a point in his life that had had no meaning or interest for him since his separation from for women were now no more to him than the inhabitants of but the of time having again set free the aspect of home altered and conjecture as to her future found room to work anew but beyond the simple fact that she was a widow he for some time gained not an of intelligence concerning her there was no one of whom he could inquire but his grandmother and she could tell him nothing about a lady who	45
that lady had no friends about her not even her brother and that her health had not been so good since her return from as formerly still this proved nothing as to the state of her heart and as she had kept a dead silence since the bishop s death it was quite possible that she would meet him with that cold tone and manner which experienced women know so well how to put on when they wish to intimate to the long lost lover that old are to be taken as forgotten the next morning he prepared to call if only on the ground of old acquaintance for was too straightforward to ascertain anything indirectly it was rather too early for this purpose when he went out two on a tower from his grandmother s garden gate after break st and he waited in the garden while he lingered his eye fell on rings hill it appeared dark for a moment against the blue sky behind it then the fleeting cloud which it passed on and the of the column brightened into such that the sky behind sank to the complexion of a dark foil surely somebody is on the column he said to himself after gazing at it awhile instead of going straight to the great house he through the field now sown with which surrounded the plantation on rings hill by the time that he plunged under the trees he was still more certain that somebody was on the tower he crept up to the base with curiosity for the spot seemed again like his own the path still remained much as formerly but the nook in which the cabin had stood was covered with entered the door of the tower ascended the staircase about half way on tip toe and listened for he did not wish to intrude on the top if any stranger were there the hollow as he knew from old experience would bring down to his ears the slightest sound from above and it now revealed to him the words of a in progress at the summit of the tower mother what shall i do a child s voice said shall i sing the mother seemed to assent for the child began the robin has fled from the wood to the snug habitation of man this performance apparently attracted but little attention from the child s companion for the young two on a tower voice suggested as a new form of entertainment shall i say my prayers yes replied one whom had begun to recognize who shall i pray for no answer who shall i pray for pray for father but he is gone to heaven a sigh from was distinctly audible you made a mistake didn t you mother continued the little one l must have the strangest mistake a woman ever made nothing more was said and ascended words from above indicating to him that his footsteps were heard in another half minute he rose through the a lady in black was sitting in the sun and the boy with the hair whom he had seen yesterday was at her feet he said at last she cried the words died upon her lips and from very she bent her head for instead of rushing forward to her he had stood still and there appeared upon his face a look which there was no yes he was shocked at her worn and sided aspect the image he had mentally carried out with him to the cape he had brought home again as that of the woman he was now to but another woman sat before him and not the original her cheeks had lost for ever that firm which had been drawn by the vigorous hand of youth and the masses of hair that were once darkness visible had become touched here and there by a grey haze like the in a midnight sky y two on a tower yet to those who had eyes to understand as well as to see the of her once handsome features revealed more promising material beneath than ever her youth had done but was hopelessly her junior unhappily for her he had now just arrived at an age whose of faith it is that the silly period of woman s life is her only period of beauty saw it all and knew that time had at last brought about his she had watched and waited without sleep ever since had re entered and it was for this came forward and took her by the hand which she allowed him to do you don t love me she said simply o you don t love me she repeated don t say it yes but i will you have a right not to love me you did once but now i am an old woman and you are still a young man so how can you love me i do not expect it it is kind and charitable of you to come and see me here i have come all the way from the cape he faltered for her took all power out of him to deny in mere politeness what she said yes you have come from the cape but not for me she answered it would be absurd if you had come for me you have come because your work there is finished i like to sit here with my little boy it is a pleasant spot it was once something to us was it not but that was long ago you scarcely knew me for the same woman did you knew you yes of course i knew you i you looked as if you did not but you must not be surprised at me i belong to an earlier generation than you remember two on a tower thus in sheer bitterness of spirit did	45
now but in winter it became necessary to place against the door and to stuff up the against the wind and rain which had worn the paint so thin that the and showed through the who had been watching for the gentleman s return met them in the passage and showed the rooms she informed them that she was a professional man s widow left in circumstances by the rather sudden death of her husband and she spoke anxiously of the of the establishment mrs said that she liked the situation and the but it being there would not be tales accommodation enough unless she could have all the rooms the landlady mused with an air of disappointment she wanted the visitors to be her tenants very badly she with obvious honesty but unfortunately two of the rooms were ed permanently by a bachelor gentleman he did not pay season prices it was true but as he kept on his apartments all the year round and was an extremely nice and interesting young man who ve no trouble she did not like to turn him out for a month s let even at a high figure perhaps however she added he might offer to go for a time they would not hear of this and went back to the hotel intending to proceed to the agent s to inquire further hardly had they sat down to tea when the landlady called her gentleman she said had been so obliging as to offer to give up his rooms for three or four weeks rather than drive the new comers away it is very kind but we won t inconvenience him in that way said the o it won t inconvenience him i assure you said the landlady you see he s a different sort of young man from most dreamy solitary rather melancholy and he cares more to be here when the south are beating against the door and the sea over the parade and there s not a soul in the place than he does now in the season he d just as soon be where in fact he s going temporarily to a little cottage on the island opposite for a change she hoped therefore that they would come the accordingly took possession of the house next day and it seemed to suit them very well after luncheon mr strolled out towards the pier and mrs having despatched the children to their amusements on the sands settled in more completely examining this and an imaginative woman that article and the reflecting powers of the mirror in the wardrobe door in the small back sitting room which had been the young bachelor s she found furniture of a more personal nature than in the rest shabby books of correct rather than rare were piled up in a reserved manner in comers as if the previous had not conceived the possibility that any person of the season s bringing could care to look inside them the landlady hovered on the threshold to anything that mrs might not find to her satisfaction i ll make this my own little room said the latter because the books are here by the way the person who has left seems to have a good many he won t mind my reading some of them mrs i hope dear no ma am yes he has a good many you see he is in the literary line himself somewhat he is a poet yes really a poet and he has a little income of his own which is enough to write verses on but not enough for cutting a figure even if he cared to a poet i o i did not know that mrs opened one of the books and saw the owner s name written on the title page dear she continued i know his name very well robert of course i do and his writings and it is his rooms we have taken and him we have turned out of his home sitting down alone a few minutes later thought with interested surprise of robert her own latter history will best explain that interest herself the only daughter of a struggling man of letters she had during the last year or two taken to writing poems in an endeavour to find a congenial channel in which to let flow her painfully emotions whose former and sparkle seemed departing tales in the caused by the routine of a practical household and the gloom of bearing children to a i commonplace father these poems with a masculine had appeared in various obscure magazines and in two cases in rather prominent ones in the second of the latter the page which bore her at the bottom in print bore at the top in large print a few verses on the same subject by this very man robert both of them had in fact been struck by a tragic incident reported in the daily papers and had used it simultaneously as an inspiration the editor remarking in a note upon the coincidence and that the excellence of both poems prompted him to give them together after that event otherwise john ivy had watched with much attention the appearance an in print of verse bearing the signature of robert who with a man s on the question of sex had never once thought of passing himself off as a woman to be sure mrs had satisfied herself with a sort of reason for doing the contrary in her case that nobody might believe in her inspiration if they found that the sentiments came from a pushing s wife from the mother of three children by a matter of fact small arms s verse contrasted with that of the rank and file of recent minor poets in being impassioned rather than ingenious luxuriant rather than finished neither nor he was a in so far	45
as that character applies to a man who looks at the worst as well as the best in the human condition being little attracted by of form and apart from content he sometimes when feeling his artistic speed in the loosely fashion which every right minded said he ought not to have done with sad and hopeless envy had an imaginative woman often and often the rival poet s work so much stronger as it always was than her own feeble lines she had him and her inability to touch his level would send her into fits of despondency months passed away thus till she observed from the list that had collected his fugitive pieces into a volume which was duly issued and was much or little praised according to chance and had a sale quite sufficient to pay for the this step onward had suggested to john ivy the idea of collecting her pieces also or at any rate of making up a book of her by adding many in manuscript to the few that had seen the light for she had been able to get no great number into print a charge was made for costs of publication a few noticed her poor little volume but nobody talked of it nobody bought it and it fell dead in a fortnight if it had ever been alive the author s thoughts were diverted to another just then by the discovery that she was going to have a third child and the of her poetical venture had perhaps less effect upon her mind than it might have done if she had been her husband had paid the s bill with the doctor s and there it all had ended for the time but though less than a poet of her century was more than a mere of her kind and she had begun to feel the old once more and now by an odd she found herself in the rooms of robert she thoughtfully rose from her chair and searched the apartment with the interest of a fellow yes the volume of his own verse was among the rest though quite familiar with its contents she read it here as if it spoke aloud to her then called up mrs the landlady for some trivial service and inquired again about the young man tales well i m sure you d be interested in him ma am if you could see him only he s so shy that i don t suppose you will mrs seemed nothing loth to minister to her tenant s curiosity about her lived here long yes nearly two years he keeps on his rooms even when he s not here the soft air of this place suits his chest and he likes to be able to come back at any time he is mostly writing or reading and doesn t see many people though for the matter of that he is such a good kind young fellow that folks would only be too glad to be friendly with him if they knew him you don t meet kind people every day ah he s kind hearted and good he u oblige me in anything if i ask him mr i say to him sometimes you are rather out of spirits well i am mrs he ll say though i don t know how you should find it out why not take a little change i ask then in a day or two he ll say that he will take a trip to paris or or somewhere and i assure you he comes back all the better for it ah indeed i his is a sensitive nature no doubt yes still he s odd in some things once when he had finished a poem of his composition late at night he walked up and down the room it and the floors being so thin built houses you know though i say it myself he kept me awake up above him till i wished him further but we get on very well this was but the beginning of a series of conversations about the rising poet as the days went on on one of these occasions mrs drew attention to what she had not noticed before in pencil on the wall paper behind the curtains at the head of the bed let me look said mrs unable to lo an imaginative woman conceal a rush of tender curiosity as she bent her pretty close to the wall these said mrs with the manner of a woman who knew things are the very and first thoughts of his verses he has tried to rub most of them out but you can read them still my belief is that he wakes up in the night you know with some rhyme in his head and it down there on the wall lest he should forget it by the morning some of these very lines you see here i have seen afterwards in print in the magazines some are indeed i have not seen that one before it must have been done only a few days ago o yes flushed without knowing why and suddenly wished her companion would go away now that the information was imparted an indescribable consciousness of personal interest rather than literary made her anxious to read the inscription alone and she accordingly waited till she could do so with a sense that a great store of emotion would be enjoyed in the act perhaps because the sea was outside the island s husband found it much pleasanter to go sailing and steaming about without his wife who was a bad sailor than with her he did not disdain to go thus alone on board the of the where there was dancing by moonlight and where the couples would come suddenly down with a into each other s arms for as he told her	45
the company was too mixed for him to take her amid such scenes thus while this got a great deal of change and sea air out of his here the life external at least of was monotonous enough and mainly consisted in passing a certain number of hours each day in bathing and walking up and down a stretch of shore but the poetic impulse having again strong she was possessed tales by an inner flame which left her hardly conscious of what was proceeding around her she had read till she knew by heart s last little volume of verses and spent a great deal of time in vainly attempting to rival some of them till in her she into tears the personal element in the attraction exercised by this master of hers was so much stronger than the intellectual and abstract that she could not understand it to be sure she was surrounded noon and night by his customary which literally whispered of him to her at every moment but he was a man she had never seen and that all that moved her was the instinct to a waiting emotion on the first fit thing that came to hand did not of course suggest itself to in the natural way of passion under the too practical conditions which civilization has devised for its her husband s love for her had not survived except in the form of fitful friendship any more than or even so much as her own for him and being a woman of very living that required of some sort they were to feed on this material which was indeed of a quality far better than chance usually offers one day the children had been playing hide in a closet whence in their excitement they pulled out some clothing mrs explained that it belonged to mr and hung it up in the closet again possessed of her went later in the afternoon when nobody was in that part of the house opened the closet one of the articles a and put it on with the cap belonging to it the mantle of she said would it might inspire me to rival him glorious genius that he la an imaginative woman her eyes always grew wet when she thought like that and she turned to look at herself in the glass his heart had beat inside that coat and his brain had worked under that hat at of thought she would never reach the consciousness of her weakness beside him made her feel quite sick before she had got the things off her the door opened and her husband entered the room what the devil she blushed and removed them i found them in the closet here she said and put them on in a what have i to do you are always away i always away well that evening she had a further talk with the landlady who might herself have nourished a half tender regard for the poet so ready was she to discourse about him you are interested in mr i know ma am she said and he has just sent to say that he is going to call to morrow afternoon to look up some books of his that he wants if be in and he may select them from your room o yes you could very well meet mr then if you d like to be in the way i she promised with secret delight and went to bed musing of him next morning her husband observed i ve been thinking of what you said that i have gone about a good deal and left you without much to amuse you perhaps it s true to day as there s not much sea i ll take you with me on board the for the first time in her experience of such an offer was not glad but she accepted it for the moment the time for setting out drew near and she went to get ready she stood reflecting the longing to see the tales poet she was now distinctly in love with overpowered all other considerations i don t want to go she said to herself i can t bear to be away and i won t go she told her husband that she had changed her mind about wishing to sail he was indifferent and went his way for the rest of the day the house was quiet the children having gone out upon the sands the blinds waved in the sunshine to the soft steady stroke of the sea beyond the wall and the notes of the green band a troop of foreign gentlemen hired for the season had drawn almost all the and away from the vicinity of house a knock was audible at the door mrs did not hear any servant go to answer it and she became impatient the books were in the room where she sat but nobody came up she rang the bell there is some person waiting at the door she said o no ma am i he s gone long ago i answered it mrs came in herself so she said mr not coming after all but i heard him knock i fancy no that was somebody inquiring for lodgings who came to the wrong house i forgot to tell you that mr sent a note just before lunch to say i needn t get any tea for him as he should not require the books and wouldn t come to select them was miserable and for a long time could not even re read his mournful ballad on severed lives so aching was her little heart and so tearful her eyes when the children came in with wet stockings and ran up to her to tell her of their adventures she v an imaginative woman i could not feel that she cared about them	45
half as much as usual mrs have you a photograph of the gentleman who lived here she was getting to be shy in mentioning his name why yes it s in the ornamental frame on the in own bedroom ma am no j the royal duke and are in that yes so they are but he s behind them he belongs rightly to that frame which i bought on purpose but as he went away he said cover me up from those strangers that are coming for god s sake i don t want them staring at me and i am sure they won t want me staring at them so i slipped in the duke and temporarily in front of him as they had no frame and are more suitable for letting furnished than a private young man if you take em out you ll see him under lord ma am he wouldn t mind if he knew it he didn t think the next tenant would be such an attractive lady as you or he wouldn t have thought of hiding himself perhaps is he handsome she asked timidly some perhaps wouldn t should i she asked with eagerness i think you would though some would say he s more striking than handsome a large eyed thoughtful fellow you know with a very electric flash in his ey when he looks round quickly such as you d expect a i t poet to be who doesn t living by it how old is he several years older than ma am about thirty one or two i think was as a matter of fact a few months over thirty herself but she did not look nearly so much though so in nature she was entering on that tract is tales of life in which women begin to suspect that last love may be stronger than first love and she would soon alas enter on the still more melancholy tract when i at least the ones of her sex shrink from receiving a male visitor otherwise than with their backs to the window or the blinds half down she reflected on mrs s remark and said no more about age just then a was brought up it came from her husband who had gone down the channel as far as with his friends in the and would not be able to get back till next day after her light dinner about the shore with the children till dusk thinking of the yet uncovered photograph in her room with a serene sense of something to come for with the subtle of fancy in which this young woman was an on learning that her husband was to be absent that night she had refrained from rushing upstairs and opening the picture frame preferring to reserve the inspection till she could be alone and a more romantic tinge be imparted to the occasion by silence candles solemn sea and stars outside than was afforded by the afternoon sunlight the children had been sent to bed and soon followed though it was not yet ten o clock to gratify her passionate curiosity she now made her preparations first getting rid of superfluous garments and putting on her dressing gown then arranging a chair in front of the table and reading several pages of s tenderest then she fetched the portrait frame to the light opened the back took out the likeness and set it up before her it was a striking countenance to look upon the poet wore a luxuriant black moustache and imperial and a hat which shaded the forehead the large dark eyes described by the landlady showed an unlimited capacity for misery they looked out from an imaginative woman beneath well shaped brows as if they were reading the universe in the of the s face and were not altogether at what the spectacle murmured in her lowest richest tenderest tone and it s you so cruelly me these many times as she gazed long at the portrait she fell into thought till her eyes filled with tears and she touched the with her lips then she laughed with a nervous lightness and wiped her eyes she thought how wicked she was a woman having a husband and three children to let her mind stray to a stranger in this manner no he was not a stranger she knew his thoughts and feelings as well as she knew her own they were in fact the thoughts and feelings as hers which her husband distinctly lacked j perhaps luckily for himself considering that he had to provide for family expenses he s nearer my real self he s more intimate with the real me than will is after all even though i ve never seen him she said she laid his book and picture on the table at the bedside and when she was on the pillow she re read those of robert s verses which she had marked from time to time as most touching and true putting these aside she set up the photograph on its edge upon the and contemplated it as she lay then she again by the light of the candle the half on the wall paper beside her head there they were phrases and of lines ideas in the rough like s scraps and the least of them so intense so sweet so that it seemed as if his very breath warm and loving her cheeks from those walls walls that had surrounded his head times and times as they surrounded her own now he must often have fi tales put up his hand with the pencil in it yes the writing was sideways as it would be if executed by one who extended his arm thus these inscribed shapes of the poet s world more real than living man of immortality were no doubt the thoughts and spirit which had come	45
to him in the dead of night when he could let himself go and have no fear of the frost of criticism no doubt they had often been written up hastily by the light of the moon the rays of the lamp in the blue grey dawn in full daylight perhaps never and now her hair was dragging where his arm had lain when he secured the fugitive fancies she was sleeping on a poet s lips in the very essence of him by his spirit as by an while she was dreaming the minutes away thus a footstep came upon the stairs and in a moment she heard her husband s heavy step on the landing immediately without ell where are you what possessed her she could not have described but with an instinctive objection to let her husband know what she had been doing she slipped the photograph under the pillow just as he flung open the door with the air of a man who had dined not badly o i beg pardon said william have you a headache i am afraid i have disturbed you no i ve not got a headache said she how is it you ve come well we found we could get back in very good time after all and i didn t want to make another day of it because of going somewhere else to morrow shall i come down again na i m as tired as a dog i ve had a good feed and i shall turn in straight o i want to get x an imaginative woman at six o clock to morrow if i can i shan t disturb you by my getting up it will be long before you are awake and he came forward into the room while her eyes followed his movements softly pushed the photograph further out of sight sure you re not ill he asked bending over her no only wicked never mind that and he stooped and kissed her next morning was called at six o clock and in waking and yawning she heard him muttering to himself what the deuce is this that s been under me so imagining her asleep he searched round him and withdrew something through her half opened eyes she perceived it to be mr well i m damned her husband exclaimed what dear said she o you are awake ha ha what do you mean some s photograph a friend of our landlady s i suppose i wonder how it came here off the table by accident perhaps when they were making the bed i was looking at it yesterday and it must have dropped in then o he s a friend of yours bless his picturesque heart s loyalty to the object of her admiration could not endure to hear him he s a clever she said with a tremor in her gentle voice which she herself felt to be for he is a rising poet the gentleman who occupied two of these rooms before we came though i ve never seen him how do you know if you ve never seen him mrs told me when she showed me the photograph y tales o well i must up and be off i shall be home rather early sorry i can t take you to day dear mind the children don t go getting drowned that day mrs inquired if mr were likely to call at any other time yes said mrs he s coming this day week to stay with a friend near here till you leave he ll be sure to call did return quite early in the afternoon and opening some letters which had arrived in his absence declared suddenly that he and his family would have to leave a week earlier than they had expected to do in short in three days surely we can stay a week longer she pleaded i like it here i don t it is getting rather slow then you might leave me and the children how perverse you are ell what s the use and have to come to fetch you no we ll all return together and we ll make out our time in north wales or a little later on besides you ve three days longer yet it seemed to be her doom not to meet the man for whose rival talent she had a despairing admiration and to whose person she was now absolutely attached yet she determined to make a last effort and having gathered from her landlady that was living in a lonely spot not far from the fashionable town on the island opposite she crossed over in the packet from the neighbouring pier the following afternoon what a useless journey it was knew but vaguely where the house stood and when she fancied she had found it and ventured to inquire of a if he lived there the answer returned by the man was that he did not know and if he did live there how could she call upon him some women might have an imaginative woman the assurance to do it but she had not how crazy he would think her she might have asked him to call upon her perhaps but she had not the courage for that either she lingered mournfully about the eminence till it was time to return to the town and enter the steamer for reaching home for dinner without having been greatly missed at the last moment unexpectedly enough her husband said that he should have no objection to letting her and the children stay on till the end of the week since she wished to do so if she felt herself able to get home without him she concealed the pleasure this extension of time gave her and went off the next morning alone but the week passed and did not call on	45
saturday morning the remaining members of the family departed from the place which had been productive of so much in her the dreary dreary train the sun shining in beams upon the hot cushions the dusty permanent way the mean rows of wire these things were her accompaniment while out of the window the deep blue sea disappeared from her gaze and with them her poet s home heavy hearted she tried to read and wept instead mr was in a way of business and he and his family lived in a large new house which stood in rather extensive grounds a few miles outside the city wherein he carried on his trade s life was lonely here as the life is apt to be particularly at certain seasons and she had ample time to indulge her taste for and composition she had hardly got back when she encountered a piece by robert in the new number of her magazine which must have been written almost immediately before her visit to for it contained tales the very she had seen on the by the bed and mrs had declared to be recent could resist no longer but seizing a pen wrote to him as a brother poet using the name of john ivy him in her letter on his triumphant in and of thoughts that moved his soul as compared with her own brow beaten efforts in the same pathetic trade to this address there came a response in a few days little as she had dared to hope for it a civil and brief note in which the young poet stated that though he was not well acquainted with mr ivy s verse he recalled the name as being one he had seen attached to some very promising pieces that he was glad to gain mr ivy s acquaintance by letter and should certainly look with much interest for his productions in the ture there must have been something or timid in her own as one coming from a man she declared to herself for quite adopted the tone of an elder and superior in this reply but what did it matter he had replied he had written to her with his own hand from that very room she f knew so well for he was now back again in his quarters the correspondence thus begun was continued for two months or more sending him from time to time some that she considered to be the best of her pieces which he very kindly accepted though he did not say he read them nor did he send her any of his own in return would have been more hurt at this than she was if she had not known that under the impression that she was one of his own sex yet the situation was unsatisfactory a flattering little voice told her that were he only to see her an imaginative woman matters would be otherwise no doubt she would hare helped on this by making a frank confession of womanhood to b n with if something had not happened to her delight to render it unnecessary a friend of her husband s the editor of the most important newspaper in the city and county who was dining with them one day observed during their conversation about the poet that his the editor s brother the landscape painter was a friend of mr s and that the two men were at that very moment in wales together was slightly acquainted with the editor s brother the next morning down she sat and wrote inviting him to stay at her house for a short time on his way back and him to bring with him if practicable his companion mr whose acquaintance she was anxious to make the answer arrived after some few days her correspondent and his friend would have much satisfaction in accepting her invitation on their way southward which would be on such and such a day in the following week was and her scheme had succeeded her beloved though as yet unseen one was coming behold he behind our wall he looked forth at the windows showing himself through the she thought and lo the winter is past the rain is over and gone the flowers appear on the earth the time of the singing of birds b come and the voice of the is heard in our land but it was necessary to consider the details of lodging and feeding him this she did most and awaited the day and hour it was about five in the afternoon when she heard a ring at the door and the editor s brother s voice in the hall as she was or as she thought herself she had not been too sublime that day to dress with infinite trouble in a fashionable robe of rich material having a c as tales resemblance to the of the a style just then in among ladies of an artistic and romantic turn which had been obtained by of her bond street when she was last in london her visitor entered the room she looked towards his rear nobody else came through the door where in the name of the god of love was robert i m sorry said the painter after their words had been spoken is a curious fellow you know mrs he said he d come then he said he couldn t he s rather dusty we ve been doing a few miles with you know and he wanted to get on home he he s not coming he s not and he asked me to make his apologies when did you p p part from him she asked her lip starting off quivering so much that it was like a opened in her speech she longed to run away from this dreadful bore and cry her eyes out just now in the road	45
happiness was not for him and me all possibilities were over the meeting was yet it was almost visible to her in her even now though it could never be the hour have been yet might not be which man s and woman s heart and bore yet whereof life was barren she wrote to the landlady at in the third person in as subdued a style as she could command a order for a sovereign and informing that mrs had seen in the papers the sad account of the poet s death and having been as mrs was aware much interested in mr during her stay at house she would be obliged if mrs could obtain a small portion of his hair before his coffin was closed down and send it her as a of him as also the photograph that was in the frame by the return post a letter arrived containing what bad been requested wept over the portrait an tales secured it in her private drawer the lock of hair she tied with white ribbon and put in her bosom whence she drew it and kissed it every now and then in some unobserved nook what s the matter said her husband looking up from his newspaper on one of these occasions crying over something a lock of hair whose is it he s dead she murmured who i don t want to tell you will just now unless you insist i she said a sob hanging heavy in her voice o all right do you mind my refusing i will tell you some day it doesn t matter in the least of course he walked away whistling a few bars of no tune in particular and when he had got down to his factory in the the subject came into s head again he too was aware that a suicide had taken place recently at the house they had occupied at having seen the volume of poems in his wife s hand of late and heard fragments of the landlady s conversation about when they were her tenants he all at once said to himself why of course it s he how the devil did she get to know him what sly animals women are then he placidly dismissed the matter and went on with his daily affairs by this time at home had come to a determination mrs in sending the hair and photograph had informed her of the day of the funeral and as the morning and noon wore on an overpowering wish to know where they were laying him took possession of the sympathetic woman caring very little now what her husband or any one else might think of her she wrote a brief note stating that she was called away for the afternoon and an imaginative woman evening but would return on the following morning this she left on his desk and having given the same information to the servants went out of the house on foot when mr reached home early in the afternoon the servants looked the nurse took him privately aside and hinted that her mistress s sadness during the past few days had been such that she feared she had gone out to drown herself march mill reflected upon the whole he thought that she had not done that without saying whither he was bound he also started off telling them not to sit up for him he drove to the station and took a ticket for it was dark when he reached the place though he had come by a fast train and he knew that if his wife had preceded him thither it could only have been by a slower train arriving not a great while before his own the season at was now past the parade was gloomy and the were few and cheap he asked the way to the and soon reached it the gate was locked but the keeper let him in declaring however that there was nobody within the although it was not late the darkness had now become intense and he found some difficulty in keeping to the path which led to the quarter where as the man had told him the one or two for the day had taken place he stepped upon the grass and stumbling over some stooped now and then to discern if possible a figure against the sky he could see none but lighting on a spot where the soil was trodden beheld a crouching object beside a newly made grave she heard him and sprang up ell how silly this is i he said indignantly running away from home i never heard such a thing of course i am not jealous of this unfortunate man but it is too ridiculous that you a married woman with tales three and a fourth coming should go losing your head like this a dead lover do you know you were locked in you might not have been able to get out all night she did not answer i hope it didn t go fat between you and him for your own sake don t insult me will mind i won t have any more of this sort of thing do you hear very well she said he drew her arm within his own and conducted her out of the it was impossible to get back that night and not wishing to be recognized in their present sorry condition he took her to a miserable little coffee house dose to the station whence they departed early in the morning travelling almost without speaking under the sense that it was one of those dreary situations in married life which words could not mend and reaching their own door at noon the months passed and neither of the twain ever ventured to start a conversation upon this episode seemed to be only too frequently in	45
a sad and mood which might almost have been called the time was approaching when she would have to the stress of for a fourth time and that apparently did not tend to raise her spirits i don t think i shall get over it this time she said one day what childish why shouldn t it be as well now as ever she shook her head i feel almost sure i am going to die and i should be glad if it were not and frank and tiny and me you ll soon find somebody to fill my sh an woman murmured with a sad smile and you ll have a perfect light to i assure you of that you are not thinking still about that poetical friend of yours she admitted nor denied the charge i am not going to get over my illness this time she something tells me i shan t this view of things was rather a bad beginning as it usually is and in fact six weeks later in the month of may she was lying in her room and with hardly strength enough left to follow up one feeble breath with another the infant for whose unnecessary life she was slowly parting with her own being fat and well just before her death she spoke to softly will t want to confess to you the entire circumstances of that about you know what that time we visited i can t tell what possessed me how i could forget you so my husband but i had got into a morbid state i thought you had been unkind that you had neglected me that you weren t up to my intellectual level while he was and far above it i wanted a fuller perhaps rather than another lover she could get no further then for very exhaustion and she went off in sudden a few hours later without having said anything more to her husband on the subject of her love for the poet william in truth like most husbands of several years standing was little disturbed by and had not shown the least anxiety to press her for concerning a man dead and gone beyond any power of him more but when she had been buried a couple of it chanced one day that in turning over some forgotten papers that he wished to destroy before his second wife entered the house he lighted on a hair in an tales envelope with the photograph of the deceased poet a date being written on the back in his late wife s hand it was that of the time they spent at looked long and at the hair and portrait for something struck him the little boy who had been the death of his mother now a noisy he took him on his knee held the lock of hair against the child s head and set up the photograph on the table behind so that he could closely compare the features each countenance presented there were undoubtedly strong traces of resemblance the dreamy and peculiar expression of the poet s face sat as the idea upon the child s and the hair was of the same hue i m damned if i didn t think so murmured then she did play me false with that fellow at the lodgings let me see the dates the second week in august the third week in may yes yes get away you poor little i you are nothing to met the three the three strangers among the few features of england which retain an appearance but little modified the t lapse of centuries may be reckoned the high grassy and downs or as they are indifferently called that fill a large area of certain in the south and south west if any mark of human occupation is met with it usually takes the form of the solitary cottage of some shepherd fifty years ago such a lonely cottage stood on such a down and may possibly be standing there now in spite of its loneliness however the spot by actual was not more than five miles from a county town yet that affected it little five miles of irregular during the long seasons with their rains and mists afford withdrawing space enough to a or a much less in fair weather to please that less tribe the poets philosophers artists and others who conceive and of pleasant things some old camp or some of trees at least some starved fragment of ancient hedge is usually taken advantage of in the of these forlorn dwellings but in the present case such a kind of shelter had been disregarded higher as the house was called stood quite detached and tales the only reason for its precise situation seemed to be the crossing of two at right angles hard by which may have crossed there and thus for a good five hundred years hence the house was exposed to the elements on all sides but though the wind up here blew when it did blow and the rain hit hard whenever it fell the various of the winter season were not quite so formidable on the as they were imagined to be by on low ground the raw were not so as in the hollows and the were scarcely so severe when the shepherd and his family who the house were pitied for their sufferings from the exposure they said that upon the whole they were less by and flames and ms than when they had lived by the stream of a snug neighbouring valley the night of march was precisely one of the nights that were wont to call forth these expressions of the level smote walls slopes and hedges like the shafts of and such sheep and animals as had no shelter stood with their to the winds while the tails of	45
little birds trying to on some thorn were blown inside out like the end of the cottage was stained with wet and the against the wall yet never was for the shepherd more for that cheerful rustic was entertaining a large party in of the of his second girl the guests had arrived before the rain began to fall and they were all now assembled in the chief or living room of the dwelling a glance into the apartment at eight o clock on this evening would have resulted in the opinion that it was as and comfortable a nook as could be wished for in boisterous weather the three strangers the calling of its was proclaimed by a number of highly polished sheep without stems that were hung over the fireplace the curl of each shining varying from the type engraved in the pictures of old family to the most approved fashion of the last local sheep fair the room was lighted by half a dozen candles having only a trifle smaller than the which enveloped them in that were never used but at high days holy days and family the lights were scattered about the room two of them standing on the chimney piece this position of candles was in itself significant candles on the chimney piece always meant a party on the hearth in front of a back brand to give substance blazed a fire of thorns that the laughter of the fool nineteen persons were gathered here of these five women wearing gowns of various bright hues sat in chairs along the wall girls shy and not shy filled the window bench four men including the hedge carpenter new the parish clerk and john a neighbouring the shepherd s father in law in the settle a young man and maid who were blushing over on a life companionship sat beneath the corner cupboard and an elderly engaged man of fifty or upward moved about from spots where his was not to the spot where she was enjoyment was pretty general and so much the more prevailed in being by conventional absolute confidence in each other s good opinion perfect ease while the finishing stroke of manner to a truly serenity was lent to the majority by the absence of any expression or trait that they wished to get on in the world their minds or do any thing whatever which nowadays so tales generally the bloom and of all except the two of the social scale shepherd had married well his wife being a s daughter from a at a distance who brought fifty guineas in her pocket and kept them there till they should be required for to the needs of a coming family this woman had been somewhat exercised as to the character that should be given to the gathering a sit still party had its advantages but an undisturbed position of ease in chairs and settles was apt to lead on the men to such an deal of that they would sometimes fairly drink the house dry a was the but this while avoiding the foregoing objection on the score of good drink had a disadvantage in the matter of good the by the causing immense in the fell back upon the plan of mingling short dances with short periods of talk and singing so as to hinder any rage in either but this scheme was entirely confined to her own gentle mind the shepherd himself was in the mood to exhibit the most reckless phases of hospitality the was a boy of those parts about twelve years of age who had a wonderful dexterity in and though his fingers were so small and short as to a constant shifting for the high notes from which he scrambled back to the first position with sounds not of purity of tone at seven the shrill of this had begun accompanied by a ground bass from new the parish clerk who had thoughtfully brought with him his musical instrument the serpent dancing was mrs privately the players on no account to let the dance exceed the length of a quarter of an the three strangers but and the boy in the excitement of their position quite forgot the moreover a man of seventeen one of the dancers who was of his partner a fair girl of thirty three rolling years had handed a new crown piece to the as a bribe to keep going as long as they had muscle and wind mrs seeing the steam begin to on the countenances of her guests crossed over and touched the s elbow and put her hand on the serpent s mouth but they took no notice and fearing she might lose her character of genial hostess if she were to interfere too she retired and sat down helpless and so the dance on with fury the moving in their courses direct and from to till the hand of the well kicked dock at the bottom of the room had travelled over the of an hour while these cheerful events were in course of within s pastoral dwelling an incident having considerable bearing on the party had occurred in the gloomy night without mrs s concern about the growing of the dance in point of time with the ascent of a human figure to the solitary hill of higher from the direction of the distant town this personage strode on through the rain without a pause following the httle worn path which further on in its course skirted the shepherd s cottage it was nearly the time of full moon and on this account though the sky was lined with a uniform sheet of dripping cloud ordinary objects out of doors were readily visible the sad wan revealed the lonely to be a man of frame his gait suggested that he had somewhat passed the period of perfect and instinctive though not so as to	45
be otherwise than rapid of motion when occasion d tales required at a rough guess he might have been about forty years of age he appeared tall but a or other person accustomed to the judging of men s heights by the eye would have discerned that this was chiefly owing to his and that he was not more than five feet eight or nine notwithstanding the r of his tread there was caution in it as in that of one who mentally feels his way and despite the fact that it was not a black coat nor a dark garment of any sort that he wore there was something about him suggested that he naturally belonged to the black tribes of men his clothes were of and his boots yet in his progress he showed not the mud accustomed bearing of and by the time that he had arrived abreast of the shepherd s premises the rain came down or rather came along with yet more determined violence the outskirts of the little settlement partially broke the force of wind and rain and this induced him to stand still the most of the shepherd s domestic was an empty at the forward corner of his garden for in these the principle of the features of your establishment by a conventional was unknown the traveller s eye was attracted to this small building by the pallid shine of the wet that covered it he turned aside and finding it empty stood under the pent roof for shelter while he stood the boom of the serpent within the adjacent house and the lesser strains of the reached the spot as an accompaniment to the hiss of the flying rain on the sod its louder beating on the leaves of the garden on the eight or ten just by the path and its dripping from the into a row of and that had been placed under the walls of the cottage for the three strangers at higher as at all such elevated the grand difficulty of housekeeping was an of water and a casual was by turning out as every that the house contained some queer stories might be told of the for economy in and dish waters that are absolutely in during the of summer but at this season there were no such a mere acceptance of what the skies bestowed was sufficient for an abundant store at last the notes of the serpent ceased and the house was silent this of activity aroused the solitary from the reverie into which he had and emerging from the shed with an apparently new intention he walked up the path to the house door arrived here his first act was to kneel down on a large stone beside the row of vessels and to drink a copious draught firom one of them having his thirst he rose and lifted his hand to knock but paused with his eye upon the since the dark surface of the wood revealed absolutely nothing it was evident that he must be mentally looking through the door as if he wished to measure thereby all the possibilities that a house of this sort might include and how they might bear upon the question of his entry in his he turned and surveyed the scene around not a soul was anywhere visible the garden path stretched downward from his feet gleaming like the track of a the roof of the little well mostly dry the well cover the top rail of the were with the same dull liquid while far away in the a faint whiteness of more than usual extent showed that the rivers were high in the beyond all this winked a few through the beating drops lights that the situation of the county town from which he tales had appeared to come the absence of all notes of life in that direction seemed to his intentions and he knocked at the door within a chat had taken the place of movement and musical sound the hedge carpenter was suggesting a song to the company which nobody just then was inclined to undertake so that the knock afforded a not unwelcome diversion walk in i said the shepherd promptly the latch upward and out of the night our appeared upon the door mat the shepherd arose two of the nearest candles and turned to look at him their light disclosed that the stranger was dark in complexion and not as to feature his hat which for a moment he did not remove hung low over his eyes without concealing that they were large open and determined moving with a flash rather than a glance round the room he seemed pleased with his survey and his shaggy head said in a rich deep voice the rain is so heavy friends that i ask leave to come in and rest awhile to be sure stranger said the shepherd and faith youve been lucky in choosing your time for we are having a bit of a fling for a glad cause though to be sure a man could hardly wish that glad cause to happen more than once a year nor less spoke up a woman for tis best to get your family over and done with as soon as you can so as to be all the earlier out of the o t and what may be this glad cause asked the stranger a birth and said the shepherd the stranger hoped his host might not be made unhappy either by too many or too few of such and being invited by a gesture to a pull at the he readily his manner which before a the three strangers ing had been so was now altogether that of a careless and candid man late to be this hey said the engaged man of fifty late it is master as you say i ll take a	45
seat in the chimney comer if you have nothing to urge against it ma am for i am a little moist on the side that was next the rain mrs shepherd assented and made room for the self invited comer who having got completely inside the chimney corner stretched out his legs and his arms with the of a person quite at home yes i am rather cracked in the he said freely seeing that the eyes of the shepherd s fell upon his boots and i am not well fitted either i have had some rough times lately and have been forced to pick up what i can get in the way of wearing but i must find a suit better fit for working days when i reach home one of she inquired not quite that further up the country i thought so and so be i and by your tongue you come firom my neighbourhood but you would hardly have heard of me he said quickly my time would be long before yours ma am you see this testimony to the of his hostess had the effect of stopping her cross examination there is only one thing more wanted to make me happy continued the new comer and that is a little which i am sorry to say i am out of i ll fill your pipe said the shepherd i must ask you to lend me a pipe likewise a and no pipe about ee i have dropped it somewhere on the road shepherd filled and handed him a new clay pipe tales saying as he did so hand me your box fill that too now i am about it the man went through the movement of searching his pockets lost that too said his with some surprise i am afraid so said the man with some confusion give it to me in a screw of paper lighting his pipe at the candle with a that drew the whole flame into the bowl he himself in the corner and bent his looks upon the faint steam from his damp legs as if he wished to say no more meanwhile the general body of guests had been taking little notice of this visitor by reason of an absorbing discussion in which they were engaged with the band about a tune for the next dance the matter being settled they were about to stand up when an interruption came in the shape of another knock at the door at sound of the same the man in the took up the and began stirring the as if doing it thoroughly were the one aim of his existence and a second time the shepherd said walk in in a moment another man stood upon the straw woven door mat he too was a stranger this individual was one of a type different from the first there was more of the commonplace in his manner and a certain jovial sat upon his features he was several years older than the first arrival his hair being his eyebrows and his whiskers cut back from his cheeks his face was rather full and and yet it was not altogether a face without power a few blossoms marked the neighbourhood of his nose he flung back his long revealing that beneath it he wore a suit of gray shade throughout large heavy of some metal or other that would take a polish dangling from his as his only the three strangers personal ornament shaking the water drops from his low crowned glazed hat he said i must ask for a few minutes shelter comrades or i shall be to my skin before i get to make yourself at home master said the shepherd perhaps a trifle less heartily than on the first occasion not that had the least tinge of in his composition but the room was far from large spare chairs were not numerous and damp companions were not altogether desirable at close quarters for the women and girls in their bright coloured gowns however the second comer after taking off his and hanging his hat on a nail in one of the ceiling beams as if he had been specially invited to put it there advanced and sat down at the table this had been pushed so closely into the chimney comer to give all available room to the dancers that its inner edge the elbow of the man who had himself by the fire and thus the two strangers were brought into close companionship they nodded to each other by way of breaking the ice of and the first stranger handed his neighbour the family a huge vessel of brown ware having its upper edge worn away like a threshold by the rub of whole generations of thirsty lips that had gone the way of all flesh and bearing the following inscription burnt upon its side in yellow letters there is no fun i the other man nothing loth raised the to his lips and drank on and on and on till a curious the countenance of the shepherd s wife who had regarded with no little surprise the first stranger s free offer to the second of what did not belong to him to dispense x tales i knew it said the to the shepherd with much satisfaction when i walked up your garden before coming in and saw the all of a row i said to myself where there s bees there s honey and where there s honey there s but of such a truly comfortable sort as this i really didn t expect to meet in my older days he took yet another pull at the till it assumed an ominous elevation glad you enjoy it i said the shepherd warmly it is assented mrs with an absence of enthusiasm which seemed to say that it was possible to buy praise for one	45
s cellar at too heavy a price it is trouble enough to make and really i hardly think we shall make any more for honey well and we ourselves can make shift with a drop o small and for common use from the comb o but never have the heart reproachfully cried the stranger in gray after taking up the a third time and setting it down empty i love when tis old like this as i love to go to church o sundays or to relieve the any day of the week ha ha ha said the man in the chimney corner who in spite of the induced by the pipe of tobacco could not or would not refrain from this slight testimony to his comrade s humour now the old of those days of the purest first year or maiden honey four pounds to the with its due of white of and processes of working and tasted remarkably strong but it did not taste so strong as it actually was hence presently the stranger in at the table moved by its creeping influence his waistcoat threw himself back in his chair spread his legs and made his presence felt in various ways the three strangers well as i say he resumed i am going to and to i must go i should have been almost there by this time but the rain drove me into your dwelling and i m not sorry for it you don t live in said the shepherd not as yet though i shortly mean to move there going to set up in trade perhaps no no said the shepherd s wife it is easy to see that the gentleman is and don t want to work at anything the gray stranger paused as if to consider whether he would accept that definition of himself he presently rejected it l answering rich is not quite the word for me dame i do work and i must work and even if i only get to by midnight i must begin work there at eight to morrow morning yes or wet blow or snow or sword my day s work to morrow must be done poor man then in spite o seeming you be worse off than we replied the shepherd s wife tis the nature of my trade men and maidens tis the nature of my trade more than my poverty but really and truly i must up and off or i shan t get a lodging in the town however the speaker did not move and directly added there s time for one more draught of friendship before i go and i d perform it at once if the were not dry here s a o small said mrs small we call it though to be sure tis only the first wash o the no said the stranger i won t spoil your first kindness by o your second certainly not broke in we don t in and every day and i ll fill the again he went away to the dark place under the stairs where the barrel stood the followed him tales why should you do this she said reproachfully as soon as they were alone he s emptied it once though it held enough for ten people and now he s not contented wi the small but must needs call for more o the strong and a stranger to any of us for my part i don t like the look o the man at all but he s in the house my honey and tis a wet night and a it what s a cup of more or less there ll be plenty more next very well this time then she answered looking wistfully at the barrel but what is the man s and where is he one of that he should come in and join us like this i don t know i ll ask him again the catastrophe of having the drained dry at one pull by the stranger in gray was effectually guarded against this time by mrs she poured out his allowance in a small cup keeping the large one at a discreet distance from him when he had tossed off his portion the shepherd renewed his inquiry about the stranger s occupation the latter did not immediately reply and the man in the chimney corner with sudden said anybody may know my trade i m a a very good trade for these parts said the shepherd and anybody may know mine if they ve the sense to find it out said the stranger in gray you may generally tell what a man is by his claws observed the hedge carpenter looking at his own hands my fingers be as full of thorns as an old pin cushion is of pins hands of the man in the chimney comer instinctively sought the shade and he gazed into the fire the three strangers as he resumed his pipe the man at the table took up the hedge carpenter s remark and added true but the of my trade is that instead of setting a mark upon me it sets a mark upon my customers no observation being offered by anybody in of this the shepherd s wife once more called for a song the same obstacles presented themselves as at the former time one had no voice another had forgotten the first verse the stranger at the table whose soul had now risen to a good working temperature relieved the difficulty by exclaiming that to start the company he would sing himself thrusting one thumb into the arm hole of his waistcoat he waved the other hand in the air and with an gaze at the shining sheep above the began o my trade it is the one simple all my trade is a sight to	45
see for my customers i tie and take them up on high and em to a far i the room was silent when he had finished the verse with one exception that of the man in the who at the singer s word chorus i joined him in a deep bass voice of musical relish and em to a far john the the the engaged man of fifty the row of young women against the wall seemed lost in thought not ot the kind the shepherd looked on the ground the gazed keenly at the singer and with some suspicion she was doubting whether this stranger were merely singing an old song from recollection or was one there and then for d tales the occasion all were as perplexed at the obscure revelation as the guests at s feast except the man in the chimney corner who quietly said second verse stranger and smoked on the singer thoroughly himself from his lips and went on with the next as requested my tools are bat common ones simple my tools are no sight to see a little strings and a post whereon to swing are implements enough for me shepherd glanced round there was no longer any doubt that the stranger was answering his question the guests one and all started back with suppressed exclamations the young woman engaged to uie man of fifty fainted half way and would have proceeded but finding him wanting in alacrity for catching her she sat down trembling o he s the whispered the people in the background mentioning the name of an ominous public officer he s come to do it tis to be at jail to morrow the man for sheep stealing the poor clock maker we heard of who used to live away at and had no work to whose family were a starving and so he went out of by the high road and took a sheep in open daylight the farmer and the farmer s wife and the farmer s lad and every man jack among em he and they nodded towards the stranger of the deadly trade is come from up the country to do it because there s not enough to do in his own and he s got the place here now our own county man s dead he s going to live in the same cottage under the prison wall the stranger in gray took no notice of this the three strangers whispered string of observations but again his lips seeing that his friend in the chimney corner was the only one who his in any way he held out his cup towards that comrade who also held out his own they together the eyes of the rest of the room hanging upon the singer s actions he parted his lips for the third verse but at that moment another knock was audible upon the door this time the knock was faint and hesitating the company seemed scared the shepherd looked with consternation towards the entrance and it was with some effort that he resisted his alarmed wife s glance and uttered for the third time the words walk in the door was gently opened and another man stood upon the mat he like those who had preceded him was a stranger this time it was a short small personage of fair complexion and dressed in a decent suit of dark clothes can you tell me the way to he began when gazing round the room to observe the nature of the company amongst whom he had fallen his eyes lighted on the stranger in gray it was just at the instant when the latter who had thrown his mind into his song with such a will that he scarcely the interruption silenced all whispers and inquiries by bursting into his third verse to morrow is my working day simple all to morrow is a working day for me for the s sheep is slain and the lad who did it ta en and on his soul may god ha y the stranger in the chimney comer waving cups with the singer so heartily that his over on the repeated in his bass voice as before and on his soul may god ha y i si we sex tales all this time the third stranger had standing in the doorway finding now that he did not come forward or go on speaking the guests particularly regarded him they noticed to their surprise that he stood before them the picture of abject terror his knees trembling his hand shaking so violently that the by which he supported himself rattled audibly his white lips were parted and his eyes fixed on the merry officer of justice in the middle of the room a moment more and he had turned closed the door and fled what a man can it be said the shepherd the rest between the of their late discovery and the odd conduct of this third visitor looked as if they knew not what to think and said nothing instinctively they withdrew further and further from the grim gentleman in their midst whom some of them seemed to take for the prince of darkness himself till they formed a remote circle an empty space of floor being left between them and him the room was so silent though there were more than twenty people in it that nothing could be heard but the of the rain against the window shutters accompanied by the occasional hiss of a stray drop that fell down the chimney into the are and the steady puffing of the man in e corner who had now resumed his pipe of long clay the stillness was unexpectedly broken the distant sound of a gun through the air apparently from the direction of the county town be i cried the	45
stranger who had sung the song jumping up what does that mean asked several a prisoner escaped from the jail that s what it means the three strangers all listened the sound was repeated and none of them spoke but the man in the chimney corner who said quietly i ve often been told that in this county they fire a gun at such times but i never heard it till now i wonder if it is f j man murmured the personage in gray surely it is said the shepherd involuntarily and surely we ve him that little man who looked in at the door by now and quivered like a leaf when he ye and heard your song his teeth and the breath went out of his body said the and his heart seemed to sink within him like a stone said and he bolted as if he d been shot at said the hedge carpenter true his teeth and his heart seemed to sink and he bolted as if he d been shot at slowly up the man in the chimney comer i didn t notice it remarked the we were all a wondering what made him run off in such a fright faltered one of the women against the wall and now tis explained the firing of the alarm gun went on at intervals low and sullenly and their suspicions became a certainty the sinister gentleman in gray roused himself is there a here he asked in thick tones if so let him step forward the engaged man of fifty stepped out from the wall his beginning to sob on the back of the chair you are a sworn i be sir then pursue the criminal at once with assistance and bring him back here he can t have gone far i will sir i will when i ve got my i d tales go home and get it and come sharp here and start in a body staff never mind your staff the man ll be gone but i can t do nothing without my staff can i william and john and charles no for there s the king s royal crown a painted on en in and gold and the lion and the so as when i raise en up and hit my prisoner tis made a lawful blow thereby i wouldn t tempt to take up a man without my staff not i if i hadn t the law to me courage why instead o my taking up him he might take up me now i m a king s man myself and can give you authority enough for this said the formidable officer in gray now then all of ye be ready have any yes have ye any i demand it said the and the rest of you able able men yes the rest of ye said the have you some good stout and and in the name o the and take em in yer hands and go in quest and do as we in authority tell ye thus aroused the men prepared to give chase the evidence was indeed though so convincing that but little argument was needed to show the shepherd s guests that after what they had seen it would look very much like if they did not instantly pursue the unhappy third stranger who could not as yet have gone more than a few hundred yards over such country a shepherd is always well provided with and lighting these hastily and with in the three strangers their hands they poured out of the door taking a direction along the crest of the hill away from the town the rain having fortunately a little disturbed by the noise or possibly by unpleasant dreams of her the child who had been began to cry heart in the room overhead these notes of grief came down through the of the floor to the ears of the women below who jumped up one by one and seemed glad of the excuse to ascend and comfort the baby for the incidents of the last half hour greatly oppressed them thus in the space of two or three minutes the room on the ground floor was deserted quite but it was not for long hardly had the sound of footsteps died away when a man returned round the corner of the house from the direction the had taken peeping in at the door and seeing nobody there he entered leisurely it was the stranger of the chimney comer who had gone out with the rest the motive of his return was shown by his helping himself to a cut piece of cake that lay on a ledge beside where he had sat and which he had apparently forgotten to take with him he also poured out half a cup more from the quantity that remained eating and drinking these as he stood he had not finished when another figure came in just as quietly his friend in gray o you here said the latter smiling i thought you had gone to help in the capture and this speaker also revealed the object of his return by looking round for the fascinating of old and i thought you had gone said the other continuing his cake with some well on second thoughts i felt there were enough without me said the first and such ft night as it is too besides tis the business tales o the government to take care of its not mine true so it is and i felt as you did that there were enough without me i don t want to break my limbs running over the and hollows of this wild country nor i neither between you and me these shepherd people are used to it souls you know stirred up to anything in a	45
my every day way for twas the man in the chimney comer a pretty kettle of fish altogether said the magistrate you had better start for the other man at once the prisoner now spoke for the first time the mention of the man in the chimney comer seemed to have moved him as nothing else could do sir he said stepping forward to the magistrate take no more trouble about me the time is come when i may as well speak i have done nothing my crime is that the condemned man is my brother early this afternoon i left home at to tramp it all the way to jail to bid him farewell i was and called here to rest and ask the way when i opened the door i saw before me the very man my brother that i thought to see in the condemned cell at he was in this and dose to him so that he could not have got out if be had tried was the tales who d to take his life singing a song about it and not knowing that it was his victim who was close by joining in to save appearances my brother looked a glance of agony at me and i knew he meant don t reveal what you see my life depends on it i was so terror struck that i could hardly stand and not knowing what i did i turned and hurried away the s manner and tone had the stamp of truth and his story made a great impression on all around and do you know where your brother is at the present time asked the magistrate i do not i have never seen him since i closed this door i can testify to that for we ve been between ye ever since said the where does he think to fly to what is his occupation he s a watch and clock maker sir a said a was a a wicked rogue said the the wheels of and watches he meant no doubt said shepherd i thought his hands were for s trade well it appears to me that nothing can be gained by retaining this poor man in said the magistrate your business lies with the other unquestionably and so the little man was released off hand but he looked nothing the less sad on that account it being beyond the power of magistrate or to out the written troubles in his brain for they concerned another whom he regarded with more solicitude than himself when this was done and the man had gone his way the night was found to be so far advanced that it was deemed useless to renew the search before the next morning next day accordingly the quest for the clever sheep the three strangers became general and keen to all appearance at least but the intended punishment was cruelly to the and the sympathy of a great many country folk in that district was strongly on the side of the fugitive moreover his marvellous coolness and daring in and with the under the circumstances of the shepherd s party won their admiration so that it may be questioned if all those who made themselves so busy in exploring woods and fields and lanes were quite so thorough when it came to the private examination of their own and stories were afloat of a mysterious figure being occasionally seen in some old overgrown or other remote from roads but when a search was in any of these suspected quarters nobody was found thus the days and weeks passed without tidings in brief the bass man of the chimney corner was never some said that he went across the sea others that he did not but buried himself in the depths of a city at any rate the gentleman in gray never did his morning s work at nor met anywhere at all for business purposes the genial comrade with whom he had passed an hour of in the lonely house on the the grass has long been green on the graves of shepherd and his wife the guests who made up the party have mainly followed their to the tomb the baby in whose honour they all had met is a matron in the and yellow leaf but the arrival of the three strangers at the shepherd s that night and the details connected is a story as well known as ever in the country about higher march tbe arm a it was an cow and the troop of regular and were all at work for though the time of year was as yet but early april the feed lay entirely in water meadows and the cows were in full the hour was about six in and three of the large red animals having been finished off there was opportunity for a little conversation he do bring home his bride to morrow i hear they ve come as far as to day the voice seemed to proceed from the belly of the cow called cherry but the speaker was a woman whose face was buried in the flank of that motionless beast hav anybody seen her said another there was a negative response from the first though they say she s a rosy little body enough she added and as the spoke she turned her face so that she could glance past her cow s tail to the other side of the where a thin fading woman of thirty somewhat apart from the rest k tales years younger than he they say continued the second with also a glance of in the same direction how old do you call him then thirty or so more like forty broke in an old near in a long white or and with the brim of his hat tied down so that he looked like a woman a was bom before	45
our great was and i hadn t man s wages when i water there the discussion so warm that the of the milk streams became till a voice from another cow s belly cried with authority now then what the do it matter to us about farmer lodge s age or farmer lodge s new mis i shall have to pay him nine pound a year for the rent of every one of these whatever his age or hers get on with your work or be dark afore we have done the evening is in a ready this speaker was the himself by whom the and men were employed nothing more was said publicly about farmer lodge s wedding but the first woman murmured under her cow to her next neighbour tis hard for she the thin worn o no said the second he ha n t spoke to brook for years when the was done they washed their and hung them on a many stand made of the limb of an oak tree set upright in the earth and resembling a colossal horn the majority then dispersed in various directions homeward the thin woman who had not spoken was joined by a boy of twelve or and the twain went away up the field also their course lay apart firom that of the others to a lonely spot high above the water and not far the withered arm from the border of heath whose dark countenance was visible in the distance as they drew nigh to their home they ve just been saying down in that your father brings his young wife home from tomorrow the woman observed i shall want to send you for a few things to market and you ll be pretty sure to meet yes mother said the boy is father married then yes you can give her a look and tell me what s she s like if you do see her yes mother if she s dark or fair and if she s tall as tall as i and if she seems like a woman who has ever worked for a living or one that has been always well off and has never done anything and shows marks of the lady on her as i expect she do yes they crept up the hill in the twilight and entered the cottage it was built of mud walls the surface of which had been washed by many rains into channels and that left none of the original flat face visible while here and there in the above a showed like a bone through the skin she was kneeling down in the chimney comer before two pieces of turf laid together with the blowing at the red hot ashes with her breath till the the radiance lit her pale cheek and made her dark eyes that had once been handsome seem handsome anew yes she resumed see if she is dark or fair and if you can notice if her hands be white if not see if they look as though she had ever done or are s hands like mine the boy again promised this time his mother not observing that he was cutting a with his pocket knife in the backed chair the young wife ii he road from to is in general level but there is one place where a sharp ascent breaks its monotony farmers homeward bound from the former market town who trot all the rest of the way walk their horses up this short incline the next evening while the sun was yet bright a handsome new with a coloured body and red wheels was spinning westward along the level highway at the heels of a powerful mare the driver was a in the prime of life shaven like an actor his face being toned to that hue which so often graces a farmer s features when returning home after successful dealings in the town beside him sat a woman many years his junior almost indeed a girl her face too was fresh in colour but it was of a totally different quality soft and like the light under a heap of rose few people travelled this way for it was not a main road and the long white of gravel that stretched before them was empty save of one small scarce moving speck which presently resolved itself into the figure of a boy who was creeping on at a the withered arm s pace and continually looking behind him the heavy bundle he carried being some excuse for if not the reason of his when the party at the bottom of the incline above mentioned the was only a few yards in front supporting the large bundle by putting one hand on his hip he turned and looked straight at the s wife as though he would read her through and through pacing along abreast of the horse the low sun was full in her face rendering every feature shade and distinct from the curve of her little to the colour of her eyes the farmer though he seemed annoyed at the boy s persistent presence did not order him to get out of the way and thus the lad preceded them his hard gaze never leaving her till they reached the top of the ascent when the farmer trotted on with relief in his having taken no outward notice of the boy whatever how that poor lad stared at me said the young wife yes dear i saw that he did he is one of the village i suppose one of the neighbourhood i think he lives with his mother a mile or two off he knows who we are no doubt o yes you must expect to be stared at just at first my pretty i do though i think the poor boy may have looked at us	45
in the hope we might relieve him of his heavy load rather than from curiosity no said her husband off these country lads will carry a once they get it on their backs besides his pack had more size than weight in it now then another mile and i shall be able to show you our house in the distance if it is not too dark before we get there the wheels spun round and flew from their as before tales till a white house of ample dimensions revealed itself with farm buildings and at the back meanwhile the boy had quickened his pace and turning up a by lane some and half short of the white ascended towards the pastures and so on to the cottage of his mother she had reached home after her day s at the and was washing at the doorway in the declining light hold up the net a moment she said without preface as the boy came up he flung down his bundle held the edge of the net and as she filled its with the dripping leaves she went on well did you see her yes quite plain is she yes and more a lady complete is she young well she s up and her ways be quite a woman s of course what colour is her hair and face her hair is and her face as comely as a doll s her eyes then are not dark like mine no of a turn and her mouth is very nice and red and when she smiles her teeth show white is she tall said the woman sharply i couldn t see she was sitting down then do you go to church to morrow morning she s sure to be there go early and notice her walking in and come home and tell me if she s taller than i very well mother why don t you go and see for yourself go to see her i wouldn t look up at her if she were to pass my window this instant she was with mr lodge of course what did he say or do just the same as usual the withered arm took no notice of you none next day the mother put a clean shirt on the boy and started him off for church he reached the ancient little pile when the door was just being opened and he was the first to enter taking his seat by the he watched all the file in the well to do farmer lodge came nearly last and his young wife who accompanied him walked up the aisle with the shyness natural to a modest woman who had appeared thus for the first time as all other eyes were fixed upon her the youth s stare was not noticed now when he reached home his mother said well before he bad entered the room she is not tall she is rather short he replied ah i said his mother with but she s very pretty very in t she s lovely the youthful freshness of the s wife had evidently made an impression even on the somewhat hard nature of the boy that s all i want to hear said his mother quickly now spread the table cloth the hare you caught is very tender but mind that nobody catches you you ve never told me what sort of hands she had i have never seen em she never took off her gloves what did she wear this morning a white bonnet and a coloured it and whistled so loud when it rubbed against the that the lady coloured up more than ever for very shame at the noise and pulled it in to keep it from touching but when she pushed into her seat it more than ever mr lodge he seemed pleased and his waistcoat stuck out and his great golden hung like a lord s but she seemed to wish her noisy anywhere but on her not she however that will do now tales these descriptions of the newly married couple were continued from time to time by the boy at his mother s request after any chance encounter he had had with them but brook though she might easily have seen young mrs lodge for herself by walking a couple of would never attempt an excursion towards the quarter where the lay neither did she at the daily in the s yard on lodge s second farm ever speak on the subject of the recent marriage the who the cows of lodge and knew perfectly the tall s history with manly always kept the gossip in the cow from but the atmosphere was full of the subject during the first days of mrs lodge s arrival and from her boy s description and the casual words of the other brook could raise a mental image of the unconscious mrs lodge that was as a photograph a vision iii one night two or three weeks after the return when the boy was gone to bed sat a long time over the turf ashes that she had out in front of her to them she contemplated so intently the new wife as presented to her in her mind s eye over the embers that she forgot the lapse of time at last wearied with her day s work she too retired but the figure which had occupied her so much during this and the previous days was not to be banished at night for the first time lodge visited the woman in her dreams brook dreamed since her assertion that she really saw before falling asleep was not to be believed that the young wife in the pale silk dress and white bonnet but with features distorted and wrinkled as by age was sitting upon her chest as she lay the pressure of mrs lodge	45
s person grew heavier the blue eyes peered cruelly into her face and then the figure thrust forward its left hand so as to make the it wore glitter in s eyes mentally and nearly by pressure the struggled the still regarding her withdrew to tales the foot of the bed only however to come forward by d resume her seat and flash her left hand as before gasping for breath in a last desperate effort swung out her right hand seized the by its left arm and whirled it backward to the floor starting up herself as she did so with a low cry o merciful heaven she cried sitting on the edge of the bed in a cold sweat that was not a dream she was here she could feel her s arm within her grasp even now the very flesh and bone of it as it seemed she looked on the floor whither she had whirled the but there was nothing to be seen brook slept no more that night and when she went at the next dawn they noticed how pale and haggard she looked the milk that she drew quivered into the her hand had not even yet and still retained the fed of the arm she came home to breakfast as wearily as if it had been what was that noise in your mother last night said her son you fell off the bed surely did you hear anything fall at what time just when the clock struck two she could not explain and when the meal was done went silently about her household work the boy assisting her for he hated going on the farms and she indulged his reluctance between eleven and twelve the garden gate and she lifted her eyes to the window at the bottom of the garden within the gate stood the woman of her vision seemed ah she said she would come i exclaimed the boy also observing her said so when how does she know us the withered arm i have seen and spoken to her i talked to her yesterday i told you said the mother flushing indignantly never to speak to anybody in that house or go near the place i did not speak to her till she spoke to me and i did not go near the place i met her in the road what did you tell her nothing she said are you the poor boy who had to bring the heavy load from market and she looked at my boots and said they would not keep my feet dry if it came on wet because they were so cracked i told her i lived with my mother and we had enough to do to keep ourselves and that s how it was and she said then i ll come and bring you some better boots and see your mother she gives away things to other folks in the besides us mrs lodge was by this time close to the door not in her silk as had seen her in the bed chamber but in a morning hat and gown of common light material which became her better than silk on her arm she carried a basket the impression remaining from the s experience was still strong brook had almost expected to see the wrinkles the scorn and the cruelty on her visitor s face she would have escaped an interview had escape been possible there was however no to the cottage and in an instant the boy had lifted the latch to mrs lodge s gentle knock i see i have come to the right house said she glancing at the lad and smiling but i was not sure till you opened the door the figure and action were those of the phantom but her voice was so sweet her glance so winning her smile so tender so unlike that of s midnight that the latter could hardly the evidence of her senses she was truly glad that tales she had not hidden away in sheer aversion as she had been inclined to do in her basket mrs lodge brought the pair of boots that she had promised to the boy and other useful articles at these proofs of a kindly feeling towards her and hers s heart reproached her bitterly this innocent young thing should have her blessing and not her curse when she left them a light seemed gone from the dwelling two days later she came again to know if the boots fitted and less than a fortnight after that paid another call on this occasion the boy was absent i walk a good deal said mrs lodge and your house is the nearest outside our own parish i hope you are well you don t look quite well said she was well enough and indeed though the paler of the two there was more of the strength that in her well defined features and large frame than in the soft young woman before her the conversation became quite confidential as regarded their powers and weaknesses and when mrs lodge was leaving said i hope you will find this air agree with you ma am and not from the damp of the water the younger one replied that there was not much doubt of it her general health being usually good though now you remind me she added i have one which me it is nothing serious but i cannot make it out she uncovered her left hand and arm and their outline confronted s gaze as the exact original of the limb she had beheld and seized in her dream upon the pink round surface of the arm were faint marks of an colour as if produced by a rough grasp s eyes became on the she fancied that she discerned in them the shape of her own four fingers the withered arm how	45
did it happen she said mechanically i cannot tell replied mrs lodge shaking her head one night when i was sound asleep dreaming i was away in some strange place a pain suddenly shot into my arm there and was so keen as to awaken me i must have struck it in the i suppose though i don t remember doing so she added laughing i tell my dear husband that it looks just as if he had flown into a rage and struck me there o i it will soon disappear ha ha yes on what night did it come mrs lodge considered and said it would be a fortnight ago on the morrow when i awoke i could not remember where i was she added till the clock striking two reminded me she had named the night and the hour of s encounter and brook felt like a guilty thing the disclosure startled her she did not reason on the of coincidence and all the scenery of that ghastly night returned with double to her mind o can it be she said to herself when her visitor i had departed that i exercise a malignant power over people against my own will she knew that she had i been called a witch since her fall but never having understood why that particular had been attached to her it had passed disregarded could this be the explanation and had such things as this ever happened before a suggestion iv summer drew on and brook almost dreaded to meet mrs lodge again notwithstanding that her feeling for the young wife amounted to affection something in her own seemed to of crime yet a sometimes would direct the steps of the latter to the outskirts of whenever she left her house for any other purpose than her daily work and hence it happened that their next encounter was out of doors could not avoid the subject which had so her and after the first few words she stammered i hope your arm is well again ma am she had perceived with consternation that lodge carried her left arm stiffly no it is not quite well indeed it is no better at all it is rather worse it pains me dreadfully sometimes perhaps you had better go to a doctor ma am she replied that she had already seen a doctor her husband had insisted upon her going to one but the surgeon had not seemed to understand the afflicted limb at all he had told her to it in hot water the withered arm and she had bathed it but the treatment had done no good will you let me see it said the mrs lodge pushed up her sleeve and disclosed the place which was a few inches above the wrist as soon as brook saw it she could hardly preserve her composure there was nothing of the nature of a wound but the arm at that point had a look and the outline of the four fingers appeared more distinct than at the former time moreover she fancied that they were in precisely the relative position of her clutch upon the arm in the trance the first finger towards s wrist and the fourth towards her elbow what the impress resembled seemed to have struck herself since their last meeting it looks almost like finger marks she said adding with a faint laugh my husband says it is as if some witch or the devil himself had taken hold of me there and the flesh shivered that s fancy she said hurriedly i wouldn t mind it if i were you i shouldn t so much mind it said the younger with hesitation if if i hadn t a notion that it makes my husband dislike me no love me less men think so much of personal appearance some do he for one yes and he was very proud of mine at first keep your arm from his sight ah he knows the is there she tried to hide the tears that filled her eyes well ma am i earnestly hope it will go away soon and so the s mind was chained anew to the subject by a horrid sort of spell as she returned home the sense of having been guilty of an act of increased as she might to ridicule her tales superstition in her secret heart did not altogether object to a slight of her successor s beauty by whatever means it had come about but she did not wish to inflict upon her physical pain for though this pretty young woman had rendered impossible any which lodge might have made for his past conduct everything like resentment at the unconscious had quite passed away from the elder s mind if the sweet and kindly lodge only knew of the scene in the bed chamber what would she think not to inform her of it seemed treachery in the presence of her friendliness but tell she could not of her own accord neither could she devise a remedy she mused upon the matter the greater part of the night and the next day after the morning set out to obtain another glimpse of lodge if she could being held to her by a fascination by watching the house from a distance the was presently able to discern the farmer s wife in a ride she was taking alone probably to join her husband in some distant field mrs lodge perceived her and in her direction good morning said when she had come up i was going to call noticed that mrs lodge held the reins with some difficulty i hope the bad arm said they tell me there is possibly one way by which i might be able to find out the cause and so perhaps the cure of it replied the other anxiously it is	45
by going to some clever man over in heath they did not know if he was still alive and i cannot remember his name at this moment but they said that you knew more of his movements than anybody else and could tell me if he were still to be consulted dear me what was his name but you know the withered arm not said her thin companion turning pale yes is he alive i believe so said with reluctance why do you call him weu they say they used to say he was a he had powers other folks have not o how could my people be so superstitious as to recommend a man of that sort i thought they meant some medical man i shall think no more of him looked relieved and mrs lodge rode on the had inwardly seen from the moment she heard of her having been mentioned as a reference for this man that there must exist a sarcastic feeling among the work folk that a would know the whereabouts of the they suspected her then a short time ago this would have given no concern to a woman of her common sense but she had a haunting reason to be superstitious now and she had been seized with sudden dread that this might name her as the malignant influence which was the fair person of and so lead her friend to hate her for ever and to treat her as some in human shape but all was not over two days after a shadow into the window pattern thrown on brook s floor by the afternoon sun the woman opened the door at once almost are you alone said she seemed to be no less harassed and anxious than brook herself yes said the place on my arm seems worse and troubles the young s wife went on it is so mysterious i do hope it will not be an wound i have again been thinking of what they said about i don t really believe in such men but i should not mind visiting him i f tales from curiosity though on no must my husband know is it far to where he lives yes five miles said in the heart of well i should have to walk could not you go with me to show me the way say to morrow afternoon o not i that is the murmured with a start of dismay again the dread seized her that something to do with her fierce act in the dream might be revealed and her character in the eyes of the most friend she had ever had be ruined mrs lodge urged and finally assented though with much sad as the journey would be to her she could not stand in the way of a possible remedy for her patron s strange affliction it was agreed that to escape suspicion of their mystic intent they should meet at the edge of the heath at the corner of a plantation which was visible from the spot where they now stood i y the next afternoon would have done any thing to escape this inquiry but she had promised to go moreover there was a horrid fascination at times in becoming in throwing such possible light on her own character as would reveal her to be something greater in the world than she had ever herself suspected she started just before the time of day mentioned between them and half an hour s brisk walking brought her to the south eastern extension of the tract of country where the fir plantation was a slight figure and veiled was already there recognized almost with a shudder that mrs lodge bore her left arm in a they hardly spoke to each other and immediately set out on their climb into the interior of this solemn country which stood high above the rich soil they bad left half an hour before it was a long walk thick clouds made the atmosphere dark though it was as yet only early afternoon and the wind howled over the hills of the heath not the same heath which had witnessed the agony of the tales king presented to after ages as lodge talked most replying with she had a strange dislike to walking on the side of her companion where hung the afflicted arm moving round to the other when near it much had been brushed by their feet when they descended upon a cart track beside which stood the house of the man they sought he did not profess his openly or care anything about their continuance his direct interests being those of a dealer in turf sharp sand and other local indeed he affected not to believe largely in his own powers and when that had been shown him for cure disappeared which it must be owned they did he would say lightly i only drink a glass of upon em perhaps it s all chance and immediately turn the subject he was at home when they arrived having in fact seen them descending into his valley he was a man with a face and he looked singularly at the first moment he beheld her mrs lodge told him her errand and then with words of self he examined her arm medicine can t cure it he said promptly tis the work of an enemy shrank into herself and drew back an enemy what enemy asked mrs lodge he shook his head that s best known to yourself he said if you like i can show the person to you though i shall not myself know who it is i can do no more and don t wish to do that she pressed him on which he told to wait outside where she stood and took mrs lodge into the room it opened	45
immediately from the door and as the latter remained brook could see the proceedings without taking part in them he brought the withered arm a i rom the nearly filled it with water and an egg prepared it in some private way after which he broke it on the edge of the glass so that the white went in and the remained as it was getting gloomy he took the glass and its contents to the window and told to watch them closely they over the table together and the could see the hue of the egg changing form as it sank in the water but she was not near enough to define the shape that it assumed do you catch the likeness of any face or figure as you look demanded the of the young woman she murmured a reply in tones so low as to be to and continued to gaze intently into the glass turned and walked a few steps away when mrs lodge came out and her face was met by the light it appeared exceedingly pale as pale as s against the sad shades of the s shut the door behind her and they at once started homeward together but perceived that her companion had quite changed did he charge much she asked no nothing he would not take a said and what did you see inquired nothing i care to speak of the in her manner was remarkable her face was so rigid as to wear an aspect faintly suggestive of the face in s bed chamber was it you who first proposed coming here mrs lodge suddenly inquired after a long pause how very odd if you did f no but i am not sorry we have come all things considered she replied for the first time a sense of triumph possessed her and she did not altogether tales that the young thing at her side should learn that their lives had been by other influences than their own the subject was no more alluded to during the long and dreary walk home but in some way or other a story was whispered about the many that winter that mrs lodge s gradual loss of the use of her left arm was owing to her being overlooked by brook the latter kept her own counsel about the but her face grew and thinner and in the spring she and her boy disappeared from the neighbourhood of a second attempt vi a dozen years passed away and mr and mrs lodge s married experience sank into and worse the farmer was usually gloomy and silent the woman whom he had for her grace and beauty was and in the left limb moreover she had brought him no child which rendered it likely that he would be the last of a family who had occupied that valley for some two hundred years he thought of brook and her son and feared this might be a judgment from heaven upon the once hearted and enlightened was changing into an irritable superstitious woman whose whole time was given to upon her with every remedy she came across she was honestly attached to her husband and was ever secretly hoping against hope to win back his heart again by r some at least of her personal beauty hence it arose that her closet was lined with bottles and pots of every description i nay of mystic charms and books of which in her time she would have as folly o tales damned if you won t poison yourself with these and witch some time or other said her husband when his eye chanced to fall upon the array she did not reply but turned her sad soft glance upon him in such heart swollen reproach that he looked sorry for his words and added i only meant it for your good you know i ll clear out the whole lot and destroy them said she and try such no more you want somebody to cheer you he observed i once thought of a boy but he is too old now and he is gone away i don t know where she guessed to whom he alluded for brook s story had in the course of years become known to her though not a word had ever passed between her husband and herself on the subject neither had she ever spoken to him of her visit to and of what was revealed to her or she thought was revealed to her by that solitary heath man she was now five and twenty but she seemed older six years of marriage and only a few months of love she sometimes whispered to herself and then she thought of the apparent cause and said with a tragic glance at her withering limb if i could only again be as i was when he first saw me she destroyed her and charms but there remained a wish to try something else some other sort of cure altogether she had never since she had been conducted to the house of the solitary by against her will but it now suddenly occurred to that she would in a last desperate effort at from this seeming curse again seek out the man if he yet lived he was entitled to a certain for the indistinct form he had raised in the glass had undoubtedly resembled the only woman in the world who t the withered arm as she now knew though not then could have a reason for bearing her ill will the visit should be paid this time she went alone though she nearly got lost on the heath and a considerable distance out of her way s house was reached at last however he was not indoors and instead of waiting at the cottage she went to where his bent figure was pointed out to her	45
at work a long way off remembered her and laying down the handful of roots which he was gathering and throwing into a heap he offered to accompany her in her homeward direction as the distance was considerable and the days were short so they walked together his head bowed nearly to the earth and his form of a colour with it you can send away and other i know she said why can t you send away this and the arm was uncovered you think too much of my powers said and i am old and weak now too no no it is too much for me to in my own person what have ye tried she named to him some of the hundred and which she had adopted from time to time he shook his head some were good enough he said but not many of them for such as this this is the nature of a not of the nature of a wound and if you ever do throw it off it will be all at once if i only could there is only one chance of doing it known to me it has never failed in kindred that i can declare but it is hard to carry out and especially for a woman me said she you must touch with the limb the neck of a man who s been hanged she started a little at the image he had raised tales before he s cold just after he s cut down continued the how can that do good it mil turn the blood and change the constitution but as i say to do it is hard you must get into jail and for him when he s brought off the gallows lots have it though perhaps not such pretty women as you i used to send for skin complaints but that was in former times the last z sent was in near twenty years ago he had no more to tell her and when he had put her into a straight track homeward turned and left refusing all mon as at first a ride vii he communication sank deep into s mind her nature was rather a timid one and probably of all that the white could have suggested there was not one which would have filled her with so much aversion as this not to speak of the immense obstacles in the way of its the county town was a dozen or fifteen miles off and though in those days when men were executed for horse stealing and an seldom passed without a hanging it was not likely that she could get access to the body of the criminal and the fear of her husband s anger made her reluctant to breathe a word of s suggestion to him or to anybody about him she did nothing for months and patiently bore her as before but her woman s nature for renewed love through the medium of renewed beauty she was but twenty five was ever her to try what at any rate could hardly do her any harm what came by a spell will go by a spell surely she would say whenever her imagination pictured the act she in from tales possibility of it then the words of the it will turn your blood were seen to be capable of a scientific no less han a ghastly interpretation the desire returned and urged her on again there was at this time but one county paper and that her husband only occasionally borrowed but old fashioned days had old fashioned means and news was conveyed by word of mouth from market to market or from fair to fair so that whenever such an event as an execution was about to take place few within a of twenty miles were ignorant of the coming sight and so far as was concerned some had been known to walk all the way to and back in one day solely to witness the spectacle the next were in march and when lodge heard that they had been held she inquired stealthily at the inn as to the result as soon as she could find opportunity she was however too late the time at which the sentences were to be carried out had arrived and to make the journey and obtain admission at such short notice required at least her husband s assistance she dared not tell him for she had found by delicate experiment that these village made him furious if mentioned partly because he half entertained them himself it was therefore necessary to wait for another opportunity her determination received a from learning that two children had attended from this very village of many years before with results though the experiment had been strongly condemned by the neighbouring clergy april may june passed and it is no to say that by the end of the last named month well nigh longed for the death of a fellow creature instead of her formal prayers each night her unconscious prayer was o lord some guilty or innocent person soon the withered arm this time she made earlier inquiries and was altogether in her proceedings moreover the season was summer between the and the harvest and in the leisure thus afforded him her husband had been holiday taking away from home the were in july and she went to the inn as before there was to be one execution only one for her greatest problem was not how to get to but what means she should adopt for obtaining admission to the jail though access for such purposes had formerly never been denied the custom had fallen into and in contemplating her possible difficulties she was again almost driven to fall back upon her husband but on sounding him about the he was so so more than usually cold that she did not	45
about jail she had heard of a high and an under but dimly only she knew however that must be a and to the she determined to apply a water side viii at this date and for several years after there was a to almost every jail found on inquiry that the official dwelt in a lonely cottage by a deep slow river flowing under the cliff on which the prison buildings were the stream being the self same one though she did not know it which watered the and lower down in its course having changed her dress and before she had eaten or drunk for she could not take her ease till she had ascertained some particulars pursued her way by a path along the water side to the cottage indicated passing thus the outskirts of the jail she discerned on the level roof over the three lines against the sky where the had been moving in her distant view she recognized what the was and passed quickly on another hundred yards brought her to the s house which a boy pointed out it stood close to the same stream and was hard by a the waters of which a steady roar while she stood hesitating the door opened and an old man came forth a candle with one hand o tales the door on the outside he turned to a flight of wooden steps fixed against the end of the cottage and began to ascend them this being evidently the staircase to his bedroom hastened forward but by the time she reached the foot of the ladder he was at the top she called to him loudly enough to be heard above the roar of the he looked down and said what d ye want here to speak to you a minute the candle light such as it was fell upon her imploring pale face and as the was called backed down the ladder i was just going to bed he said early to bed and early to rise but i don t mind stopping a minute for such a one as you come into house he the door and preceded her to the room within the implements of his daily work which was that of a gardener stood in a corner and seeing probably that she looked rural he said if you want me to undertake country work i can t come for i never leave for gentle nor simple not i my real calling is officer of justice he added formally yes yes that s it to morrow ah i i thought so well what s the matter about that tis no use to come here about the folks do come continually but i tell em one knot is as merciful as another if ye keep it under the ear is the unfortunate man a relation or i should say perhaps looking at her dress a person who s been in your employ no what time is the execution the same as usual twelve o clock or as soon after as the london coach gets in we always wait for that in case of a a i hope not i she said involuntarily thb withered arm well as a matter of business so do i but still if ever a young fellow deserved to be let off this one does only just turned eighteen and only present by chance when the was fired there s not much risk of it as they are obliged to make an example of him there having been so much destruction of property that way lately i mean she explained that i want to touch him for a charm a cure of an affliction by the advice of a man who has proved the virtue of the remedy o yes miss now i understand i ve had such people come in past years but it didn t strike me that you looked of a sort to require blood turning the complaint the wrong kind for this i ll be bound my arm she reluctantly showed the withered skin ah tis all a said the examining it yes said she well he continued with interest that is the class o subject i m bound to admit i i like the look of the place it is truly as suitable for the cure as any i ever saw twas a knowing man that sent ee whoever he was you can contrive for me all that s necessary she said you should really have gone to the governor of the jail and your doctor with ee and given your name and address s how it used to be done if i recollect still perhaps i can manage it for a trifling fee o thank you i i would rather do it this way as i should like it kept private lover not to know eh husband very well get ee a touch of the corpse where b it now she said shuddering tales it you mean he s living yet just inside that little small up there in the he signified the jail on the cliff above she thought of her husband and her friends yes of course she said j and how am i to proceed he took her to the door now do you be waiting at the little in the wall that you ll find up there in the lane not later than one o clock i will open it from the inside as i shan t come home to dinner till he s cut down good night be punctual and if you don t want anybody to know ee wear a veil ah once i had a daughter as you she went away and climbed the path above to assure herself that she would be able to the next day its outline was soon	45
visible to her a narrow opening in the outer wall of the prison the steep was so great that having reached the she stopped a moment to breathe and looking back upon the water side cot saw the again ascending his staircase he entered the or chamber to which it led and in a few minutes extinguished his light the town clock struck ten and she returned to the white as she had come a ix it was one o clock on saturday lodge having been admitted to the jail as above described was sitting in a waiting room within the second gate which stood under a classic of then comparatively modern and bearing the inscription jail this had been the fa she saw from the heath the day before near at hand was a passage to the roof on which the gallows stood the town was thronged and the market suspended but had seen scarcely a soul having kept her room till the hour of the appointment she had proceeded to the spot by a way which avoided the open space below the cliff where the spectators had gathered but she could even now hear the of their voices out of which rose at intervals the hoarse of a single voice uttering the words last dying speech and confession there had been no and the execution was over but the crowd still waited to see the body taken down soon the persistent girl heard a overhead then a hand beckoned to her and following directions she went out and crossed the inner paved court beyond loi tales the her knees trembling so that she could scarcely walk one of her arms was out of its sleeve and only covered by her shawl on the spot at which she had now arrived were two and before she could think of their purpose she heard heavy feet descending stairs somewhere at her back turn her head she would not or could not and rigid in this position she was conscious of a rough coffin passing her shoulder borne by four men it was open and in it lay the body of a young man wearing the of a rustic and breeches the had been thrown into the coffin so hastily that the skirt of the was hanging over the burden was temporarily deposited on the by this time the young woman s state was such that a gray mist seemed to float before her eyes on account of which and the veil she wore she could scarcely discern anything it was as though she had nearly died but was held up by a sort of now said a voice close at hand and she was just conscious that the word had been addressed to her by a last effort she advanced at the same time hearing persons approaching behind her she her poor arm and the face of the corpse took s hand and it that her arm lay across the dead man s neck upon a line the colour of an which surrounded it shrieked the turn o the blood predicted by the had taken place but at that moment a second shriek rent the air of the it was not s and its effect upon her was to make her start round immediately behind her stood brook her drawn and her eyes red with weeping behind stood s own husband his countenance lined his eyes dim but without a tear the withered arm d n you what are you doing here he said hoarsely to come between us and our child now i cried this is the meaning of what showed me in the vision you are like her at last and clutching the bare arm of the younger woman she pulled her back against the wall immediately brook had loosened her hold the fragile young slid down against the feet of her husband when he lifted her up she was unconscious the mere sight of the twain had been enough to suggest to her that the dead young man was s son at that time the relatives of an executed had the e of the body for burial if they chose to do so and it was for this purpose that lodge was awaiting the with he had been summoned by her as soon as the young man was taken in the crime and at different times since and he had attended in court during the trial this was the holiday he had been indulging in of late the two wretched parents had wished to avoid exposure and hence had come themselves for the body a and sheet for its conveyance and covering being in waiting outside s case was so serious that it was deemed advisable to call to her the surgeon who was at hand she was taken out of the jail into the town but she never reached home alive her delicate vitality perhaps by the arm under the double shock that followed the severe strain physical and mental to which she had subjected herself during the previous twenty four hours her blood had been turned indeed too far her death took place in the town three days after her husband was never seen in again once only in the old market place at which be had so much frequented and very seldom in public b tales an at first with and remorse he eventually changed for the better and appeared as a and thoughtful man soon after attending the funeral of his poor young wife he took steps towards giving up the farms in and the adjoining parish and having sold every head of his stock he went away to port at the other end of the county living there in lodgings till his death two years later of a decline it was then found that he had the whole of his not property to a for boys subject	45
to the payment of a small to brook if she could be found to claim it for some time she could not be found but eventually she reappeared in her old parish absolutely refusing however to have anything to do with the provision made for her her monotonous at the was resumed and followed for many long years till her form became bent and her once abundant dark hair white and worn away at the forehead perhaps by long pressure against the cows here sometimes those who knew her experiences would stand and observe her and wonder what sombre thoughts were beating inside that wrinkled brow to the of the milk streams shepherd on the east hill could shout out intelligence to the shepherd on the west hill over the intervening town chimneys without great inconvenience to his voice so nearly did the steep pastures upon the and at night it was possible to stand in the very midst of the town and hear from their native on the lower of the mild of the farmer s and the profound warm of breath in which those creatures indulge but the community which had itself in the valley thus formed a veritable town with a real mayor and and a manufacture during a certain damp evening five and thirty years ago before the twilight was far advanced a of professional appearance carrying a small bag in his hand and an elevated umbrella was descending one of these hills by the road when he was overtaken by a is that you said the driver of the vehicle a young man of pale and refined appearance jump up here with me and ride down to your door tales the other turned a plump cheery rather self indulgent face over his shoulder towards the o good evening mr thanks he said and mounted beside his acquaintance were fellow of the town which lay beneath them but though old and very good friends they were differently was a richer man than the struggling young lawyer a a t which was to some extent perceptible in s manner towards his companion though nothing of it ever showed in s manner towards the s position in the town was none of his own making his father had been a very successful in the same place where the trade was still carried on as briskly as the small of its quarters would allow having acquired a fair fortune old mr had retired from business bringing up his son as a gentleman and it must be added as a well educated liberal minded young man how is mrs asked mrs was very well when i left home the other answered exchanging his meditative regard of the horse for one of self consciousness mr seemed to regret his inquiry and immediately took up another thread of conversation he congratulated his friend on his election as a he thought he liad not seen him since that event took place mrs had meant to call and congratulate mrs but he feared that she had failed to do so as yet seemed in his replies we should have been glad to see you i my wife would welcome mrs at any time as you know yes i am a member of the rather an inexperienced member some of them say it is quite true and i should have declined the honour as premature having other things on my hands just now fellow too if it had not been pressed upon me so very heartily there is one thing you have on your hands which i can never quite see the necessity for said with good humoured freedom what the deuce do you want to build that new mansion for when you have already got such an excellent house as the one you live in s face acquired a warmer shade of colour but as the question had been idly asked by the while regarding the surrounding flocks and fields he answered a moment with no apparent embarrassment well we wanted to get out of the town you know the house i am living in is rather old and inconvenient mr declared that he had chosen a pretty site for the new building they would be able to see for miles and miles from the windows was he going to give it a name he supposed so thought not there was no other house near that was likely to be mistaken for it and he did not care for a name but i think it has a name observed i went past when was it this morning and i saw something i think it was stuck up on a board it was an idea she we had for a short time said hastily but we have decided finally to do without a name at any rate such a name as that it must have been a ago that you saw it it was taken down last saturday upon that matter i am firm he added grimly in an tone that he thought he had seen it yesterday talking thus they drove into the town the street was unusually still for the hour of seven in the evening an increasing had prevailed since the afternoon tales and now a across the yellow lamps and with a gentle rattle down the heavy roofs of stone tile that bent the house hollow backed with its weight and in some instances caused the walls to in the upper story their route took them past the little town hall the black hotel and onward to the of a small street on the right consisting of a row of those two and two brick of no particular age which are exactly alike wherever found except in the people they contain wait i ll drive you up to your door said when prepared to	45
aught at the comer he thereupon turned into the narrow street when the faces of three little girls could be discerned dose to the panes of a lighted window a few yards ahead surmounted by that of a young matron the gaze of all four being directed eagerly up the empty street you are a fortunate fellow continued as mother and children disappeared from the window to run to the door you must be happy if any man is i would give a hundred such houses as my new one to have a home like yours well yes we get along pretty comfortably replied complacently that house is none of my ordering broke out revealing a bitterness hitherto suppressed and checking the horse a moment to finish his speech before delivering up his passenger the house i have already is good enough for me as you supposed it is my own it was built by my grandfather and is stout enough for a castle my father was born there lived there and died there i bom there and have always lived there yet i must needs build a new one why do you said why do i to preserve peace in the household i do anything for that but i don t succeed i was no fellow firm in resisting however not that i would not have put up with the absurdity of the name but it was too much to have your house after lord because your wife once had a for him if you only knew everything you would think all attempt at reconciliation hopeless in your happy home you have had no such experiences and god forbid that you ever should see here they are all ready to receive you of course i and so will your wife be waiting to receive you said take my word for it she will and with a dinner prepared for you better than mine i hope so replied he moved on to s door which the s family had already opened descended but being with his bag and umbrella his foot slipped and he fell upon his knees in the o my dear charles said his wife running down the steps and quite the presence of she seized hold of her husband pulled him to his feet and kissed him exclaiming i hope you are not hurt darling the children crowded round in poor papa he s all right said perceiving that was only a little muddy and looking more at the wife than at the husband almost at any other tim certainly during his fastidious bachelor he would have thought her a too woman but those recent circumstances of his own life to which he had just alluded made mrs s solicitude so affecting that his eye grew damp as he witnessed it bidding the lawyer and his family good night he left them and drove slowly into the main street towards his own house the heart of was sufficiently to be influenced by s parting prophecy that he iii tales might not be so unwelcome home as he imagined the dreary night might at least on this one occasion make s true hence it was in a suspense that he could hardly have believed possible that he halted at his door on entering his wife was nowhere to be seen and he inquired for her the servant informed him that her mistress had the with her and would be engaged for some time at this time of day she dined early sir and hopes you will excuse her joining you this evening but she knew i was coming to night o yes sir go up and tell her i am come the servant did so but the mistress of the house merely her former words said nothing more and presently sat down to his lonely meal which was eaten the domestic scene he had lately witnessed still him by its contrast with the situation here his mind fell back into past years upon a certain pleasing and gentle being whose face would loom out of their shades at such times as these turned in his chair and looked with eyes in a direction southward from where he sat as if he saw not the room but a long way beyond i wonder if she lives still he said ii rose with a sudden put on his hat and coat and went out of the house pursuing his way along the glistening pavement while eight o clock was striking from st mary s tower and the and were up the shutters from end to end of the town in two minutes only those shops which could boast of no attendant save the master or the mistress remained with open eyes these were ever somewhat less prompt to customers than the others for their owners ears the closing hour had scarcely the cheerfulness that it possessed for the hired servants of the rest yet the night being dreary the delay was not for long and their windows too together one by one during this time had proceeded with decided step in a direction at right angles to the broad main of the town by a long street leading due southward here though his family had no more to do with the manufacture his own name occasionally greeted him on gates and being used by small rising as a recommendation in such words as smith from co robinson late manager at s the sight led him to reflect upon his father s busy life and he questioned if it had not been far happier than his own h tales the houses along the road became fewer and presently open ground appeared between them on either side the track on the right hand rising to a higher level till it in a on the summit a row of poles the indistinct sky like and at their	45
could be discerned the lower courses of a building lately begun his pace and stood for a few moments without leaving the centre of the road apparently not much interested in the sight till suddenly his eye was caught by a post in the fore part of the ground bearing a white board at the top he went to the rails over and walked in far enough to discern painted upon the board a dismal irony seemed to lie in the words and its effect was to him then had spoken truly he stuck his umbrella into the sod and seized the post with both hands as if intending to and throw it down then like one bewildered by an opposition which would exist none the less though its were removed he allowed hb arms to sink to his side let it be he said to himself i have declared there shall be peace if possible taking up his umbrella he quietly left the and went on his way still keeping his back to the town he had advanced with more decision since passing the new building and soon a hoarse murmur rose upon the gloom it was the sound of the sea the road led to the harbour at a distance of a mile from the town from which the trade of the district was fed after seeing the name board had forgotten to open his umbrella and the rain tapped on his hat and occasionally his face as he went on though the lamps were still continued at the roadside they stood at wider intervals than before and the pavement had given place to common road every fellow time he came to a lamp an increasing shine made itself visible upon his shoulders till at last they quite with wet the murmur from the shore grew stronger but it was still some distance off when he paused before one of the smallest of the detached houses by the standing in its own garden the latter being divided from the road by a row of wooden the spot to that he was not mistaken he opened the gate and gently knocked at the cottage door when he had patiently waited minutes enough to lead any man in ordinary cases to knock again the door was heard to open though it was impossible to see by whose hand there being no light in the passage said at random does miss here a youthful voice assured him that she did live there and by a sudden asked him to come in it would soon get a light it said but the night being wet mother had not thought it worth while to trim the passage lamp don t trouble yourself to get a light for me said hastily it is not necessary at all which is miss s sitting room the young person whose white could just be discerned signified a door in the side of the passage and went forward at the same moment so that no light should fall upon his face on entering the room he closed the door behind him pausing he heard the retreating footsteps of the child he found himself in an apartment which was simply and neatly though not poorly furnished everything from the miniature to the shining little which formed the central ornament of the being in scrupulous order the picture was enclosed by a frame of embroidered card board evidently the work of feminine hands and it was the portrait of a thin faced elderly lieutenant in the navy from behind the lamp on the table a female form now tales rose into view that of a young girl and a resemblance between her and the portrait was early she had been so absorbed in some occupation on the other side of the lamp as to have barely found time to realize her visitor s presence they both remained standing for a few seconds without speaking the face that confronted had a beautiful outline the oval of its was remarkable for an english countenance and that countenance in a remote country road to an unheard of harbour but her features did not do justice to this splendid b nature had recollected that she was not in italy and the young lady s though not so inconsistent as to make her plain would have been accepted rather as pleasing than as correct the expression which like images on the remained with her for a moment after the state that caused it had ceased now changed into a reserved half proud and slightly indignant look in which the blood diffused itself quickly across her cheek and additional brightness broke the shade of her rather heavy eyes i know i have no business here he said answering the look but i had a great wish to see you and inquire how you were you can give your hand to me seeing how often i have held it in past days i would rather forget than remember all that mr she answered as she coldly complied with the request when i think of the circumstances of our last meeting i can hardly consider it kind of you to allude to such a thing as our past or indeed to come here at all there was no in it surely i don t trouble you often i have not had the honour of a visit from you for a very long time certainly and i did not expect it x fellow now she said with the same in her air i hope mrs is very well yes yes he impatiently returned at least i suppose so though i only speak from but she is your wife sir said the young girl the unwonted tones of a man s voice in that feminine chamber had startled a that was in its cage by the window the bird awoke hastily and fluttered against	45
the bars she went and it by laying her face against the cage and murmuring a sound it might partly have been done to still herself i didn t come to talk of mrs he pursued i came to talk of you of yourself alone to inquire how you are getting on since your great loss and he turned towards the portrait of her father i am getting on fairly well thank you the force of her utterance was scarcely borne out by her look but courteously reproached himself for not having guessed a thing so natural and to all embarrassment added as he bent over the table what were you doing when i came painting flowers and by o no she said not painting them only the outlines i do that at night to save time i have to get three dozen done by the end of the month looked as if he regretted it deeply you will wear your poor eyes out he said with more sentiment than he had hitherto shown you ought not to do it there was a time when i should have said you must not well i almost wish i had never seen light with my own eyes when i think of that is this a time or place for recalling such matters she asked with dignity you used to have a gentlemanly respect for me and for yourself don t speak any more as you have spoken and don t come again tales i cannot think that this is serious or was considered by you considered well i came to see you as an old and good friend not to matters to visit a woman i loved don t be angry i could not help doing it so many things brought you into my mind this evening i fell in with an acquaintance and when i saw how happy he was with his wife and family him home though with only one tenth of my income and chances and thought what might have been in my case it fairly broke down my discretion and off i came here now i am here i feel that i am wrong to some extent but the feeling that i should like to see you and talk of those we used to know in common was very strong before that can be the case a little more time must pass said miss quietly a time long enough for me to regard with some calmness what at present i remember far too impatiently though it may be you almost forget it indeed you must have forgotten it long before you acted as you did her voice grew stronger and more as she added but i am doing my best to forget it too and i know i shall succeed from the progress i have made already she had remained standing till now when she turned and sat down facing half away from him watched her yes it is only what i deserve he said ambition pricked me no it was not ambition it was had i but reflected he broke out vehemently but always remember this if you had written to me only one little line after that misunderstanding i declare i should have come back to you that ruined me he slowly walked as far as the little room would allow him to go and remained with his eyes on the but mr how could i write to you there was no opening for my doing so ii fellow then there ought to have been said turning that was my fault well i don t know anything about that but as there had been nothing said by me which any explanation by letter i did not send one everything was so indefinite and feeling your position to be so much than mine i fancied i might have mistaken your meaning and when i heard of the other lady a woman of whose family even you might be proud i thought how foolish i had been and said nothing then i suppose it was destiny accident i don t know what that separated us dear anyhow you were the woman i ought to have made my wife and i let you slip like the foolish man that i was mr she said almost in tears mon t revive the subject to me i am the wrong one to console you think sir you should not be here it would be so bad for me if it were known it would it would indeed he said hastily i am not right in doing this and i won t do it again it is a very common folly of human nature you know to think the course you did not adopt must have been the best she continued with gentle solicitude as she followed him to the door of the room and you don t know that i should have accepted you even if you had asked me to be your wife at this his eye met hers and she dropped her gaze she knew that her voice her there was a silence till she looked up to add in a voice of soothing my family was so much poorer than yours even before i lost my dear father that perhaps your companions would have made it unpleasant for us on account of my your disposition would soon have won them round said she now never mind my tales position try to make it up with your wife those are my commands to you and now you are to leave me at once i will i must make the best of it all i suppose he replied more cheerfully than he had as yet spoken but i shall never again meet with such a dear girl as you i and he	45
suddenly opened the door and left her alone when his glance again fell on the lamps that were ranged along the dreary level road his eyes were in a state which showed straw like of light from each flame into the surrounding air on the other side of the way observed a man under an umbrella walking parallel with himself presently this man left the and gradually on s course the latter then saw that it was a surgeon of the town who owed him money was a man not without ability yet he did not prosper sundry circumstances stood in his way as a medical he was he was not a he with men instead of with women he had married a stranger instead of one of the town young ladies and he was given to moreover his look was quite those only proper features in the family doctor the quiet eye and the thin straight lips which never curl in public either for laughter or for scorn were not his he had a full curved mouth and a bold black eye that made timid people nervous companions were what in old times would have been called boon companions an expression which though of root suggests carried to the point of all this was against him in the little town of his had been in difficulties and to oblige him had put his name to a bill and as he had expected was called upon to meet it when it fell due it had been only a matter of fifty pounds which i fellow could well afford to lose and he bore no ill will to the surgeon on account of it but had a little too much brazen in his composition to be altogether a desirable acquaintance i hope to be able to make that little bill business right with you in the course of three weeks mr said with hail fellow friendliness replied good that there was no hurry this particular three weeks had moved on in advance of s present with the precision of a shadow for some considerable time i ve had a dream continued knew from his tone that the surgeon was going to begin his characteristic nonsense and did not encourage him i ve had a dream repeated who required no encouragement i dreamed that a gentleman who has been very kind to me married a haughty lady in haste before he had quite forgotten a nice little girl he knew before and that one wet evening like the present as i was walking up the harbour road i saw him come out of that dear little girl s present abode glanced towards the speaker the rays from a neighbouring lamp struck through the under s umbrella so as just to his face against the shade behind and show that his eye was turned up under the outer corner of its lid whence it with as he thrust his tongue into his cheek come said gravely we ll have no more of that no of course not hastily answered seeing that his humour had carried him too far as it had done many times before he was in his apologies but did not reply of one thing he was certain that scandal was a plant of quick root and that he was bound to obey s fox s own sake in did so to the letter and though as the followed the and the the in s garden the harbour road was a not unpleasant place to walk in s feet never trod its stones much less approached her door he avoided a that way as he would have avoided a dangerous and took his a long distance northward among severely square and brown fields where no other came sometimes he went round by the lower lanes of the where the rope walks stretched in which his family formerly had share and looked at the rope makers walking backwards by apple trees and bushes and on by cows and as if trade had established itself there at considerable inconvenience to nature one morning when the sun was so warm as to raise a steam from the south eastern slopes of those hills that looked so lovely above the old roofs but made every low house in the town as smoky as glanced from the windows of the town council room for lack of interest in what was proceeding within several members of the were present but there was not much business doing and in a few minutes came leisurely across to him saying that he seldom saw now fellow owned that he was not often present looked at the crimson curtain which hung down beside the panes reflecting its hot hues into their faces and then out of the window at that moment there passed along the street a tall commanding lady in whom the recognized s wife had done the same thing and turned away it will be all right some day said with cheering sympathy you have heard then of her last outbreak depressed his cheerfulness to its very reverse in a moment no i have not heard of anything serious he said with as long a face as one naturally round could be turned into at short notice i only hear vague reports of such things you may think it will be all right said but i have a different opinion no we must look the thing in the face not nor however how are your wife and children said that they were all well thanks they were out that morning somewhere he was just looking to see if they were walking that way ah there they were just coming down the street and pointed to the figures of two children with a and a lady walking behind them you will come out and speak to her he asked not this morning the fact is i	45
don t care to speak to anybody just now you are too sensitive mr at school i remember you used to get as red as a rose if anybody uttered a word that hurt your feelings mused yes he admitted there is a grain of truth in that it is because of that i often try to make peace at home life would be tolerable then at any rate even if not particularly bright i have thought more than once of proposing a little tales to you said with some hesitation i don t know whether it will meet your views but take it or leave it as you choose in fact it was my wife who suggested it that she would be very glad to call on mrs and get into her confidence she seems to think that mrs is rather alone in the town and without her impression is that your wife will listen to reason has a wonderful way of winning the hearts of people of her own sex and of the other sex too i think she is a charming woman and you were a lucky fellow to find her well perhaps i was trying to wear an aspect of being the last man in the world to feel pride however she will be likely to find out what mrs perhaps it is some misunderstanding you know something that she is too proud to ask you to explain or some little thing in your conduct that her because she does not fully comprehend you the truth is would have been more ready to make advances if she had been quite sure of her fitness for mrs s society who has of course been accustomed to london people of good position which made fearful of expressed his warmest thanks for the proposition there was reason in mrs s fear that he owned but do let her call he said there is no woman in england i would so soon trust oil such an errand i am afraid there will not be any brilliant result still i shall take it as the kindest and thing if she will try it and not be at a when and had parted the former went to the town bank of which he was a and endeavoured to forget his troubles in the contemplation of low sums of money and figures in a of red and blue lines he sat and watched the working people making their to which at fellow intervals he signed his name before he left in the afternoon put his head inside the door has seen mrs he said in a low voice has got mrs s promise to take her for a drive down to the shore to morrow if it is fine good afternoon shook by the hand without speaking and went away iv next day was as fine as die arrangement require as the sun passed the and declined westward the tall shadows from the of residence die ground as as to the middle of the highway was there the progress of the for the first time during several weeks a building in an old town thirty years ago did not as in the modem fashion rise from the sod like a at a ir the foundations and lower courses were put in and allowed to settle for many weeks before the was built up and a summer of drying was hardly sufficient to do justice to die important issues involved stood within a which had as yet received no and thence looked down a slope into the road the of a chaise were heard and then his handsome in the company of mrs drove past on their way to the shore they were driving slowly j there was a pleasing light in mrs s ice which seemed to reflect itself upon the countenance of her companion that du which was so natural to her having possibly begun already to work results but whatever the situation resolved not to interfere or do anything to hazard the promise of fellow the day he might well afford to trust the issue to another when he could never direct it but to ill himself his wife s clenched rein hand in its coloured glove her stiff erect figure clad in velvet and lace and her boldly face passed on exhibiting their owner as one fixed for ever above the level of her companion by her early breeding and materially her higher cushion decided to allow them a proper time to themselves and then stroll down to the shore and drive them home after lingering on at the house for another hour he started with this intention a few hundred yards below stood the cottage in which the late lieutenant s daughter had her lodging had not been so r that way for a long time and as he approached the forbidden ground a curious warmth passed into him which led him to perceive that unless he were careful he might have to fight the battle with himself about over again a tenth of his present excuse would however have justified him in travelling by that road to day he came opposite the dwelling and turned his eyes for a momentary glance into the little garden that stretched fix m the to the door was in the she was walking and stooping to gather some flowers possibly for the purpose of painting them for she moved about quickly as if anxious to save time she did not see him he might have passed unnoticed but a sensation which was not in strict with his previous sentiments that day led him to pause in his walk and watch her she went round and round the beds of and other old fashioned flowers looking a very charming figure in her half bonnet and with an in her left hand raising herself to pull down	45
a blossom she observed him mr she said innocently smiling why i j tales have been thinking of you many times since mrs went by in the pony carriage and now here you are yes he then she seemed to recall particulars of their last meeting and he believed that she flushed though it might have been only the fancy of his own i am going to the harbour he added are you remarked simply a great many people begin to go there now the summer is drawing on her face had come more into his view as she spoke and he noticed how much thinner and paler it was than when he had seen it last how weary you look tell me can i help you he was going to cry out if i do he thought it will be the ruin of us both he merely said that the afternoon was and went on his way as he went a sudden blast of air came over the hill as if in contradiction to his words and spoilt the previous quiet of the scene the wind had already shifted violently and now smelt of the sea the harbour road soon began to justify its name a gap appeared in the of hills which shut out the sea and on the left of the opening rose a cliff coloured a burning orange by the sunlight the companion cliff on the right being livid in shade between these cliffs like the bay which sheltered the was a little haven seemingly a beginning made by nature herself of a perfect harbour which appealed to the by as only requiring a little human industry to finish it and make it famous the ground on each side as far back as the slopes that bounded the interior valley being a mere of blown sand but the port a mile inland had in the course of ten centuries responded many times to that mute appeal with the result that fellow the tides had invariably choked up their works with sand and as soon as completed there were but few houses here a rough pier a few boats some stores an inn a residence or two a in the harbour were the chief features of the settlement on the open ground by the shore stood his wife s pony carriage empty the boy in attendance holding the horse when drew nearer he saw an coloured spot moving swiftly along beneath the radiant base of the eastern cliff which proved to be a man in a running with all his might he held up his hand to as it seemed and they approached each other the man was local but a stranger to him what is it my man said a terrible calamity the hastily explained two ladies had been in a boat they were mrs and mrs of the old town they had driven down there that afternoon they had alighted and it was so fine that after walking about a little while they had been tempted to go out for a short sail round the cliff just as they were putting in to the shore the wind shifted with a sudden gust the boat over and it was thought they were both drowned how it could have happened was beyond his mind to for john green knew how to sail a boat as well as any man there which is the way to the place said it was just round the cliff run to the carriage and tell the boy to bring it to the place as soon as you can then go to the harbour inn and tell them to ride to town for a doctor have they been got out of the water one lady has which mrs mrs it is feared has out to sea z i tales ran on to that part of the shore which the cliff had hitherto obscured from his view and there discerned a long way ahead a group of standing as soon as he came up one or two recognized him and not liking to meet his eye turned aside with he went amidst them and saw a small sailing boat lying at the water s edge and on the sloping beside it a soaked and sandy woman s form in the velvet dress and yellow gloves of his wife had been done that could be done mrs was in her own house under medical hands but the result was still uncertain had acted as if devotion to his wife were the dominant passion of his existence there had been much to decide whether to attempt restoration of the apparently lifeless body as it lay on the shore whether to carry her to the harbour inn whether to drive with her at once to his own house the first course with no skilled help or near at hand had seemed hopeless the second course would have occupied nearly as much time as a drive to the town owing to the intervening of and the necessity of crossing the harbour by boat to get to the house added to which much time must have elapsed before a doctor could have arrived down there by bringing her home in the carriage some precious moments had slipped by but she had been laid in her own bed in seven minutes a doctor called to her side and every possible brought to bear upon her at what a tearing pace he had driven up that road through the yellow evening sunlight the shadows flapping into his eyes as each object rushed past between him and the west tired workmen with their baskets at their backs had turned on tales their homeward journey to wonder at his speed between the shore and port town he had met who had been the first surgeon to hear of the accident he was accompanied by his assistant	45
in a had sent on the latter to the coast in case that s poor wife should by that time have been from the waves and had brought back with him to the house s presence was not needed here and he felt it to be his next duty to set off at once and find that no other than himself might break the news to him he was quite sure that no chance had been lost for mrs by his leaving the shore by the time that mrs had been laid in the carriage a much larger group had assembled to lend assistance in finding her friend rendering his own help superfluous but the duty of breaking the news was made doubly painful by the circumstance that the catastrophe which had befallen mrs was solely the result of her own and her husband s loving kindness towards himself he found in his office when the comprehended the intelligence he turned pale stood up and remained for a moment perfectly still as if of his faculties then his shoulders heaved he pulled out his handkerchief and began to cry like a child his sobs might have been heard in the next room he seemed to have no idea of going to the shore or of doing anything but when took him gently by the hand and proposed to start at once he quietly neither uttering any further word nor making any effort to repress his tears accompanied him to the shore where finding that no trace had as yet been seen of mrs and that his stay would be of no avail he left with his friends and the young doctor and once more hastened back to his own house a fellow at the door he met well said i have just come down said the doctor we have done everything but without result i with you in your did not much appreciate s sympathy which sounded to his ears as something of a mockery from the lips of a man who knew what knew about their domestic relations indeed there seemed an odd spark in s full black eye as he said the words but that might have been imaginary and mr resumed that little matter between us i hope to settle it finally in three weeks at least never mind that now said abruptly lie directed the surgeon to go to the harbour in case his services might even now be necessary there and himself entered the house the servants were coming from his wife s chamber looking helplessly at each other and at him he passed them by and entered the room where he stood regarding the bed for a few minutes after which he walked into his own dressing room adjoining and there paced up and down in a minute or two he noticed what a strange and total silence had come over the upper part of the house his own movements muffled as they were by the carpet seemed noisy and his thoughts to disturb the air like articulate his eye glanced through the window far down the road to the harbour a roof detained his gaze out of it rose a red chimney and out of the red chimney a curl of smoke as from a fire newly kindled he had often seen such a sight before in that house lived and the smoke was from the fire which was regularly lighted at this time to make her tea after that he went back to the bedroom and stood there some time regarding his wife s silent form she was a woman some years older than himself but had tales not by any means the maturity of good looks and vigour her passionate features well defined firm and in life were doubly so now her mouth and brow beneath her black hair showed only too clearly that the of character which had made a garden of his house had been no temporary phase of her existence while he reflected he suddenly said to himself i wonder if all has been done the thought was led up to by his having fancied that his wife s features lacked in its complete form the expression which he had been accustomed to associate with the faces of those whose spirits have fled for ever the of life was not so marked but that entering he might have supposed her sleeping her complexion was that seen in the numerous faded portraits by sir it was pallid in comparison with life but there was visible on a close inspection the remnant of what had once been a flush the keeping between the cheeks and the hollows of the face being thus preserved although positive colour was gone long orange rays of evening sun stole in through in the blind striking on the large mirror and being thence reflected upon the crimson and of the heavy so that the general tone of light was remarkably warm and it was probable that something might be due to this circumstance still the fact impressed him as strange had been gone more than a quarter of an hour could it be possible that he had left too soon and that his attempts to restore her had so as only now to have made themselves felt laid his hand upon her chest and that ever and anon a faint flutter of gentle as that of a butterfly s wing disturbed the stillness there ceasing for a time then struggling to go on then breaking down in weakness and ceasing again fellow s mother had been an active of the healing art among her poorer neighbours and her had all been derived from an volume of domestic medicine which at this moment was lying as it had lain for many years on a shelf in s dressing room he hastily fetched it and there read under the head drowning exertions for	45
the recovery of any person who has not been for a longer period half an hour should be continued for at least four hours as there have been many cases in which returning life has made itself visible even after a longer interval should however a weak action of any of the organs show itself when the case seems almost hopeless our efforts must be the feeble spark in this case requires to be it will certainly disappear under a of labour looked at his watch it was now barely two hours and a half from the time when he had first heard of the accident he threw aside the book and turned quickly to reach a which had previously been used pulling up the blind for more light his eye glanced out of the window there he saw that red chimney still smoking cheerily and that roof and through the roof that somebody his mechanical movements stopped his hand remained on the and he seemed to become breathless as if he had suddenly found himself treading a high rope while he stood a lighted on the saw him and flew away next a man and a dog walked over one of the green hills which above the roofs of the town but took no notice we may wonder what were the exact images that passed through his mind during those minutes of gazing upon s house the the man and the dog and s house again there are honest men who will not admit to their thoughts even as idle views of the future that assume as tales done a deed which they would from doing and there are other honest men for whom morality ends at the surface of their own heads who will deliberate what the first will not so much as suppose had a wife whose presence distracted his home she now lay as in death by merely doing nothing by letting the intelligence which had gone forth to the world lie undisturbed he would effect such a for himself as he had never hoped for and open up an opportunity of which till now he had never dreamed whether the had arisen through any ill considered impulse of to help out of a strait the friend who was so kind as never to press him for what was due could not be told there was nothing to prove it and it was a question which could never be asked the situation himself his wife was the one clear thing from s actions we may infer that he supposed such and such a result for a moment but did not deliberate he withdrew his eyes from the scene without calmly turned rang the bell for assistance and vigorously exerted himself to learn if life still lingered in that motionless frame in a short time another surgeon was in attendance and then s proved to be true the slow life timidly heaved again but much care and patience were needed to catch and retain it and a considerable period elapsed before it could be said with certainty that mrs lived when this was the case and there was no further room for doubt left the chamber the blue evening smoke from s chimney had died down to an stream and as he walked about downstairs he murmured to himself my wife was dead and she is alive again it was not so with after three hours his wife s body had been recovered life of fellow course being quite extinct on descending went straight to his friend s house and there learned the result was helpless in his wild grief occasionally even hysterical said little but finding that some guiding hand was necessary in the sorrow stricken household took upon him to and manage till should be in a state of mind to do so for vi one september evening four months when mrs was in perfect health and mrs but a memory an errand boy paused to rest himself in front of mr s old house his basket on one of the window the street was not yet lighted but there were lights in the house and at intervals a flitting shadow fell upon the blind at his elbow words also were audible from the same apartment and they seemed to be those of persons in violent but the boy could not gather their purport and he went on his way ten minutes afterwards the door of s house opened and a tall closely veiled lady in a travelling dress came out and descended the steps the servant stood in the doorway watching her as she went with a measured tread down the street when she had been out of sight for some minutes appeared at the door from within did your mistress leave word where she was going he asked no sir is the carriage ordered to meet her anywhere no sir did she take a latch key no sir fellow went in again sat down in his chair and leaned back then in solitude and silence he over the bitter emotions that filled his heart it was for this that he had restored her to life and made his union with another impossible the evening drew on and nobody came to disturb him at he told the servants to retire that he would sit up for mrs himself and when they were gone he leaned his head upon his hand and mused for hours the clock struck one two still his wife came not and with impatience added to depression he went from room to room till another weary hour had passed this was not altogether a new experience for but she had never before so prolonged her absence at last he sat down again and fell asleep he awoke at six o clock to find that she had not returned in searching about the rooms	45
he discovered that she had taken a case of jewels which had been hers before her marriage at eight a note was brought him it was from his wife in which she stated that she had gone by the coach to the house of a distant relative near london and expressed a wish that certain boxes articles of clothing and so on might be sent to her forthwith the note was brought to him by a waiter at the black bull hotel and had been written by mrs immediately before she took her place in the stage by the evening this order was carried out and with a sense of relief walked out into the town a fair had been held during the day and the dear moon which rose ov r the most prominent hill flung its light upon the and that still remained in the street mixing its rays curiously with those from the lamps the town was fill of country people who had come in to enjoy themselves and on this account strolled through the streets unobserved with a certain he tales made for the harbour road and presently found himself by the shore where he walked on till he came to the spot near which his friend the kindly mrs had lost her life and his own wife s life had been preserved a tremulous pathway of bright now stretched over the water which had them and not a living soul was near here he on their characters and next on the young girl in whom he now took a more sensitive interest than at the time when he had been free to many her nothing so far as he was aware had ever appeared in his own conduct to show that such an interest existed he had made it a point of the utmost to hinder that feeling from in the faintest degree his attitude towards his wife and this was made all the more easy for him by the small demand mrs made upon his attentions for which she ever evinced the greatest contempt thus giving him the satisfaction of knowing that their owed nothing to jealousy or indeed to any personal behaviour of his at all her concern was not with him or his feelings as she frequently told him but that she had in a moment of weakness thrown herself away upon a common when she might have aimed at and possibly brought down a peer of the realm her frequent of in these terms had at times been so intense that he was sorely tempted to on her by that he loved at the same low level on which he lived but prudence had prevailed for which he was now thankful something seemed to sound upon the behind him over and above the of the wave he looked round and a slight girlish shape appeared quite close to him he could not see her face because it was in the direction of the moon mr the said in timid surprise the voice was the voice of fellow yes said how can i repay you for this pleasure i only came because the night was so clear i am now on my way home i am glad we have met i want to know if you will let me do something for you to give me an occupation as an idle man i am sure i ought to help you for i know you are almost without friends she hesitated why should you tell me that she said in the hope that you will be frank with me i am not altogether without friends here but i am going to make a little change in my life to go out as a teacher of drawing and practical perspective of course i mean on a comparatively humble scale because i have not been specially educated for that profession but i am sure i shall like it much you have an opening i have not exactly got it but i have advertised for one you must let me help you not at all you need not think it would compromise you or that i am indifferent to delicacy i bear in mind how we stand it is very unlikely that you will succeed as teacher of the class you mention so let me do something of a different kind for you say what you would like and it shall be done no if i can t be a drawing mistress or or something of that sort i shall go to india and join my brother i wish i could go abroad anywhere everywhere with you and leave this place and its associations for ever she played with the end of her bonnet string and hastily turned aside don t ever touch upon that kind of again she said with a quick severity not free tales anger it simply makes it impossible for me to see you much less receive any guidance from you no thank you mr you can do nothing for me at present and as i suppose my uncertainty will end in my leaving for india i fear you never will if ever i think you can do anything i will take the trouble to ask you till then good bye the tone of her latter words was and while he remained in doubt whether a gentle irony was or was not with their sound she swept lightly round and left him alone he saw her form get smaller and smaller along the damp belt of sea sand between ebb and flood and when she had vanished round tlie cliff into the road he himself followed in the same direction that her hopes from an advertisement should be the single thread which held in england was too much for on reaching the town he went straight to the residence of now a with four children the young brood had been sent	45
to bed about a quarter of an hour earlier and when entered he found sitting alone it was the same room as that from which the family had been looking out for at the beginning of the year when had slipped into the and his wife had been so tender towards him the old neatness had gone from the house articles lay in places which could show no reason for presence as if deposited there some months ago and forgotten ever since there were no flowers things were together on the furniture which should have been in and the place in general had that st air which usually the home of the soon renewed his customary full lament over his wife and even when he had worked himself up to tears went on as if a fellow were a luxury to be enjoyed whenever he could be caught she was a treasure beyond compare mr i shall never see such another nobody now to nurse me nobody to console me in those daily troubles you know which make consolation so necessary to a nature like mine it would be to for her spirit s home was elsewhere the tender light in her eyes always showed it but it is a long dreary time that i have before me and nobody else can ever fill the void left in my heart by her loss nobody nobody and wiped his eyes again she was a good woman in the highest sense gravely answered who though s words drew genuine compassion from his heart could not help feeling that a tender would have been a finer tribute to mrs s really sterling virtues than such a class lament as this i have something to show you resumed producing from a drawer a sheet of paper on which was an elaborate design for a tomb this has been sent me by the but it is not exactly what i want you have got jones to do it i see the man who is carrying out my house said as he glanced at the signature to the drawing yes but it is not quite what i want i want something more striking more like a tomb i have seen in st paul s cathedral nothing less will do justice to my feelings and how far short of them that will fall privately thought the design a sufficiently imposing one as it stood even but feeling that he had no right to he said gently should you not live more in your children s lives at the present time and soften the of regret for your own past by thinking of their future tales yes yes but what can i do more asked his forehead hopelessly it was with anxious that produced his reply the secret object of his visit to night did you not say one day that you ought by rights to get a for the children admitted that he had said so but that he could not see his way to it the kind of woman i should like to have he said would be rather beyond my means no i think i shall send them to school in the town when they are old enough to go out alone now i know of something better than that the late lieutenant s daughter wants to do something for herself in the way of teaching she would be and would answer your purpose as well as anybody for six or twelve months she would probably come daily if you were to ask her and so your housekeeping arrangements would not be much affected i thought she had gone away said the musing where does she live told him and added that if should think of her as suitable he would do well to call as soon as possible or she might be on the wing if you do see her he said it would be advisable not to mention my name she is rather stiff in her ideas of me and it might prejudice her against a course if she knew that i recommended it promised to give the subject his consideration and nothing more was said about it just then but when rose to go which was not till nearly he reminded of the suggestion and went up the street to his own solitary home with a sense of satisfaction at his promising in a charitable cause vii he walls of his new house were carried up nearly to their full height by a curious though not reaction s feelings about that unnecessary structure had undergone a change he took considerable interest in its progress as a long n thing his wife before her departure having grown quite weary of it as a moreover it was an excellent distraction for a man in the unhappy position of having to live in a provincial town with nothing to do he was probably the first of his line who had ever passed a day without toil and perhaps something like an inherited instinct such men for a life of pleasant such as lies in the power of those whose leisure is not a personal accident but a vast historical which has become part of their natures thus got into a way of spending many of his leisure hours on the site of the new building and he might have been seen on most days at this time trying the temper of the mortar by the joints with his stick looking at the grain of a floor board and meditating where it grew or under what circumstances the last fire would be kindled in the at present chimneys one day when thus occupied he saw three children pass by in the company of a fair young woman whose sudden appearance caused him to flush i s tales ah she is there he thought that s a blessed thing casting an	45
interested glance over the rising building and the busy workmen and the little passed by and after that time it became a though almost unconscious custom of to stand in the half completed house and look from the windows at the as she tripped towards the sea shore with her young charges which she was in the habit of doing on most fine it was on one of these occasions when he had been on the first floor landing near the hole left for the staircase not yet erected that there appeared above the edge of the floor a little hat followed by a little head withdrew through a doorway and the child came to the top of the ladder stepping on to the floor and crying to her sisters and miss to follow another head rose above the floor and another and then herself came into view the troop ran hither and thither through the empty strewn rooms and came forward uttered a small exclamation she was very sorry that she had she had not the least idea that mr was there the children had come up and she had followed replied that he was only too glad to see them there and now let me show you the rooms he said she assented and he took her round there was not much to show in such a bare skeleton of a house but he made the most of it and explained the different ornamental that were soon to be fixed here and there made but few remarks in reply though she seemed pleased with her visit and stole away down the ladder followed by her companions after this the new residence became yet more of a for s children did not forget their fellow first visit and when the windows were glazed and the handsome staircase spread its broad low steps into the hall they came again in succession through every room from ground floor to while stood waiting for them at the door who rarely missed a day in coming to inspect progress stepped out from the drawing room i could not keep them out she said with an blush i tried to do so very much but they are rather wilful and we are directed to walk this way for the sea air do let them make the house their regular and you yours said there is no better place for children to and take their exercise in than an empty house particularly in muddy or damp weather such as we shall get a good deal of now and this place will not be furnished for a long long time perhaps never i am not at all decided about it o but it must replied looking round at the the rooms are excellent twice as high as ours and the views from the windows are so lovely i i he said will all the furniture be new she asked all the furniture be new that s a thing i have not thought of in fact i only come here and look on my father s house would have been large enough for me but another person had a voice in the matter and it was settled that we should build however the place grows upon me its recent associations are cheerful and i am getting to like it fast a certain uneasiness in s manner showed that the conversation was taking too personal a turn for her still as modem tastes develop people require more room to gratify them in she said withdrawing to call the children and serenely bidding him good afternoon she went on her way life at this period was singularly lonely and tales yet he was happier than he could have expected his wife s and absence which promised to l e permanent left him free as a boy in his movements and the solitary walks that he took gave him ample opportunity for reflection on what might have been his lot if he had only shown wisdom enough to claim when there was no bar between their lives and she was to be had for the asking he would occasionally call at the house of his friend but there was scarcely enough in common between their two natures to make them more than friends of that excellent sort whose personal knowledge of each other s history and character is always in excess of intimacy whereby they are not so likely to be severed by a clash of sentiment as in cases where intimacy springs up in excess of knowledge was never visible at these times being either engaged in the school room or in taking an out of doors but knowing that she was now comfortable and had given up the to him idea of going off to the other side of the globe he was quite content the new house had so far that the were beginning to grass down the front during an afternoon which he was passing in marking the curve for the carriage drive he beheld her coming in boldly towards him from the road hitherto had only caught her on the premises by and this advance seemed to show that at last her reserve had broken down a smile gained strength upon her face as she approached and it was quite radiant when she came up and said without a trace of embarrassment i find i owe you a hundred thanks and it comes to me quite as a surprise it was through your kindness that i was engaged by mr believe me mr b i did not know it until yesterday or i should have thanked you long and long ago fellow i had offended you just a trifle at the time i think said smiling and it was best that you should not know yes yes she returned hastily don t allude to that it is	45
past and over and we will let it be the house is finished almost is it not how beautiful it will look when the are grown do you call the style mr i really don t quite know what it is yes it must be certainly but i ll ask jones the for to tell the truth i had not thought much about the style i had nothing to do with choosing it i am sorry to say she would not let him harp on this gloomy refrain and talked on bright matters till she said producing a small roll of paper which he had noticed in her hand all the while mr wished me to bring you this drawing of the late mrs s tomb which the has just sent him he would like you to look it over the children came up with their and she went off with them down the harbour road as usual had been glad to get those words of thanks he had been thinking for many months that he would like her to know of his share in finding her a home such as it was and what he could not do for himself had now kindly done for him he returned to his desolate house with a lighter tread though in reason he hardly knew why his tread should be light on examining the drawing found that instead of the vast altar tomb and had determined on at their last meeting it was to be a more modest memorial even than had been suggested by the a tomb of good solid construction with no useless at all was truly glad to see that had come to reason of his own accord nd he returned the drawing with a note of approval tales hi followed up the house work as before and as he walked up and down the rooms occasionally gazing from the windows over the green hills and the quiet harbour that lay between them he murmured words and fragments of words which if listened to would have revealed all the secrets of his existence whatever his reason in going there did not call again the walk to the shore seemed to be abandoned he must have thought it as well for both that it should be so for he did not go anywhere out of his accustomed ways to endeavour to discover her viii he winter and the spring had passed and the house was complete it was a fine morning in the early part of june and though not in the habit of rising early had taken a long walk before breakfast returning by way of the new building a sufficiently exciting cause of his restlessness to day might have been the intelligence which had reached him the night before that was going to india after all and not the representations of her friends that such a journey was in many ways for an girl unless some more definite advantage lay at the end of it than she could show to be the case s walk up the slope to the building betrayed that he was in a dissatisfied mood he hardly saw that the time of day lent an unusual freshness to the bushes and trees which had so recently put on their summer habit of heavy and made his newly laid lawn look as well established as an old meadow the house had been so placed between six tall elms which were growing on the site beforehand that they seemed like real trees and the young and old to their visitor the door was not locked and he entered no workmen appeared to be present and he walked from tales sunny window to sunny window of the empty rooms with a sense of seclusion which might have been very pleasant but for the knowledge that his almost paternal care of was to be thrown away by her footsteps echoed through an adjoining room and bending his eyes in that direction he perceived mr jones the he had come to look over the building before giving the his final they walked over the house together everything was finished except the there were the latest improvements of the period in bell hanging smoke and french windows the business was soon ended and jones having directed s attention to a roll of wall paper patterns which lay on a bench for his choice was leaving to keep another engagement when said is the tomb finished yet for mrs well yes it is at last said the coming back and speaking as if he were in a mood to make a confidence i have had no end of trouble in the matter and to tell the truth i am heartily glad it is over expressed his surprise i thought poor had given up those extravagant notions of his then he has gone back to the altar and after all well he is to be excused poor fellow no he has not at all gone back to them quite the reverse jones hastened to say he has so reduced design after design that the whole thing has been nothing but waste labour for me till in the end it has become a common which a put up in half a day a common said yes i held out for some time for the addition of a at least but he said o no he couldn t afford it fellow ah well his family is growing up poor fellow and his expenses are getting serious yes exactly said jones as if the subject were none of his and again directing s attention to the wall papers the bustling left him to keep some other engagement a common murmured left again to himself he mused a minute or two and next began looking over and selecting from the patterns but had not long been engaged in the	45
work when he heard another footstep on the gravel without and somebody enter the open porch went to the door it was his in search of him i have been trying for some time to find you sir he said this letter has come by the post and it is marked immediate and there s this one from mr who called just now wanting to see you he searched his pocket for the second took the first letter it had a black border and bore the london it was not in his wife s handwriting or in that of any person he knew but conjecture soon ceased as he read the page wherein he was briefly informed that mrs had died suddenly on the previous day at the furnished villa she had occupied near london looked vaguely round the empty hall at the blank walls out of the doorway drawing a long breath and with eyes downcast he turned and climbed the stairs slowly like a man who doubted their the fact of his wife having as it were died once already and lived on again had entirely the possibility of her actual death from his conjecture he went to the landing over the and after a reverie of whose duration he had but the faintest notion turned to the window and stretched his gaze to the cottage down the road which was visible tales from his landing and from which still walked to the s house by a cross path the int words that came from his moving lips were simply at then almost involuntarily fell down on his knees and murmured some words of surely his virtue in restoring his wife to life had been rewarded but as if the impulse struck uneasily on his conscience he quickly rose brushed the dust from his trousers and set himself to think of his next movements he could not start for london for some hours and as he had no preparations to make that could not be made in half an hour he mechanically descended and resumed his occupation of turning over the wall papers they had all got brighter for him those papers it was all changed who would sit in the rooms that they were to he went on to muse upon s conduct in so frequently coming to the house with the children her occasional blush in speaking to him her evident interest in him what woman can in the long run avoid being interested in a man whom she knows to be devoted to her if human could ever effect anything there should be no going to india for now all the papers previously chosen seemed wrong in their shades and he b an from the beginning to choose again while entering on the task he heard a forced from without the porch evidently uttered to attract his attention and footsteps again advancing to the door his man whom he had quite forgotten in his mental turmoil was still waiting there i beg your pardon sir the man said from round the doorway but here s the note from mr that you didn t take he called just after you went out and as he couldn t wait he wrote this or your study table fellow he handed in the letter no black bordered one now but a practical looking note in the well known writing of the it ran perhaps you will be prepared for the information i am about to give that and myself are going to be married this morning i have hitherto said nothing as to my intention to any of my friends for reasons which i am sure you will fully appreciate the crisis has been brought about by her expressing her intention to join her brother in india i then discovered that i could not do without her it is to be quite a private wedding but it is my particular wish that you come down here quietly at ten and go to church with us it will add greatly to the pleasure i shall experience in the ceremony and i believe to s also i have called on you very early to make the request in the belief that i should find you at home but you are beforehand with me in your early rising yours sincerely c downs need i wait sir said the servant after a dead silence that will do william no answer said calmly when the man had gone re read the letter turning eventually to the wall papers which he had been at such pains to select he deliberately tore them into and quarters and threw them into the empty then he went out of the house locked the door and stood in the front awhile instead of returning into the town he went down the and thoughtfully lingered about by the sea near the spot where the body of s late wife had been found and brought ashore was a man with a rich capacity for misery and there is no doubt that he exercised it to its fullest extent now the events that had as it were dashed themselves together into one half hour of this day showed that curious refinement of cruelty in their which often proceeds from the om q tales the god at other times known as blind circumstance that his few minutes of hope between the reading of the first and second letters had carried him to extraordinary heights of rapture was proved by the of his suffering now the sun blazing into his face would have shown a close that a line which he had never noticed before but which was never to be gone thereafter was somehow gradually forming itself in the smooth of his forehead his eyes of a light had a curious look which can only be described by the word bruised the sorrow that	45
in the proceeds to the account of an unknown person at one of the large london banks the person was by some supposed to be himself under an assumed name but few if any had certain knowledge of that ct the el ant new residence was sold with the rest of his possessions and its was no other than now a man in the and one whose growing family and new wife required more accommodation than was afforded by the little house up the narrow side street s old habitation was bought by the of the body in that town who pulled down the time honoured dwelling and built a new chapel on its site by the time the last hour of that to year had every of him had disappeared from the of his native place and the name became extinct in the of port after having been fi living therein for more than two hundred year ix one years and six months do not pass setting a mark even upon stone and triple brass upon humanity such a period works nothing less than in s old young children with bones like india rubber had grown up to be stable men and women men and women had dried in the skin withered and sunk into while from every class had been consigned to the of differences the greatest was that a railway had invaded the town tying it on to a main line at a a dozen miles off s house on the harbour road once so new had acquired a respectable with ivy virginia damp patches and even constitutional of its own like its elder fellows its architecture once so very improved and modern had already become stale in style without having reached the dignity of being old fashioned trees about the harbour road had increased in or disappeared under the saw while the church had had such a tremendous practical joke played upon it by some or other as to be scarce by its dearest old friends during this long interval george had never once t een seen or heard of in the town of his z o fellow it was the evening of a market day and some middle aged farmers and were lounging round the bar of the black hotel occasionally dropping a remark to each other and less frequently to the two who stood within the counter in a attitude of attention these latter sighing and making a private observation to one another at odd intervals on more interesting experiences than the present days get shorter said one of the as he looked towards the street and noticed that the was passing by the farmers merely acknowledged by their countenances the propriety of this remark and finding that nobody else spoke one of the said yes in a tone of painful duty come fair day we shall have to light up before we start for home along that s true his neighbour with a gaze of and after that we shan t see much further difference all s winter the rest were not unwilling to go even so far as this the sighed again and raised one of her hands from the counter on which they rested to scratch the smallest surface of her face with the smallest of her fingers she looked towards the door and presently remarked i think i hear the coming in from station the eyes of the and farmers turned to the glass door dividing the hall from the porch and in a minute or two the drew up outside then there was a down of luggage and then a man came into the hall followed by a porter with a on his which he deposited on a bench the stranger was an elderly with curly z l tales white hair a deeply outer comer to each and a countenance baked by innumerable to the colour of its hue and that of his hair like heat and cold he walked and gently like one who was of disturbing his own mental but whatever lay at the bottom of his breast had evidently made him so accustomed to its situation there that it caused him little practical inconvenience he paused in silence while with his eyes fixed on the he seemed to consider himself in a moment or two he addressed them and asked to be for the night as he waited he looked curiously round the hall but said nothing as soon as invited he disappeared up the staircase preceded by a and candle and followed by a lad with his trunk not a soul had recognized him a quarter of an hour later when the farmers and had driven off to their in the country he came downstairs took a and one glass of wine and walked out into the town where the radiance from the shop windows had grown so in volume of late years as to flood with cheerfulness every standing cart stall and that occupied the whether shabby or genteel his chief interest at present seemed to lie in the names painted over the shop fronts and on door ways as far as they were visible these now differed to an ominous extent from what they had been one and twenty years before the traveller passed on till he came to the s where he looked in through the glass door a fresh faced young man was standing behind the counter otherwise the shop was empty the gray haired observer entered asked for some by way of paying for admission and with his elbow on the counter began to turn over the pages he had bought though that he read nothing was obvious i a fellow at length he said is old mr still alive in a voice which had a curious youthful in it even now my father is dead sir said the young man ah i am sorry to hear it said	45
the stranger but it is so many years since i last visited this town that i could hardly expect it should be otherwise after a short silence he continued and is the firm of and company still in existence they used to be large merchants and here the firm is still going on sir but they have dropped the name of i believe that was a sort of name at least i never knew of any living tis now and co and does jones still keep on as he s dead sir and the of st mary s mr he s been dead a great many years dear me he paused yet longer and cleared his voice is mr the still in practice no sir he s dead he died about seven years ago here it was a longer silence still and an attentive observer would have noticed that the paper in the stranger s hand increased its tremor to a visible shake that gray gentleman noticed it himself and rested the paper on the counter is mrs still alive he asked closing his lips firmly as soon as the words were out of his mouth and dropping his eyes yes sir she s alive and well she s living at the old place in east street o no at ch i believe it has been in the family for some generations tales she lives with her children perhaps no she has no children of her own there were some miss i think they were mr s daughters by a former wife but they are married and living in other parts of the town mrs lives alone quite alone yes sir quite alone the newly arrived gentleman went back to the hotel and dined after which he made some change in his dress shaved back his beard to the fashion that had prevailed twenty years earlier when he was young and interesting and once more emerging bent his steps in the direction of the harbour road just before getting to the point where the pavement ceased and the houses isolated themselves he overtook a stooping man who at first sight appeared like a professional tramp his shoulders having a perceptible as they passed under the each turned and regarded the other and the tramp like gentleman started back good why is that mr tis mr surely yes and you are yes ah you notice my appearance the have rather ill used me by the bye that fifty pounds i never paid it did i but i was not ungrateful here the stooping man laid one hand emphatically on the palm of the other i gave you a chance mr george which many men would have thought full value received the chance to marry your as far as the world was concerned your wife was a drowned woman hey heaven forbid all that well well twas a wrong way of showing gratitude i suppose and now a drop of something to drink for old acquaintance and mr she s again fellow free there s a chance now if you care for it ha ha and the speaker pushed his tongue into his hollow cheek and his eye in the old fashion i know all said quickly and slipping a small present into the hands of the man he stepped ahead and was soon in the outskirts of the town he reached the harbour road and paused before the entrance to a well known house it was so highly in trees and shrubs planted since the of the building that one would scarcely have recognized the spot as that which had been a mere neglected slope till chosen as a site for a dwelling he opened the swing gate closed it noiselessly and gently moved into the drive which remained exactly as it had been marked out by on the morning when ran in to thank him for her the post of to s children but the growth of trees and bushes which revealed itself at every step was beyond all expectation sun proof and moon proof the walks and the walls of the house were uniformly bearded with creeping plants as high as the first floor windows after lingering for a few minutes in the dusk of the bending boughs the visitor rang the door bell and on the servant appearing he announced himself as an old friend of mrs s the hall was lighted but not brightly the gas being turned low as if visitors were rare there was a in the dwelling it seemed to be waiting could it really be waiting for him the which had been by s walking stick when the mortar was green were now quite brown with the antiquity of their and the ornamental of the staircase which had with a pale yellow when first erected was now of a rich wine colour during the servant s absence the following i s tales could be dimly heard through the nearly door of the drawing room he didn t give his name he only said an old friend ma am what of gentleman is he a gentleman with gray hair the voice of the second speaker seemed to affect the listener greatly after a pause the lady said very well i will see him and the stranger was shown in face to face with the who had once been the round cheek of that formerly young lady had of course its curve in her modern representative a her once dark brown hair like morning on the parting down the middle was wide and jagged once it had been a thin white line a narrow between two high banks of shade but there was still enough left to form a handsome behind and some curls beneath with a few hairs like silver wires were very becoming in her eyes the only was that their	45
originally mild of expression had become a little more than heretofore yet she still girlish a girl who had been by destiny with a burden of five and forty years instead of her proper twenty don t you know me he said when the servant had closed the door i knew you the instant i saw you she returned cheerfully i don t know why but i always thought you would come back to your old town again she gave him her hand and then they sat down they said you were dead continued but i never thought so we should have heard of it for certain if you had been it is a very long time since we met yes what you must have seen mr in all fellow these in comparison with what i have seen in this quiet her fact grew more serious you know my husband has been dead a long time i am a lonely old woman now considering what i have been though mr s daughters all married manage to keep me pretty cheerful and i am a lonely old man and have been any time these twenty years but where have you kept yourself and why did you go oflf so mysteriously well i have kept myself a little in america and a little in a little in india a little at the cape and so on i have not stayed in any place for a long time as it seems to me and yet more than twenty years have flown but when people get to my age two years go like one your second question why did i go away so mysteriously is surely not necessary you guessed why didn t you no i never once guessed she said simply nor did charles nor did anybody as far as i know well indeed now it over again and then look at me and say if you can t guess she looked him in the face with an inquiring smile surely not because of me she said pausing at the commencement of surprise nodded and smiled again but his smile was than hers because i married charles she asked yes solely because you married him on the day i was free to ask you to marry me my wife died twenty hours before you went to church with the fixing of my journey at that particular moment was because of her but once away i knew i should have no to come back and took my steps accordingly her face assumed an aspect of gentle reflection and she looked up and down his form with great interest k tales in her eyes i never thought of it she said i knew of course that you had once implied some warmth of feeling towards me but i concluded that it passed off and i have always been under the impression that your wife was alive at the time of my marriage was it not stupid of me but you will have some tea or something i have never dined late you know since my husband s death i have got into the way of making a regular meal of tea you will have some tea with me will you not the travelled man assented quite readily and tea was brought in they sat and over the meal regardless of the flying hour well well i said presently as for the first time he leisurely surveyed the room how like it all is and yet how different i just where your piano stands was a board on a couple of bearing the patterns of wall papers when i was last here i was choosing them standing in this way as it might be then my servant came in at the door and handed me a note so it was from and announced that you were just going to be married to him i chose no more wall papers tore up all those i had selected and left the house i never entered it again till now ah at last i understand it all she murmured they had both risen and gone to the fireplace the mantel came almost on a level with her shoulder which gently rested against it and laid his hand upon the shelf close beside her shoulder he said better late than never will you marry me now she started back and the surprise which was so obvious in her wrought even greater surprise in him that it should be so it was difficult to believe that she had been quite blind to the situation and yet all reason and common sense went to prove that she was not acting you take me quite unawares by such a question i she said with a forced laugh of uneasiness it was the first time she had shown any embarrassment at all why she added i couldn t marry you for the world not after all this why not it is i would i really think i may say it i would upon the whole rather marry you mr than any other man i have ever met if i ever dreamed of marriage again but i don t dream of it it is quite out of my thoughts i have not the least intention of marrying again but on my account couldn t you alter your plans a little come dear mr she said with a little flutter i would on your account if on anybody s in existence but you don t know in the least what it is you are asking such an thing i won t say ridiculous of course because i see that you are really in earnest and earnestness is never ridiculous to my mind well yes said more slowly dropping her hand which he had taken at the moment of	45
pleading i am in earnest the resolve two months ago at the cape to come back once more was it is true rather sudden and as i see now not well considered but i am in earnest in asking and i in declining with all good feeling and all kindness let me say that i am quite opposed to the idea of marrying a second time well no harm has been done he answered with the same subdued and tender that he had shown on such occasions in early life if you really won t accept me i must put up with it i suppose his eye fell on the clock as he spoke had you any notion that it was so late he asked how absorbed i have been she accompanied him to the hall helped him to tales put on his overcoat and let him out of the house herself good night said on the as the lamp shone in his face you are not offended with me i certainly not nor you with me i u consider whether i am or not he pleasantly replied good night she watched him safely through the gate and when his footsteps had died away upon the road closed the door softly and returned to the room here the modest widow long pondered his speeches with eyes dropped to an unusually low level s under the blow of her refusal greatly impressed her after having his long period of rendered useless by her decision he had shown no anger and had taken her words s if he deserved no better ones it was very gentlemanly of him certainly it was more than gentlemanly it was heroic and grand the more she meditated the more she questioned the virtue of her conduct in checking him so and went to her bedroom in a mood of dissatisfaction on looking in the glass she was reminded that there was not so much remaining of her former beauty as to make his frank declaration an impulsive natural homage to her cheeks and eyes it must undoubtedly have arisen from an old feeling of his deserving tenderest consideration she recalled to her mind with much pleasure that he had told her he was staying at the black bull hotel so that if after waiting a day or two he should not in his modesty call again she might then send him a nice little note to alter her views for the present was far from her intention but she would allow herself to be induced to the case as any generous woman ought to do the morrow came and passed and mr did not drop in at every knock light youthful hues flew across her cheek and she was abstracted in the presence of her other visitors in the evening she walked about the house not knowing what to do with herself the conditions of existence seemed totally different from those which ruled only four and twenty short hours ago what had been at first a sentiment was getting within her as a definite hope and her person was so informed by that emotion that she might almost have stood as its representative by the time the dock struck ten in short an interest in precisely resembling that of her early youth led her present heart to her yesterday s words to him and she longed to see him again the next day she walked out early thinking she might meet him in the street the growing beauty of her romance absorbed her and she went from the street to the fields and from the fields to the shore without any consciousness of distance till reminded by her weariness that she could go no further he had nowhere appeared in the evening she took a step which under the circumstances seemed she wrote a note to him at the hotel inviting him to tea with her at six precisely and her note in a quarter of an hour the messenger came back mr had left the hotel early in the morning of the day before but he had stated that he would probably return in the course of the week the note was sent back to be given to him immediately on his arrival there was no sign from the inn that this desired event had occurred either on the next day or the day following on both nights she had been restless and had scarcely slept half an hour on the saturday putting off all went herself to the black bull and questioned the staff closely tales mr had remarked when leaving that he might return on the thursday or friday but they were directed not to reserve a room for him unless he should write he had left no address sorrowfully took back her note went home and resolved to wait she did wait years and years but never reappeared at the at the he north road from is tedious and lonely especially in winter time along a part of its course it with long ash lane a monotonous track without a or hamlet for many miles and with veiy seldom a turning who are too old or too young or in other respects too weak for the distance to be traversed but who nevertheless have to walk it say as they look wistfully ahead once at the top of that hill and i must surely see the end of long ash lane but they reach the and long ash lane stretches in front as as before some few years ago a certain farmer was riding through this lane in the gloom of a winter the farmer s friend a was riding beside him a few paces in the rear rode the farmer s man all three were well on strong round and to be well was to be in better spirits about long ash lane than poor could attain to during	45
its passage but the farmer did not talk much to his friend as he rode along the enterprise which had brought him tales there filled his mind for in truth it was not altogether so important was it perhaps when estimated by its value to society at large but if the true measure of a deed be to the space it in the heart of him who it farmer charles s business to night could hold its own with the business of kings he was a large farmer his as it is called was probably thirty thousand pounds a year he had a great many draught horses a great many cows and of sheep a multitude this comfortable position was however none of his own making it had been created by his father a man of a very different stamp from the present representative of the line the father had been a one idea d character with a up pocket and a like eye with commercial in the son this trade had become into and the had disappeared he would have been called a sad man but for his constant care not to divide himself from lively friends by notes out of harmony with theirs he allowed his mind to be a quiet meeting place for memories and hopes so that naturally enough since succeeding to the agricultural calling and up to his present age of thirty two he had neither advanced nor as a a stationary result which did not one of his c nature since he had au that he desired the motive of his expedition tonight showed the same absence of anxious regard for number one the party rode on in the slow safe trot proper to night time and bad roads farmer s head rather up and down against the sky and his motions being repeated with bolder emphasis by his friend while those of the latter were in still less softened by art in the at the person of the lad who attended them a pair of hung one on each side of the latter against at each step and still further the grace of his seat on close inspection they might have been perceived to be open rush baskets one containing a turkey and the other some bottles of wine d ye feel ye can meet your fate like a man neighbour asked breaking a silence which had lasted while five and twenty had glided by mr with a half laugh murmured ay call it my fate hanging and go by destiny and then were silent again the darkness rapidly at intervals shutting down on the land in a perceptible like the wave of a wing the customary close of day was by a of the air with the fall of night had come a mist just damp enough to but not sufficient to them countrymen as they were born as may be said with only an open door between them and the four seasons they regarded the mist but as an added and ignored its quality they were travelling in a direction that was by no modern current of traffic the place of s pilgrimage being an old fashioned village one of the several villages of that name with a or lying where the people make the best and wine in all and where the smell of instead of stable refuse as elsewhere the lane was sometimes so narrow that the of the hedge which hung forward like rods over a stream scratched their hats and their whiskers as they passed yet this neglected lane had been a highway to queen elizabeth s subjects and the of the past its day was over now and its history as a national done for ever why i have decided to marry her resumed u tales in a measured musical voice of confidence which revealed a good deal of his composition as he glanced round to see that the lad was not too near is not only that i like her but that i can do no better even from a fairly practical point of view that i might ha looked higher is possibly true though it is really all nonsense i have had experience enough in looking above me no more superior women for me said i you know when sally is a comely independent simple character with no make up about her who ll think me as much a i superior to her as i used to think you know who i mean was to me i ay said however i shouldn t call sally hall simple because no sally is secondary because if some could be this one wouldn t tis a wrong to apply to a woman charles and affects me as your best man like cold water tis like a stage play by saying there s neither murder nor harm of any sort in it when that s what you ve paid your half crown to see well may your opinion do you good mine s a different one and turning the conversation from the philosophical to the practical expressed a hope that the said sally had received what he d sent on by the that day wanted to know what that was it is a dress said not exactly a though she may use it as one if she likes it is rather serviceable than suitable for the winter weather good said serviceable is a wise word in a i commend ye charles for said why should a woman dress up like a rope because she s going to do the most solemn deed of her life except dying faith why but she because she wiu i suppose said at the h in said the lane they followed had been nearly straight for several miles but it now took a turn and winding for some distance into two	45
by night country roads are apt to reveal qualities which pass without observation during day and though had travelled this way before he had not done so frequently sally having been at the house of a relative near hb own he never remembered seeing at this spot a pair of alternative ways looking so equally probable as these two did now rode on a few steps don t be out of heart he cried here s a come and this post and tell ns the way the lad dismounted and jumped into the hedge where the post stood under a tree the baskets or you ll up that wine cried as the young man began to the post baskets and all was ever less head in a world said here simple i ll do it he off and with much puffing climbed the post striking a match when he reached the top and moving the light along the arm the lad standing and gazing at the spectacle i have faced these twenty years with a temper as mild as milk said but such things as this don t come short of and flinging the match away he slipped down to the ground what s the matter asked not a letter sacred or heathen not so much as would tell us the way to the great fireplace ever i should sin to say it either the moss and have eat away the words or we have arrived in a land where the have lost the art o writing and should ha brought our compass like tales let us take the road said placidly i shan t be sorry to get there tis a tiresome ride i would have driven if i had known nor i neither sir said these plough my shoulder like a if tis much further to your lady s home i shall ask to be let carry half of these good things in my don t you be such a radical said sternly here i ll take the turkey this being done they went forward by the right hand lane which ascended a hill the left winding away under a plantation the pit a pat of their horses hoofs lessened up the slope and the directing post stood in solitude as before holding out its blank arms to the raw breeze which brought a from the wood as if the giant were sleeping there ii miles to the left of the travellers along the road they had not followed rose an old house with windows of ham hill stone and chimneys of lavish it stood at the top of a slope beside great village street and immediately in front of it grew a large tree whose roots formed a convenient staircase from the road below to the front door of the dwelling its situation gave the house what little name it possessed namely the some forty yards off a brook past which for its size made a great deal of noise at the back was a accessible for and live stock by a side thus much only of the character of the could be divined out of doors at this shady evening time but within there was plenty of light to see by as plenty was at beside a fireplace whose four arch was nearly hidden by a figured blue cloth were seated two women mother and daughter mrs hall and or sally for this as a part of the world where the latter had not as yet been as a vulgarity by the march of intellect the owner of the name was the young woman by whose means mr z x tales proposed to put an end to his bachelor condition on the approaching day the mother s had been so long ago as not to leave much mark of its occurrence upon her now either in face or clothes she had resumed the mob cap of her early married life its whiteness by a few rose du ribbons sally required no such to good nature lit up her gaze her features showed curves of decision and judgment and she might have been regarded without much mistake as a warm hearted quick spirited handsome girl she did most of the talking her mother listening with a half absent air as she picked up fragments of red hot wood with the and piled them upon the but the number of speeches that passed was very small in proportion to the exchanged long experience together often enabled them to see the course of thought in each other s minds without a word being spoken behind them in the centre of the room the table was spread for supper certain of air laden with fat which ever and anon entered from the kitchen its preparation there the new gown he was going to send you stays about on the way like himself sally s mother was saying yes not finished i cried sally lord i shouldn t be amazed if it didn t come at all i young men make such kind promises they are near you and forget em when they go away but he doesn t intend it as a wedding gown he gives it to me merely as a gown to wear when i like a travelling dress is what it would be called by some come or come late it don t much matter as i have a dress of my own to fall back upon but what time is it z at the she went to the family clock and opened the glass for the hour was not otherwise by night and indeed at all times was rather a thing to be than beheld so much more wall than window was there in the apartment it is nearly eight said she eight o clock and neither dress nor man said mrs hall mother	45
the way there said the son wearily having ruined myself don t let me ruin you by being seen in these for heaven s sake who do you say sally is going to be married to a farmer yes a gentleman farmer quite a wealthy man far better in station than she could have expected it is a good thing altogether well done little said her brother brightening and looking up at her with a smile i ought to have written but perhaps i have thought of you all the more but let me get out of sight i would rather go and jump into the river than be seen here but have you anything i can drink i am thirsty with my long tramp yes yes we will bring something upstairs to you said with grief in her face ay that will do nicely but sally and mother he stopped and they waited mother i have not told you all he resumed slowly still looking on the floor between his knees sad as what you see of me is there s worse behind his mother gazed upon him in grieved suspense at the and sally went and upon the listening for every sound and sighing suddenly she turned round saying let them come i don t care philip tell the worst and take your tim well then said the unhappy i am not the only one in mess would to heaven i were i but o i have a wife as destitute as i a wife said his mother unhappily i a wife yes that is the way with sons i and besides said he besides o philip surely i have two little children wife and children i whispered mrs hall sinking down confounded poor little things said sally involuntarily his mother turned again to him i suppose these helpless beings are left in no they are in england well i can only hope you ve left them in a respectable place have not left them at all they are here within a few yards of us in short they are in the stable where in the stable i did not like to bring them indoors till i had seen you mother and broken the bad news a bit to you they were very tired and are resting out there on some straw mrs hall s fortitude visibly broke down she had been brought up not without refinement and was even more moved by such a of genteel aims as this than a substantial s widow would in ordinary have been moved well it must be borne she said in a low voice with her hands tightly joined a tales starving son a starving wife starving children let it be but why is this come to us now to day tonight could no other misfortune happen to helpless women than this which will quite upset my poor girl s chance of a happy life why have you done us this wrong philip what respectable man will come here and marry open eyed into a family of nonsense mother said sally vehemently while her flushed isn t the man to desert me but if he should be and won t marry me because s come let him go and marry elsewhere i won t be ashamed of my own flesh and blood for any man in england not ii and then sally turned away and burst into tears wait till you are twenty years older and you will tell a different tale replied her mother the son stood up mother he said bitterly as i have come so i will go all i ask of you is that you will allow me and mine to lie in your stable to night i give you my word that we ll be gone by break of day and trouble you no further mrs hall the mother changed at that o no she answered hastily never shall it be said that i sent any of my own family from my door bring em in philip or take me out to them we will put em all into the large bedroom said sally brightening and make up a large fire let s go and help them in and call was the woman who assisted at the and she lived in a cottage hard by with her husband who attended to the cows sally went to fetch a lantern from the back kitchen but her brother said you won t want a light i lit tha lantern that was hanging there what must we call your wife asked mrs hall said philip z at the with over their heads they proceeded towards the back door one minute before you go interrupted philip i i haven t confessed all then heaven help us said mrs hall pushing to the door and clasping her hands in calm despair we passed through as we came he continued and i just looked in at the sow and to see if old still kept on there as usual the had come in from at that moment and that i was bound for this place for i think he knew me he asked me to bring on a s parcel for sally that was marked immediate my wife had walked on with the children twas a parcel and the paper was torn and i found on i looking at it that it was a thick warm gown i didn t wish you to see poor in a shabby state i was ashamed that you should twas not what she was born to i the parcel in the road took it on to her where she was waiting in the lower barn and told her i had managed to get it for her and that she was to ask no question she poor thing must have supposed i	45
obtained it on trust through having reached a place where i was known for she put it on gladly enough she has it on now sally has other gowns i sally looked at her mother speechless you have others i repeated with a sick man s impatience i thought to myself better cry than well is the dress of great consequence twas nothing very ornamental as far as i could see no no not of consequence returned sally sadly adding in a gentle voice you will not mind if i lend her another instead of that one will you philip s agitation at the confession had brought on tales another attack of the cough which seemed to shake him to pieces he was so obviously unfit to sit in a chair that they helped him upstairs at once and having hastily given him a cordial and kindled the bedroom fire they descended to fetch their unhappy new relations ill it was with strange feelings that the girl and her mother lately so cheerful passed out of the back door into the open air of the laden with hay and the breath of cows a fine had begun to fall and they trotted across the yard quickly the stable door was open a light shone from it from the lantern which always hung there and which philip had lighted as he said softly the door mrs hall pronounced the name i there was no answer for the moment looking in she was taken by surprise two people appeared before her for one instead of the woman she had expected mrs hall saw a pale dark eyed creature whose personality ruled her attire rather than was ruled by it she was in a new and handsome gown of course and an old bonnet she was standing up agitated her hand was held by her companion none else than sally s farmer charles upon whose fine figure the pale stranger s eyes were fixed as his were fixed upon her his other hand the rein of his horse which was standing as if just led in at sight of mrs hall th both turned looking at her in a way neither quite conscious nor unconscious and without seeming to recollect that words were tales as a solution to the scene in another moment sally entered also when mr dropped his companion s hand led the horse aside and came to greet his and mrs hall ah he said smiling with something like forced composure this is a way of arriving you will say my dear mrs hall but we lost our way which made us late i saw a light here and led in my horse at once my friend and my man have gone back to the little inn with theirs not to crowd you too much no sooner had i entered than i saw that this lady had taken temporary shelter here and found i was she is my daughter in law said mrs hall calmly my son too is in the house but he has gone to bed sally had stood staring at the scene until this moment hardly s shake of the hand the spell that bound her was broken by her perceiving the two little children seated on a heap of hay she suddenly went forward spoke to them and took one on her arm and the other in her hand and two children said mr showing thus that he had not been there long enough as yet to understand the situation my said mrs hall with as much affected ease as before philip wife in spite of this interruption to her first seemed scarcely so much affected by it as to feel any one s presence in addition to mr s however herself by a quick reflection she threw a sudden critical glance of her sad eyes upon mrs hall and apparently finding her satisfactory advanced to her in a meek then sally and the stranger spoke some friendly words to each other and sally went on with the children into the house mrs hall and followed and mr at the followed these looking at s dress and outline and listening to her voice like a man in a dream by the time the others reached the house sally had already gone upstairs with the tired children she against the wall for to come in and help to attend to them s house being a little spit and cabin leaning against the substantial of mrs hairs taller when she came a bed was made up for the little ones and some supper given to them on descending the stairs after seeing this done sally went to the sitting room young mrs hall entered it just in advance of her having in the retired with her mother in law to take her bonnet and otherwise make herself hence it was evident that no further communication could have passed between her and mr since their brief interview in the stable mr now arrived and broke up the restraint of the company after a few had passed between him and mrs hall by way of introduction they at once sat down to supper the present of wine and turkey not being produced for consumption to night lest the premature display of those gifts should seem to throw doubt on mrs hall s as a drink hearty mr drink hearty said that matron such as it is there s plenty of but perhaps wine is not to your taste though there s body in it quite the ma am quite the said the for though i inherit the principle from my father i am a on my mother s side she came from these parts you know and there s this to be said for t tis a more peaceful liquor and don t lie about a man like	45
is found to be the wife of a man who certainly seems to be worse off than i he had the prior claim said she what you knew him at that time yes yes please say no more she implored whatever my errors i have paid for them during the last five years the heart of was subject to sudden he was kind to a fault i am sorry from my soul he said involuntarily approaching her withdrew a step or two at which he became conscious of his movement and quickly took his former place here he stood without speaking and the little kettle began to sing well you might have been my wife if you had chosen he said at last but that s all past and gone however if you are in any trouble or poverty i shall be glad to be of service and as your relation by marriage i shall have a right to be does your uncle know of your distress my uncle is dead he left me without a and now we have two children to maintain what left you nothing how could he be so cruel as that i disgraced myself in his eyes now said earnestly let me take care of the children at least while you are so unsettled you belong to another so i cannot take care of you yes you can said a voice and suddenly a third figure stood beside them it was sally you can since you seem to wish to she repeated she no longer belongs to another my poor brother is dead her face was red her eyes sparkled and all the woman came to the front i have heard it she tales went on to him passionately you can protect her now as well as the children she turned then to her agitated sister in law i heard something said sally in a gentle murmur much from her previous passionate words and i went into his room it must have been the moment you left he went off so quickly and weakly and it was so unexpected that i couldn t leave even to call you was just able to gather from the confused discourse which followed that during his sleep by the fire this brother whom he had never seen had become worse and that during s absence for water the end had unexpectedly come the two young women hastened upstairs and he was again left alone after standing there a short time he went to the front door and looked out till softly closing it behind him he advanced and stood under the large the stars were flickering coldly and the which had just descended upon the earth in rain now sent up a chill from it was in a strange position and he felt it the unexpected appearance in deep poverty of a young lady daughter of a deceased naval officer who had been brought up by her a and had refused in marriage years ago the passionate almost angry of sally at them the abrupt announcement that was a widow all this coming together was a difficult to cope with in a moment and made him question whether he ought to leave the house or offer assistance but for sally s manner he would have done the latter he was still standing under the tree when the door in front of him opened and mrs hall came out she went round to the garden gate at the side without seeing him followed her intending to at the pausing outside as if in thought she proceeded to a spot where the sun came earliest in spring time and where the north wind never blew it was where the row of stood under the wall her object he waited till she had accomplished it it was the universal custom to wake the bees by tapping at their whenever a death occurred in the household under the belief that if this were not done the bees themselves would pine away and perish during the year as soon as an interior responded to her tap at the first hive mrs hall went on to the second and thus passed down the row as soon as she came back he met her what can i do in this trouble mrs hall he said o nothing thank you nothing she said in a tearful voice now just perceiving him we have called and her husband and they m l do everything necessary she told him in a few words the particulars of her son s arrival broken in health indeed at death s very door though they did not suspect it and suggested as the result of a conversation between her and her daughter that the wedding should be postponed yes of course said i think now to go straight to the inn and tell what has happened it was not till after he had shaken hands with her that he turned hesitatingly and added will you tell the mother of his children that as they are now left i shall be glad to take the eldest of them if it would be any convenience to her and to you mrs hall promised that her son s widow should be told of the offer and they parted he retired down the slope and disappeared in the direction of the inn where he informed of the circumstances meanwhile mrs hall had entered the house sally o was in the sitting room alone and her mother explained to her that had readily assented to the no doubt he has said sally with sad emphasis it is not put off for a week or a month or a year i never marry him and she will iv i i me passed and the household on the became again serene under the influences of daily routine a very correspondence dragged on between sally hall	45
the children s house would have seemed but little brighter than it had been before this led to occasional until sometimes declared to that such as his to early of the heart by back to the old point mostly failed of success perhaps was right he would say i should have gone on with sally better go with the tide and make the best of its course than stem it at the risk of a but he kept these thoughts to himself and was outwardly considerate and kind at the this somewhat barren tract of his life had extended to less than a year and a half when his ik ere cut short by the loss of the woman they concerned when she was in her grave he thought better of her than when she had been alive the farm was a worse place without her than with her after all no woman short of divine could have gone through such an experience as hers with her first husband without becoming a little her sympathies her sometimes unreasonable manner had covered a heart frank and well meaning and originally hopeful and warm she left him a tiny red infant in white to make life as easy as possible to this touching object became at once his care as this child learnt to walk and talk learnt to see in a scheme which pleased him revolving the experiment which he had hitherto made upon life he fancied he had gained wisdom from his mist es and caution from his what the scheme was needs no penetration to discover once more he had opportunity to and his ill wrought situations by returning to sally hall who still lived quietly on under her mother s roof at had been a woman to lend pathos and refinement to a home sally was the woman to it she would not as did despise the rural of a s fireside moreover she had a pre eminent for s household no other woman could make so desirable a mother to her brother s two children and s one as sally while now that had gone was a more promising husband for sally than he had ever been when liable to from an sentimental wound was not a man to act rapidly and the work ing out of his designs might have been delayed for some time but there came a winter evening pre ao tales like the one which had darkened over that former ride to and he asked himself why he should longer when the very landscape called for a repetition of that attempt he told his man to saddle the mare and himself with a younger s the two youngest children and rode off to make the journey a complete parallel to the first he would fain have had his old acquaintance with him but alas i was missing his removal to the other side of the county had left the breach which had arisen between him and and though had forgiven him a hundred times as had probably forgiven the effort of in present circumstances was one not likely to be made he himself up to as cheerful a pitch as he could without his former and became content with his own thoughts as he rode instead of the words of a companion the sun went down the boughs appeared scratched in like an against the sky old crooked men with at their backs said good night sir and replied good night right heartily by the time he reached the roads it was getting as dark as it had been on the occasion when climbed the directing post made no mistake this time nor shall i be able to mistake thank heaven when i arrive he murmured it gave him peculiar satisfaction to think that the proposed marriage like his first was of the nature of setting in order things long and not a momentary of fancy nothing the of his journey which seemed not half its former length though dark it was only between five and six when the chimneys of mrs hall s residence appeared in ao at the view behind the tree on second thoughts he retreated and put up at the ale house as in former time and when he had himself before the inn mirror called for something to drink and smoothed out the wrinkles of care he walked on to the with a quick step that evening sally was making for the who were now increased by two for her mother and herself no longer joined in the cows themselves but upon the whole there was little change in the household economy and not much in its appearance beyond such minor particulars as that the crack over the window which had been a hundred years coming was a trifle wider that the beams were a shade that the influence of had the open chimney corner by a grate that who had worn a cap when she had plenty of hair had left it ofl now she had scarce any because it was reported that caps were not fashionable and that sally s face had naturally assumed a more womanly and experienced cast mrs hall was actually lifting coals with the as she had used to do five years ago this very night if i am not mistaken she said laying on an not this very night though twas one night this week said the correct sally well tis near enough five years ago mr came to marry you and my poor boy came home to die she sighed ah sally she presently said if you had managed well mr would have had i you or none at the don t t e sentimental about that mother begged sally i didn t care to manage well in such a case though i liked him i wasn t so anxious i would never have married the man in	45
and ink and wrote her as manly and straightforward a proposal as any woman could wish to receive the reply came promptly dear mr i am as sensible as any woman can be of the goodness that leads you to make me this a second time better women than i would be proud of tiie honour for when i read your nice long speeches on and such like topics at the farmers club i do feel it an honour i assure you but my answer is just the same as before i will not try to explain what in truth i cannot explain my reasons i will simply say that i must decline to be married to you with good wishes as in former times i am your friend sally hall dropped the letter hopelessly beyond the n there was just a possibility of sarcasm in it nice long speeches on had a suspicious sound however sarcasm or none there was the answer and he had to be content he proceeded to seek relief in a business which at this time engrossed much of his attention that of clearing up a curious mistake just current in the county that he had been nearly ruined by the recent failure of a local bank a farmer named had lost heavily and the of name had probably led to the error in it was so persistent that it demanded several days of letter writing to set matters straight and per at the t ie world that he was as as ever he had been in his life he had hardly concluded this worrying task when to his delight another letter arrived in the handwriting of sally tore it open it was very short dear mr we have been so these last few days by the report that you were ruined by the of s bank that now it is contradicted i hasten by my mother s wish to say how truly glad we are to find there is no foundation for the report after your kindness to my poor brother s children i can do no less than write at such a moment we had a letter from each of them a few days ago your faithful friend y little woman said to himself with a smile then that was the secret of her refusal this time she thought i was ruined now such was that as hours went on he could not help feeling too generously towards sally to condemn her in this what did he want in a wife he asked himself love and integrity what next worldly wisdom and was there really more than worldly wisdom in her refusal to go aboard a sinking ship she now knew it was otherwise b ad he said i ll try her again the fact was he had so set his heart upon sally and sally alone that nothing was to be allowed to him and his reasoning was purely formal having been he waited on till a bright day late in may a day when all nature was in its trusting foolish way that it was going to out of doors for as he rode through long ash lane it was scarce as the trade of his two winter journeys no mistake could be made now even with his eyes shut the s note was at its best between april and and the in tales the sun behaved as as on a hearth though afternoon and about the same time as on the last occasion it was broad day and sunshine when he entered and the details of the were visible far up the road he saw sally in the garden and was set he had first intended to go on to the inn but no he said i ll tie my horse to the garden gate if all goes well it can soon be taken round if not i mount and ride away the tall shade of the darkened the room in which mrs hall sat and made her start for he had ridden by a side path to the top of the slope where seldom came in a few seconds he was in the garden with sally five ay three minutes did the business at the back of that row of bees though spring had come and heavenly blue consecrated the scene succeeded not said sally firmly i will never never marry you mr i would have done it once but now i never can but implored mr and with a burst of real eloquence he went on to declare all sorts of things that he would do for her he would drive her to see her mother every week take her to london settle so much money upon her heaven knows what he did not promise suggest and tempt her with but it availed nothing she interposed with a stout n which closed the course of his argument like an iron gate across a highway paused then said he simply you hadn t heard of my supposed failure when you declined last time i had not she said but if i had have been all the same and tis not because of any firom my you years ago no that is long past then you despise me at the no she slowly answered i don t altogether despise you i don t think you quite such a hero as i once did that s all the truth is i am happy enough as i am and i don t mean to marry at now may ask a favour sir she spoke with an charm which whenever he thought of it made him curse his loss of her as long as he lived to any extent please do not put this question to me any more friends as long as you like	45
but lovers and married never i never will said not if i live a hundred years and he never did that he had worn out his welcome in her heart was only too plain when his step children had grown up and were placed out in life all communication between and the hall family ceased it was only by chance that years after he learnt that sally notwithstanding the her attractions drew down upon her had refused several offers of marriage and steadily to her of leading a single life the distracted preacher bow his cold was cured something delayed the of the minister and a young man came temporarily in his stead it was on the of january that mr the young man in question made his humble entry into the village unknown and almost unseen but when those of the inhabitants who themselves of his connection became acquainted with him they were rather pleased with the substitute than otherwise though he had scarcely as yet acquired of character sufficient to steady the of the hundred and forty of pure blood who at this time lived in and to give in addition support to the mixed race which went to church in the morning and chapel in the evening or when there was a tea as many as a hundred and ten people more all told and the parish clerk in the winter time when it was too dark for the to observe who passed up the street at seven o clock which to be just to him he was never anxious to do it was owing to this of that the celebrated population puzzle arose among the tales gentry of the district around how could it be that a parish containing fifteen score of strong full grown and nearly thirteen score of well numbered barely twenty score in all the young man being personally interesting those with whom he came in contact were content to for a while the graver question of his it is said that at this time of his life his eyes were affectionate though without a ray of levity that his hair was curly and his figure tall that he was in short a very youth who won upon his female hearers as soon as they saw and heard him and caused them to say why didn t we know of this before he came that we might have him a warmer welcome i the fact was that knowing him to be only selected and expecting nothing remarkable in his person or doctrine they and the rest of his flock in had felt almost as indifferent about his advent as if they had been the in the country and he their true and appointed parson thus when set foot in the place nobody had secured a lodging for him and though his journey had given him a bad cold in the head he was forced to attend to that business himself on inquiry he learnt that the only possible accommodation in the village would be found at the house of one mrs at the upper end of the street it was a youth who gave this information and asked him who mrs might be the boy said that she was a widow woman who had got no husband because ie was dead mr he added had been a well to do man enough as the saying was and a farmer but he had gone off in a decline as regarded mrs s serious side gathered that she was one of the who went to church and chapel both a o the distracted preacher iii go there said feeling that in the absence of purely lodgings he could do no better she s a little particular and won t government folks or or the pa son s friends or such like said the lad ah that may be a promising sign i ll call or no just you go up and ask first if she can find room for me i have to see one or two persons on another matter you will find me down at the s in a quarter of an hour the lad came back and said that mrs would have no objection to accommodate him whereupon called at the house it stood within k garden hedge and seemed to be and comfortable he saw an elderly woman with whom he made arrangements to come the same night since there was no inn in the place and he wish to himself as soon as possible the village being a local centre from which he was to at once to the different small in the neighbourhood he forthwith sent his luggage to mrs s from the s where he had taken shelter and in the evening walked up to his temporary home as he now lived there felt it unnecessary to knock at the door and entering quietly he had the pleasure of hearing footsteps away like into the back quarters he advanced to the parlour as the front room was called though its stone floor was scarcely disguised by the carpet which only the trodden leaving sandy deserts under the furniture but the room looked snug and cheerful the shone out brightly trembling on the of the table legs playing with brass and handles and lurking in great strength on the under surface of the chimney piece a deep arm chair covered with and studded with a countless throng of brass was pulled up on tales one side of the fireplace the tea things were on the table the cover was open and a little had been laid at that precise point towards which a person seated in the great chair might be expected instinctively to stretch his hand sat down not to his experience of the room thus far and began his residence by the bell a little girl crept in at the and made tea for	45
him her name she said was and she lived out there nodding towards the road and village generally before had got far with his meal a tap sounded on the door behind him and on his telling the to come in a rustle of garments caused him to turn his head he saw him a fine and extremely well made young woman with dark hair a wide sensible beautiful forehead eyes that warmed him before he knew it and a mouth that was in itself a picture to all souls can i get you anything else for tea she said coming forward a step or two an expression of on her features and her hand waving the door by its edge nothing thank you said thinking less of what he replied than of what might be her relation to the household you are quite sure said the young woman apparently aware that he had not considered his answer he examined the tea things and found them all there quite sure miss he said it is mrs she said i used to be o i beg your pardon mrs and before he had occasion to say more she left the room remained in some doubt till came to clear the table whose is this my little woman said he the distracted preacher mrs s sir then mrs is not the old lady i saw this afternoon no that s mrs s mother it was mrs who in to you just by now because she wanted to see if you was good looking later in the evening when was about to begin supper she came again i have come myself mr she said the minister stood up in acknowledgment of the honour i am afraid little might not make you understand what will you have for supper there s cold rabbit and there s a ham said he could get on nicely with those and supper was laid he had no more than cut a when tap tap came to the door again the minister had already learnt that this particular in the fingers of his landlady and the doomed young fellow buried his first under a look of we have a chicken in the house mr i quite forgot to mention it just now perhaps you would like to bring it up had advanced far enough in the art of being a young man to say that he did not want the chicken unless she brought it up herself but when it was uttered he blushed at the daring gallantry of the speech perhaps a shade too strong for a serious man and a minister in three minutes the chicken appeared but to his great surprise only in the hands of was disappointed which perhaps it was intended that he should be he had finished supper and was not in the least mrs again that night when she tapped and entered as before s gratified look told that she had lost nothing by not appearing when expected it happened that the cold m the b tales which the young man had increased with the approach of night and before she had spoken he was seized with a violent fit of which he could not anyhow repress mrs looked full of pity your cold is very bad to night mr replied that it was rather troublesome and i ve a good mind she added looking at the cheerless glass of water on the table which the minister was going to drink yes mrs ive a good mind that you should have something more likely to cure it than that cold stuff well said looking down at the glass as there is no inn here and nothing better to be got in the village of course it will do to this she replied there is something better not far off though not in the house i really think you must try it or you may be ill yes mr you shall she held up her finger seeing that he was about to speak don t ask what it is wait and you shall see went away and waited in a pleasant mood presently she returned with her bonnet and cloak on saying i am so sorry but you must help me to get it mother has gone to bed will you wrap yourself up and come this way and please bring that cup with you a lonely young fellow who had for weeks felt a great craving for somebody on whom to throw away superfluous interest and even tenderness was not sorry to join her and followed his guide through the back door across the garden to the bottom where the boundary was a wall this wall was low and beyond it discerned in the night shades several grey and the outlines of the church roof and tower the distracted preacher it is easy to get up this way she said stepping upon a bank which on the wall then putting her foot on the top of the and descending by a spring inside where the ground was much higher as is the manner of to be did the same and followed her in the dusk across the irregular ground till they came to the tower door which when they had entered she softly closed behind them you can keep a secret she said in a musical voice like an iron chest said he fervently then from under her cloak she produced a small lighted lantern which the minister had not noticed that she carried at all the light showed them to be close to the singing gallery stairs under which lay a heap of lumber of all sorts but consisting mostly of decayed and pieces of that from time to time had been removed from their original in the body of the edifice and replaced by new perhaps you will drag some of those boards aside she said holding the	45
lantern over her head to light him better r will you take the lantern while i move them i can manage it said the young man and acting as she ordered he uncovered to his surprise a row of little barrels bound with wood each barrel being about as large as the of a heavy wheel when they were laid open fixed her eyes on him as if she wondered what he would say you know what they are she asked finding that he did not speak yes barrels said simply he was an inland the son of highly respectable parents and brought up with a single eye to the and the sight suggested nothing beyond the fact that such articles were there p tales you are quite right they are barrels she said in an emphatic tone of that was not without a touch of irony looked at her with an eye of sudden mis giving not liquor he said yes said she they are of spirit that have accidentally come over in the dark from france in and its vicinity at this date people always at the sort of sin called in the outside world trading and these little of gin and brandy were as well known to the inhabitants as so that s innocent ignorance and his look of alarm when he guessed the sinister mystery seemed to strike first as ludicrous and then as very awkward for the good impression that she wished to produce upon him is carried on here by some of the people she said in a gentle voice it has been their practice for generations and they think it no harm now will you roll out one of the what to do with it said the minister to draw a little from it to cure your cold she answered it is so nation strong that it drives away that sort of thing in a o it is all right about our taking it i may have what i like the owner of the says so i ought to have had some in the house and then i shouldn t ha been put to this trouble but i drink none myself and so i often forget to keep it indoors you are allowed to help yourself i suppose that you may not inform where their hiding place is well no not that particularly but i may take any if i want it so help yourself i will to oblige you since you have a right to it murmured the minister and though he was not quite satisfied with his part in the performance he rolled one of th from the corner into the middle of a the distracted preacher tower floor how do you wish me to get it out with a i suppose no i ll show you said his interesting companion and she held up with her other hand a s and a hammer you must never do these things with a because the wood dust gets in and when the pour out the brandy that would tell them that the tub had been an makes no dust and the hole nearly up again now tap one of the forward took the hammer and did so now make the hole in the part that was covered by the he made the hole as directed it won t run out he said yes it wiu said she take the tub between your knees and squeeze the heads and i ll hold the cup obeyed and the pressure taking upon the tub which seemed to be thin the spirit out in a stream when the cup was full he ceased pressing and the flow immediately stopped now we must all up the k with water said or it will like forty when it is handled and show that tis not full but they tell you you may take it yes the but the must not know that the have been kind to me at their expense see said doubtfully i much question the honesty of this proceeding by her direction he held the tub with the hole upwards and while he went through the process of alternately pressing and ceasing to press she produced a bottle of water from which she took conveying each to the by putting her pretty lips to the hole where it was sucked in at each recovery of the tales from pressure when it was again full he the hole knocked the down to its place and buried the tub in the lumber as before aren t the afraid that you will tell he asked as they the churchyard o no they are not afraid of that i couldn t do such a thing they have put you into a very awkward comer said emphatically you must of course as an honest person sometimes feel that it is your duty to inform really you must well i have never particularly felt it as a duty and besides my first husband she stopped and there was some confusion in her voice was so and that he did not at once discern why she paused but at last he did perceive that the words were a slip and that no woman would have uttered first husband by accident unless she had thought pretty frequently of a second he felt for her confusion and allowed her time to recover and proceed my husband she said in a self corrected tone used to know of their doings and so did my father and kept the secret i cannot inform in fact against anybody i see the hardness of it he continued like a man who looked far into the moral of things and it is very cruel that you should be tossed and between your memories and your conscience i do hope mrs that will soon see your way out of this unpleasant position well i don t just now	45
she murmured by this time they had passed over the wall and entered the house where she brought him a glass and hot water and left him to his own reflections he looked after her vanishing form asking himself whether he as a respectable man and a minister and a shining li even though as yet only of the candle the distracted preacher sort were quite justified in doing this thing a settled the question and he found that when the fiery liquor was lowered by the addition of twice or thrice the quantity of water it was one of the prettiest for a cold in the head that he had ever known particularly at this chilly time of the year sat in the deep chair about twenty minutes and meditating till he at length took warmer views of things and longed for the morrow when he would see mrs again he then felt that though at a short distance it would in an sense be very long before to morrow came and walked round the room his eye was attracted by a framed and glazed in which a running ornament of fir trees and surrounded the following pretty bit of sentiment rose leaves when roses here s my work while i m alive rose leaves smell when shrank and shed here s my work when i am dead fear god honour the king aged years tis hers he said to himself heavens how i like that name before he had done thinking that no other name from to would have suited his young landlady so well tap tap came again upon the door and the minister started as her face appeared yet another time looking so disinterested that the most ingenious would have refrained from asserting that she had come to affect his feelings by her eyes would you like a fire in your room mr on account of your cold the minister being still a little pricked in the conscience for her in watering the tales saw here a way to self no i thank he said firmly it is not necessary i have never been used to one in my life and it would be giving way to luxury too far then i won t insist she said and disconcerted him by vanishing instantly wondering if she was vexed by his refusal he wished that he had chosen to have a fire even though it should have him out of bed and his for a dozen days however he consoled himself with what was in truth a rare consolation for a lover that he was under the same roof with her guest in ct to take a poetical view of the term and that he would certainly see her on the morrow the morrow came and rose early his cold quite gone he had never in his life so longed for the breakfast hour as he did that day and at eight o clock after a short walk to the premises he re entered the door of his dwelling breakfast passed and attended but nobody came voluntarily as on the night before to e it there were other wants which he had not mentioned and which she would attempt to gratify he was disappointed and went out hoping to see her at dinner dinner time came he sat down to the meal finished it lingered on for a whole hour although two new teachers were at that moment waiting at the door to speak to him by appointment it was useless to wait longer and he slowly went his way down the lane cheered by the thought that after all he would see her in the evening and perhaps engage again in the delightful tub in the neighbouring church tower which proceeding he resolved to render more moral by that no water should be introduced to fill up though the tub should like all the in but nothing could disguise the ct the distracted preacher that it was a queer business and his countenance fell when he thought how much more his mind was interested in that matter than in his serious duties however vanished with the decline of day night came and his tea and supper but no and no sweet temptations at last the minister could bear it no longer and said to his quaint little attendant where is mrs today handing a penny as he spoke she s busy said anything serious happened he asked handing another penny and revealing yet additional in the background o no nothing at all said she with breathless confidence nothing ever happens to her she s only upstairs in bed because tis her way sometimes being a young man of some honour he would not question further and assuming that must have a bad headache or other slight in spite of what the girl had said he went to bed dissatisfied not even setting eyes on old mrs i said last night that i should see her to morrow he reflected but that was not to be next day he had better fortune or worse meeting her at the foot of the stairs in the morning and being favoured by a visit or two from her during the day once for the purpose of making kindly inquiries about his comfort as on the first evening and at another time to place a bunch of winter on his table with a promise to renew them when they drooped on these occasions there was something in her smile which showed how conscious she was of the effect she produced though it must be said that it was rather a humorous than a consciousness and more of pride than of vanity as for he clearly perceived that he talks unlimited capacity for and wished that saints were not denied to he set a watch upon his tongue and eyes for the space of one	45
hour and a half after which he found it was useless to struggle further and gave himself up to the situation the other minister will be here in a month he said to himself when sitting over the fire then i shall be off and she will my mind no more and then shall i go on living by myself for ever no when my two years of are finished i shall have a furnished house to live in with a door and a brass and i ll march straight back to her and ask her flat as soon as the last plate is on the thus a fortnight was passed by young during which time things proceeded much as such matters have done ever since the beginning of history he saw the object of attachment several times one day did not see her at all the next met her when he least expected to do so missed her when hints and signs as to where she should be at a given hour almost amounted to an appointment this mild was perhaps fair enough under the circumstances of their being so closely lodged and put up with it as as he was able being in her own house she could after him or him of her presence easily win him back by suddenly surrounding him with those little attentions which her position as his landlady put it in her power to bestow when he had waited indoors half the day to see her and on finding that she would not be seen had gone off in a to the and walk he could discover she would restore in the evening with mr i have fancied you must feel draught o nights from your bedroom window and so i have been putting up thicker curtains this afternoon while you were out or i noticed that you twice again this morning the distracted preacher mr depend upon it that cold is hanging about you yet i am sure it is i have thought of it continually and you must let me make a for you sometimes in coming home he found his sitting room chairs placed where the table had stood and the table ornamented with the few fresh flowers and leaves that could be obtained at this season so as to add a novelty to the room at times she would be standing on a chair outside the house trying to nail up a branch of the monthly rose which the winter wind had blown down and of course he stepped forward to assist her when their hands got mixed in passing the and nails thus they became friends again after a she would utter on these occasions some pretty and remark on the necessity of her troubling him anew and he would straightway say that he would do a hundred times as much for her if she should so require hm saw other men ii matters being in this advancing state was rather surprised one cloudy evening while sitting in his room at hearing her speak in low tones of to some one at the door it was nearly dark but the shutters were not yet closed nor the candles lighted and was tempted to stretch his head towards the window he saw outside the door a young man in clothes of a colour and upon reflection judged their to be the and rather handsome miller who lived below the miller s voice was alternately low and firm and sometimes it reached the level of positive entreaty but what the words were could in no way hear before the had ended the minister s attention was attracted by a second incident opposite s home grew a of forming a thick and permanent shade one of the laurel boughs now quivered against the light background of sky and in a moment the head of a man peered out and remained still he seemed to be also much interested in the conversation at the door and was plainly lingering there to watch and listen had stood in the distracted preacher any other relation to than that of a lover he might have gone out and the meaning of this but being as yet but an ally he did nothing more than stand up and show himself against the whereupon the listener disappeared and and the miller spoke in lower tones was made so uneasy by the circumstance that as soon as the miller was gone he said mrs are you aware that you were watched just now and your conversation heard when she said when you were talking to that miller a man was from the laurel tree as as if he could have eaten you she showed more concern than the trifling event seemed to demand and he added perhaps you were talking of things you did not wish to be overheard r was talking only on business she said be frank said the young man if it was only on business why should anybody wish to listen to you she looked curiously at him what else do you think it could be then well the only talk between a young woman and man that is likely to amuse an ah yes she said smiling in spite of her well my cousin has spoken to me about matrimony every now and then that s true but he was not speaking of it then i wish he had been speaking of it with all my heart it would have been much less serious for me o mrs it would not that i should ha in with him of course i wish it for other reasons i am glad mr that you have told me of that listener it is a warning and i must see my cousin again ass tales but don t go away till i have spoken said the minister i ll out with it at once	45
and make no more let it be yes or no between us please do and he held out his hand in which she freely allowed her own to rest but without speaking you mean yes by that he asked after waiting a while you may be my sweetheart if you will why not say at once you will wait for me until i have a house and can come back to marry you because i am thinking thinking of something else she said with embarrassment it all comes upon me at once and i must settle one thing at a time at any rate dear you can assure me that the miller shall not be allowed to speak to you except on business you have never directly encouraged him she the question by saying you see he and his party have been in the habit of leaving things on my premises sometimes and as i have not denied him it makes him rather forward things what things they are called things here but why don t you deny him my dear i cannot well you are too timid it is unfair of him to impose so upon you and get your good name into danger by his tricks promise me that the next time he wants to leave his here you will let me roll them into the street she shook her head i would not venture to offend the neighbours so much as that said she or do anything that would be so likely to put poor into the hands of the sighed and said that he thought hers a mistaken generosity when it extended to assisting those who cheated the king of his at any rate you the distracted preacher will let me make him keep his distance as your lover and tell him that you are not for him please not at present she said i don t wish to offend my old neighbours it is not only who is concerned this is too bad said impatiently n my honour i won t encourage him as my lover answered earnestly a reasonable man will be satisfied with that well so i am said his countenance clearing mysterious iii now b an to notice more particularly a feature in the life of his fair landlady which he had casually observed but scarcely ever thought of before it was that she was in her hours of rising for a week or two she would be tolerably punctual reaching the ground floor within a few minutes of half past seven then suddenly she would not be visible till twelve at noon perhaps for three or four days in succession and twice he had certain proof that she did not leave her room till half past three in the afternoon the time that this extreme came under his notice was on a day when he had particularly wished to consult with her about his future movements and he concluded as he always had done that she had a cold headache or other unless she had kept herself invisible to avoid meeting and talking to him which he could hardly believe the former supposition was however by her innocently saying some days later when they were speaking on a question of health that she had never had a moment s headache or illness of any kind since the previous january the distracted preacher i am glad to hear it said he i quite otherwise what do i look sickly she asked turning up her to show the impossibility of his gazing on it and holding such a belief for a moment not at all i merely thought so from your being sometimes obliged to keep room through the best part of the day o as for that it means nothing she with a look which some might have called cold and which was the worst look that he liked to see upon her it is pure mr never it is i tell you when i stay in my room till three in the afternoon you may always be sure that i slept soundly till three or i shouldn t have stayed there it is dreadful said thinking of the disastrous effects of such indulgence upon the household of a minister should it become a habit of occurrence but then she said his good and thoughts it only happens when i stay awake al night i don t go to sleep till five or six in the morning sometimes ah that s another matter said to such an alarming extent is real illness have you spoken to a doctor no there is no need for doing that it is all natural to me and she went away without further remark might have waited a long time to know the real cause of her had it not happened that one dark night he was sitting in his bedroom down notes for a sermon which occupied him for a considerable time after the other members of the household had retired he did not tales get to bed till one o clock before he had fallen asleep he heard a knocking at the front door first rather timidly performed and then louder nobody answered it and the person knocked again as the house still remained undisturbed got out of bed went to his window which overlooked the door and opening it asked who was there a young woman s voice replied that was there and that she had come to ask if mrs could give her some to make a plaster with as her father was taken very ill on the chest minister having neither bell nor servant was compelled to act in person i will call mrs he said partly dressing himself he went along the passage and tapped at s door she did not answer and thinking of her habits in the matter of sleep he the door	45
persistently when he discovered by its moving under his knocking that it had only been gently pushed to as there was now a sufficient entry for the voice he knocked no longer but said in firm tones mrs you are wanted the room was quite silent not a breathing not a rustle came from any part of it now sent a positive shout through the open space of the door mrs still no answer or movement of kind within then he heard sounds from the opposite room that of s mother as if she had been aroused by his uproar though had not and was dressing herself hastily softly closed the younger woman s door and went on to the other which was opened by mrs before he could reach it she was in her ordinary clothes and had a light in her hand what s the person calling about she said in alarm the distracted preacher told the girl s errand adding seriously i cannot wake mrs it is no matter said her mother i can let the girl have what she wants as weu as my daughter and she came out of the room and went downstairs retired towards his own apartment however to mrs from the landing as if on second thoughts i suppose there is nothing the matter with mrs that i could not wake her o no said the old lady hastily nothing at all still the minister was not satisfied will you go in and see he said i should be much more at ease mrs returned up the staircase went to her daughter s room and came out again almost instantly there is at all the matter with she said and descended again to attend to the who having seen the light had remained quiet during this interval went into his room and lay down as before he heard s mother open the front door admit the girl and then the murmured discourse of both as they went to the store cupboard for the required the girl departed the door was fastened mrs came upstairs and the house was again in silence still the minister did not fall asleep he could not get rid of a singular suspicion which was all the more in being if true the most unaccountable thing within his experience that was in her bedroom when he made such a at the door he could not possibly convince himself notwithstanding that he had heard her come upstairs at the usual time go into her chamber and shut herself up in the usual way yet all reason was so much against her being elsewhere that he was constrained to go back again to the unlikely theory of a heavy sleep though he had heard neither breath q tales movement during a shouting and knocking loud enough to rouse the seven before coming to any positive conclusion he fell asleep himself and did not awake till day he saw nothing of mrs in the morning before he went out to meet the rising sun as he liked to do when the weather was fine but as this was by no means unusual he took no notice of it at breakfast time he knew that she was not off by hearing her in the kitchen and though he saw nothing of her person that back apartment being closed against his eyes she seemed to be ordering and bustling about among the pots and in so ordinary a manner that there was no reason for his wasting more time in fruitless the minister from these and his sermons were not improved thereby already he often said for in the pulpit and gave hymns in strange cramped that hitherto had always been because the congregation could not raise a tune to fit them he fully resolved that as soon as his few weeks of stay approached their end he would cut the matter short and commit himself by proposing a definite engagement at leisure if necessary with this end in view he suggested to her on the evening after her mysterious sleep that they should take a walk together just before dark the latter part of the proposition being introduced that they might return home unseen she consented to and away they went over a to a suited for the occasion but in spite of attempts on both sides they were unable to much spirit into the she looked rather paler than usual and sometimes turned her head away said reproachfully when they had walked in silence a long distance thb distracted preacher yes said she you yawned much my company is to you he put it in that way but he was really wondering her could possibly have more to do with physical weariness from the night before than mental weariness of that present moment and owned that she was rather tired which gave him an opening for a direct question on the point but his modesty would not allow him to put it to her and he resolved to wait the month of february passed with of mud and frost rain and east winds and hie hollow places in the fields showed themselves as pools of water which had settled there from the higher and had not yet found time to away the birds b an to get lively and a single came just before sunset each evening and sang on the large elm tree which stood nearest to mrs s house cold and earth had given place to an more unpleasant in itself than frost but it suggested coming spring and its was of a b kind had been going to bring about a practical understanding with at least half a dozen times but what with the mystery of her apparent absence on the night of the neighbour s call and her curious way of lying in bed at unaccountable times he felt a check within him	45
whenever he wanted to speak out thus they still lived on as lovers each of whom hardly acknowledged the other s claim to the name of chosen one persuaded himself that his hesitation was owing to the of the ordained minister s arrival and the consequent delay in his own departure which did away with all necessity for haste in his courtship but perhaps it was only that his discretion was itself and tales telling him that he had better get clearer ideas of before arranging for the grand contract of his life with her she on her part always seemed ready to be urged further on that question than he had hitherto attempted to go but she was none the less independent and to a d which would have kept from the passion of a far more man on the evening of the first of march he went casually into his bedroom about dusk and noticed lying on a chair a hat and breeches having no recollection of leaving any clothes of his own in that spot he went and examined them as well as he could in the twilight and found that they did not belong to him he paused for a moment to consider how they might have got there he was the only man living in the house and yet these were not his garments unless he had made a mistake no they were not his he called up how did these things come in my room he said flinging the objectionable articles to the floor said that mrs had given them to her to brush and that she had brought them up there thinking they must be mr s as there was no other gentleman a lodging there of course you did said now take them down to your mis ess and say they are some clothes i have found here and know nothing about as the door was left open he heard the conversation downstairs how stupid said mrs in a tone of confusion why i did not tell you to take em to mr s room i thought they must be his as they was so muddy said humbly you should have left em on the clothes horse said the young mistress severely and she came upstairs with the garments on her arm quickly passed s room and threw them forcibly into a closet the distracted preacher at the end of a passage with this the incident ended and the house was silent again there would have been nothing remarkable in finding such clothes in a widow s house had they been clean or eaten or or from long lying by but that they should be with recent mud a good deal when a young is in the stage of attachment and open to agitation at the merest trifles a really substantial of this complexion is a disturbing thing however nothing further occurred at that time but he became watchful and given to conjecture and was unable to forget the circumstance one morning on looking from his window he saw mrs herself brushing the tails of a long which if he not was the very same garment as the one that had adorned the chair of his room it was up to the hollow of the back with neighbouring mud to judge by its colour the spots being distinctly visible to him in the sunlight the previous day or two having been wet the was irresistible that the had quite recently been walking some considerable distance about the lanes and fields opened the window and looked out and mrs turned her head her face became slowly red she never had looked prettier or more incomprehensible he waved his hand affectionately and said good morning she answered with embarrassment having ceased her occupation on the instant that she saw him and rolled up the coat half cleaned shut the window some simple explanation of her proceeding was doubtless within the bounds of possibility but he himself could not think of one and he wished that she had placed the matter beyond conjecture by voluntarily saying something about it there and then a s tales bat though had not offered an explanation at the moment the subject was brought forward by her at the next time of their meeting she was to him concerning some other event and remarked that it happened about the time when she was some old clothes that had belonged to her poor husband you keep them clean out of respect to his said i air and dust them sometimes she said with the most charming innocence in the world do dead men come out of their graves and walk in mud murmured the minister in a cold sweat at the deception that she was what did you say asked nothing nothing said he mournfully mere words a phrase that will do for my sermon next sunday it was too plain that was unaware that he had seen actual upon the skirts of the tell tale overcoat that she imagined him to believe it had come direct from some chest or drawer the aspect of the case was now considerably darker was so much depressed by it that he did not challenge her explanation or threaten to go off as a missionary to or reproach her in any way whatever he simply parted from her when she had done talking and lived on in perplexity till by degrees his natural manner became sad and constrained at the time of the new iv he following thursday was damp and gloomy and the night threatened to be windy and unpleasant had gone away to in the morning to be present at service there and on his return he was met by the attractive in the passage whether influenced by the tide of cheerfulness which had attended him that day or by the drive through the open air or whether from a	45
natural disposition to let alone he allowed himself to be fascinated into forgetfulness of the incident and upon the whole passed a pleasant evening not so much in her society as sound of her voice as she sat talking in the back parlour to her mother till the latter went to bed shortly after this mrs retired and then prepared to go upstairs himself but before he left the room he remained standing by the dying embers awhile thinking long of one thing and another and was only aroused by the flickering of his candle in the as it suddenly declined and went out knowing that there were a box matches and another candle in his bedroom he felt ills way upstairs r tales without a light on reaching his he laid bis hand on eveiy possible ledge and for the but for a long time in vain discovering it at length produced a and was the when he that he heard a movement in the passage he blew harder at the the match up and by aid of the light through the door which had been standing open all this time he was surprised to see a male figure vanishing round the top of the staircase with the evident intention of escaping unobserved the personage wore the clothes which had been brushing and something in tiie outline and gait suggested to the minister that the was but he was not sure of this and greatly determined to investigate the mystery and to adopt his own way for doing it he blew out the match without lighting the candle went into the passage and proceeded on towards s room a hint grey square of light in the direction of the as he approached told him that the door was open and at once suggested that the was gone he turned and brought down his fist upon the of the staircase it was she in her late husband s coat and hat somewhat relieved to find that there was no intruder in the case yet none the less surprised the minister crept down the stairs softly put on his boots overcoat and hat and tried the door it was fastened as usual he went to the back door found this and emerged into the garden the night was and and rain had lately been falling though for the present it had ceased there was a sudden dropping from the trees and bushes every now and then as each passing wind shook their boughs among these sounds heard the faint m of feet upon the road outside and he guessed from the step that it was the distracted preacher s he followed the sound and helped by the circumstance of the wind blowing from the direction in which the moved he got nearly close to her and kept there without risk of being overheard while he thus followed her up the street or lane as it might indifferently be called there being more hedge than houses on either side a figure came forward to her from one of the cottage doors stopped the minister stepped upon the grass and stopped also is that mrs said the man who had come out whose voice recognized as that of one of the most devout members of his congregation it is said i be quite ready i ve been here this quarter hour ah john said she i have bad news there is danger to night for our venture and d ye tell o t i dreamed there might be yes she said hurriedly and you must go at once round to where the are waiting and tell them they will not be wanted till to morrow night at the same time i go to burn the off i will he said and instantly went off through a gate continuing her way on she tripped at a pace till the lane turned into the road which she crossed and got into the track for here she ascended the hill without the least hesitation passed the lonely hamlet of and went down the on the other side had never taken any extensive walks in this direction but he was aware that if she persisted in her course much longer she would draw near to the coast which was here between two and three miles distant from and as it had been about a quarter past eleven o clock when they set out her intention seemed to be to reach the shore about midnight soon ascended a small mound which tales at the same time skirted on the left and a dull monotonous roar burst upon his ear the was about fifty yards from the top of the cliffs and by day it apparently commanded a full view of the bay there was light enough in the sky to show her disguised figure against it when she reached the top where she paused and afterwards sat down not wishing on any account to alarm her at this moment yet desirous of being near her sank upon his hands and knees crept a little higher up and there stayed still the wind was chilly the ground damp and his position one in which he did not care to remain long however before he had decided to leave it the young man heard voices behind him what they signified he did not know but fearing that was in danger he was about to run forward and warn her that she might be seen when she crept to the shelter of a little bush which maintained a precarious existence in that exposed spot and her form was absorbed in its dark and outline as if she had become part of it she had evidently heard the men as well as he they passed near him talking in loud and careless tones which could be heard above the of the sea and which suggested that they were not engaged in	45
if there too danger threatened they should on the third night try the third place which was behind a further west suppose the officers hinder them landing there too he said his attention to this interesting programme for a moment his concern at her share in it then we shan t try anywhere else all this dark that s what we call the time between moon and moon and perhaps they ll string the to a stray line and em a little ways from shore and take the s tales bearings and then when they have a chance go to creep for em that o they ll go out in a boat and drag a that s a along the bottom till it catch hold of the stray line the minister stood thinking and there was no sound within doors but the of the clock on the stairs and the quick breathing of partly from her walk and partly from agitation as she stood close to the wall not in such complete darkness but that he could discern against its surface the and broad hat which covered her all this is very wrong he said don t you remember the lesson of the tribute money render unto the things that are caesar s surely you have heard that read times enough in your growing up he s dead but the spirit of the text is in force just the same my father did it and so did my grandfather and almost everybody in by it and life would be so dull if it wasn t for that that i should not care to live at all i am nothing to live for of course he replied bitterly you would not think it worth while to give up this wild business and live for me alone i have never looked at it like that and you won t promise and wait till i am ready i cannot give you my word to night and looking thoughtfully down she gradually moved and moved away going into the adjoining room and closing the door between them she remained there in the dark till he was tired of waiting and had gone up to his own chamber poor was dreadfully depressed all the next day by the discoveries of the night before was a fascinating but at the distracted preacher a minister s wife she was hardly to be contemplated if i had only stuck to father s little business instead of going in for the she would have suited me beautifully he said sadly until he remembered that in that case he would never have come from his distant home to and never have known her the between them was not complete but it was sufficient to keep them out of each other s company once during the day he met her in the garden path and said turning a eye upon her do you promise but she did not reply the evening drew on and he knew well enough that would repeat her excursion at night her manner had shown that she had not the slightest intention of her plans at present he did not wish to repeat his own share of the adventure but act as he would his uneasiness on her account increased with the decline of day supposing that an accident should befall her he would never forgive himself for not being there to help much as he disliked the idea of seeming to countenance such they went to he had expected she left the house at the same hour at night this time passing his door without as if she knew very well that he would be watching and were resolved to brave his displeasure he was quite ready opened the door quickly and reached the back door almost as soon as she then you will go he said as he stood on the step beside her who now again appeared as a little man with a face altogether to his clothes i must she said repressed by his stern manner then i shall go too said he and i am sure you will enjoy it she exclaimed in more tones everybody does who tries it god forbid that i should he said but i must look after you they opened the and went up the road abreast of each other but at some distance apart scarcely a word passing between them the evening was rather less favourable to enterprise than the last had been the wind being lower and the sky somewhat dear towards the north the distracted preacher it is rather lighter said tis unfortunately said she but it is only those few stars over there the moon was new to day at four o clock and i expected clouds i hope we shall be able to do it this dark for when we have to sink em for long it makes the taste and folks don t like it so well her course was different from that of the preceding night off to the left over lord s as soon as they had got out of the lane and crossed the highway by the time they reached down who had been in perplexed thought as to what he should say to her decided that he would not attempt now while she was excited by the adventure but wait till it was over and endeavour to keep her from such in future it occurred to him once or twice as they on that should they be surprised by the his situation would be more awkward than hers for it would be difficult to prove his true motive in coming to the spot but the risk was a slight consideration beside his wish to be with her they now arrived at a which lay on the outskirts of a village two miles on their way towards the point of the	45
shore they sought broke the silence this time i have to wait here to meet the i don t know if they have come yet as i told you we go to to night and it is two miles further than it turned out that the men had already come for while she spoke two or three dozen heads broke the line of the slope and a company of them at once descended from the bushes where they had been lying in wait these were men whom and other regularly employed to bring the from the boat to a hiding place inland they were all young fellows of and as tales tile quiet and persons who simply engaged to the cargo for and her cousin as they would have engaged in any other labour for which they were well paid at a word from her they closed in together you had better take it now she said to them and handed to each a packet it contained six shillings their for the night s undertaking which was paid beforehand without reference to success or failure but besides this they had the privilege of selling as agents when the run was successfully made as soon as it was done she said to them the place is the old one near the men till that moment no having been told whither they were bound for obvious reasons will meet you there added i shall follow behind to see that we are not watched the went on and and mrs followed at a distance of a stone s throw what do these men do by day he said twelve or fourteen of them are men some are some some some they are all known to me very well nine of em are of your own congregation i can t help that said i know you can t i only told you the others are more church inclined because they supply the pa son with all the spirits he requires and they don t wish to show to a customer how do you choose em said we choose em for their and because they are strong and and able to carry a heavy load a long way without being tired sighed as she each particular for it proved how far involved in the business a woman must be who was so well acquainted with its conditions and needs and yet he felt more tenderly towards her ft this moment than he had felt all the day the distracted preacher perhaps it was that her experienced manner and bold indifference stirred his admiration in spite of himself take my arm he murmured i don t want it she said besides we may never be to each other again what we once have been that depends upon you said he and they went on again as before the hired paced along over down with as little hesitation as if it had been day avoiding the cart way and leaving the village of east on the left so as to reach the crest of the hill at a lonely place not far from the ancient called round pound an hour s brisk walking brought them within sound of the sea not many hundred yards from here they paused and and came up with them when they went on together to the verge of the cliff one of the men now produced an iron bar which he drove firmly into the soil a yard from the edge and attached to it a rope that he had from his body they all began to descend partly stepping partly sliding down the incline as the rope slipped through their hands you will not go to the bottom said anxiously no i stay here to watch she said is down there the men remained quite silent when they reached the shore and the next thing audible to the two at the top was the dip of heavy oars and the dashing of waves against a bow in a moment the gently touched the and heard the footsteps of the thirty six running forwards over the pebbles towards the point of landing there was a in the water as of a brood of ducks plunging in showing that the men had not been particular about keeping their or even their tales dry from the but it was impossible to see what they were doing and in a few minutes the was trampled again the iron bar the rope on which s hand rested b an to a little and the one by one appeared climbing up the sloping cliff dripping audibly as they came and themselves by the guide rope each man on reaching the top was seen to be carrying a pair of one on his and one on his chest the two being together by passing round the and resting on the s shoulders some of the stronger men carried three by putting an extra one on the top behind but the customary load was a pair these being quite enough to give their bearer the sensation of having chest and in contact after a walk of four or five miles where is said to one of them he will not come up this way said the he s to bide on shore till we be safe off then without waiting for the rest the foremost men plunged across the down and when the last had ascended pulled up the rope wound it round her arm the bar from the sod and turned to follow the you are very anxious about s safety said the minister was there ever such a man said why isn t he my cousin yes well it is a bad night s work said heavily but i ll carry the bar and rope for you thank god the have got so far all right said she shook his head and taking the bar	45
walked by her side towards the downs and the moan of the sea was heard no more is this what you meant the other day when you the distracted preacher spoke of having business with the young man asked this is it she replied i never see him on any other matter a of that kind with a young man is very odd it was begun by my father and his who were brother laws her companion could not blind himself to the fact that where tastes and pursuits were so akin as s and s and where risks were shared as with them in every undertaking there would be a peculiar in her answering s standing question on matrimony in the affirmative this did not soothe its tendency being rather to in him an effort to make the pair as as possible and win her away from this crew to of conduct and a minister s parlour in some far removed inland county they had been walking near enough to the file of for to perceive that when they got into the road to the village they split up into two companies of unequal size each of which made off in a direction of its own one company the smaller of the two went towards the church and by the time that and reached their own house these men had the churchyard wall and were proceeding noiselessly over the grass within i see that has arranged for one to be put in the church again observed do you remember my taking you there the first night you came yes of course said no wonder you had permission to the they were his i suppose no they were not they were mine i had permission from myself the day after that they went tales several miles inland in a load of and sold very well at this moment the group of men who had made off to the left some time before began leaping one by one from the hedge opposite s house and the first man who had no upon his shoulders came forward mrs isn t it he said hastily yes jim said she what s the matter i find that we can t put any in s to night said the place is watched we must the apple tree in the if there s time we can t put any more under the church lumber than i have sent on there and my already more in en than is safe very well she said be quick about it that s au what can i do nothing at all please ah it is the minister you two that can t do anything had better get h and not be while thus conversed in a tone so full of anxiety and so free from lover s jealousy the men who followed him had been descending one by one firom the hedge and it unfortunately happened that when the took his leap the cord slipped which sustained his the result was that both the fell into the road one of them being stove in by the blow od drown it all said rushing back it is worth a good deal i suppose said stock no about two guineas and half to us now said excitedly it isn t that it is the smell it is so blazing strong before it has been lowered by water that it smells dreadfully when in the road like that i do hope won t pass by till it ia gone off the distracted preacher and one or two others picked up the burst tub and began to scrape and over the spot to the liquor as much as possible and then they all entered the gate of s orchard which s garden on the right did not care to follow them for several on him had looked at his presence though they said nothing left his side and went to the bottom of the garden looking over the hedge into the orchard where the men could be dimly seen bustling about and apparently hiding the all was done noiselessly and without a light and when it was over they dispersed in different directions those who had taken their to the church having already gone off to their homes returned to the garden gate over which was still leaning it is all finished i am going indoors now she said gently i will leave the door for you o no you needn t said i am coming too but before either of them had moved the faint clatter of horses hoofs broke upon the ear and it seemed to come from the point where the track across the down joined the hard road they are just too late i cried who said the riding officer and some of his we had better go indoors they entered the house and bolted the door please don t get a light mr she said of course i will not said he i thought you might be on the side of the king said with faintest sarcasm i am said but i love you and you know it perfectly well and you ought to know if you do not what i have suffered tales in my on your account these last few i guess very she said hurriedly yet i see why ah you sure better than the trotting of the horses seemed to have again died away and the pair of listeners touched each other s fingers in the cold good night of those whom something seriously divided they were on the landing but before they had taken three steps apart the tramp of the suddenly revived almost close to the house turned to the staircase window opened the about an inch and put her ce dose to the yes one of em is she whispered he always rides	45

Subsets and Splits

No saved queries yet

Save your SQL queries to embed, download, and access them later. Queries will appear here once saved.