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diff --git a/old/westl10.txt b/old/westl10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5ef771a --- /dev/null +++ b/old/westl10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9897 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Wessex Tales by Thomas Hardy +#16 in our series by Thomas Hardy + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + +This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book. +Do not change or edit it without written permission. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.07.00*END* + + + + +WESSEX TALES + + + + +Contents: + +Preface +An Imaginative Woman +The Three Strangers +The Withered Arm +Fellow-Townsmen +Interlopers at the Knap +The Distracted Preacher + + + +PREFACE + + + +An apology is perhaps needed for the neglect of contrast which is +shown by presenting two consecutive stories of hangmen in such a +small collection as the following. But in the neighbourhood of +county-towns tales of executions used to form a large proportion of +the local traditions; and though never personally acquainted with +any chief operator at such scenes, the writer of these pages had as +a boy the privilege of being on speaking terms with a man who +applied for the office, and who sank into an incurable melancholy +because he failed to get it, some slight mitigation of his grief +being to dwell upon striking episodes in the lives of those happier +ones who had held it with success and renown. His tale of +disappointment used to cause some wonder why his ambition should +have taken such an unfortunate form, but its nobleness was never +questioned. In those days, too, there was still living an old woman +who, for the cure of some eating disease, had been taken in her +youth to have her 'blood turned' by a convict's corpse, in the +manner described in 'The Withered Arm.' + +Since writing this story some years ago I have been reminded by an +aged friend who knew 'Rhoda Brook' that, in relating her dream, my +forgetfulness has weakened the facts our of which the tale grew. In +reality it was while lying down on a hot afternoon that the incubus +oppressed her and she flung it off, with the results upon the body +of the original as described. To my mind the occurrence of such a +vision in the daytime is more impressive than if it had happened in +a midnight dream. Readers are therefore asked to correct the +misrelation, which affords an instance of how our imperfect memories +insensibly formalize the fresh originality of living fact--from +whose shape they slowly depart, as machine-made castings depart by +degrees from the sharp hand-work of the mould. + +Among the many devices for concealing smuggled goods in caves and +pits of the earth, that of planting an apple-tree in a tray or box +which was placed over the mouth of the pit is, I believe, unique, +and it is detailed in one of the tales precisely as described by an +old carrier of 'tubs'--a man who was afterwards in my father's +employ for over thirty years. I never gathered from his +reminiscences what means were adopted for lifting the tree, which, +with its roots, earth, and receptacle, must have been of +considerable weight. There is no doubt, however, that the thing was +done through many years. My informant often spoke, too, of the +horribly suffocating sensation produced by the pair of spirit-tubs +slung upon the chest and back, after stumbling with the burden of +them for several miles inland over a rough country and in darkness. +He said that though years of his youth and young manhood were spent +in this irregular business, his profits from the same, taken all +together, did not average the wages he might have earned in a steady +employment, whilst the fatigues and risks were excessive. + +I may add that the first story in the series turns upon a physical +possibility that may attach to women of imaginative temperament, and +that is well supported by the experiences of medical men and other +observers of such manifestations. + +T. H. +April 1896. + + + + +AN IMAGINATIVE WOMAN + + + + +When William Marchmill had finished his inquiries for lodgings at a +well-known watering-place in Upper Wessex, he returned to the hotel +to find his wife. She, with the children, had rambled along the +shore, and Marchmill followed in the direction indicated by the +military-looking hall-porter + +'By Jove, how far you've gone! I am quite out of breath,' Marchmill +said, rather impatiently, when he came up with his wife, who was +reading as she walked, the three children being considerably further +ahead with the nurse. + +Mrs. Marchmill started out of the reverie into which the book had +thrown her. 'Yes,' she said, 'you've been such a long time. I was +tired of staying in that dreary hotel. But I am sorry if you have +wanted me, Will?' + +'Well, I have had trouble to suit myself. When you see the airy and +comfortable rooms heard of, you find they are stuffy and +uncomfortable. Will you come and see if what I've fixed on will do? +There is not much room, I am afraid; hut I can light on nothing +better. The town is rather full.' + +The pair left the children and nurse to continue their ramble, and +went back together. + +In age well-balanced, in personal appearance fairly matched, and in +domestic requirements conformable, in temper this couple differed, +though even here they did not often clash, he being equable, if not +lymphatic, and she decidedly nervous and sanguine. It was to their +tastes and fancies, those smallest, greatest particulars, that no +common denominator could be applied. Marchmill considered his +wife's likes and inclinations somewhat silly; she considered his +sordid and material. The husband's business was that of a gunmaker +in a thriving city northwards, and his soul was in that business +always; the lady was best characterized by that superannuated phrase +of elegance 'a votary of the muse.' An impressionable, palpitating +creature was Ella, shrinking humanely from detailed knowledge of her +husband's trade whenever she reflected that everything he +manufactured had for its purpose the destruction of life. She could +only recover her equanimity by assuring herself that some, at least, +of his weapons were sooner or later used for the extermination of +horrid vermin and animals almost as cruel to their inferiors in +species as human beings were to theirs. + +She had never antecedently regarded this occupation of his as any +objection to having him for a husband. Indeed, the necessity of +getting life-leased at all cost, a cardinal virtue which all good +mothers teach, kept her from thinking of it at all till she had +closed with William, had passed the honeymoon, and reached the +reflecting stage. Then, like a person who has stumbled upon some +object in the dark, she wondered what she had got; mentally walked +round it, estimated it; whether it were rare or common; contained +gold, silver, or lead; were a clog or a pedestal, everything to her +or nothing. + +She came to some vague conclusions, and since then had kept her +heart alive by pitying her proprietor's obtuseness and want of +refinement, pitying herself, and letting off her delicate and +ethereal emotions in imaginative occupations, day-dreams, and night- +sighs, which perhaps would not much have disturbed William if he had +known of them. + +Her figure was small, elegant, and slight in build, tripping, or +rather bounding, in movement. She was dark-eyed, and had that +marvellously bright and liquid sparkle in each pupil which +characterizes persons of Ella's cast of soul, and is too often a +cause of heartache to the possessor's male friends, ultimately +sometimes to herself. Her husband was a tall, long-featured man, +with a brown beard; he had a pondering regard; and was, it must be +added, usually kind and tolerant to her. He spoke in squarely +shaped sentences, and was supremely satisfied with a condition of +sublunary things which made weapons a necessity. + +Husband and wife walked till they had reached the house they were in +search of, which stood in a terrace facing the sea, and was fronted +by a small garden of wind-proof and salt-proof evergreens, stone +steps leading up to the porch. It had its number in the row, but, +being rather larger than the rest, was in addition sedulously +distinguished as Coburg House by its landlady, though everybody else +called it 'Thirteen, New Parade.' The spot was bright and lively +now; but in winter it became necessary to place sandbags against the +door, and to stuff up the keyhole against the wind and rain, which +had worn the paint so thin that the priming and knotting showed +through. + +The householder, who bad 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 needy circumstances +by the rather sudden death of her husband, and she spoke anxiously +of the conveniences of the establishment. + +Mrs. Marchmill said that she liked the situation and the house; but, +it being small, there would not be 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 said, with obvious +honesty. But unfortunately two of the rooms were occupied +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 gave 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 Marchmills. + +'O, it won't inconvenience him, I assure you!' said the landlady +eloquently. '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-westerly gales are beating against the door, and the +sea washes 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 Marchmill family accordingly took possession of the house next +day, and it seemed to suit them very well. After luncheon Mr. +Marchmill strolled out towards the pier, and Mrs. Marchmill, having +despatched the children to their outdoor amusements on the sands, +settled herself in more completely, examining this and that article, +and testing 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 editions, were piled up in +a queerly reserved manner in corners, as if the previous occupant +had not conceived the possibility that any incoming person of the +season's bringing could care to look inside them. The landlady +hovered on the threshold to rectify anything that Mrs. Marchmill +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. Hooper, I +hope?' + +'O 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! O, I did not know that.' + +Mrs. Marchmill opened one of the books, and saw the owner's name +written on the title-page. 'Dear me!' she continued; 'I know his +name very well--Robert Trewe--of course I do; and his writings! And +it is HIS rooms we have taken, and HIM we have turned out of his +home?' + +Ella Marchmill, sitting down alone a few minutes later, thought with +interested surprise of Robert Trewe. 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 embayed emotions, whose former +limpidity and sparkle seemed departing in the stagnation caused by +the routine of a practical household and the gloom of bearing +children to a commonplace father. These poems, subscribed with a +masculine pseudonym, 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 effusion at the bottom, in smallish print, +bore at the top, in large print, a few verses on the same subject by +this very man, Robert Trewe. 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 Ella, otherwise 'John Ivy,' had watched with much +attention the appearance anywhere in print of verse bearing the +signature of Robert Trewe, who, with a man's unsusceptibility on the +question of sex, had never once thought of passing himself off as a +woman. To be sure, Mrs. Marchmill 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 tradesman's wife, from the mother of three children +by a matter-of-fact small-arms manufacturer. + +Trewe'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 symboliste nor decadent, he was a +pessimist in so far as that character applies to a man who looks at +the worst contingencies as well as the best in the human condition. +Being little attracted by excellences of form and rhythm apart from +content, he sometimes, when feeling outran his artistic speed, +perpetrated sonnets in the loosely rhymed Elizabethan fashion, which +every right-minded reviewer said he ought not to have done. + +With sad and hopeless envy, Ella Marchmill had often and often +scanned the rival poet's work, so much stronger as it always was +than her own feeble lines. She had imitated him, and her inability +to touch his level would send her into fits of despondency. Months +passed away thus, till she observed from the publishers' list that +Trewe 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 printing. + +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 rhymes 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 ruinous +charge was made for costs of publication; a few reviews 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 groove just then by +the discovery that she was going to have a third child, and the +collapse of her poetical venture had perhaps less effect upon her +mind than it might have done if she had been domestically +unoccupied. Her husband had paid the publisher's bill with the +doctor's, and there it all had ended for the time. But, though less +than a poet of her century, Ella was more than a mere multiplier of +her kind, and latterly she had begun to feel the old afflatus once +more. And now by an odd conjunction she found herself in the rooms +of Robert Trewe. + +She thoughtfully rose from her chair and searched the apartment with +the interest of a fellow-tradesman. 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. +Hooper, the landlady, for some trivial service, and inquired again +about the young man. + +'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. Hooper +seemed nothing loth to minister to her tenant's curiosity about her +predecessor. '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-hearted people every day.' + +'Ah, he's kind-hearted . . . and good.' + +'Yes; he'll oblige me in anything if I ask him. "Mr. Trewe," I say +to him sometimes, "you are rather out of spirits." "Well, I am, +Mrs. Hooper," 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 Norway, or +somewhere; and I assure you he comes back all the better for it.' + +'Ah, indeed! 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 +rehearsing it; and the floors being so thin--jerry-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. +Hooper drew Ella's attention to what she had not noticed before: +minute scribblings in pencil on the wall-paper behind the curtains +at the head of the bed. + +'O! let me look,' said Mrs. Marchmill, unable to conceal a rush of +tender curiosity as she bent her pretty face close to the wall. + +'These,' said Mrs. Hooper, with the manner of a woman who knew +things, 'are the very beginnings 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 jots 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 newer; +indeed, I have not seen that one before. It must have been done +only a few days ago.' + +'O yes! . . . ' + +Ella Marchmill 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 choppy outside the Island, Ella'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 steamboats of the cheap- +trippers, where there was dancing by moonlight, and where the +couples would come suddenly down with a lurch into each other's +arms; for, as he blandly told her, the company was too mixed for him +to take her amid such scenes. Thus, while this thriving +manufacturer got a great deal of change and sea-air out of his +sojourn here, the life, external at least, of Ella 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 waxed strong, she was possessed by +an inner flame which left her hardly conscious of what was +proceeding around her. + +She had read till she knew by heart Trewe's last little volume of +verses, and spent a great deal of time in vainly attempting to rival +some of them, till, in her failure, she burst into tears. The +personal element in the magnetic attraction exercised by this +circumambient, unapproachable 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 +environment, 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 specialize a waiting emotion on the first +fit thing that came to hand did not, of course, suggest itself to +Ella. + +In the natural way of passion under the too practical conditions +which civilization has devised for its fruition, 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 ardours, that required sustenance of some sort, +they were beginning to feed on this chancing material, which was, +indeed, of a quality far better than chance usually offers. + +One day the children had been playing hide-and-seek in a closet, +whence, in their excitement, they pulled out some clothing. Mrs. +Hooper explained that it belonged to Mr. Trewe, and hung it up in +the closet again. Possessed of her fantasy, Ella went later in the +afternoon, when nobody was in that part of the house, opened the +closet, unhitched one of the articles, a mackintosh, and put it on, +with the waterproof cap belonging to it. + +'The mantle of Elijah!' she said. 'Would it might inspire me to +rival him, glorious genius that he is!' + +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 levels 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 +freak. What have I else to do? You are always away!' + +'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 ardently about him. + +'You are interested in Mr. Trewe, 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 I'll be in, and he may +select them from your room?' + +'O yes!' + +'You could very well meet Mr Trewe then, if you'd like to be in the +way!' + +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, Ell: 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 yacht.' + +For the first time in her experience of such an offer Ella 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 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 Silesian band, a troop of foreign gentlemen hired for the +season, had drawn almost all the residents and promenaders away from +the vicinity of Coburg House. A knock was audible at the door. + +Mrs. Marchmill 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! He's gone long ago. I answered it.' + +Mrs. Hooper came in herself. + +'So disappointing!' she said. 'Mr. Trewe 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. Trewe 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.' + +Ella was miserable, and for a long time could not even re-read his +mournful ballad on 'Severed Lives,' so aching was her erratic 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 +could not feel that she cared about them half as much as usual. + +* * * + +'Mrs. Hooper, have you a photograph of--the gentleman who lived +here?' She was getting to be curiously shy in mentioning his name. + +'Why, yes. It's in the ornamental frame on the mantelpiece in your +own bedroom, ma'am.' + +'No; the Royal Duke and Duchess 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 Duchess temporarily +in front of him, as they had no frame, and Royalties 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. + +'_I_ call him so. 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 eye when he looks round quickly, such as you'd +expect a poet to be who doesn't get his living by it.' + +'How old is he?' + +'Several years older than yourself, ma'am; about thirty-one or two, +I think.' + +Ella was, as a matter of fact, a few months over thirty herself; but +she did not look nearly so much. Though so immature in nature, she +was entering on that tract of life in which emotional 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 at +least the vainer 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. Hooper's remark, and said no more +about age. + +Just then a telegram was brought up. It came from her husband, who +had gone down the Channel as far as Budmouth with his friends in the +yacht, and would not be able to get back till next day. + +After her light dinner Ella idled about the shore with the children +till dusk, thinking of the yet uncovered photograph in her room, +with a serene sense of something ecstatic to come. For, with the +subtle luxuriousness of fancy in which this young woman was an +adept, on learning that her husband was to be absent that night she +had refrained from incontinently 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 garish afternoon sunlight. + +The children had been sent to bed, and Ella 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 Trewe's tenderest utterances. +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 slouched hat which +shaded the forehead. The large dark eyes, described by the +landlady, showed an unlimited capacity for misery; they looked out +from beneath well-shaped brows as if they were reading the universe +in the microcosm of the confronter's face, and were not altogether +overjoyed at what the spectacle portended. + +Ella murmured in her lowest, richest, tenderest tone: 'And it's YOU +who've so cruelly eclipsed 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 cardboard 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 unconscionable +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 self- +same thoughts and feelings as hers, which her husband distinctly +lacked; 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 reclining on the pillow she re-read those of Robert Trewe'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 coverlet, and contemplated it as she lay. Then she scanned +again by the light of the candle the half-obliterated pencillings on +the wall-paper beside her head. There they were--phrases, couplets, +bouts-rimes, beginnings and middles of lines, ideas in the rough, +like Shelley's scraps, and the least of them so intense, so sweet, +so palpitating, that it seemed as if his very breath, warm and +loving, fanned her cheeks from those walls, walls that had +surrounded his head times and times as they surrounded her own now. +He must often have put up his hand so--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, + + +'Forms more real than living man, +Nurslings of immortality,' + + +were, no doubt, the thoughts and spirit-strivings which had come 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, immersed in the +very essence of him, permeated by his spirit as by an ether. + +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 Marchmill. '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?' + +'O no. I'm as tired as a dog. I've had a good feed, and I shall +turn in straight off. I want to get out 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, Ella 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 Marchmill 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 crackling under me so?' Imagining her asleep he +searched round him and withdrew something. Through her half-opened +eyes she perceived it to be Mr. Trewe. + +'Well, I'm damned!' her husband exclaimed. + +'What, dear?' said she. + +'O, you are awake? Ha! ha!' + +'What DO you mean?' + +'Some bloke's photograph--a friend of our landlady's, I suppose. I +wonder how it came here; whisked 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!' + +Ella's loyalty to the object of her admiration could not endure to +hear him ridiculed. 'He's a clever man!' she said, with a tremor in +her gentle voice which she herself felt to be absurdly uncalled 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. Hooper told me when she showed me the photograph.' + +'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. Marchmill inquired if Mr. Trewe were likely to call at +any other time. + +'Yes,' said Mrs. Hooper. 'He's coming this day week to stay with a +friend near here till you leave. He'll be sure to call.' + +Marchmill 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 Brighton 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 Trewe 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! Ella knew but vaguely where the +house stood, and when she fancied she had found it, and ventured to +inquire of a pedestrian 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 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 picturesque seaside +eminence till it was time to return to the town and enter the +steamer for recrossing, 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 Marchmill went off the next +morning alone. + +But the week passed, and Trewe did not call. + +On Saturday morning the remaining members of the Marchmill family +departed from the place which had been productive of so much fervour +in her. The dreary, dreary train; the sun shining in moted 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-levels disappeared from her gaze, and with them +her poet's home. Heavy-hearted, she tried to read, and wept +instead. + +Mr. Marchmill was in a thriving 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. Ella's life was lonely here, as the suburban life is apt to +be, particularly at certain seasons; and she had ample time to +indulge her taste for lyric and elegiac composition. She had hardly +got back when she encountered a piece by Robert Trewe in the new +number of her favourite magazine, which must have been written +almost immediately before her visit to Solentsea, for it contained +the very couplet she had seen pencilled on the wallpaper by the bed, +and Mrs. Hooper had declared to be recent. Ella could resist no +longer, but seizing a pen impulsively, wrote to him as a brother- +poet, using the name of John Ivy, congratulating him in her letter +on his triumphant executions in metre and rhythm 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 future. + +There must have been something juvenile or timid in her own epistle, +as one ostensibly coming from a man, she declared to herself; for +Trewe 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 knew so well, for he was now +back again in his quarters. + +The correspondence thus begun was continued for two months or more, +Ella Marchmill 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 sedulously read them, nor did he +send her any of his own in return. Ella would have been more hurt +at this than she was if she had not known that Trewe laboured 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, matters would be otherwise. +No doubt she would have helped on this by making a frank confession +of womanhood, to begin 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. Trewe's, and that the two men were at that very +moment in Wales together. + +Ella 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 requesting him to bring with +him, if practicable, his companion Mr. Trewe, whose acquaintance she +was anxious to make. The answer arrived after some few days. Her +correspondent and his friend Trewe 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. + +Ella was blithe and buoyant. Her scheme had succeeded; her beloved +though as yet unseen one was coming. "Behold, he standeth behind +our wall; he looked forth at the windows, showing himself through +the lattice," she thought ecstatically. "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 is come, and the voice of the +turtle is heard in our land." + +But it was necessary to consider the details of lodging and feeding +him. This she did most solicitously, and awaited the pregnant 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. Poetess 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 faint resemblance to the chiton of the Greeks, a style just +then in vogue among ladies of an artistic and romantic turn, which +had been obtained by Ella of her Bond Street dressmaker when she was +last in London. Her visitor entered the drawing-room. She looked +towards his rear; nobody else came through the door. Where, in the +name of the God of Love, was Robert Trewe? + +'O, I'm sorry,' said the painter, after their introductory words had +been spoken. 'Trewe is a curious fellow, you know, Mrs. Marchmill. +He said he'd come; then he said he couldn't. He's rather dusty. +We've been doing a few miles with knapsacks, 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 nether lip starting +off quivering so much that it was like a tremolo-stop opened in her +speech. She longed to run away from this dreadful bore and cry her +eyes out. + +'Just now, in the turnpike road yonder there.' + +'What! he has actually gone past my gates?' + +'Yes. When we got to them--handsome gates they are, too, the finest +bit of modern wrought-iron work I have seen--when we came to them we +stopped, talking there a little while, and then he wished me good- +bye and went on. The truth is, he's a little bit depressed just +now, and doesn't want to see anybody. He's a very good fellow, and +a warm friend, but a little uncertain and gloomy sometimes; he +thinks too much of things. His poetry is rather too erotic and +passionate, you know, for some tastes; and he has just come in for a +terrible slating from the -- Review that was published yesterday; he +saw a copy of it at the station by accident. Perhaps you've read +it?' + +'No.' + +'So much the better. O, it is not worth thinking of; just one of +those articles written to order, to please the narrow-minded set of +subscribers upon whom the circulation depends. But he's upset by +it. He says it is the misrepresentation that hurts him so; that, +though he can stand a fair attack, he can't stand lies that he's +powerless to refute and stop from spreading. That's just Trewe's +weak point. He lives so much by himself that these things affect +him much more than they would if he were in the bustle of +fashionable or commercial life. So he wouldn't come here, making +the excuse that it all looked so new and monied--if you'll pardon--' + +'But--he must have known--there was sympathy here! Has he never +said anything about getting letters from this address?' + +'Yes, yes, he has, from John Ivy--perhaps a relative of yours, he +thought, visiting here at the time?' + +'Did he--like Ivy, did he say?' + +'Well, I don't know that he took any great interest in Ivy.' + +'Or in his poems?' + +'Or in his poems--so far as I know, that is.' + +Robert Trewe took no interest in her house, in her poems, or in +their writer. As soon as she could get away she went into the +nursery and tried to let off her emotion by unnecessarily kissing +the children, till she had a sudden sense of disgust at being +reminded how plain-looking they were, like their father. + +The obtuse and single-minded landscape-painter never once perceived +from her conversation that it was only Trewe she wanted, and not +himself. He made the best of his visit, seeming to enjoy the +society of Ella's husband, who also took a great fancy to him, and +showed him everywhere about the neighbourhood, neither of them +noticing Ella's mood. + +The painter had been gone only a day or two when, while sitting +upstairs alone one morning, she glanced over the London paper just +arrived, and read the following paragraph:- + + +'SUICIDE OF A POET + +'Mr. Robert Trewe, who has been favourably known for some years as +one of our rising lyrists, committed suicide at his lodgings at +Solentsea on Saturday evening last by shooting himself in the right +temple with a revolver. Readers hardly need to be reminded that Mr. +Trewe has recently attracted the attention of a much wider public +than had hitherto known him, by his new volume of verse, mostly of +an impassioned kind, entitled "Lyrics to a Woman Unknown," which has +been already favourably noticed in these pages for the extraordinary +gamut of feeling it traverses, and which has been made the subject +of a severe, if not ferocious, criticism in the -- Review. It is +supposed, though not certainly known, that the article may have +partially conduced to the sad act, as a copy of the review in +question was found on his writing-table; and he has been observed to +be in a somewhat depressed state of mind since the critique +appeared.' + + +Then came the report of the inquest, at which the following letter +was read, it having been addressed to a friend at a distance:- + + +'DEAR -,--Before these lines reach your hands I shall be delivered +from the inconveniences of seeing, hearing, and knowing more of the +things around me. I will not trouble you by giving my reasons for +the step I have taken, though I can assure you they were sound and +logical. Perhaps had I been blessed with a mother, or a sister, or +a female friend of another sort tenderly devoted to me, I might have +thought it worth while to continue my present existence. I have +long dreamt of such an unattainable creature, as you know, and she, +this undiscoverable, elusive one, inspired my last volume; the +imaginary woman alone, for, in spite of what has been said in some +quarters, there is no real woman behind the title. She has +continued to the last unrevealed, unmet, unwon. I think it +desirable to mention this in order that no blame may attach to any +real woman as having been the cause of my decease by cruel or +cavalier treatment of me. Tell my landlady that I am sorry to have +caused her this unpleasantness; but my occupancy of the rooms will +soon be forgotten. There are ample funds in my name at the bank to +pay all expenses. R. TREWE.' + + +Ella sat for a while as if stunned, then rushed into the adjoining +chamber and flung herself upon her face on the bed. + +Her grief and distraction shook her to pieces; and she lay in this +frenzy of sorrow for more than an hour. Broken words came every now +and then from her quivering lips: 'O, if he had only known of me-- +known of me--me! . . . O, if I had only once met him--only once; and +put my hand upon his hot forehead--kissed him--let him know how I +loved him--that I would have suffered shame and scorn, would have +lived and died, for him! Perhaps it would have saved his dear life! +. . . But no--it was not allowed! God is a jealous God; and that +happiness was not for him and me!' + +All possibilities were over; the meeting was stultified. Yet it was +almost visible to her in her fantasy even now, though it could never +be substantiated - + + +'The hour which might have been, yet might not be, +Which man's and woman's heart conceived and bore, +Yet whereof life was barren.' + + +She wrote to the landlady at Solentsea in the third person, in as +subdued a style as she could command, enclosing a postal order for a +sovereign, and informing Mrs. Hooper that Mrs. Marchmill had seen in +the papers the sad account of the poet's death, and having been, as +Mrs. Hooper was aware, much interested in Mr. Trewe during her stay +at Coburg House, she would be obliged if Mrs. Hooper could obtain a +small portion of his hair before his coffin was closed down, and +send it her as a memorial of him, as also the photograph that was in +the frame. + +By the return-post a letter arrived containing what had been +requested. Ella wept over the portrait and 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!' 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 city the subject came +into Marchmill's head again. + +He, too, was aware that a suicide had taken place recently at the +house they had occupied at Solentsea. Having seen the volume of +poems in his wife's hand of late, and heard fragments of the +landlady's conversation about Trewe 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 Ella at home had come to a determination. +Mrs. Hooper, 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 eccentricities; she wrote +Marchmill a brief note, stating that she was called away for the +afternoon and 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. Marchmill reached home early in the afternoon the servants +looked anxious. 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. Marchmill 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 railway-station, and took a ticket +for Solentsea. + +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 Solentsea was now past: the parade +was gloomy, and the flys were few and cheap. He asked the way to +the Cemetery, and soon reached it. The gate was locked, but the +keeper let him in, declaring, however, that there was nobody within +the precincts. Although it was not late, the autumnal darkness had +now become intense; and he found some difficulty in keeping to the +serpentine path which led to the quarter where, as the man had told +him, the one or two interments for the day had taken place. He +stepped upon the grass, and, stumbling over some pegs, 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!' 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 three children and a fourth coming, should go losing your +head like this over 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 far 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 +Cemetery. 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 close 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 occurring +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. Ella seemed to be only too +frequently in a sad and listless mood, which might almost have been +called pining. The time was approaching when she would have to +undergo the stress of childbirth 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. + +'Pooh! what childish foreboding! 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 for Nelly, and Frank, and Tiny.' + +'And me!' + +'You'll soon find somebody to fill my place,' she murmured, with a +sad smile. 'And you'll have a perfect right to; I assure you of +that.' + +'Ell, you are not thinking still about that--poetical friend of +yours?' + +She neither admitted nor denied the charge. 'I am not going to get +over my illness this time,' she reiterated. '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, pulseless and bloodless, 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 Marchmill softly:- + +'Will, I want to confess to you the entire circumstances of that-- +about you know what--that time we visited Solentsea. 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 appreciator, +perhaps, rather than another lover--' + +She could get no further then for very exhaustion; and she went off +in sudden collapse a few hours later, without having said anything +more to her husband on the subject of her love for the poet. +William Marchmill, in truth, like most husbands of several years' +standing, was little disturbed by retrospective jealousies, and had +not shown the least anxiety to press her for confessions concerning +a man dead and gone beyond any power of inconveniencing him more. + +But when she had been buried a couple of years 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 +lock of hair in an 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 Solentsea. + +Marchmill looked long and musingly at the hair and portrait, for +something struck him. Fetching the little boy who had been the +death of his mother, now a noisy toddler, 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 transmitted idea, upon the child's, and the +hair was of the same hue. + +'I'm damned if I didn't think so!' murmured Marchmill. '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 brat! You are +nothing to me!' + +1893. + + + + +THE THREE STRANGERS + + + + +Among the few features of agricultural England which retain an +appearance but little modified by the lapse of centuries, may be +reckoned the high, grassy and furzy downs, coombs, or ewe-leases, as +they are indifferently called, that fill a large area of certain +counties in the south and south-west. If any mark of human +occupation is met with hereon, 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 measurement, was not more than five +miles from a county-town. Yet that affected it little. Five miles +of irregular upland, during the long inimical seasons, with their +sleets, snows, rains, and mists, afford withdrawing space enough to +isolate a Timon or a Nebuchadnezzar; much less, in fair weather, to +please that less repellent tribe, the poets, philosophers, artists, +and others who 'conceive and meditate of pleasant things.' + +Some old earthen camp or barrow, some clump of trees, at least some +starved fragment of ancient hedge is usually taken advantage of in +the erection of these forlorn dwellings. But, in the present case, +such a kind of shelter had been disregarded. Higher Crowstairs, as +the house was called, stood quite detached and undefended. The only +reason for its precise situation seemed to be the crossing of two +footpaths 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 +unmistakably when it did blow, and the rain hit hard whenever it +fell, the various weathers of the winter season were not quite so +formidable on the coomb as they were imagined to be by dwellers on +low ground. The raw rimes were not so pernicious as in the hollows, +and the frosts were scarcely so severe. When the shepherd and his +family who tenanted the house were pitied for their sufferings from +the exposure, they said that upon the whole they were less +inconvenienced by 'wuzzes and flames' (hoarses and phlegms) than +when they had lived by the stream of a snug neighbouring valley. + +The night of March 28, 182-, was precisely one of the nights that +were wont to call forth these expressions of commiseration. The +level rainstorm smote walls, slopes, and hedges like the clothyard +shafts of Senlac and Crecy. Such sheep and outdoor animals as had +no shelter stood with their buttocks to the winds; while the tails +of little birds trying to roost on some scraggy thorn were blown +inside-out like umbrellas. The gable-end of the cottage was stained +with wet, and the eavesdroppings flapped against the wall. Yet +never was commiseration for the shepherd more misplaced. For that +cheerful rustic was entertaining a large party in glorification of +the christening 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 eventful evening +would have resulted in the opinion that it was as cosy and +comfortable a nook as could be wished for in boisterous weather. +The calling of its inhabitant was proclaimed by a number of highly- +polished sheep-crooks without stems that were hung ornamentally over +the fireplace, the curl of each shining crook varying from the +antiquated type engraved in the patriarchal pictures of old family +Bibles to the most approved fashion of the last local sheep-fair. +The room was lighted by half-a-dozen candles, having wicks only a +trifle smaller than the grease which enveloped them, in candlesticks +that were never used but at high-days, holy-days, and family feasts. +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 crackled 'like 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 Charley +Jake the hedge-carpenter, Elijah New the parish-clerk, and John +Pitcher, a neighbouring dairyman, the shepherd's father-in-law, +lolled in the settle; a young man and maid, who were blushing over +tentative pourparlers on a life-companionship, sat beneath the +corner-cupboard; and an elderly engaged man of fifty or upward moved +restlessly about from spots where his betrothed was not to the spot +where she was. Enjoyment was pretty general, and so much the more +prevailed in being unhampered by conventional restrictions. +Absolute confidence in each other's good opinion begat perfect ease, +while the finishing stroke of manner, amounting to a truly princely +serenity, was lent to the majority by the absence of any expression +or trait denoting that they wished to get on in the world, enlarge +their minds, or do any eclipsing thing whatever--which nowadays so +generally nips the bloom and bonhomie of all except the two extremes +of the social scale. + +Shepherd Fennel had married well, his wife being a dairyman's +daughter from a vale at a distance, who brought fifty guineas in her +pocket--and kept them there, till they should be required for +ministering to the needs of a coming family. This frugal 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 unconscionable deal of toping that they would +sometimes fairly drink the house dry. A dancing-party was the +alternative; but this, while avoiding the foregoing objection on the +score of good drink, had a counterbalancing disadvantage in the +matter of good victuals, the ravenous appetites engendered by the +exercise causing immense havoc in the buttery. Shepherdess Fennel +fell back upon the intermediate plan of mingling short dances with +short periods of talk and singing, so as to hinder any ungovernable +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 fiddler was a boy of those parts, about twelve years of age, who +had a wonderful dexterity in jigs and reels, though his fingers were +so small and short as to necessitate a constant shifting for the +high notes, from which he scrambled back to the first position with +sounds not of unmixed purity of tone. At seven the shrill tweedle- +dee of this youngster had begun, accompanied by a booming ground- +bass from Elijah New, the parish-clerk, who had thoughtfully brought +with him his favourite musical instrument, the serpent. Dancing was +instantaneous, Mrs. Fennel privately enjoining the players on no +account to let the dance exceed the length of a quarter of an hour. + +But Elijah and the boy, in the excitement of their position, quite +forgot the injunction. Moreover, Oliver Giles, a man of seventeen, +one of the dancers, who was enamoured of his partner, a fair girl of +thirty-three rolling years, had recklessly handed a new crown-piece +to the musicians, as a bribe to keep going as long as they had +muscle and wind. Mrs. Fennel, seeing the steam begin to generate on +the countenances of her guests, crossed over and touched the +fiddler'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 markedly, she retired and sat +down helpless. And so the dance whizzed on with cumulative fury, +the performers moving in their planet-like courses, direct and +retrograde, from apogee to perigee, till the hand of the well-kicked +clock at the bottom of the room had travelled over the circumference +of an hour. + +While these cheerful events were in course of enactment within +Fennel's pastoral dwelling, an incident having considerable bearing +on the party had occurred in the gloomy night without. Mrs. +Fennel's concern about the growing fierceness of the dance +corresponded in point of time with the ascent of a human figure to +the solitary hill of Higher Crowstairs from the direction of the +distant town. This personage strode on through the rain without a +pause, following the little-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 light +revealed the lonely pedestrian to be a man of supple frame; his gait +suggested that he had somewhat passed the period of perfect and +instinctive agility, though not so far as to be otherwise than rapid +of motion when occasion required. At a rough guess, he might have +been about forty years of age. He appeared tall, but a recruiting +sergeant, or other person accustomed to the judging of men's heights +by the eye, would have discerned that this was chiefly owing to his +gauntness, and that he was not more than five-feet-eight or nine. + +Notwithstanding the regularity 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 which suggested that he +naturally belonged to the black-coated tribes of men. His clothes +were of fustian, and his boots hobnailed, yet in his progress he +showed not the mud-accustomed bearing of hobnailed and fustianed +peasantry. + +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 salient of the shepherd's domestic erections was an empty +sty at the forward corner of his hedgeless garden, for in these +latitudes the principle of masking the homelier features of your +establishment by a conventional frontage was unknown. The +traveller's eye was attracted to this small building by the pallid +shine of the wet slates 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 fiddler, reached the spot as an +accompaniment to the surging hiss of the flying rain on the sod, its +louder beating on the cabbage-leaves of the garden, on the eight or +ten beehives just discernible by the path, and its dripping from the +eaves into a row of buckets and pans that had been placed under the +walls of the cottage. For at Higher Crowstairs, as at all such +elevated domiciles, the grand difficulty of housekeeping was an +insufficiency of water; and a casual rainfall was utilized by +turning out, as catchers, every utensil that the house contained. +Some queer stories might be told of the contrivances for economy in +suds and dish-waters that are absolutely necessitated in upland +habitations during the droughts of summer. But at this season there +were no such exigencies; 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 cessation of activity aroused the solitary pedestrian from the +reverie into which he had lapsed, 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 from +one of them. Having quenched his thirst he rose and lifted his hand +to knock, but paused with his eye upon the panel. 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 indecision 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 snail; the roof of the little +well (mostly dry), the well-cover, the top rail of the garden-gate, +were varnished with the same dull liquid glaze; while, far away in +the vale, a faint whiteness of more than usual extent showed that +the rivers were high in the meads. Beyond all this winked a few +bleared lamplights through the beating drops--lights that denoted +the situation of the county-town from which he had appeared to come. +The absence of all notes of life in that direction seemed to clinch +his intentions, and he knocked at the door. + +Within, a desultory 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!' said the shepherd promptly. + +The latch clicked upward, and out of the night our pedestrian +appeared upon the door-mat. The shepherd arose, snuffed two of the +nearest candles, and turned to look at him. + +Their light disclosed that the stranger was dark in complexion and +not unprepossessing 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, +baring 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, you've 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 fag o't.' + +'And what may be this glad cause?' asked the stranger. + +'A birth and christening,' said the shepherd. + +The stranger hoped his host might not be made unhappy either by too +many or too few of such episodes, and being invited by a gesture to +a pull at the mug, he readily acquiesced. His manner, which, before +entering, had been so dubious, was now altogether that of a careless +and candid man. + +'Late to be traipsing athwart this coomb--hey?' said the engaged man +of fifty. + +'Late it is, master, as you say.--I'll take a seat in the chimney- +corner, 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 Fennel 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 expansiveness of a +person quite at home. + +'Yes, I am rather cracked in the vamp,' he said freely, seeing that +the eyes of the shepherd's wife 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 hereabouts?' she inquired. + +'Not quite that--further up the country.' + +'I thought so. And so be I; and by your tongue you come from 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 youthfulness 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 baccy, 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 smoker, and no pipe about 'ee?' + +'I have dropped it somewhere on the road.' + +The shepherd filled and handed him a new clay pipe, saying, as he +did so, 'Hand me your baccy-box--I'll fill that too, now I am about +it.' + +The man went through the movement of searching his pockets. + +'Lost that too?' said his entertainer, 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 +suction that drew the whole flame into the bowl, he resettled +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 chimney-corner took up the poker +and began stirring the brands 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 radically different from the +first. There was more of the commonplace in his manner, and a +certain jovial cosmopolitanism sat upon his features. He was +several years older than the first arrival, his hair being slightly +frosted, his eyebrows bristly, and his whiskers cut back from his +cheeks. His face was rather full and flabby, and yet it was not +altogether a face without power. A few grog-blossoms marked the +neighbourhood of his nose. He flung back his long drab greatcoat, +revealing that beneath it he wore a suit of cinder-gray shade +throughout, large heavy seals, of some metal or other that would +take a polish, dangling from his fob as his only 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 wetted +to my skin before I get to Casterbridge.' + +'Make yourself at home, master,' said the shepherd, perhaps a trifle +less heartily than on the first occasion. Not that Fennel had the +least tinge of niggardliness 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 greatcoat, 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-corner, to +give all available room to the dancers, that its inner edge grazed +the elbow of the man who had ensconced 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 unacquaintance, +and the first stranger handed his neighbour the family mug--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 rotund side in yellow letters + + +THERE IS NO FUN +UNTiLL i CUM. + + +The other man, nothing loth, raised the mug to his lips, and drank +on, and on, and on--till a curious blueness overspread 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. + +'I knew it!' said the toper to the shepherd with much satisfaction. +'When I walked up your garden before coming in, and saw the hives +all of a row, I said to myself; "Where there's bees there's honey, +and where there's honey there's mead." But mead 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 mug, till it assumed an +ominous elevation. + +'Glad you enjoy it!' said the shepherd warmly. + +'It is goodish mead,' assented Mrs. Fennel, with an absence of +enthusiasm which seemed to say that it was possible to buy praise +for one'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 +sells well, and we ourselves can make shift with a drop o' small +mead and metheglin for common use from the comb-washings." + +'O, but you'll never have the heart!' reproachfully cried the +stranger in cinder-gray, after taking up the mug a third time and +setting it down empty. 'I love mead, when 'tis old like this, as I +love to go to church o' Sundays, or to relieve the needy any day of +the week.' + +'Ha, ha, ha!' said the man in the chimney-corner, who, in spite of +the taciturnity induced by the pipe of tobacco, could not or would +not refrain from this slight testimony to his comrade's humour. + +Now the old mead of those days, brewed of the purest first-year or +maiden honey, four pounds to the gallon--with its due complement of +white of eggs, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, mace, rosemary, yeast, and +processes of working, bottling, and cellaring--tasted remarkably +strong; but it did not taste so strong as it actually was. Hence, +presently, the stranger in cinder-gray at the table, moved by its +creeping influence, unbuttoned his waistcoat, threw himself back in +his chair, spread his legs, and made his presence felt in various +ways. + +'Well, well, as I say,' he resumed, 'I am going to Casterbridge, and +to Casterbridge 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 Casterbridge?' 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 rich, and don't want to work at anything.' + +The cinder-gray stranger paused, as if to consider whether he would +accept that definition of himself. He presently rejected it by +answering, 'Rich is not quite the word for me, dame. I do work, and +I must work. And even if I only get to Casterbridge by midnight I +must begin work there at eight to-morrow morning. Yes, het or wet, +blow or snow, famine 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 +mug were not dry.' + +'Here's a mug o' small,' said Mrs. Fennel. 'Small, we call it, +though to be sure 'tis only the first wash o' the combs.' + +'No,' said the stranger disdainfully. 'I won't spoil your first +kindness by partaking o' your second.' + +'Certainly not,' broke in Fennel. 'We don't increase and multiply +every day, and I'll fill the mug again.' He went away to the dark +place under the stairs where the barrel stood. The shepherdess +followed him. + +'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 unbeknown 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 +christening. Daze it, what's a cup of mead more or less? There'll +be plenty more next bee-burning.' + +'Very well--this time, then,' she answered, looking wistfully at the +barrel. 'But what is the man's calling, 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 mug drained dry at one pull by the +stranger in cinder-gray was effectually guarded against this time by +Mrs. Fennel. 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 demonstrativeness, said, 'Anybody may know my +trade--I'm a wheelwright.' + +'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 cinder-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.' + +The hands of the man in the chimney-corner instinctively sought the +shade, and he gazed into the fire as he resumed his pipe. The man +at the table took up the hedge-carpenter's remark, and added +smartly, 'True; but the oddity 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 elucidation of this +enigma, 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 +extemporizing gaze at the shining sheep-crooks above the +mantelpiece, began:- + + +'O my trade it is the rarest one, +Simple shepherds all - +My trade is a sight to see; +For my customers I tie, and take them up on high, +And waft 'em to a far countree!' + + +The room was silent when he had finished the verse--with one +exception, that of the man in the chimney-corner, who, at the +singer's word, 'Chorus! 'joined him in a deep bass voice of musical +relish - + + +'And waft 'em to a far countree!' + + +Oliver Giles, John Pitcher the dairyman, the parish-clerk, the +engaged man of fifty, the row of young women against the wall, +seemed lost in thought not of the gayest kind. The shepherd looked +meditatively on the ground, the shepherdess 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 +composing one there and then for the occasion. All were as +perplexed at the obscure revelation as the guests at Belshazzar's +Feast, except the man in the chimney-corner, who quietly said, +'Second verse, stranger,' and smoked on. + +The singer thoroughly moistened himself from his lips inwards, and +went on with the next stanza as requested:- + + +'My tools are but common ones, +Simple shepherds all - +My tools are no sight to see: +A little hempen string, and a post whereon to swing, +Are implements enough for me!' + + +Shepherd Fennel glanced round. There was no longer any doubt that +the stranger was answering his question rhythmically. The guests +one and all started back with suppressed exclamations. The young +woman engaged to the 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 Casterbridge jail to-morrow--the man for sheep-stealing-- +the poor clock-maker we heard of; who used to live away at +Shottsford and had no work to do--Timothy Summers, whose family were +a-starving, and so he went out of Shottsford by the high-road, and +took a sheep in open daylight, defying 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 +county-town, 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 cinder-gray took no notice of this whispered string +of observations, but again wetted his lips. Seeing that his friend +in the chimney-corner was the only one who reciprocated his +joviality in any way, he held out his cup towards that appreciative +comrade, who also held out his own. They clinked 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 deprecatory glance, and uttered for the third +time the welcoming 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 cinder-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 heeded the interruption, +silenced all whispers and inquiries by bursting into his third +verse:- + + +'To-morrow is my working day, +Simple shepherds all - +To-morrow is a working day for me: +For the farmer's sheep is slain, and the lad who did it ta'en, +And on his soul may God ha' merc-y!' + + +The stranger in the chimney-corner, waving cups with the singer so +heartily that his mead splashed over on the hearth, repeated in his +bass voice as before:- + + +'And on his soul may God ha' merc-y!' + + +All this time the third stranger had been 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 door-latch 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 awfulness 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 - + + +' . . . circulus, cujus centrum diabolus.' + + +The room was so silent--though there were more than twenty people in +it--that nothing could be heard but the patter of the rain against +the window-shutters, accompanied by the occasional hiss of a stray +drop that fell down the chimney into the fire, and the steady +puffing of the man in the corner, who had now resumed his pipe of +long clay. + +The stillness was unexpectedly broken. The distant sound of a gun +reverberated through the air--apparently from the direction of the +county-town. + +'Be jiggered!' cried the 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.' + +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 MY man?' murmured the personage in cinder-gray. + +'Surely it is!' said the shepherd involuntarily. 'And surely we've +zeed him! That little man who looked in at the door by now, and +quivered like a leaf when he zeed ye and heard your song!' + +'His teeth chattered, and the breath went out of his body,' said the +dairyman. + +'And his heart seemed to sink within him like a stone,' said Oliver +Giles. + +'And he bolted as if he'd been shot at,' said the hedge-carpenter. + +'True--his teeth chattered, and his heart seemed to sink; and he +bolted as if he'd been shot at,' slowly summed up the man in the +chimney-corner. + +'I didn't notice it,' remarked the hangman. + +'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 +cinder-gray roused himself. 'Is there a constable here?' he asked, +in thick tones. 'If so, let him step forward.' + +The engaged man of fifty stepped quavering out from the wall, his +betrothed beginning to sob on the back of the chair. + +'You are a sworn constable?' + +'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 staff. I'll 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 Jake? No; for there's the king's royal crown a painted +on en in yaller and gold, and the lion and the unicorn, 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--no, not I. If I +hadn't the law to gie 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 ye any lanterns?' + +'Yes--have ye any lanterns?--I demand it!' said the constable. + +'And the rest of you able-bodied--' + +'Able-bodied men--yes--the rest of ye!' said the constable. + +'Have you some good stout staves and pitch-forks--' + +'Staves and pitchforks--in the name o' the law! 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 circumstantial, 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 connivance 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 uneven +country. + +A shepherd is always well provided with lanterns; and, lighting +these hastily, and with hurdle-staves in 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 abated. + +Disturbed by the noise, or possibly by unpleasant dreams of her +baptism, the child who had been christened began to cry heart- +brokenly in the room overhead. These notes of grief came down +through the chinks 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 pursuers had taken. Peeping in at the door, and +seeing nobody there, he entered leisurely. It was the stranger of +the chimney-corner, who had gone out with the rest. The motive of +his return was shown by his helping himself to a cut piece of +skimmer-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 mead from the quantity that remained, ravenously +eating and drinking these as he stood. He had not finished when +another figure came in just as quietly--his friend in cinder-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 solicitously round for the fascinating mug of +old mead. + +'And I thought you had gone,' said the other, continuing his +skimmer-cake with some effort. + +'Well, on second thoughts, I felt there were enough without me,' +said the first confidentially, 'and such a night as it is, too. +Besides, 'tis the business o' the Government to take care of its +criminals--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 humps and hollows +of this wild country.' + +'Nor I neither, between you and me.' + +'These shepherd-people are used to it--simple-minded souls, you +know, stirred up to anything in a moment. They'll have him ready +for me before the morning, and no trouble to me at all.' + +'They'll have him, and we shall have saved ourselves all labour in +the matter.' + +'True, true. Well, my way is to Casterbridge; and 'tis as much as +my legs will do to take me that far. Going the same way?' + +'No, I am sorry to say! I have to get home over there' (he nodded +indefinitely to the right), 'and I feel as you do, that it is quite +enough for my legs to do before bedtime.' + +The other had by this time finished the mead in the mug, after +which, shaking hands heartily at the door, and wishing each other +well, they went their several ways. + +In the meantime the company of pursuers had reached the end of the +hog's-back elevation which dominated this part of the down. They +had decided on no particular plan of action; and, finding that the +man of the baleful trade was no longer in their company, they seemed +quite unable to form any such plan now. They descended in all +directions down the hill, and straightway several of the party fell +into the snare set by Nature for all misguided midnight ramblers +over this part of the cretaceous formation. The 'lanchets,' or +flint slopes, which belted the escarpment at intervals of a dozen +yards, took the less cautious ones unawares, and losing their +footing on the rubbly steep they slid sharply downwards, the +lanterns rolling from their hands to the bottom, and there lying on +their sides till the horn was scorched through. + +When they had again gathered themselves together, the shepherd, as +the man who knew the country best, took the lead, and guided them +round these treacherous inclines. The lanterns, which seemed rather +to dazzle their eyes and warn the fugitive than to assist them in +the exploration, were extinguished, due silence was observed; and in +this more rational order they plunged into the vale. It was a +grassy, briery, moist defile, affording some shelter to any person +who had sought it; but the party perambulated it in vain, and +ascended on the other side. Here they wandered apart, and after an +interval closed together again to report progress. + +At the second time of closing in they found themselves near a lonely +ash, the single tree on this part of the coomb, probably sown there +by a passing bird some fifty years before. And here, standing a +little to one side of the trunk, as motionless as the trunk itself; +appeared the man they were in quest of; his outline being well +defined against the sky beyond. The band noiselessly drew up and +faced him. + +'Your money or your life!' said the constable sternly to the still +figure. + +'No, no,' whispered John Pitcher. ''Tisn't our side ought to say +that. That's the doctrine of vagabonds like him, and we be on the +side of the law.' + +'Well, well,' replied the constable impatiently; 'I must say +something, mustn't I? and if you had all the weight o' this +undertaking upon your mind, perhaps you'd say the wrong thing too!-- +Prisoner at the bar, surrender, in the name of the Father--the +Crown, I mane!' + +The man under the tree seemed now to notice them for the first time, +and, giving them no opportunity whatever for exhibiting their +courage, he strolled slowly towards them. He was, indeed, the +little man, the third stranger; but his trepidation had in a great +measure gone. + +'Well, travellers,' he said, 'did I hear ye speak to me?' + +'You did: you've got to come and be our prisoner at once!' said the +constable. 'We arrest 'ee on the charge of not biding in +Casterbridge jail in a decent proper manner to be hung to-morrow +morning. Neighbours, do your duty, and seize the culpet!' + +On hearing the charge, the man seemed enlightened, and, saying not +another word, resigned himself with preternatural civility to the +search-party, who, with their staves in their hands, surrounded him +on all sides, and marched him back towards the shepherd's cottage. + +It was eleven o'clock by the time they arrived. The light shining +from the open door, a sound of men's voices within, proclaimed to +them as they approached the house that some new events had arisen in +their absence. On entering they discovered the shepherd's living +room to be invaded by two officers from Casterbridge jail, and a +well-known magistrate who lived at the nearest country-seat, +intelligence of the escape having become generally circulated. + +'Gentlemen,' said the constable, 'I have brought back your man--not +without risk and danger; but every one must do his duty! He is +inside this circle of able-bodied persons, who have lent me useful +aid, considering their ignorance of Crown work. Men, bring forward +your prisoner!' And the third stranger was led to the light. + +'Who is this?' said one of the officials. + +'The man,' said the constable. + +'Certainly not,' said the turnkey; and the first corroborated his +statement. + +'But how can it be otherwise?' asked the constable. 'Or why was he +so terrified at sight o' the singing instrument of the law who sat +there?' Here he related the strange behaviour of the third stranger +on entering the house during the hangman's song. + +'Can't understand it,' said the officer coolly. 'All I know is that +it is not the condemned man. He's quite a different character from +this one; a gauntish fellow, with dark hair and eyes, rather good- +looking, and with a musical bass voice that if you heard it once +you'd never mistake as long as you lived.' + +'Why, souls--'twas the man in the chimney-corner!' + +'Hey--what?' said the magistrate, coming forward after inquiring +particulars from the shepherd in the background. 'Haven't you got +the man after all?' + +'Well, sir,' said the constable, 'he's the man we were in search of, +that's true; and yet he's not the man we were in search of. For the +man we were in search of was not the man we wanted, sir, if you +understand my every-day way; for 'twas the man in the chimney- +corner!' + +'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-corner 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 Shottsford to tramp it +all the way to Casterbridge jail to bid him farewell. I was +benighted, 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 Casterbridge. He was in this chimney- +corner; and jammed close to him, so that he could not have got out +if he had tried, was the executioner who'd come 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 narrator'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 constable. + +'Where does he think to fly to?--what is his occupation?' + +'He's a watch-and-clock-maker, sir.' + +''A said 'a was a wheelwright--a wicked rogue,' said the constable. + +'The wheels of clocks and watches he meant, no doubt,' said Shepherd +Fennel. 'I thought his hands were palish for's trade.' + +'Well, it appears to me that nothing can be gained by retaining this +poor man in custody,' 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 constable to raze 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-stealer became +general and keen, to all appearance at least. But the intended +punishment was cruelly disproportioned to the transgression, 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 hob-and-nobbing with the hangman, under the unprecedented +circumstances of the shepherd's party, won their admiration. So +that it may be questioned if all those who ostensibly 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 lofts and outhouses. Stories were afloat of a mysterious figure +being occasionally seen in some old overgrown trackway or other, +remote from turnpike roads; but when a search was instituted in any +of these suspected quarters nobody was found. Thus the days and +weeks passed without tidings. + +In brief; the bass-voiced man of the chimney-corner was never +recaptured. Some said that he went across the sea, others that he +did not, but buried himself in the depths of a populous city. At +any rate, the gentleman in cinder-gray never did his morning's work +at Casterbridge, nor met anywhere at all, for business purposes, the +genial comrade with whom he had passed an hour of relaxation in the +lonely house on the coomb. + +The grass has long been green on the graves of Shepherd Fennel and +his frugal wife; the guests who made up the christening party have +mainly followed their entertainers to the tomb; the baby in whose +honour they all had met is a matron in the sere and yellow leaf. +But the arrival of the three strangers at the shepherd's that night, +and the details connected therewith, is a story as well known as +ever in the country about Higher Crowstairs. + +March 1883. + + + + +THE WITHERED ARM + + + + +CHAPTER I--A LORN MILKMAID + + + +It was an eighty-cow dairy, and the troop of milkers, regular and +supernumerary, 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 pail.' The hour was about six in the evening, +and three-fourths of the large, red, rectangular 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 Anglebury to-day.' + +The voice seemed to proceed from the belly of the cow called Cherry, +but the speaker was a milking-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-cheeked, tisty-tosty little body enough,' she added; +and as the milkmaid spoke she turned her face so that she could +glance past her cow's tail to the other side of the barton, where a +thin, fading woman of thirty milked somewhat apart from the rest. + +'Years younger than he, they say,' continued the second, with also a +glance of reflectiveness in the same direction. + +'How old do you call him, then?' + +'Thirty or so.' + +'More like forty,' broke in an old milkman near, in a long white +pinafore or 'wropper,' and with the brim of his hat tied down, so +that he looked like a woman. ''A was born before our Great Weir was +builded, and I hadn't man's wages when I laved water there.' + +The discussion waxed so warm that the purr of the milk-streams +became jerky, till a voice from another cow's belly cried with +authority, 'Now then, what the Turk do it matter to us about Farmer +Lodge's age, or Farmer Lodge's new mis'ess? I shall have to pay him +nine pound a year for the rent of every one of these milchers, +whatever his age or hers. Get on with your work, or 'twill be dark +afore we have done. The evening is pinking in a'ready.' This +speaker was the dairyman himself; by whom the milkmaids 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,' signifying the thin worn milkmaid aforesaid. + +'O no,' said the second. 'He ha'n't spoke to Rhoda Brook for +years.' + +When the milking was done they washed their pails and hung them on a +many-forked stand made of the peeled limb of an oak-tree, set +upright in the earth, and resembling a colossal antlered horn. The +majority then dispersed in various directions homeward. The thin +woman who had not spoken was joined by a boy of twelve or +thereabout, and the twain went away up the field also. + +Their course lay apart from that of the others, to a lonely spot +high above the water-meads, and not far from the border of Egdon +Heath, whose dark countenance was visible in the distance as they +drew nigh to their home. + +'They've just been saying down in barton that your father brings his +young wife home from Anglebury to-morrow,' the woman observed. 'I +shall want to send you for a few things to market, and you'll be +pretty sure to meet 'em.' + +'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 depressions that left none of the original +flat face visible; while here and there in the thatch above a rafter +showed like a bone protruding through the skin. + +She was kneeling down in the chimney-corner, before two pieces of +turf laid together with the heather inwards, blowing at the red-hot +ashes with her breath till the turves flamed. 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 housework, or are milker's +hands like mine.' + +The boy again promised, inattentively this time, his mother not +observing that he was cutting a notch with his pocket-knife in the +beech-backed chair. + + + +CHAPTER II--THE YOUNG WIFE + + + +The road from Anglebury to Holmstoke 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 gig, +with a lemon-coloured body and red wheels, was spinning westward +along the level highway at the heels of a powerful mare. The driver +was a yeoman in the prime of life, cleanly shaven like an actor, his +face being toned to that bluish-vermilion hue which so often graces +a thriving 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 evanescent, like +the light under a heap of rose-petals. + +Few people travelled this way, for it was not a main road; and the +long white riband of gravel that stretched before them was empty, +save of one small scarce-moving speck, which presently resolved +itself into the figure of boy, who was creeping on at a snail's +pace, and continually looking behind him--the heavy bundle he +carried being some excuse for, if not the reason of, his +dilatoriness. When the bouncing gig-party slowed at the bottom of +the incline above mentioned, the pedestrian 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 farmer'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 contour distinct, from the curve of her little nostril 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 lineaments--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 +Gertrude.' + +'I do,--though I think the poor boy may have looked at us in the +hope we might relieve him of his heavy load, rather than from +curiosity.' + +'O no,' said her husband off-handedly. 'These country lads will +carry a hundredweight 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 particles +flew from their periphery as before, till a white house of ample +dimensions revealed itself, with farm-buildings and ricks at the +back. + +Meanwhile the boy had quickened his pace, and turning up a by-lane +some mile and half short of the white farmstead, ascended towards +the leaner pastures, and so on to the cottage of his mother. + +She had reached home after her day's milking at the outlying dairy, +and was washing cabbage 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 cabbage-net, and as +she filled its meshes with the dripping leaves she went on, 'Well, +did you see her?' + +'Yes; quite plain.' + +'Is she ladylike?' + +'Yes; and more. A lady complete.' + +'Is she young?' + +'Well, she's growed up, and her ways be quite a woman's.' + +'Of course. What colour is her hair and face?' + +'Her hair is lightish, and her face as comely as a live doll's.' + +'Her eyes, then, are not dark like mine?' + +'No--of a bluish 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 Holmstoke 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. But why don't you go and see for yourself?' + +'_I_ 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.' + +'Took no notice of you?' + +'None.' + +Next day the mother put a clean shirt on the boy, and started him +off for Holmstoke 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 font, he watched all the parishioners 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 had entered +the room. + +'She is not tall. She is rather short,' he replied. + +'Ah!' said his mother, with satisfaction. + +'But she's very pretty--very. In fact, she's lovely.' + +The youthful freshness of the yeoman'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 silver-coloured gownd. It whewed and whistled +so loud when it rubbed against the pews 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 whewed more +than ever. Mr. Lodge, he seemed pleased, and his waistcoat stuck +out, and his great golden seals hung like a lord's; but she seemed +to wish her noisy gownd anywhere but on her.' + +'Not she! However, that will do now.' + +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 Rhoda Brook, though she might +easily have seen young Mrs. Lodge for herself by walking a couple of +miles, would never attempt an excursion towards the quarter where +the farmhouse lay. Neither did she, at the daily milking in the +dairyman's yard on Lodge's outlying second farm, ever speak on the +subject of the recent marriage. The dairyman, who rented the cows +of Lodge, and knew perfectly the tall milkmaid's history, with manly +kindliness always kept the gossip in the cow-barton from annoying +Rhoda. But the atmosphere thereabout 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 milkers, Rhoda Brook +could raise a mental image of the unconscious Mrs Lodge that was +realistic as a photograph. + + + +CHAPTER III--A VISION + + + +One night, two or three weeks after the bridal return, when the boy +was gone to bed, Rhoda sat a long time over the turf ashes that she +had raked out in front of her to extinguish 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 +Gertrude Lodge visited the supplanted woman in her dreams. Rhoda +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 shockingly +distorted, and wrinkled as by age, was sitting upon her chest as she +lay. The pressure of Mrs. Lodge's person grew heavier; the blue +eyes peered cruelly into her face; and then the figure thrust +forward its left hand mockingly, so as to make the wedding-ring it +wore glitter in Rhoda's eyes. Maddened mentally, and nearly +suffocated by pressure, the sleeper struggled; the incubus, still +regarding her, withdrew to the foot of the bed, only, however, to +come forward by degrees, resume her seat, and flash her left hand as +before. + +Gasping for breath, Rhoda, in a last desperate effort, swung out her +right hand, seized the confronting spectre by its obtrusive 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 antagonist'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 spectre, but there was nothing to be +seen. + +Rhoda Brook slept no more that night, and when she went milking at +the next dawn they noticed how pale and haggard she looked. The +milk that she drew quivered into the pail; her hand had not calmed +even yet, and still retained the feel of the arm. She came home to +breakfast as wearily as if it had been suppertime. + +'What was that noise in your chimmer, 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 +afield on the farms, and she indulged his reluctance. Between +eleven and twelve the garden-gate clicked, and she lifted her eyes +to the window. At the bottom of the garden, within the gate, stood +the woman of her vision. Rhoda seemed transfixed. + +'Ah, she said she would come!' exclaimed the boy, also observing +her. + +'Said so--when? How does she know us?' + +'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 meads besides us.' + +Mrs. Lodge was by this time close to the door--not in her silk, as +Rhoda 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 night'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 backdoor 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 indescribably sweet, her glance so winning, her smile so tender, +so unlike that of Rhoda's midnight visitant, that the latter could +hardly believe the evidence of her senses. She was truly glad that +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 Rhoda'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 +Rhoda 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.' + +Rhoda said she was well enough; and, indeed, though the paler of the +two, there was more of the strength that endures in her well-defined +features and large frame, than in the soft-cheeked young woman +before her. The conversation became quite confidential as regarded +their powers and weaknesses; and when Mrs. Lodge was leaving, Rhoda +said, 'I hope you will find this air agree with you, ma'am, and not +suffer from the damp of the water-meads.' + +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 little ailment which puzzles me. It is nothing +serious, but I cannot make it out.' + +She uncovered her left hand and arm; and their outline confronted +Rhoda'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 unhealthy colour, as if produced by a rough grasp. +Rhoda's eyes became riveted on the discolorations; she fancied that +she discerned in them the shape of her own four fingers. + +'How 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 daytime, 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 daresay 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 Rhoda's spectral encounter, +and Brook felt like a guilty thing. The artless disclosure startled +her; she did not reason on the freaks of coincidence; and all the +scenery of that ghastly night returned with double vividness to her +mind. + +'O, can it be,' she said to herself, when her visitor had departed, +'that I exercise a malignant power over people against my own will?' +She knew that she had been slily called a witch since her fall; but +never having understood why that particular stigma had been attached +to her, it had passed disregarded. Could this be the explanation, +and had such things as this ever happened before? + + + +CHAPTER IV--A SUGGESTION + + + +The summer drew on, and Rhoda Brook almost dreaded to meet Mrs. +Lodge again, notwithstanding that her feeling for the young wife +amounted well-nigh to affection. Something in her own individuality +seemed to convict Rhoda of crime. Yet a fatality sometimes would +direct the steps of the latter to the outskirts of Holmstoke +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. Rhoda could not avoid the subject which had so mystified +her, and after the first few words she stammered, 'I hope your--arm +is well again, ma'am?' She had perceived with consternation that +Gertrude 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 bathe it in +hot water, and she had bathed it, but the treatment had done no +good. + +'Will you let me see it?' said the milkwoman. + +Mrs. Lodge pushed up her sleeve and disclosed the place, which was a +few inches above the wrist. As soon as Rhoda 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 shrivelled look, +and the outline of the four fingers appeared more distinct than at +the former time. Moreover, she fancied that they were imprinted in +precisely the relative position of her clutch upon the arm in the +trance; the first finger towards Gertrude's wrist, and the fourth +towards her elbow. + +What the impress resembled seemed to have struck Gertrude 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 blasted +the flesh.' + +Rhoda 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 covered from his sight.' + +'Ah--he knows the disfigurement 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 milkwoman'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 malignity increased, affect as she might to +ridicule her superstition. In her secret heart Rhoda did not +altogether object to a slight diminution 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 reparation which Lodge might have made Rhoda +for his past conduct, everything like resentment at the unconscious +usurpation had quite passed away from the elder's mind. + +If the sweet and kindly Gertrude 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 milking, set out to obtain another +glimpse of Gertrude Lodge if she could, being held to her by a +gruesome fascination. By watching the house from a distance the +milkmaid 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 cantered in her direction. + +'Good morning, Rhoda!' Gertrude said, when she had come up. 'I was +going to call.' + +Rhoda noticed that Mrs. Lodge held the reins with some difficulty. + +'I hope--the bad arm,' said Rhoda. + +'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 by going to some clever man over in Egdon +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 hereabout, and could tell me if +he were still to be consulted. Dear me--what was his name? But you +know.' + +'Not Conjuror Trendle?' said her thin companion, turning pale. + +'Trendle--yes. Is he alive?' + +'I believe so,' said Rhoda, with reluctance. + +'Why do you call him conjuror?' + +'Well--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.' + +Rhoda looked relieved, and Mrs. Lodge rode on. The milkwoman 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 sorceress would know +the whereabouts of the exorcist. 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 Conjuror Trendle +might name her as the malignant influence which was blasting the +fair person of Gertrude, and so lead her friend to hate her for +ever, and to treat her as some fiend in human shape. + +But all was not over. Two days after, a shadow intruded into the +window-pattern thrown on Rhoda Brook's floor by the afternoon sun. +The woman opened the door at once, almost breathlessly. + +'Are you alone?' said Gertrude. She seemed to be no less harassed +and anxious than Brook herself. + +'Yes,' said Rhoda. + +'The place on my arm seems worse, and troubles me!' the young +farmer's wife went on. 'It is so mysterious! I do hope it will not +be an incurable wound. I have again been thinking of what they said +about Conjuror Trendle. I don't really believe in such men, but I +should not mind just visiting him, from curiosity--though on no +account must my husband know. Is it far to where he lives?' + +'Yes--five miles,' said Rhoda backwardly. 'In the heart of Egdon.' + +'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 milkwoman 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 useful friend she had ever had be ruined irretrievably. + +Mrs. Lodge urged, and Rhoda finally assented, though with much +misgiving. Sad as the journey would be to her, she could not +conscientiously 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. + + + +CHAPTER V--CONJUROR TRENDLE + + + +By the next afternoon Rhoda would have done anything to escape this +inquiry. But she had promised to go. Moreover, there was a horrid +fascination at times in becoming instrumental in throwing such +possible light on her own character as would reveal her to be +something greater in the occult 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 Egdon tract of country, where the fir plantation +was. A slight figure, cloaked and veiled, was already there. Rhoda +recognized, almost with a shudder, that Mrs. Lodge bore her left arm +in a sling. + +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 alluvial soil they had 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 dismally over +the hills of the heath--not improbably the same heath which had +witnessed the agony of the Wessex King Ina, presented to after-ages +as Lear. Gertrude Lodge talked most, Rhoda replying with +monosyllabic preoccupation. She had a strange dislike to walking on +the side of her companion where hung the afflicted arm, moving round +to the other when inadvertently near it. Much heather 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 remedial practices openly, or care anything +about their continuance, his direct interests being those of a +dealer in furze, turf, 'sharp sand,' and other local products. +Indeed, he affected not to believe largely in his own powers, and +when warts that had been shown him for cure miraculously +disappeared--which it must be owned they infallibly did--he would +say lightly, 'O, I only drink a glass of grog 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 gray-bearded man, with a +reddish face, and he looked singularly at Rhoda the first moment he +beheld her. Mrs. Lodge told him her errand; and then with words of +self-disparagement he examined her arm. + +'Medicine can't cure it,' he said promptly. ''Tis the work of an +enemy.' + +Rhoda 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 Rhoda to wait outside where she +stood, and took Mrs. Lodge into the room. It opened immediately +from the door; and, as the latter remained ajar, Rhoda Brook could +see the proceedings without taking part in them. He brought a +tumbler from the dresser, nearly filled it with water, and fetching +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 yolk +remained. As it was getting gloomy, he took the glass and its +contents to the window, and told Gertrude to watch them closely. +They leant over the table together, and the milkwoman could see the +opaline hue of the egg-fluid 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 conjuror of the young woman. + +She murmured a reply, in tones so low as to be inaudible to Rhoda, +and continued to gaze intently into the glass. Rhoda 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 Rhoda's--against the sad dun +shades of the upland's garniture. Trendle shut the door behind her, +and they at once started homeward together. But Rhoda perceived +that her companion had quite changed. + +'Did he charge much?' she asked tentatively. + +'O no--nothing. He would not take a farthing,' said Gertrude. + +'And what did you see?' inquired Rhoda. + +'Nothing I--care to speak of.' The constraint in her manner was +remarkable; her face was so rigid as to wear an oldened aspect, +faintly suggestive of the face in Rhoda'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!' + +'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 deplore that the young thing at her side +should learn that their lives had been antagonized 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-dairied lowland that winter that Mrs. Lodge's gradual loss of +the use of her left arm was owing to her being 'overlooked' by Rhoda +Brook. The latter kept her own counsel about the incubus, but her +face grew sadder and thinner; and in the spring she and her boy +disappeared from the neighbourhood of Holmstoke. + + + +CHAPTER VI--A SECOND ATTEMPT + + + +Half-a-dozen years passed away, and Mr. and Mrs. Lodge's married +experience sank into prosiness, and worse. The farmer was usually +gloomy and silent: the woman whom he had wooed for her grace and +beauty was contorted and disfigured 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 Rhoda Brook and her son; and feared +this might be a judgment from heaven upon him. + +The once blithe-hearted and enlightened Gertrude was changing into +an irritable, superstitious woman, whose whole time was given to +experimenting upon her ailment with every quack 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 +regaining some at least of her personal beauty. Hence it arose that +her closet was lined with bottles, packets, and ointment-pots of +every description--nay, bunches of mystic herbs, charms, and books +of necromancy, which in her schoolgirl time she would have ridiculed +as folly. + +'Damned if you won't poison yourself with these apothecary messes +and witch mixtures some time or other,' said her husband, when his +eye chanced to fall upon the multitudinous 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, Gertrude.' + +'I'll clear out the whole lot, and destroy them,' said she huskily, +'and try such remedies no more!' + +'You want somebody to cheer you,' he observed. 'I once thought of +adopting 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 Rhoda 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 Conjuror Trendle, 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 obediently destroyed her nostrums and charms; but there remained +a hankering wish to try something else--some other sort of cure +altogether. She had never revisited Trendle since she had been +conducted to the house of the solitary by Rhoda against her will; +but it now suddenly occurred to Gertrude that she would, in a last +desperate effort at deliverance from this seeming curse, again seek +out the man, if he yet lived. He was entitled to a certain +credence, for the indistinct form he had raised in the glass had +undoubtedly resembled the only woman in the world who--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 roamed a considerable distance out of her way. Trendle'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 at work a long way off. Trendle remembered her, +and laying down the handful of furze-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 warts and other excrescences I know,' she said; +'why can't you send away this?' And the arm was uncovered. + +'You think too much of my powers!' said Trendle; 'and I am old and +weak now, too. No, no; it is too much for me to attempt in my own +person. What have ye tried?' + +She named to him some of the hundred medicaments and counterspells +which she had adopted from time to time. He shook his head. + +'Some were good enough,' he said approvingly; 'but not many of them +for such as this. This is of the nature of a blight, 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 afflictions,--that I can declare. But it is hard +to carry out, and especially for a woman.' + +'Tell 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. + +'Before he's cold--just after he's cut down,' continued the conjuror +impassively. + +'How can that do good?' + +'It will turn the blood and change the constitution. But, as I say, +to do it is hard. You must get into jail, and wait for him when +he's brought off the gallows. Lots have done it, though perhaps not +such pretty women as you. I used to send dozens for skin +complaints. But that was in former times. The last I sent was in +'13--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 her, refusing all money as at first. + + + +CHAPTER VII--A RIDE + + + +The communication sank deep into Gertrude's mind. Her nature was +rather a timid one; and probably of all remedies that the white +wizard 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 adoption. + +Casterbridge, the county-town, was a dozen or fifteen miles off; and +though in those days, when men were executed for horse-stealing, +arson, and burglary, an assize seldom passed without a hanging, it +was not likely that she could get access to the body of the criminal +unaided. And the fear of her husband's anger made her reluctant to +breathe a word of Trendle's suggestion to him or to anybody about +him. + +She did nothing for months, and patiently bore her disfigurement as +before. But her woman's nature, craving for renewed love, through +the medium of renewed beauty (she was but twenty-five), was ever +stimulating 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 shrank in terror +from the possibility of it: then the words of the conjuror, 'It +will turn your blood,' were seen to be capable of a scientific no +less than a ghastly interpretation; the mastering 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 extensively 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 +radius of twenty miles were ignorant of the coming sight; and, so +far as Holmstoke was concerned, some enthusiasts had been known to +walk all the way to Casterbridge and back in one day, solely to +witness the spectacle. The next assizes were in March; and when +Gertrude 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 smouldering village beliefs 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 fillip from learning that two epileptic +children had attended from this very village of Holmstoke many years +before with beneficial results, though the experiment had been +strongly condemned by the neighbouring clergy. April, May, June, +passed; and it is no overstatement to say that by the end of the +last-named month Gertrude well-nigh longed for the death of a +fellow-creature. Instead of her formal prayers each night, her +unconscious prayer was, 'O Lord, hang some guilty or innocent person +soon!' + +This time she made earlier inquiries, and was altogether more +systematic in her proceedings. Moreover, the season was summer, +between the haymaking and the harvest, and in the leisure thus +afforded him her husband had been holiday-taking away from home. + +The assizes were in July, and she went to the inn as before. There +was to be one execution--only one--for arson. + +Her greatest problem was not how to get to Casterbridge, 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 desuetude; and in contemplating her possible +difficulties, she was again almost driven to fall back upon her +husband. But, on sounding him about the assizes, he was so +uncommunicative, so more than usually cold, that she did not +proceed, and decided that whatever she did she would do alone. + +Fortune, obdurate hitherto, showed her unexpected favour. On the +Thursday before the Saturday fixed for the execution, Lodge remarked +to her that he was going away from home for another day or two on +business at a fair, and that he was sorry he could not take her with +him. + +She exhibited on this occasion so much readiness to stay at home +that he looked at her in surprise. Time had been when she would +have shown deep disappointment at the loss of such a jaunt. +However, he lapsed into his usual taciturnity, and on the day named +left Holmstoke. + +It was now her turn. She at first had thought of driving, but on +reflection held that driving would not do, since it would +necessitate her keeping to the turnpike-road, and so increase by +tenfold the risk of her ghastly errand being found out. She decided +to ride, and avoid the beaten track, notwithstanding that in her +husband's stables there was no animal just at present which by any +stretch of imagination could be considered a lady's mount, in spite +of his promise before marriage to always keep a mare for her. He +had, however, many cart-horses, fine ones of their kind; and among +the rest was a serviceable creature, an equine Amazon, with a back +as broad as a sofa, on which Gertrude had occasionally taken an +airing when unwell. This horse she chose. + +On Friday afternoon one of the men brought it round. She was +dressed, and before going down looked at her shrivelled arm. 'Ah!' +she said to it, 'if it had not been for you this terrible ordeal +would have been saved me!' + +When strapping up the bundle in which she carried a few articles of +clothing, she took occasion to say to the servant, 'I take these in +case I should not get back to-night from the person I am going to +visit. Don't be alarmed if I am not in by ten, and close up the +house as usual. I shall be at home to-morrow for certain.' She +meant then to privately tell her husband: the deed accomplished was +not like the deed projected. He would almost certainly forgive her. + +And then the pretty palpitating Gertrude Lodge went from her +husband's homestead; but though her goal was Casterbridge she did +not take the direct route thither through Stickleford. Her cunning +course at first was in precisely the opposite direction. As soon as +she was out of sight, however, she turned to the left, by a road +which led into Egdon, and on entering the heath wheeled round, and +set out in the true course, due westerly. A more private way down +the county could not be imagined; and as to direction, she had +merely to keep her horse's head to a point a little to the right of +the sun. She knew that she would light upon a furze-cutter or +cottager of some sort from time to time, from whom she might correct +her bearing. + +Though the date was comparatively recent, Egdon was much less +fragmentary in character than now. The attempts--successful and +otherwise--at cultivation on the lower slopes, which intrude and +break up the original heath into small detached heaths, had not been +carried far; Enclosure Acts had not taken effect, and the banks and +fences which now exclude the cattle of those villagers who formerly +enjoyed rights of commonage thereon, and the carts of those who had +turbary privileges which kept them in firing all the year round, +were not erected. Gertrude, therefore, rode along with no other +obstacles than the prickly furze bushes, the mats of heather, the +white water-courses, and the natural steeps and declivities of the +ground. + +Her horse was sure, if heavy-footed and slow, and though a draught +animal, was easy-paced; had it been otherwise, she was not a woman +who could have ventured to ride over such a bit of country with a +half-dead arm. It was therefore nearly eight o'clock when she drew +rein to breathe the mare on the last outlying high point of heath- +land towards Casterbridge, previous to leaving Egdon for the +cultivated valleys. + +She halted before a pool called Rushy-pond, flanked by the ends of +two hedges; a railing ran through the centre of the pond, dividing +it in half. Over the railing she saw the low green country; over +the green trees the roofs of the town; over the roofs a white flat +facade, denoting the entrance to the county jail. On the roof of +this front specks were moving about; they seemed to be workmen +erecting something. Her flesh crept. She descended slowly, and was +soon amid corn-fields and pastures. In another half-hour, when it +was almost dusk, Gertrude reached the White Hart, the first inn of +the town on that side. + +Little surprise was excited by her arrival; farmers' wives rode on +horseback then more than they do now; though, for that matter, Mrs. +Lodge was not imagined to be a wife at all; the innkeeper supposed +her some harum-skarum young woman who had come to attend 'hang-fair' +next day. Neither her husband nor herself ever dealt in +Casterbridge market, so that she was unknown. While dismounting she +beheld a crowd of boys standing at the door of a harness-maker's +shop just above the inn, looking inside it with deep interest. + +'What is going on there?' she asked of the ostler. + +'Making the rope for to-morrow.' + +She throbbed responsively, and contracted her arm. + +''Tis sold by the inch afterwards,' the man continued. 'I could get +you a bit, miss, for nothing, if you'd like?' + +She hastily repudiated any such wish, all the more from a curious +creeping feeling that the condemned wretch's destiny was becoming +interwoven with her own; and having engaged a room for the night, +sat down to think. + +Up to this time she had formed but the vaguest notions about her +means of obtaining access to the prison. The words of the cunning- +man returned to her mind. He had implied that she should use her +beauty, impaired though it was, as a pass-key. In her inexperience +she knew little about jail functionaries; she had heard of a high- +sheriff and an under-sheriff; but dimly only. She knew, however, +that there must be a hangman, and to the hangman she determined to +apply. + + + +CHAPTER VIII--A WATER-SIDE HERMIT + + + +At this date, and for several years after, there was a hangman to +almost every jail. Gertrude found, on inquiry, that the +Casterbridge official dwelt in a lonely cottage by a deep slow river +flowing under the cliff on which the prison buildings were situate-- +the stream being the self-same one, though she did not know it, +which watered the Stickleford and Holmstoke meads 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-- +Gertrude 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 gateway three rectangular lines +against the sky, where the specks had been moving in her distant +view; she recognized what the erection was, and passed quickly on. +Another hundred yards brought her to the executioner's house, which +a boy pointed out It stood close to the same stream, and was hard by +a weir, the waters of which emitted a steady roar. + +While she stood hesitating the door opened, and an old man came +forth shading a candle with one hand. Locking 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. Gertrude 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 weir; +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, +upturned face, and Davies (as the hangman 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 reopened the door, and preceded her to +the room within. + +The implements of his daily work, which was that of a jobbing +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 Casterbridge 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 thought so. Well, what's the matter about that? 'Tis no +use to come here about the knot--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 +mail-coach gets in. We always wait for that, in case of a +reprieve.' + +'O--a reprieve--I hope not!' she said involuntarily, + +'Well,--hee, hee!--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 rick was fired. +Howsomever, 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. What's the complaint? The wrong kind for this, I'll +be bound.' + +'My arm.' She reluctantly showed the withered skin. + +'Ah--'tis all a-scram!' said the hangman, examining it. + +'Yes,' said she. + +'Well,' he continued, with interest, 'that IS the class o' subject, +I'm bound to admit! 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 +breathlessly. + +'You should really have gone to the governor of the jail, and your +doctor with 'ee, and given your name and address--that's how it used +to be done, if I recollect. Still, perhaps, I can manage it for a +trifling fee.' + +'O, thank you! I would rather do it this way, as I should like it +kept private.' + +'Lover not to know, eh?' + +'No--husband.' + +'Aha! Very well. I'll get ee' a touch of the corpse.' + +'Where is it now?' she said, shuddering. + +'It?--HE, you mean; he's living yet. Just inside that little small +winder up there in the glum.' He signified the jail on the cliff +above. + +She thought of her husband and her friends. 'Yes, of course,' she +said; 'and how am I to proceed?' + +He took her to the door. 'Now, do you be waiting at the little +wicket 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 +such a daughter as you!' + +She went away, and climbed the path above, to assure herself that +she would be able to find the wicket next day. Its outline was soon +visible to her--a narrow opening in the outer wall of the prison +precincts. The steep was so great that, having reached the wicket, +she stopped a moment to breathe; and, looking back upon the water- +side cot, saw the hangman again ascending his outdoor staircase. He +entered the loft 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 Hart as she +had come. + + + +CHAPTER IX--A RENCOUNTER + + + +It was one o'clock on Saturday. Gertrude 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 archway of +ashlar, then comparatively modern, and bearing the inscription, +'COVNTY JAIL: 1793.' This had been the facade 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 Gertrude 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 multitudinous babble of their +voices, out of which rose at intervals the hoarse croak of a single +voice uttering the words, 'Last dying speech and confession!' There +had been no reprieve, and the execution was over; but the crowd +still waited to see the body taken down. + +Soon the persistent girl heard a trampling overhead, then a hand +beckoned to her, and, following directions, she went out and crossed +the inner paved court beyond the gatehouse, 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 trestles, 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 smockfrock +of a rustic, and fustian breeches. The corpse had been thrown into +the coffin so hastily that the skirt of the smockfrock was hanging +over. The burden was temporarily deposited on the trestles. + +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 galvanism. + +'Now!' said a voice close at hand, and she was just conscious that +the word had been addressed to her. + +By a last strenuous effort she advanced, at the same time hearing +persons approaching behind her. She bared her poor curst arm; and +Davies, uncovering the face of the corpse, took Gertrude's hand, and +held it so that her arm lay across the dead man's neck, upon a line +the colour of an unripe blackberry, which surrounded it. + +Gertrude shrieked: 'the turn o' the blood,' predicted by the +conjuror, had taken place. But at that moment a second shriek rent +the air of the enclosure: it was not Gertrude's, and its effect +upon her was to make her start round. + +Immediately behind her stood Rhoda Brook, her face drawn, and her +eyes red with weeping. Behind Rhoda stood Gertrude's own husband; +his countenance lined, his eyes dim, but without a tear. + +'D-n you! what are you doing here?' he said hoarsely. + +'Hussy--to come between us and our child now!' cried Rhoda. 'This +is the meaning of what Satan showed me in the vision! You are like +her at last!' And clutching the bare arm of the younger woman, she +pulled her unresistingly back against the wall. Immediately Brook +had loosened her hold the fragile young Gertrude 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 Rhoda's son. At that time the relatives of +an executed convict had the privilege of claiming the body for +burial, if they chose to do so; and it was for this purpose that +Lodge was awaiting the inquest with Rhoda. 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 waggon and sheet for its conveyance +and covering being in waiting outside. + +Gertrude'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, sapped perhaps by the paralyzed arm, collapsed 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 Casterbridge again; once only in the +old market-place at Anglebury, which he had so much frequented, and +very seldom in public anywhere. Burdened at first with moodiness +and remorse, he eventually changed for the better, and appeared as a +chastened and thoughtful man. Soon after attending the funeral of +his poor young wife he took steps towards giving up the farms in +Holmstoke and the adjoining parish, and, having sold every head of +his stock, he went away to Port-Bredy, at the other end of the +county, living there in solitary lodgings till his death two years +later of a painless decline. It was then found that he had +bequeathed the whole of his not inconsiderable property to a +reformatory for boys, subject to the payment of a small annuity to +Rhoda 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 milking at +the dairy 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 impassive, wrinkled brow, to the rhythm of the alternating +milk-streams. + +('Blackwood's Magazine,' January 1888.) + + + + +FELLOW-TOWNSMEN + + + + +CHAPTER I + + + +The shepherd on the east hill could shout out lambing 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 encroach upon the burghers' backyards. And at +night it was possible to stand in the very midst of the town and +hear from their native paddocks on the lower levels of greensward +the mild lowing of the farmer's heifers, and the profound, warm +blowings of breath in which those creatures indulge. But the +community which had jammed itself in the valley thus flanked formed +a veritable town, with a real mayor and corporation, and a staple +manufacture. + +During a certain damp evening five-and-thirty years ago, before the +twilight was far advanced, a pedestrian of professional appearance, +carrying a small bag in his hand and an elevated umbrella, was +descending one of these hills by the turnpike road when he was +overtaken by a phaeton. + +'Hullo, Downe--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.' + +The other turned a plump, cheery, rather self-indulgent face over +his shoulder towards the hailer. + +'O, good evening, Mr. Barnet--thanks,' he said, and mounted beside +his acquaintance. + +They were fellow-burgesses of the town which lay beneath them, but +though old and very good friends, they were differently +circumstanced. Barnet was a richer man than the struggling young +lawyer Downe, a fact which was to some extent perceptible in Downe's +manner towards his companion, though nothing of it ever showed in +Barnet's manner towards the solicitor. Barnet's position in the +town was none of his own making; his father had been a very +successful flax-merchant in the same place, where the trade was +still carried on as briskly as the small capacities of its quarters +would allow. Having acquired a fair fortune, old Mr. Barnet had +retired from business, bringing up his son as a gentleman-burgher, +and, it must be added, as a well-educated, liberal-minded young man. + +'How is Mrs. Barnet?' asked Downe. + +'Mrs. Barnet was very well when I left home,' the other answered +constrainedly, exchanging his meditative regard of the horse for one +of self-consciousness. + +Mr. Downe seemed to regret his inquiry, and immediately took up +another thread of conversation. He congratulated his friend on his +election as a council-man; he thought he had not seen him since that +event took place; Mrs. Downe had meant to call and congratulate Mrs. +Barnet, but he feared that she had failed to do so as yet. + +Barnet seemed hampered in his replies. 'WE should have been glad to +see you. I--my wife would welcome Mrs. Downe at any time, as you +know . . . Yes, I am a member of the corporation--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, 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 Downe, 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?' + +Barnet's face acquired a warmer shade of colour; but as the question +had been idly asked by the solicitor while regarding the surrounding +flocks and fields, he answered after 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. Downe 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. + +Barnet 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!' Downe observed: 'I went past--when +was it?--this morning; and I saw something,--"Chateau Ringdale," I +think it was, stuck up on a board!' + +'It was an idea she--we had for a short time,' said Barnet hastily. +'But we have decided finally to do without a name--at any rate such +a name as that. It must have been a week ago that you saw it. It +was taken down last Saturday . . . Upon that matter I am firm!' he +added grimly. + +Downe murmured in an unconvinced 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 drizzle +had prevailed since the afternoon, and now formed a gauze across the +yellow lamps, and trickled with a gentle rattle down the heavy roofs +of stone tile, that bent the house-ridges hollow-backed with its +weight, and in some instances caused the walls to bulge outwards in +the upper story. Their route took them past the little town-hall, +the Black-Bull Hotel, and onward to the junction of a small street +on the right, consisting of a row of those two-and-two windowed +brick residences 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 Barnet, when Downe +prepared to alight at the corner. He thereupon turned into the +narrow street, when the faces of three little girls could be +discerned close 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, +Downe,' Barnet 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 Downe +complacently. + +'That house, Downe, is none of my ordering,' Barnet 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 freehold; it was built by my grandfather, and is stout +enough for a castle. My father was born there, lived there, and +died there. I was born there, and have always lived there; yet I +must needs build a new one.' + +'Why do you?' said Downe. + +'Why do I? To preserve peace in the household. I do anything for +that; but I don't succeed. I was firm in resisting "Chateau +Ringdale," however; not that I would not have put up with the +absurdity of the name, but it was too much to have your house +christened after Lord Ringdale, because your wife once had a fancy +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! And so will your wife be waiting to receive you,' said +Downe. 'Take my word for it she will! And with a dinner prepared +for you far better than mine.' + +'I hope so,' Barnet replied dubiously. + +He moved on to Downe's door, which the solicitor's family had +already opened. Downe descended, but being encumbered with his bag +and umbrella, his foot slipped, and he fell upon his knees in the +gutter. + +'O, my dear Charles!' said his wife, running down the steps; and, +quite ignoring the presence of Barnet, 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, chiming in +piteously, 'Poor papa!' + +'He's all right,' said Barnet, perceiving that Downe was only a +little muddy, and looking more at the wife than at the husband. +Almost at any other time--certainly during his fastidious bachelor +years--he would have thought her a too demonstrative woman; but +those recent circumstances of his own life to which he had just +alluded made Mrs. Downe'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 Barnet was sufficiently impressionable to be influenced +by Downe's parting prophecy that he might not be so unwelcome home +as he imagined: the dreary night might, at least on this one +occasion, make Downe's forecast 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 +dressmaker with her, and would be engaged for some time. + +'Dressmaker 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 transmitted +her former words. + +Barnet said nothing more, and presently sat down to his lonely meal, +which was eaten abstractedly, the domestic scene he had lately +witnessed still impressing 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. Barnet turned in his chair, and looked with +unfocused 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 +there still!' he said. + + + +CHAPTER II + + + +He rose with a sudden rebelliousness, 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 apprentices and shopmen were slamming 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 exclude +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, blinked together one by one. + +During this time Barnet had proceeded with decided step in a +direction at right angles to the broad main thoroughfare of the +town, by a long street leading due southward. Here, though his +family had no more to do with the flax manufacture, his own name +occasionally greeted him on gates and warehouses, being used +allusively by small rising tradesmen as a recommendation, in such +words as 'Smith, from Barnet & Co.'--'Robinson, late manager at +Barnet'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. + +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 merged in a knoll. On the summit a +row of builders' scaffold-poles probed the indistinct sky like +spears, and at their bases could be discerned the lower courses of a +building lately begun. Barnet slackened 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, vaulted over, and walked in far enough +to discern painted upon the board 'Chateau Ringdale.' + +A dismal irony seemed to lie in the words, and its effect was to +irritate him. Downe, then, had spoken truly. He stuck his umbrella +into the sod, and seized the post with both hands, as if intending +to loosen and throw it down. Then, like one bewildered by an +opposition which would exist none the less though its manifestations +were removed, he allowed his 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 enclosure, 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 obnoxious +name-board Barnet had forgotten to open his umbrella, and the rain +tapped smartly on his hat, and occasionally stroked 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 time he came to a lamp an increasing shine made +itself visible upon his shoulders, till at last they quite glistened +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 wayside, standing in its own garden, the +latter being divided from the road by a row of wooden palings. +Scrutinizing the spot to ensure 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. Barnet said at random, 'Does Miss Savile live here?' + +A youthful voice assured him that she did live there, and by a +sudden afterthought 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 Barnet hastily; +'it is not necessary at all. Which is Miss Savile's sitting-room?' + +The young person, whose white pinafore could just be discerned, +signified a door in the side of the passage, and Barnet 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 till 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 chiffonnier to +the shining little daguerreotype which formed the central ornament +of the mantelpiece, 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 rose into view, that of a young girl, and a resemblance +between her and the portrait was early discoverable. 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 Barnet had a beautiful outline; the +Raffaelesque oval of its contour was remarkable for an English +countenance, and that countenance housed in a remote country-road to +an unheard-of harbour. But her features did not do justice to this +splendid beginning: Nature had recollected that she was not in +Italy; and the young lady's lineaments, though not so inconsistent +as to make her plain, would have been accepted rather as pleasing +than as correct. The preoccupied expression which, like images on +the retina, 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. Barnet,' 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 harm in it surely? I don't trouble you often, Lucy.' + +'I have not had the honour of a visit from you for a very long time, +certainly, and I did not expect it now,' she said, with the same +stiffness in her air. 'I hope Mrs. Barnet is very well?' + +'Yes, yes!' he impatiently returned. 'At least I suppose so--though +I only speak from inference!' + +'But she is your wife, sir,' said the young girl tremulously. + +The unwonted tones of a man's voice in that feminine chamber had +startled a canary that was roosting in its cage by the window; the +bird awoke hastily, and fluttered against the bars. She went and +stilled it by laying her face against the cage and murmuring a +coaxing sound. It might partly have been done to still herself. + +'I didn't come to talk of Mrs. Barnet,' 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 +Barnet courteously reproached himself for not having guessed a thing +so natural; and to dissipate all embarrassment, added, as he bent +over the table, 'What were you doing when I came?--painting flowers, +and by candlelight?' + +'O no,' she said, 'not painting them--only sketching the outlines. +I do that at night to save time--I have to get three dozen done by +the end of the month.' + +Barnet 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. I cannot think that this visit is serious, or was +closely considered by you.' + +'Considered: well, I came to see you as an old and good friend--not +to mince 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 welcoming 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 Savile 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 +vivacious 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. + +Barnet watched her moodily. 'Yes, it is only what I deserve,' he +said. 'Ambition pricked me on--no, it was not ambition, it was +wrongheadedness! Had I but reflected . . . ' He broke out +vehemently: 'But always remember this, Lucy: 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 skirting. + +'But, Mr. Barnet, how could I write to you? There was no opening +for my doing so.' + +'Then there ought to have been,' said Barnet, turning. 'That was my +fault!' + +'Well, I don't know anything about that; but as there had been +nothing said by me which required any explanation by letter, I did +not send one. Everything was so indefinite, and feeling your +position to be so much wealthier 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 Lucy. Anyhow you were the woman I ought to have +made my wife--and I let you slip, like the foolish man that I was!' + +'O, Mr. Barnet,' she said, almost in tears, 'don'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 belied her. There was a +silence till she looked up to add, in a voice of soothing +playfulness, '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 deficiencies.' + +'Your disposition would soon have won them round,' said Barnet. + +She archly expostulated: 'Now, never mind my disposition; 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!' And he suddenly opened the +door, and left her alone. When his glance again fell on the lamps +that were sparsely ranged along the dreary level road, his eyes were +in a state which showed straw-like motes of light radiating from +each flame into the surrounding air. + +On the other side of the way Barnet observed a man under an +umbrella, walking parallel with himself. Presently this man left +the footway, and gradually converged on Barnet's course. The latter +then saw that it was Charlson, a surgeon of the town, who owed him +money. Charlson was a man not without ability; yet he did not +prosper. Sundry circumstances stood in his way as a medical +practitioner: he was needy; he was not a coddle; he gossiped with +men instead of with women; he had married a stranger instead of one +of the town young ladies; and he was given to conversational +buffoonery. Moreover, his look was quite erroneous. Those only +proper features in the family doctor, the quiet eye, and the thin +straight passionless 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. His companions +were what in old times would have been called boon companions--an +expression which, though of irreproachable root, suggests +fraternization carried to the point of unscrupulousness. All this +was against him in the little town of his adoption. + +Charlson had been in difficulties, and to oblige him Barnet 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 Barnet could well afford to lose, and he bore no ill-will to +the thriftless surgeon on account of it. But Charlson had a little +too much brazen indifferentism 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. Barnet,' said Charlson with hail- +fellow friendliness. + +Barnet replied good-naturedly that there was no hurry. + +This particular three weeks had moved on in advance of Charlson's +present with the precision of a shadow for some considerable time. + +'I've had a dream,' Charlson continued. Barnet 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 Charlson, 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.' + +Barnet glanced towards the speaker. The rays from a neighbouring +lamp struck through the drizzle under Charlson's umbrella, so as +just to illumine his face against the shade behind, and show that +his eye was turned up under the outer corner of its lid, whence it +leered with impish jocoseness as he thrust his tongue into his +cheek. + +'Come,' said Barnet gravely, 'we'll have no more of that.' + +'No, no--of course not,' Charlson hastily answered, seeing that his +humour had carried him too far, as it had done many times before. +He was profuse in his apologies, but Barnet did not reply. Of one +thing he was certain--that scandal was a plant of quick root, and +that he was bound to obey Lucy's injunction for Lucy's own sake. + + + +CHAPTER III + + + +He did so, to the letter; and though, as the crocus followed the +snowdrop and the daffodil the crocus in Lucy's garden, the harbour- +road was a not unpleasant place to walk in, Barnet's feet never trod +its stones, much less approached her door. He avoided a saunter +that way as he would have avoided a dangerous dram, and took his +airings a long distance northward, among severely square and brown +ploughed fields, where no other townsman came. Sometimes he went +round by the lower lanes of the borough, where the rope-walks +stretched in which his family formerly had share, and looked at the +rope-makers walking backwards, overhung by apple-trees and bushes, +and intruded on by cows and calves, 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 flanking hills that looked so lovely +above the old roofs, but made every low-chimneyed house in the town +as smoky as Tophet, Barnet glanced from the windows of the town- +council room for lack of interest in what was proceeding within. +Several members of the corporation were present, but there was not +much business doing, and in a few minutes Downe came leisurely +across to him, saying that he seldom saw Barnet now. + +Barnet owned that he was not often present. + +Downe 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 solicitor recognized Barnet's wife. +Barnet had done the same thing, and turned away. + +'It will be all right some day,' said Downe, with cheering sympathy. + +'You have heard, then, of her last outbreak?' + +Downe 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 Barnet drily. 'But I +have a different opinion . . . No, Downe, we must look the thing in +the face. Not poppy nor mandragora--however, how are your wife and +children?' + +Downe 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 +Downe pointed to the figures of two children with a nursemaid, and a +lady walking behind them. + +'You will come out and speak to her?' he asked. + +'Not this morning. The fact is I don't care to speak to anybody +just now.' + +'You are too sensitive, Mr. Barnet. At school I remember you used +to get as red as a rose if anybody uttered a word that hurt your +feelings.' + +Barnet 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 plan to you,' +said Downe 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. Barnet and get into her confidence. She seems to think that +Mrs. Barnet is rather alone in the town, and without advisers. Her +impression is that your wife will listen to reason. Emily 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,' simpered Downe, 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 ruffles Mrs. Barnet. 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 irritates +her because she does not fully comprehend you. The truth is, Emily +would have been more ready to make advances if she had been quite +sure of her fitness for Mrs. Barnet's society, who has of course +been accustomed to London people of good position, which made Emily +fearful of intruding.' + +Barnet expressed his warmest thanks for the well-intentioned +proposition. There was reason in Mrs. Downe's fear--that he owned. +'But do let her call,' he said. 'There is no woman in England I +would so soon trust on such an errand. I am afraid there will not +be any brilliant result; still I shall take it as the kindest and +nicest thing if she will try it, and not be frightened at a +repulse.' + +When Barnet and Downe had parted, the former went to the Town +Savings-Bank, of which he was a trustee, and endeavoured to forget +his troubles in the contemplation of low sums of money, and figures +in a network of red and blue lines. He sat and watched the working- +people making their deposits, to which at intervals he signed his +name. Before he left in the afternoon Downe put his head inside the +door. + +'Emily has seen Mrs. Barnet,' he said, in a low voice. 'She has got +Mrs. Barnet's promise to take her for a drive down to the shore to- +morrow, if it is fine. Good afternoon!' + +Barnet shook Downe by the hand without speaking, and Downe went +away. + + + +CHAPTER IV + + + +The next day was as fine as the arrangement could possibly require. +As the sun passed the meridian and declined westward, the tall +shadows from the scaffold-poles of Barnet's rising residence +streaked the ground as far as to the middle of the highway. Barnet +himself was there inspecting the progress of the works for the first +time during several weeks. A building in an old-fashioned town +five-and-thirty years ago did not, as in the modern fashion, rise +from the sod like a booth at a fair. The foundations and lower +courses were put in and allowed to settle for many weeks before the +superstructure was built up, and a whole summer of drying was hardly +sufficient to do justice to the important issues involved. Barnet +stood within a window-niche which had as yet received no frame, and +thence looked down a slope into the road. The wheels of a chaise +were heard, and then his handsome Xantippe, in the company of Mrs. +Downe, drove past on their way to the shore. They were driving +slowly; there was a pleasing light in Mrs. Downe's face, which +seemed faintly to reflect itself upon the countenance of her +companion--that politesse du coeur which was so natural to her +having possibly begun already to work results. But whatever the +situation, Barnet resolved not to interfere, or do anything to +hazard the promise of 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 lemon-coloured glove, her stiff +erect figure, clad in velvet and lace, and her boldly-outlined face, +passed on, exhibiting their owner as one fixed for ever above the +level of her companion--socially by her early breeding, and +materially by her higher cushion. + +Barnet 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 'Chateau Ringdale' stood the cottage in which +the late lieutenant's daughter had her lodging. Barnet had not been +so far 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 Lucy 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 from the palings to the +door. Lucy was in the enclosure; 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 unison with his previous sentiments that day led him +to pause in his walk and watch her. She went nimbly round and round +the beds of anemones, tulips, jonquils, polyanthuses, and other old- +fashioned flowers, looking a very charming figure in her half- +mourning bonnet, and with an incomplete nosegay in her left hand. +Raising herself to pull down a lilac blossom she observed him. + +'Mr. Barnet!' she said, innocently smiling. 'Why, I have been +thinking of you many times since Mrs. Barnet went by in the pony- +carriage, and now here you are!' + +'Yes, Lucy,' he said. + +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 supersensitivenesss. + +'I am going to the harbour,' he added. + +'Are you?' Lucy 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. +'Lucy, 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 fine, 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 rampart of hills which shut out the sea, and on the left of the +opening rose a vertical cliff, coloured a burning orange by the +sunlight, the companion cliff on the right being livid in shade. +Between these cliffs, like the Libyan bay which sheltered the +shipwrecked Trojans, was a little haven, seemingly a beginning made +by Nature herself of a perfect harbour, which appealed to the +passer-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 daisied +slopes that bounded the interior valley being a mere layer of blown +sand. But the Port-Bredy burgesses a mile inland had, in the course +of ten centuries, responded many times to that mute appeal, with the +result that the tides had invariably choked up their works with sand +and shingle 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 ketch unloading 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 Barnet drew nearer, he saw an indigo-coloured spot moving +swiftly along beneath the radiant base of the eastern cliff, which +proved to be a man in a jersey, running with all his might. He held +up his hand to Barnet, as it seemed, and they approached each other. +The man was local, but a stranger to him. + +'What is it, my man?' said Barnet. + +'A terrible calamity!' the boatman hastily explained. Two ladies +had been capsized in a boat--they were Mrs. Downe and Mrs. Barnet 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 listed over, and it was thought they +were both drowned. How it could have happened was beyond his mind +to fathom, for John Green knew how to sail a boat as well as any man +there. + +'Which is the way to the place?' said Barnet. + +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. Barnet. Mrs. Downe, it is feared, has fleeted out to sea.' + +Barnet 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 fishermen standing. As soon as he came up one or two +recognized him, and, not liking to meet his eye, turned aside with +misgiving. He went amidst them and saw a small sailing-boat lying +draggled at the water's edge; and, on the sloping shingle beside it, +a soaked and sandy woman's form in the velvet dress and yellow +gloves of his wife. + + + +CHAPTER V + + + +All had been done that could be done. Mrs. Barnet was in her own +house under medical hands, but the result was still uncertain. +Barnet 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 appliances 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 ridges of shingle, 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 restorative brought to bear upon her. + +At what a tearing pace he had driven up that road, through the +yellow evening sunlight, the shadows flapping irksomely into his +eyes as each wayside object rushed past between him and the west! +Tired workmen with their baskets at their backs had turned on their +homeward journey to wonder at his speed. Halfway between the shore +and Port-Bredy town he had met Charlson, who had been the first +surgeon to hear of the accident. He was accompanied by his +assistant in a gig. Barnet had sent on the latter to the coast in +case that Downe's poor wife should by that time have been reclaimed +from the waves, and had brought Charlson back with him to the house. + +Barnet's presence was not needed here, and he felt it to be his next +duty to set off at once and find Downe, that no other than himself +might break the news to him. + +He was quite sure that no chance had been lost for Mrs. Downe by his +leaving the shore. By the time that Mrs. Barnet 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. Downe was +solely the result of her own and her husband's loving-kindness +towards himself. + +He found Downe in his office. When the solicitor comprehended the +intelligence he turned pale, stood up, and remained for a moment +perfectly still, as if bereft 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 Barnet took him gently by the hand and proposed to start at +once, he quietly acquiesced, neither uttering any further word nor +making any effort to repress his tears. + +Barnet accompanied him to the shore, where, finding that no trace +had as yet been seen of Mrs. Downe, and that his stay would be of no +avail, he left Downe with his friends and the young doctor, and once +more hastened back to his own house. + +At the door he met Charlson. 'Well!' Barnet said. + +'I have just come down,' said the doctor; 'we have done everything, +but without result. I sympathize with you in your bereavement.' + +Barnet did not much appreciate Charlson's sympathy, which sounded to +his ears as something of a mockery from the lips of a man who knew +what Charlson knew about their domestic relations. Indeed there +seemed an odd spark in Charlson's full black eye as he said the +words; but that might have been imaginary. + +'And, Mr. Barnet,' Charlson resumed, 'that little matter between us- +-I hope to settle it finally in three weeks at least.' + +'Never mind that now,' said Barnet abruptly. He 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 mutely 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 utterances. 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 Lucy Savile; 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 not by any means overpassed the maturity of +good looks and vigour. Her passionate features, well-defined, firm, +and statuesque in life, were doubly so now: her mouth and brow, +beneath her purplish black hair, showed only too clearly that the +turbulency of character which had made a bear-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 effacement of life was not so marked but +that, entering uninformed, he might have supposed her sleeping. Her +complexion was that seen in the numerous faded portraits by Sir +Joshua Reynolds; 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 chinks in the blind, +striking on the large mirror, and being thence reflected upon the +crimson hangings and woodwork of the heavy bedstead, 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. Charlson 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 operated so sluggishly as +only now to have made themselves felt? Barnet laid his hand upon +her chest, and fancied that ever and anon a faint flutter of +palpitation, 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. + +Barnet's mother had been an active practitioner of the healing art +among her poorer neighbours, and her inspirations had all been +derived from an octavo volume of Domestic Medicine, which at this +moment was lying, as it had lain for many years, on a shelf in +Barnet's dressing-room. He hastily fetched it, and there read under +the head 'Drowning:'- + + +'Exertions for the recovery of any person who has not been immersed +for a longer period than 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 redoubled; +the feeble spark in this case requires to be solicited; it will +certainly disappear under a relaxation of labour.' + + +Barnet 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 stimulant 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 blind- +cord, and he seemed to become breathless, as if he had suddenly +found himself treading a high rope. + +While he stood a sparrow lighted on the windowsill, saw him, and +flew away. Next a man and a dog walked over one of the green hills +which bulged above the roofs of the town. But Barnet took no +notice. + +We may wonder what were the exact images that passed through his +mind during those minutes of gazing upon Lucy Savile's house, the +sparrow, the man and the dog, and Lucy Savile's house again. There +are honest men who will not admit to their thoughts, even as idle +hypotheses, views of the future that assume as done a deed which +they would recoil 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. Barnet had a +wife whose pretence 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 +deliverance for himself as he had never hoped for, and open up an +opportunity of which till now he had never dreamed. Whether the +conjuncture had arisen through any unscrupulous, ill-considered +impulse of Charlson 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 triangular situation--himself--his wife--Lucy Savile-- +was the one clear thing. + +From Barnet's actions we may infer that he SUPPOSED such and such a +result, for a moment, but did not deliberate. He withdrew his hazel +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 Barnet's surmise 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. Barnet lived. When +this was the case, and there was no further room for doubt, Barnet +left the chamber. The blue evening smoke from Lucy's chimney had +died down to an imperceptible 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 Downe. After three hours' immersion his wife's +body had been recovered, life, of course, being quite extinct. +Barnet on descending, went straight to his friend's house, and there +learned the result. Downe was helpless in his wild grief, +occasionally even hysterical. Barnet said little, but finding that +some guiding hand was necessary in the sorrow-stricken household, +took upon him to supervise and manage till Downe should be in a +state of mind to do so for himself. + + + +CHAPTER VI + + + +One September evening, four months later, when Mrs. Barnet was in +perfect health, and Mrs. Downe but a weakening memory, an errand-boy +paused to rest himself in front of Mr. Barnet's old house, +depositing his basket on one of the window-sills. 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 altercation. But the boy could not +gather their purport, and he went on his way. + +Ten minutes afterwards the door of Barnet's house opened, and a tall +closely-veiled lady in a travelling-dress came out and descended the +freestone 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 Barnet 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.' + +Barnet went in again, sat down in his chair, and leaned back. Then +in solitude and silence he brooded over the bitter emotions that +filled his heart. It was for this that he had gratuitously restored +her to life, and made his union with another impossible! The +evening drew on, and nobody came to disturb him. At bedtime he told +the servants to retire, that he would sit up for Mrs. Barnet +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 Barnet; 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 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. +Barnet immediately before she took her place in the stage. + +By the evening this order was carried out, and Barnet, with a sense +of relief, walked out into the town. A fair had been held during +the day, and the large clear moon which rose over the most prominent +hill flung its light upon the booths and standings that still +remained in the street, mixing its rays curiously with those from +the flaring naphtha lamps. The town was full of country-people who +had come in to enjoy themselves, and on this account Barnet strolled +through the streets unobserved. With a certain recklessness he 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. Downe had lost her life, and his own wife's life had +been preserved. A tremulous pathway of bright moonshine now +stretched over the water which had engulfed them, and not a living +soul was near. + +Here he ruminated 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 marry 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 strictness to hinder +that feeling from influencing in the faintest degree his attitude +towards his wife; and this was made all the more easy for him by the +small demand Mrs. Barnet made upon his attentions, for which she +ever evinced the greatest contempt; thus unwittingly giving him the +satisfaction of knowing that their severance 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 burgher when she might have aimed at, and possibly +brought down, a peer of the realm. Her frequent depreciation of +Barnet in these terms had at times been so intense that he was +sorely tempted to retaliate on her egotism by owning 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 shingle behind him over and above +the raking 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. Barnet?' the rambler said, in timid surprise. The voice was +the voice of Lucy Savile. + +'Yes,' said Barnet. '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 freehand 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.' + +'Lucy, 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 governess, or something of +that sort, I shall go to India and join my brother.' + +'I wish I could go abroad, anywhere, everywhere with you, Lucy, 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 topic again,' she said, +with a quick severity not free from anger. 'It simply makes it +impossible for me to see you, much less receive any guidance from +you. No, thank you, Mr. Barnet; 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 equivocal, and while he remained in +doubt whether a gentle irony was or was not inwrought 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 the cliff into the +harbour-road, he himself followed in the same direction. + +That her hopes from an advertisement should be the single thread +which held Lucy Savile in England was too much for Barnet. On +reaching the town he went straight to the residence of Downe, now a +widower with four children. The young motherless brood had been +sent to bed about a quarter of an hour earlier, and when Barnet +entered he found Downe sitting alone. It was the same room as that +from which the family had been looking out for Downe at the +beginning of the year, when Downe had slipped into the gutter and +his wife had been so enviably tender towards him. The old neatness +had gone from the house; articles lay in places which could show no +reason for their presence, as if momentarily deposited there some +months ago, and forgotten ever since; there were no flowers; things +were jumbled together on the furniture which should have been in +cupboards; and the place in general had that stagnant, unrenovated +air which usually pervades the maimed home of the widower. + +Downe soon renewed his customary full-worded lament over his wife, +and even when he had worked himself up to tears, went on volubly, as +if a listener were a luxury to be enjoyed whenever he could be +caught. + +'She was a treasure beyond compare, Mr. Barnet! I shall never see +such another. Nobody now to nurse me--nobody to console me in those +daily troubles, you know, Barnet, which make consolation so +necessary to a nature like mine. It would be unbecoming to repine, +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 Downe wiped his eyes again. + +'She was a good woman in the highest sense,' gravely answered +Barnet, who, though Downe's words drew genuine compassion from his +heart, could not help feeling that a tender reticence would have +been a finer tribute to Mrs. Downe's really sterling virtues than +such a second-class lament as this. + +'I have something to show you,' Downe resumed, producing from a +drawer a sheet of paper on which was an elaborate design for a +canopied tomb. 'This has been sent me by the architect, 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 Barnet, 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!' + +Barnet privately thought the design a sufficiently imposing one as +it stood, even extravagantly ornate; but, feeling that he had no +right to criticize, he said gently, 'Downe, should you not live more +in your children's lives at the present time, and soften the +sharpness of regret for your own past by thinking of their future?' + +'Yes, yes; but what can I do more?' asked Downe, wrinkling his +forehead hopelessly. + +It was with anxious slowness that Barnet 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 governess for the children?' + +Downe 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 +Savile's daughter, Lucy, wants to do something for herself in the +way of teaching. She would be inexpensive, 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 solicitor, musing. 'Where +does she live?' + +Barnet told him, and added that, if Downe 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.' + +Downe promised to give the subject his consideration, and nothing +more was said about it just then. But when Barnet rose to go, which +was not till nearly bedtime, he reminded Downe of the suggestion and +went up the street to his own solitary home with a sense of +satisfaction at his promising diplomacy in a charitable cause. + + + +CHAPTER VII + + + +The walls of his new house were carried up nearly to their full +height. By a curious though not infrequent reaction, Barnet's +feelings about that unnecessary structure had undergone a change; he +took considerable interest in its progress as a long-neglected +thing, his wife before her departure having grown quite weary of it +as a hobby. 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 disqualifies such men for a life of pleasant inaction, such +as lies in the power of those whose leisure is not a personal +accident, but a vast historical accretion which has become part of +their natures. + +Thus Barnet 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 punching the +joints with his stick, looking at the grain of a floor-board, and +meditating where it grew, or picturing under what circumstances the +last fire would be kindled in the at present sootless 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 +perceptibly. + +'Ah, she is there,' he thought. 'That's a blessed thing.' + +Casting an interested glance over the rising building and the busy +workmen, Lucy Savile and the little Downes passed by; and after that +time it became a regular though almost unconscious custom of Barnet +to stand in the half-completed house and look from the ungarnished +windows at the governess as she tripped towards the sea-shore with +her young charges, which she was in the habit of doing on most fine +afternoons. It was on one of these occasions, when he had been +loitering 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. + +Barnet 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 Savile to follow. Another head rose above the floor, and +another, and then Lucy herself came into view. The troop ran hither +and thither through the empty, shaving-strewn rooms, and Barnet came +forward. + +Lucy uttered a small exclamation: she was very sorry that she had +intruded; she had not the least idea that Mr. Barnet was there: the +children had come up, and she had followed. + +Barnet replied that he was only too glad to see them there. 'And +now, let me show you the rooms,' he said. + +She passively 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 fittings that were soon +to be fixed here and there. Lucy 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 hobby for Barnet. +Downe's children did not forget their first visit, and when the +windows were glazed, and the handsome staircase spread its broad low +steps into the hall, they came again, prancing in unwearied +succession through every room from ground-floor to attics, while +Lucy stood waiting for them at the door. Barnet, 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 apologetic 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 playground, and you +yours,' said Barnet. 'There is no better place for children to romp +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 Lucy, looking round at the hall. 'The +rooms are excellent, twice as high as ours; and the views from the +windows are so lovely.' + +'I daresay, I daresay,' he said absently. + +'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 Lucy's manner showed that the conversation +was taking too personal a turn for her. 'Still, as modern 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. + +Barnet's life at this period was singularly lonely, and yet he was +happier than he could have expected. His wife's estrangement and +absence, which promised to be permanent, left him free as a boy in +his movements, and the solitary walks that he took gave him ample +opportunity for chastened reflection on what might have been his lot +if he had only shown wisdom enough to claim Lucy Savile 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 +Downe; 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. Lucy was never visible at these times, being +either engaged in the school-room, or in taking an airing out of +doors; but, knowing that she was now comfortable, and had given up +the, to him, depressing idea of going off to the other side of the +globe, he was quite content. + +The new house had so far progressed that the gardeners 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 Barnet had +only caught her on the premises by stealth; 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. Downe. Believe me, Mr. Barnet, I did not know it +until yesterday, or I should have thanked you long and long ago!' + +'I had offended you--just a trifle--at the time, I think?' said +Barnet, smiling, 'and it was best that you should not know.' + +'Yes, yes,' she returned hastily. 'Don't allude to that; it is past +and over, and we will let it be. The house is finished almost, is +it not? How beautiful it will look when the evergreens are grown! +Do you call the style Palladian, Mr. Barnet?' + +'I--really don't quite know what it is. Yes, it must be Palladian, +certainly. But I'll ask Jones, the architect; 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. Downe wished me to +bring you this revised drawing of the late Mrs. Downe's tomb, which +the architect has just sent him. He would like you to look it +over.' + +The children came up with their hoops, and she went off with them +down the harbour-road as usual. Barnet 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, Downe 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, Barnet found that, instead of the vast +altar-tomb and canopy Downe had determined on at their last meeting, +it was to be a more modest memorial even than had been suggested by +the architect; a coped tomb of good solid construction, with no +useless elaboration at all. Barnet was truly glad to see that Downe +had come to reason of his own accord; and he returned the drawing +with a note of approval. + +He followed up the house-work as before, and as he walked up and +down the rooms, occasionally gazing from the windows over the +bulging 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, Lucy 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. + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + + +The winter and the spring had passed, and the house was complete. +It was a fine morning in the early part of June, and Barnet, 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 Lucy +Savile was going to India after all, and notwithstanding the +representations of her friends that such a journey was unadvisable +in many ways for an unpractised girl, unless some more definite +advantage lay at the end of it than she could show to be the case. +Barnet's walk up the slope to the building betrayed that he was in a +dissatisfied mood. He hardly saw that the dewy time of day lent an +unusual freshness to the bushes and trees which had so recently put +on their summer habit of heavy leafage, and made his newly-laid lawn +look as well established as an old manorial meadow. The house had +been so adroitly placed between six tall elms which were growing on +the site beforehand, that they seemed like real ancestral trees; and +the rooks, young and old, cawed melodiously to their visitor. + +The door was not locked, and he entered. No workmen appeared to be +present, and he walked from sunny window to sunny window of the +empty rooms, with a sense of seclusion which might have been very +pleasant but for the antecedent knowledge that his almost paternal +care of Lucy Savile was to be thrown away by her wilfulness. +Footsteps echoed through an adjoining room; and bending his eyes in +that direction, he perceived Mr. Jones, the architect. He had come +to look over the building before giving the contractor his final +certificate. They walked over the house together. Everything was +finished except the papering: there were the latest improvements of +the period in bell-hanging, ventilating, smoke-jacks, fire-grates, +and French windows. The business was soon ended, and Jones, having +directed Barnet's attention to a roll of wall-paper patterns which +lay on a bench for his choice, was leaving to keep another +engagement, when Barnet said, 'Is the tomb finished yet for Mrs. +Downe?' + +'Well--yes: it is at last,' said the architect, 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.' + +Barnet expressed his surprise. 'I thought poor Downe had given up +those extravagant notions of his? then he has gone back to the altar +and canopy after all? Well, he is to be excused, poor fellow!' + +'O 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 headstone, which a mason put up in +half a day.' + +'A common headstone?' said Barnet. + +'Yes. I held out for some time for the addition of a footstone at +least. But he said, "O no--he couldn't afford it."' + +'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 Barnet's attention to the wall-papers, the bustling +architect left him to keep some other engagement. + +'A common headstone,' murmured Barnet, 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 work when he +heard another footstep on the gravel without, and somebody enter the +open porch. + +Barnet went to the door--it was his manservant 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. Downe, who called just now wanting to see +you.' He searched his pocket for the second. + +Barnet took the first letter--it had a black border, and bore the +London postmark. 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. Barnet had died +suddenly on the previous day, at the furnished villa she had +occupied near London. + +Barnet looked vaguely round the empty hall, at the blank walls, out +of the doorway. Drawing a long palpitating breath, and with eyes +downcast, he turned and climbed the stairs slowly, like a man who +doubted their stability. The fact of his wife having, as it were, +died once already, and lived on again, had entirely dislodged the +possibility of her actual death from his conjecture. He went to the +landing, leant over the balusters, and after a reverie, of whose +duration he had but the faintest notion, turned to the window and +stretched his gaze to the cottage further down the road, which was +visible from his landing, and from which Lucy still walked to the +solicitor's house by a cross path. The faint words that came from +his moving lips were simply, 'At last!' + +Then, almost involuntarily, Barnet fell down on his knees and +murmured some incoherent words of thanksgiving. 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 +line? He went on to muse upon Lucy'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 solicitation could ever effect anything, +there should be no going to India for Lucy now. All the papers +previously chosen seemed wrong in their shades, and he began from +the beginning to choose again. + +While entering on the task he heard a forced 'Ahem!' 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. Downe that you didn't take. He called just +after you went out, and as he couldn't wait, he wrote this on your +study-table.' + +He handed in the letter--no black-bordered one now, but a practical- +looking note in the well-known writing of the solicitor. + + +'DEAR BARNET'--it ran--'Perhaps you will be prepared for the +information I am about to give--that Lucy Savile 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 Lucy'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. Downe.' + + +'Need I wait, sir?' said the servant after a dead silence. + +'That will do, William. No answer,' said Barnet calmly. + +When the man had gone Barnet re-read the letter. Turning eventually +to the wall-papers, which he had been at such pains to select, he +deliberately tore them into halves and quarters, and threw them into +the empty fireplace. 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 harbour-road and thoughtfully lingered about +by the sea, near the spot where the body of Downe's late wife had +been found and brought ashore. + +Barnet 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 +arrangement which often proceeds from the bosom of the whimsical 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 +immensity of his suffering now. The sun blazing into his face would +have shown a close watcher that a horizontal 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 hazel, had a curious look which can only be +described by the word bruised; the sorrow that looked from them +being largely mixed with the surprise of a man taken unawares. + +The secondary particulars of his present position, too, were odd +enough, though for some time they appeared to engage little of his +attention. Not a soul in the town knew, as yet, of his wife's +death; and he almost owed Downe the kindness of not publishing it +till the day was over: the conjuncture, taken with that which had +accompanied the death of Mrs. Downe, being so singular as to be +quite sufficient to darken the pleasure of the impressionable +solicitor to a cruel extent, if made known to him. But as Barnet +could not set out on his journey to London, where his wife lay, for +some hours (there being at this date no railway within a distance of +many miles), no great reason existed why he should leave the town. + +Impulse in all its forms characterized Barnet, and when he heard the +distant clock strike the hour of ten his feet began to carry him up +the harbour-road with the manner of a man who must do something to +bring himself to life. He passed Lucy Savile's old house, his own +new one, and came in view of the church. Now he gave a perceptible +start, and his mechanical condition went away. Before the church- +gate were a couple of carriages, and Barnet then could perceive that +the marriage between Downe and Lucy was at that moment being +solemnized within. A feeling of sudden, proud self-confidence, an +indocile wish to walk unmoved in spite of grim environments, plainly +possessed him, and when he reached the wicket-gate he turned in +without apparent effort. Pacing up the paved footway he entered the +church and stood for a while in the nave passage. A group of people +was standing round the vestry door; Barnet advanced through these +and stepped into the vestry. + +There they were, busily signing their names. Seeing Downe about to +look round, Barnet averted his somewhat disturbed face for a second +or two; when he turned again front to front he was calm and quite +smiling; it was a creditable triumph over himself, and deserved to +be remembered in his native town. He greeted Downe heartily, +offering his congratulations. + +It seemed as if Barnet expected a half-guilty look upon Lucy's face; +but no, save the natural flush and flurry engendered by the service +just performed, there was nothing whatever in her bearing which +showed a disturbed mind: her gray-brown eyes carried in them now as +at other times the well-known expression of common-sensed rectitude +which never went so far as to touch on hardness. She shook hands +with him, and Downe said warmly, 'I wish you could have come sooner: +I called on purpose to ask you. You'll drive back with us now?' + +'No, no,' said Barnet; 'I am not at all prepared; but I thought I +would look in upon you for a moment, even though I had not time to +go home and dress. I'll stand back and see you pass out, and +observe the effect of the spectacle upon myself as one of the +public.' + +Then Lucy and her husband laughed, and Barnet laughed and retired; +and the quiet little party went gliding down the nave and towards +the porch, Lucy's new silk dress sweeping with a smart rustle round +the base-mouldings of the ancient font, and Downe's little daughters +following in a state of round-eyed interest in their position, and +that of Lucy, their teacher and friend. + +So Downe was comforted after his Emily's death, which had taken +place twelve months, two weeks, and three days before that time. + +When the two flys had driven off and the spectators had vanished, +Barnet followed to the door, and went out into the sun. He took no +more trouble to preserve a spruce exterior; his step was unequal, +hesitating, almost convulsive; and the slight changes of colour +which went on in his face seemed refracted from some inward flame. +In the churchyard he became pale as a summer cloud, and finding it +not easy to proceed he sat down on one of the tombstones and +supported his head with his hand. + +Hard by was a sexton filling up a grave which he had not found time +to finish on the previous evening. Observing Barnet, he went up to +him, and recognizing him, said, 'Shall I help you home, sir?' + +'O no, thank you,' said Barnet, rousing himself and standing up. +The sexton returned to his grave, followed by Barnet, who, after +watching him awhile, stepped into the grave, now nearly filled, and +helped to tread in the earth. + +The sexton apparently thought his conduct a little singular, but he +made no observation, and when the grave was full, Barnet suddenly +stopped, looked far away, and with a decided step proceeded to the +gate and vanished. The sexton rested on his shovel and looked after +him for a few moments, and then began banking up the mound. + +In those short minutes of treading in the dead man Barnet had formed +a design, but what it was the inhabitants of that town did not for +some long time imagine. He went home, wrote several letters of +business, called on his lawyer, an old man of the same place who had +been the legal adviser of Barnet's father before him, and during the +evening overhauled a large quantity of letters and other documents +in his possession. By eleven o'clock the heap of papers in and +before Barnet's grate had reached formidable dimensions, and he +began to burn them. This, owing to their quantity, it was not so +easy to do as he had expected, and he sat long into the night to +complete the task. + +The next morning Barnet departed for London, leaving a note for +Downe to inform him of Mrs. Barnet's sudden death, and that he was +gone to bury her; but when a thrice-sufficient time for that purpose +had elapsed, he was not seen again in his accustomed walks, or in +his new house, or in his old one. He was gone for good, nobody knew +whither. It was soon discovered that he had empowered his lawyer to +dispose of all his property, real and personal, in the borough, and +pay 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 fact. + +The elegant new residence was sold with the rest of his possessions; +and its purchaser was no other than Downe, now a thriving man in the +borough, and one whose growing family and new wife required more +roomy accommodation than was afforded by the little house up the +narrow side street. Barnet's old habitation was bought by the +trustees of the Congregational Baptist 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 Barnet, eventful year had +chimed, every vestige of him had disappeared from the precincts of +his native place, and the name became extinct in the borough of +Port-Bredy, after having been a living force therein for more than +two hundred years. + + + +CHAPTER IX + + + +Twenty-one years and six months do not pass without setting a mark +even upon durable stone and triple brass; upon humanity such a +period works nothing less than transformation. In Barnet's old +birthplace vivacious young children with bones like india-rubber had +grown up to be stable men and women, men and women had dried in the +skin, stiffened, withered, and sunk into decrepitude; while +selections from every class had been consigned to the outlying +cemetery. Of inorganic differences the greatest was that a railway +had invaded the town, tying it on to a main line at a junction a +dozen miles off. Barnet's house on the harbour-road, once so +insistently new, had acquired a respectable mellowness, with ivy, +Virginia creepers, lichens, damp patches, and even constitutional +infirmities 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 circumference or disappeared +under the saw; while the church had had such a tremendous practical +joke played upon it by some facetious restorer or other as to be +scarce recognizable by its dearest old friends. + +During this long interval George Barnet had never once been seen or +heard of in the town of his fathers. + +It was the evening of a market-day, and some half-dozen middle-aged +farmers and dairymen were lounging round the bar of the Black-Bull +Hotel, occasionally dropping a remark to each other, and less +frequently to the two barmaids who stood within the pewter-topped +counter in a perfunctory 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 dairymen, as he looked towards +the street, and noticed that the lamp-lighter was passing by. + +The farmers merely acknowledged by their countenances the propriety +of this remark, and finding that nobody else spoke, one of the +barmaids 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 conceded, with a gaze of blankness. + +'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 barmaid 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 'bus coming in from +station.' + +The eyes of the dairymen and farmers turned to the glass door +dividing the hall from the porch, and in a minute or two the omnibus +drew up outside. Then there was a lumbering down of luggage, and +then a man came into the hall, followed by a porter with a +portmanteau on his poll, which he deposited on a bench. + +The stranger was an elderly person, with curly ashen white hair, a +deeply-creviced outer corner to each eyelid, and a countenance baked +by innumerable suns to the colour of terra-cotta, its hue and that +of his hair contrasting like heat and cold respectively. He walked +meditatively and gently, like one who was fearful of disturbing his +own mental equilibrium. 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 dubious eyes fixed on the +barmaids, he seemed to consider himself. In a moment or two he +addressed them, and asked to be accommodated 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 +chambermaid 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 dairymen had driven +off to their homesteads in the country, he came downstairs, took a +biscuit 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, barrow, +stall, and idler that occupied the wayside, 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 bookseller'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 periodical 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. + +At length he said, 'Is old Mr. Watkins still alive?' in a voice +which had a curious youthful cadence in it even now. + +'My father is dead, sir,' said the young man. + +'Ah, I am sorry to hear it,' said 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 Barnet, Browse, and Company still in existence?--they +used to be large flax-merchants and twine-spinners here?' + +'The firm is still going on, sir, but they have dropped the name of +Barnet. I believe that was a sort of fancy name--at least, I never +knew of any living Barnet. 'Tis now Browse and Co.' + +'And does Andrew Jones still keep on as architect?' + +'He's dead, sir.' + +'And the Vicar of St. Mary's--Mr. Melrose?' + +'He's been dead a great many years.' + +'Dear me!' He paused yet longer, and cleared his voice. 'Is Mr. +Downe, the solicitor, 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 +imperceptible tremor to a visible shake. That gray-haired gentleman +noticed it himself, and rested the paper on the counter. 'Is MRS. +Downe 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 Chateau Ringdale. I believe it has been in the family for +some generations.' + +'She lives with her children, perhaps?' + +'No; she has no children of her own. There were some Miss Downes; I +think they were Mr. Downe's daughters by a former wife; but they are +married and living in other parts of the town. Mrs. Downe 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 shambling, stooping, unshaven man, who at first sight +appeared like a professional tramp, his shoulders having a +perceptible greasiness as they passed under the gaslight. Each +pedestrian momentarily turned and regarded the other, and the tramp- +like gentleman started back. + +'Good--why--is that Mr. Barnet? 'Tis Mr. Barnet, surely!' + +'Yes; and you are Charlson?' + +'Yes--ah--you notice my appearance. The Fates 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 Barnet, which many men would have thought full value +received--the chance to marry your Lucy. As far as the world was +concerned, your wife was a DROWNED WOMAN, hey?' + +'Heaven forbid all that, Charlson!' + +'Well, well, 'twas a wrong way of showing gratitude, I suppose. And +now a drop of something to drink for old acquaintance' sake! And +Mr. Barnet, she's again free--there's a chance now if you care for +it--ha, ha!' And the speaker pushed his tongue into his hollow +cheek and slanted his eye in the old fashion. + +'I know all,' said Barnet quickly; and slipping a small present into +the hands of the needy, saddening 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 bosomed in trees and shrubs +planted since the erection 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 semicircular +drive, which remained exactly as it had been marked out by Barnet on +the morning when Lucy Savile ran in to thank him for procuring her +the post of governess to Downe's children. But the growth of trees +and bushes which revealed itself at every step was beyond all +expectation; sun-proof and moon-proof bowers vaulted 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. Downe's.' + +The hall was lighted, but not brightly, the gas being turned low, as +if visitors were rare. There was a stagnation in the dwelling; it +seemed to be waiting. Could it really be waiting for him? The +partitions which had been probed by Barnet's walking-stick when the +mortar was green, were now quite brown with the antiquity of their +varnish, and the ornamental woodwork of the staircase, which had +glistened with a pale yellow newness when first erected, was now of +a rich wine-colour. During the servant's absence the following +colloquy could be dimly heard through the nearly closed door of the +drawing-room. + +'He didn't give his name?' + +'He only said "an old friend," ma'am.' + +'What kind of gentleman is he?' + +'A staidish 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 Lucy who had +once been Lucy Savile. The round cheek of that formerly young lady +had, of course, alarmingly flattened its curve in her modern +representative; a pervasive grayness overspread her once dark brown +hair, like morning rime on heather. The parting down the middle was +wide and jagged; once it had been a thin white line, a narrow +crevice between two high banks of shade. But there was still enough +left to form a handsome knob behind, and some curls beneath +inwrought with a few hairs like silver wires were very becoming. In +her eyes the only modification was that their originally mild +rectitude of expression had become a little more stringent than +heretofore. Yet she was still girlish--a girl who had been +gratuitously weighted by destiny with a burden of five-and-forty +years instead of her proper twenty. + +'Lucy, 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 Lucy, '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. Barnet, in all these roving +years, in comparison with what I have seen in this quiet place!' +Her face 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. Downe'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 off so +mysteriously?' + +'Well, Lucy, I have kept myself a little in America, and a little in +Australia, 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 think 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. + +Barnet nodded, and smiled again; but his smile was sadder 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 four-and-twenty hours before you went +to church with Downe. The fixing of my journey at that particular +moment was because of her funeral; but once away I knew I should +have no inducement 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 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 chatted over the meal, regardless of the flying hour. +'Well, well!' said Barnet presently, as for the first time he +leisurely surveyed the room; 'how like it all is, and yet how +different! Just where your piano stands was a board on a couple of +trestles, 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 +Downe, 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 Barnet laid his hand upon the shelf close beside her shoulder. +'Lucy,' 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!' 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. Barnet, 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. Barnet,' 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 impracticable 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 Barnet more slowly, dropping her hand, which he +had taken at the moment of 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 humorousness 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 put on his overcoat, +and let him out of the house herself. + +'Good-night,' said Barnet, on the doorstep, as the lamp shone in his +face. 'You are not offended with me?' + +'Certainly not. Nor you with me?' + +'I'll 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. Barnet's urbanity under the blow +of her refusal greatly impressed her. After having his long period +of probation rendered useless by her decision, he had shown no +anger, and had philosophically taken her words as 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 +peremptorily; 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 staunch 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 reconsider the case, as any generous +woman ought to do. + +The morrow came and passed, and Mr. Barnet 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 tantalizing elusive sentiment was getting acclimatized within her +as a definite hope, and her person was so informed by that emotion +that she might almost have stood as its emblematical representative +by the time the clock struck ten. In short, an interest in Barnet +precisely resembling that of her early youth led her present heart +to belie 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 +justifiable; she wrote a note to him at the hotel, inviting him to +tea with her at six precisely, and signing her note 'Lucy.' + +In a quarter of an hour the messenger came back. Mr. Barnet 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 diffidence, Lucy went herself to +the Black-Bull, and questioned the staff closely. + +Mr. Barnet had cursorily 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. + +Lucy sorrowfully took back her note went home, and resolved to wait. + +She did wait--years and years--but Barnet never reappeared. + +April 1880. + + + + +INTERLOPERS AT THE KNAP + + + + +CHAPTER I + + + +The north road from Casterbridge is tedious and lonely, especially +in winter-time. Along a part of its course it connects with Long- +Ash Lane, a monotonous track without a village or hamlet for many +miles, and with very seldom a turning. Unapprized wayfarers 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 +hilltop, and Long-Ash Lane stretches in front as mercilessly as +before. + +Some few years ago a certain farmer was riding through this lane in +the gloom of a winter evening. The farmer's friend, a dairyman, was +riding beside him. A few paces in the rear rode the farmer's man. +All three were well horsed on strong, round-barrelled cobs; and to +be well horsed was to be in better spirits about Long-Ash Lane than +poor pedestrians could attain to during its passage. + +But the farmer did not talk much to his friend as he rode along. +The enterprise which had brought him there filled his mind; for in +truth it was important. 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 proportionate to the space it occupies in +the heart of him who undertakes it, Farmer Charles Darton's business +to-night could hold its own with the business of kings. + +He was a large farmer. His turnover, as it is called, was probably +thirty thousand pounds a year. He had a great many draught horses, +a great many milch 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. + +Darton, the father, had been a one-idea'd character, with a +buttoned-up pocket and a chink-like eye brimming with commercial +subtlety. In Darton the son, this trade subtlety had become +transmuted into emotional, and the harshness had disappeared; he +would have been called a sad man but for his constant care not to +divide himself from lively friends by piping notes out of harmony +with theirs. Contemplative, 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 receded as a +capitalist--a stationary result which did not agitate one of his +unambitious, unstrategic nature, since he had all 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 Darton's head jigging rather unromantically up and +down against the sky, and his motions being repeated with bolder +emphasis by his friend Japheth Johns; while those of the latter were +travestied in jerks still less softened by art in the person of the +lad who attended them. A pair of whitish objects hung one on each +side of the latter, bumping against him at each step, and still +further spoiling 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 Darton?' +asked Johns, breaking a silence which had lasted while five-and- +twenty hedgerow trees had glided by. + +Mr. Darton with a half-laugh murmured, 'Ay--call it my fate! +Hanging and wiving go by destiny.' And then they were silent again. + +The darkness thickened rapidly, at intervals shutting down on the +land in a perceptible flap, like the wave of a wing. The customary +close of day was accelerated by a simultaneous blurring of the air. +With the fall of night had come a mist just damp enough to +incommode, but not sufficient to saturate 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 +obscuration, and ignored its humid quality. + +They were travelling in a direction that was enlivened by no modern +current of traffic, the place of Darton's pilgrimage being an old- +fashioned village--one of the Hintocks (several villages of that +name, with a distinctive prefix or affix, lying thereabout)--where +the people make the best cider and cider-wine in all Wessex, and +where the dunghills smell of pomace instead of stable refuse as +elsewhere. The lane was sometimes so narrow that the brambles of +the hedge, which hung forward like anglers' rods over a stream, +scratched their hats and curry-combed their whiskers as they passed. +Yet this neglected lane had been a highway to Queen Elizabeth's +subjects and the cavalcades of the past. Its day was over now, and +its history as a national artery done for ever. + +'Why I have decided to marry her,' resumed Darton (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 superior to her as I used to think--you know who I mean--was to +me.' + +'Ay,' said Johns. 'However, I shouldn't call Sally Hall simple. +Primary, because no Sally is; secondary, because if some could be, +this one wouldn't. 'Tis a wrong denomination to apply to a woman, +Charles, and affects me, as your best man, like cold water. 'Tis +like recommending a stage play by saying there's neither murder, +villainy, 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, +Darton expressed a hope that the said Sally had received what he'd +sent on by the carrier that day. + +Johns wanted to know what that was. + +'It is a dress,' said Darton. 'Not exactly a wedding-dress; though +she may use it as one if she likes. It is rather serviceable than +showy--suitable for the winter weather.' + +'Good,' said Johns. 'Serviceable is a wise word in a bridegroom. I +commend ye, Charles.' + +'For,' said Darton, 'why should a woman dress up like a rope-dancer +because she's going to do the most solemn deed of her life except +dying?' + +'Faith, why? But she will, because she will, I suppose,' said +Dairyman Johns. + +'H'm,' said Darton. + +The lane they followed had been nearly straight for several miles, +but it now took a turn, and winding uncertainly for some distance +forked into two. By night country roads are apt to reveal ungainly +qualities which pass without observation during day; and though +Darton had travelled this way before, he had not done so frequently, +Sally having been wooed at the house of a relative near his own. He +never remembered seeing at this spot a pair of alternative ways +looking so equally probable as these two did now. Johns rode on a +few steps. + +'Don't be out of heart, sonny,' he cried. 'Here's a handpost. +Enoch--come and climm this post, and tell us the way.' + +The lad dismounted, and jumped into the hedge where the post stood +under a tree. + +'Unstrap the baskets, or you'll smash up that wine!' cried Darton, +as the young man began spasmodically to climb the post, baskets and +all. + +'Was there ever less head in a brainless world?' said Johns. 'Here, +simple Nocky, I'll do it.' He leapt 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 tantalization these twenty years with a temper as mild +as milk!' said Japheth; 'but such things as this don't come short of +devilry!' And flinging the match away, he slipped down to the +ground. + +'What's the matter?' asked Darton. + +'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 mildew have eat away the words, or we have arrived in a +land where the natyves have lost the art o' writing, and should ha' +brought our compass like Christopher Columbus.' + +'Let us take the straightest road,' said Darton 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 Enoch. 'These straps plough my shoulder +like a zull. If 'tis much further to your lady's home, Maister +Darton, I shall ask to be let carry half of these good things in my +innerds--hee, hee!' + +'Don't you be such a reforming radical, Enoch,' said Johns 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 ironical +directing-post stood in solitude as before, holding out its blank +arms to the raw breeze, which brought a snore from the wood as if +Skrymir the Giant were sleeping there. + + + +CHAPTER II + + + +Three miles to the left of the travellers, along the road they had +not followed, rose an old house with mullioned windows of Ham-hill +stone, and chimneys of lavish solidity. It stood at the top of a +slope beside King's-Hintock village-street; and immediately in front +of it grew a large sycamore-tree, whose bared roots formed a +convenient staircase from the road below to the front door of the +dwelling. Its situation gave the house what little distinctive name +it possessed, namely, 'The Knap.' Some forty yards off a brook +dribbled past, which, for its size, made a great deal of noise. At +the back was a dairy barton, accessible for vehicles and live-stock +by a side 'drong.' Thus much only of the character of the homestead +could be divined out of doors at this shady evening-time. + +But within there was plenty of light to see by, as plenty was +construed at Hintock. Beside a Tudor fireplace, whose moulded four- +centred arch was nearly hidden by a figured blue-cloth blower, were +seated two women--mother and daughter--Mrs. Hall, and Sarah, or +Sally; for this was a part of the world where the latter +modification had not as yet been effaced as a vulgarity by the march +of intellect. The owner of the name was the young woman by whose +means Mr. Darton proposed to put an end to his bachelor condition on +the approaching day. + +The mother's bereavement 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, enlivening its +whiteness by a few rose-du-Barry ribbons. Sally required no such +aids to pinkness. Roseate 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 ember with the +tongs, and piled them upon the brands. But the number of speeches +that passed was very small in proportion to the meanings 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 whiffs of air laden with fat vapours, which ever and anon +entered from the kitchen, denoting 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 daresay,' cried Sally independently. 'Lord, I +shouldn't be amazed if it didn't come at all! Young men make such +kind promises when 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 rathe 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?' + +She went to the family clock and opened the glass, for the hour was +not otherwise discernible by night, and indeed at all times was +rather a thing to be investigated 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, if you think to tantalize me by talking like that, you are +much mistaken! Let him be as late as he will--or stay away +altogether--I don't care,' said Sally. But a tender, minute quaver +in the negation showed that there was something forced in that +statement. + +Mrs. Hall perceived it, and drily observed that she was not so sure +about Sally not caring. 'But perhaps you don't care so much as I +do, after all,' she said. 'For I see what you don't, that it is a +good and flourishing match for you; a very honourable offer in Mr. +Darton. And I think I see a kind husband in him. So pray God +'twill go smooth, and wind up well.' + +Sally would not listen to misgivings. Of course it would go +smoothly, she asserted. 'How you are up and down, mother!' she went +on. 'At this moment, whatever hinders him, we are not so anxious to +see him as he is to be here, and his thought runs on before him, and +settles down upon us like the star in the east. Hark!' she +exclaimed, with a breath of relief, her eyes sparkling. 'I heard +something. Yes--here they are!' + +The next moment her mother's slower ear also distinguished the +familiar reverberation occasioned by footsteps clambering up the +roots of the sycamore. + +'Yes it sounds like them at last,' she said. 'Well, it is not so +very late after all, considering the distance.' + +The footfall ceased, and they arose, expecting a knock. They began +to think it might have been, after all, some neighbouring villager +under Bacchic influence, giving the centre of the road a wide berth, +when their doubts were dispelled by the new-comer's entry into the +passage. The door of the room was gently opened, and there +appeared, not the pair of travellers with whom we have already made +acquaintance, but a pale-faced man in the garb of extreme poverty-- +almost in rags. + +'O, it's a tramp--gracious me!' said Sally, starting back. + +His cheeks and eye-orbits were deep concaves--rather, it might be, +from natural weakness of constitution than irregular living, though +there were indications that he had led no careful life. He gazed at +the two women fixedly for a moment: then with an abashed, +humiliated demeanour, dropped his glance to the floor, and sank into +a chair without uttering a word. + +Sally was in advance of her mother, who had remained standing by the +fire. She now tried to discern the visitor across the candles. + +'Why--mother,' said Sally faintly, turning back to Mrs. Hall. 'It +is Phil, from Australia!' + +Mrs. Hall started, and grew pale, and a fit of coughing seized the +man with the ragged clothes. 'To come home like this!' she said. +'O, Philip--are you ill?' + +'No, no, mother,' replied he impatiently, as soon as he could speak. + +'But for God's sake how do you come here--and just now too?' + +'Well, I am here,' said the man. 'How it is I hardly know. I've +come home, mother, because I was driven to it. Things were against +me out there, and went from bad to worse.' + +'Then why didn't you let us know?--you've not writ a line for the +last two or three years.' + +The son admitted sadly that he had not. He said that he had hoped +and thought he might fetch up again, and be able to send good news. +Then he had been obliged to abandon that hope, and had finally come +home from sheer necessity--previously to making a new start. 'Yes, +things are very bad with me,' he repeated, perceiving their +commiserating glances at his clothes. + +They brought him nearer the fire, took his hat from his thin hand, +which was so small and smooth as to show that his attempts to fetch +up again had not been in a manual direction. His mother resumed her +inquiries, and dubiously asked if he had chosen to come that +particular night for any special reason. + +For no reason, he told her. His arrival had been quite at random. +Then Philip Hall looked round the room, and saw for the first time +that the table was laid somewhat luxuriously, and for a larger +number than themselves; and that an air of festivity pervaded their +dress. He asked quickly what was going on. + +'Sally is going to be married in a day or two,' replied the mother; +and she explained how Mr. Darton, Sally's intended husband, was +coming there that night with the groomsman, Mr. Johns, and other +details. 'We thought it must be their step when we heard you,' said +Mrs. Hall. + +The needy wanderer looked again on the floor. 'I see--I see,' he +murmured. 'Why, indeed, should I have come to-night? Such folk as +I are not wanted here at these times, naturally. And I have no +business here--spoiling other people's happiness.' + +'Phil,' said his mother, with a tear in her eye, but with a thinness +of lip and severity of manner which were presumably not more than +past events justified; 'since you speak like that to me, I'll speak +honestly to you. For these three years you have taken no thought +for us. You left home with a good supply of money, and strength and +education, and you ought to have made good use of it all. But you +come back like a beggar; and that you come in a very awkward time +for us cannot be denied. Your return to-night may do us much harm. +But mind--you are welcome to this home as long as it is mine. I +don't wish to turn you adrift. We will make the best of a bad job; +and I hope you are not seriously ill?' + +'O no. I have only this infernal cough.' + +She looked at him anxiously. 'I think you had better go to bed at +once,' she said. + +'Well--I shall be out of the way there,' said the son wearily. +'Having ruined myself, don't let me ruin you by being seen in these +togs, for Heaven's sake. Who do you say Sally is going to be +married to--a Farmer Darton?' + +'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 Sal!' 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 confoundedly thirsty with my long +tramp.' + +'Yes, yes, we will bring something upstairs to you,' said Sally, +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, and Sally went and +leant upon the bureau, 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 time.' + +'Well, then,' said the unhappy Phil, 'I am not the only one in this +mess. Would to Heaven I were! But--' + +'O, Phil!' + +'I have a wife as destitute as I.' + +'A wife?' said his mother. + +'Unhappily!' + +'A wife! Yes, that is the way with sons!' + +'And besides--' said he. + +'Besides! O, Philip, surely--' + +'I have two little children.' + +'Wife and children!' 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 Australia?' + +'No. They are in England.' + +'Well, I can only hope you've left them in a respectable place.' + +'I 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 collapse +of genteel aims as this than a substantial dairyman'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 starving son, a +starving wife, starving children! Let it be. But why is this come +to us now, to-day, to-night? 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 vagabonds?' + +'Nonsense, mother!' said Sally vehemently, while her face flushed. +'Charley isn't the man to desert me. But if he should be, and won't +marry me because Phil'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 I!' 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 Rebekah.' (Rebekah was the woman who assisted at the dairy +and housework; 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 the lantern that was hanging +there.' + +'What must we call your wife?' asked Mrs. Hall. + +'Helena,' said Philip. + +With shawls 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 Evershead as we came,' he continued, 'and I just +looked in at the "Sow-and-Acorn" to see if old Mike still kept on +there as usual. The carrier had come in from Sherton Abbas at that +moment, and guessing that I was bound for this place--for I think he +knew me--he asked me to bring on a dressmaker's parcel for Sally +that was marked "immediate." My wife had walked on with the +children. 'Twas a flimsy parcel, and the paper was torn, and I +found on looking at it that it was a thick warm gown. I didn't wish +you to see poor Helena in a shabby state. I was ashamed that you +should--'twas not what she was born to. I untied 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 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 +daresay.' + +Sally looked at her mother, speechless. + +'You have others, I daresay!' repeated Phil, with a sick man's +impatience. 'I thought to myself, "Better Sally cry than Helena +freeze." 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 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. + + + +CHAPTER III + + + +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 +barton, laden with hay scents and the herby breath of cows. A fine +sleet 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 nearing the door, Mrs. Hall pronounced the name 'Helena!' + +There was no answer for the moment. Looking in she was taken by +surprise. Two people appeared before her. For one, instead of the +drabbish woman she had expected, Mrs. Hall saw a pale, dark-eyed, +ladylike 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 affianced, Farmer Charles +Darton, upon whose fine figure the pale stranger's eyes were fixed, +as his were fixed upon her. His other hand held the rein of his +horse, which was standing saddled as if just led in. + +At sight of Mrs. Hall they both turned, looking at her in a way +neither quite conscious nor unconscious, and without seeming to +recollect that words were necessary as a solution to the scene. In +another moment Sally entered also, when Mr. Darton dropped his +companion's hand, led the horse aside, and came to greet his +betrothed and Mrs. Hall. + +'Ah!' he said, smiling--with something like forced composure--'this +is a roundabout 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 Johns 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 intruding.' + +'She is my daughter-in-law,' said Mrs. Hall calmly. 'My son, too, +is in the house, but he has gone to bed unwell.' + +Sally had stood staring wonderingly at the scene until this moment, +hardly recognizing Darton'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. Darton, showing thus that he had not +been there long enough as yet to understand the situation. + +'My grandchildren,' said Mrs. Hall, with as much affected ease as +before. + +Philip Hall's wife, in spite of this interruption to her first +rencounter, seemed scarcely so much affected by it as to feel any +one's presence in addition to Mr. Darton's. However, arousing +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 initiative. 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 Helena followed, +and Mr. Darton followed these, looking at Helena'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 rapped against the wall for +Rebekah to come in and help to attend to them, Rebekah's house being +a little 'spit-and-dab' cabin leaning against the substantial stone- +work of Mrs. Hall's taller erection. 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 interim retired with her mother-in-law to take off her +bonnet, and otherwise make herself presentable. Hence it was +evident that no further communication could have passed between her +and Mr. Darton since their brief interview in the stable. + +Mr. Japheth Johns now opportunely arrived, and broke up the +restraint of the company, after a few orthodox meteorological +commentaries 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 capacities as a provider. + +'Drink hearty, Mr. Johns--drink hearty,' said that matron +magnanimously. 'Such as it is there's plenty of. But perhaps +cider-wine is not to your taste?--though there's body in it.' + +'Quite the contrairy, ma'am--quite the contrairy,' said the +dairyman. 'For though I inherit the malt-liquor principle from my +father, I am a cider-drinker 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 your hotter +drinks. With care, one may live on it a twelvemonth without +knocking down a neighbour, or getting a black eye from an old +acquaintance.' + +The general conversation thus begun was continued briskly, though it +was in the main restricted to Mrs. Hall and Japheth, who in truth +required but little help from anybody. There being slight call upon +Sally's tongue, she had ample leisure to do what her heart most +desired, namely, watch her intended husband and her sister-in-law +with a view of elucidating the strange momentary scene in which her +mother and herself had surprised them in the stable. If that scene +meant anything, it meant, at least, that they had met before. That +there had been no time for explanations Sally could see, for their +manner was still one of suppressed amazement at each other's +presence there. Darton's eyes, too, fell continually on the gown +worn by Helena as if this were an added riddle to his perplexity; +though to Sally it was the one feature in the case which was no +mystery. He seemed to feel that fate had impishly changed his vis- +a-vis in the lover's jig he was about to foot; that while the gown +had been expected to enclose a Sally, a Helena's face looked out +from the bodice; that some long-lost hand met his own from the +sleeves. + +Sally could see that whatever Helena might know of Darton, she knew +nothing of how the dress entered into his embarrassment. And at +moments the young girl would have persuaded herself that Darton's +looks at her sister-in-law were entirely the fruit of the clothes +query. But surely at other times a more extensive range of +speculation and sentiment was expressed by her lover's eye than that +which the changed dress would account for. + +Sally's independence made her one of the least jealous of women. +But there was something in the relations of these two visitors which +ought to be explained. + +Japheth Johns continued to converse in his well-known style, +interspersing his talk with some private reflections on the position +of Darton and Sally, which, though the sparkle in his eye showed +them to be highly entertaining to himself, were apparently not quite +communicable to the company. At last he withdrew for the night, +going off to the roadside inn half-a-mile back, whither Darton +promised to follow him in a few minutes. + +Half-an-hour passed, and then Mr. Darton also rose to leave, Sally +and her sister-in-law simultaneously wishing him good-night as they +retired upstairs to their rooms. But on his arriving at the front +door with Mrs. Hall a sharp shower of rain began to come down, when +the widow suggested that he should return to the fire-side till the +storm ceased. + +Darton accepted her proposal, but insisted that, as it was getting +late, and she was obviously tired, she should not sit up on his +account, since he could let himself out of the house, and would +quite enjoy smoking a pipe by the hearth alone. Mrs. Hall assented; +and Darton was left by himself. He spread his knees to the brands, +lit up his tobacco as he had said, and sat gazing into the fire, and +at the notches of the chimney-crook which hung above. + +An occasional drop of rain rolled down the chimney with a hiss, and +still he smoked on; but not like a man whose mind was at rest. In +the long run, however, despite his meditations, early hours afield +and a long ride in the open air produced their natural result. He +began to doze. + +How long he remained in this half-unconscious state he did not know. +He suddenly opened his eyes. The back-brand had burnt itself in +two, and ceased to flame; the light which he had placed on the +mantelpiece had nearly gone out. But in spite of these deficiencies +there was a light in the apartment, and it came from elsewhere. +Turning his head he saw Philip Hall's wife standing at the entrance +of the room with a bed-candle in one hand, a small brass tea-kettle +in the other, and HIS gown, as it certainly seemed, still upon her. + +'Helena!' said Darton, starting up. + +Her countenance expressed dismay, and her first words were an +apology. 'I--did not know you were here, Mr. Darton,' she said, +while a blush flashed to her cheek. 'I thought every one had +retired--I was coming to make a little water boil; my husband seems +to be worse. But perhaps the kitchen fire can be lighted up again.' + +'Don't go on my account. By all means put it on here as you +intended,' said Darton. 'Allow me to help you.' He went forward to +take the kettle from her hand, but she did not allow him, and placed +it on the fire herself. + +They stood some way apart, one on each side of the fireplace, +waiting till the water should boil, the candle on the mantel between +them, and Helena with her eyes on the kettle. Darton was the first +to break the silence. 'Shall I call Sally?' he said. + +'O no,' she quickly returned. 'We have given trouble enough +already. We have no right here. But we are the sport of fate, and +were obliged to come.' + +'No right here!' said he in surprise. + +'None. I can't explain it now,' answered Helena. 'This kettle is +very slow.' + +There was another pause; the proverbial dilatoriness of watched pots +was never more clearly exemplified. + +Helena's face was of that sort which seems to ask for assistance +without the owner's knowledge--the very antipodes of Sally's, which +was self-reliance expressed. Darton's eyes travelled from the +kettle to Helena's face, then back to the kettle, then to the face +for rather a longer time. 'So I am not to know anything of the +mystery that has distracted me all the evening?' he said. 'How is +it that a woman, who refused me because (as I supposed) my position +was not good enough for her taste, 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 Darton was subject to sudden overflowings. He was kind +to a fault. 'I am sorry from my soul,' he said, involuntarily +approaching her. Helena 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 farthing. 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 Darton 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 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, differing 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.' + +Darton 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 Helena'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 sycamore-tree. The stars were flickering +coldly, and the dampness which had just descended upon the earth in +rain now sent up a chill from it. Darton was in a strange position, +and he felt it. The unexpected appearance, in deep poverty, of +Helena--a young lady, daughter of a deceased naval officer, who had +been brought up by her uncle, a solicitor, and had refused Darton in +marriage years ago--the passionate, almost angry demeanour of Sally +at discovering them, the abrupt announcement that Helena was a +widow; all this coming together was a conjuncture 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 +unhesitatingly 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. Darton followed her, intending to +speak. + +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 beehives stood under the wall. +Discerning her object, he waited till she had accomplished it. + +It was the universal custom thereabout to wake the bees by tapping +at their hives 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 ensuing year. As soon as an interior +buzzing 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 Rebekah and her husband, and +they will 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 Darton. 'I think now to go straight to the +inn and tell Johns 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 +fatherless, 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 he told of the offer, +and they parted. He retired down the rooty slope and disappeared in +the direction of the inn, where he informed Johns of the +circumstances. Meanwhile Mrs. Hall had entered the house, Sally was +downstairs in the sitting-room alone, and her mother explained to +her that Darton had readily assented to the postponement. + +'No doubt he has,' said Sally, with sad emphasis. 'It is not put +off for a week, or a month, or a year. I shall never marry him, and +she will!' + + + +CHAPTER IV + + + +Time passed, and the household on the Knap became again serene under +the composing influences of daily routine. A desultory, very +desultory correspondence, dragged on between Sally Hall and Darton, +who, not quite knowing how to take her petulant words on the night +of her brother's death, had continued passive thus long. Helena and +her children remained at the dairy-house, almost of necessity, and +Darton therefore deemed it advisable to stay away. + +One day, seven months later on, when Mr. Darton was as usual at his +farm, twenty miles from Hintock, a note reached him from Helena. +She thanked him for his kind offer about her children, which her +mother-in-law had duly communicated, and stated that she would be +glad to accept it as regarded the eldest, the boy. Helena had, in +truth, good need to do so, for her uncle had left her penniless, and +all application to some relatives in the north had failed. There +was, besides, as she said, no good school near Hintock to which she +could send the child. + +On a fine summer day the boy came. He was accompanied half-way by +Sally and his mother--to the 'White Horse,' at Chalk Newton--where +he was handed over to Darton's bailiff in a shining spring-cart, who +met them there. + +He was entered as a day-scholar at a popular school at Casterbridge, +three or four miles from Darton's, having first been taught by +Darton to ride a forest-pony, on which he cantered to and from the +aforesaid fount of knowledge, and (as Darton hoped) brought away a +promising headful of the same at each diurnal expedition. The +thoughtful taciturnity into which Darton had latterly fallen was +quite dissipated by the presence of this boy. + +When the Christmas holidays came it was arranged that he should +spend them with his mother. The journey was, for some reason or +other, performed in two stages, as at his coming, except that Darton +in person took the place of the bailiff, and that the boy and +himself rode on horseback. + +Reaching the renowned 'White Horse,' Darton inquired if Miss and +young Mrs. Hall were there to meet little Philip (as they had agreed +to be). He was answered by the appearance of Helena alone at the +door. + +'At the last moment Sally would not come,' she faltered. + +That meeting practically settled the point towards which these long- +severed persons were converging. But nothing was broached about it +for some time yet. Sally Hall had, in fact, imparted the first +decisive motion to events by refusing to accompany Helena. She soon +gave them a second move by writing the following note + + +'[Private.] + +'DEAR CHARLES,--Living here so long and intimately with Helena, I +have naturally learnt her history, especially that of it which +refers to you. I am sure she would accept you as a husband at the +proper time, and I think you ought to give her the opportunity. You +inquire in an old note if I am sorry that I showed temper (which it +WASN'T) that night when I heard you talking to her. No, Charles, I +am not sorry at all for what I said then.--Yours sincerely, SALLY +HALL.' + + +Thus set in train, the transfer of Darton's heart back to its +original quarters proceeded by mere lapse of time. In the following +July, Darton went to his friend Japheth to ask him at last to fulfil +the bridal office which had been in abeyance since the previous +January twelvemonths. + +'With all my heart, man o' constancy!' said Dairyman Johns warmly. +'I've lost most of my genteel fair complexion haymaking this hot +weather, 'tis true, but I'll do your business as well as them that +look better. There be scents and good hair-oil in the world yet, +thank God, and they'll take off the roughest o' my edge. I'll +compliment her. "Better late than never, Sally Hall," I'll say.' + +'It is not Sally,' said Darton hurriedly. 'It is young Mrs. Hall.' + +Japheth's face, as soon as he really comprehended, became a picture +of reproachful dismay. 'Not Sally?' he said. 'Why not Sally? I +can't believe it! Young Mrs. Hall! Well, well--where's your +wisdom?' + +Darton shortly explained particulars; but Johns would not be +reconciled. 'She was a woman worth having if ever woman was,' he +cried. 'And now to let her go!' + +'But I suppose I can marry where I like,' said Darton. + +'H'm,' replied the dairyman, lifting his eyebrows expressively. +'This don't become you, Charles--it really do not. If I had done +such a thing you would have sworn I was a curst no'thern fool to be +drawn off the scent by such a red-herring doll-oll-oll.' + +Farmer Darton responded in such sharp terms to this laconic opinion +that the two friends finally parted in a way they had never parted +before. Johns was to be no groomsman to Darton after all. He had +flatly declined. Darton went off sorry, and even unhappy, +particularly as Japheth was about to leave that side of the county, +so that the words which had divided them were not likely to be +explained away or softened down. + +A short time after the interview Darton was united to Helena at a +simple matter-of fact wedding; and she and her little girl joined +the boy who had already grown to look on Darton's house as home. + +For some months the farmer experienced an unprecedented happiness +and satisfaction. There had been a flaw in his life, and it was as +neatly mended as was humanly possible. But after a season the +stream of events followed less clearly, and there were shades in his +reveries. Helena was a fragile woman, of little staying power, +physically or morally, and since the time that he had originally +known her--eight or ten years before--she had been severely tried. +She had loved herself out, in short, and was now occasionally given +to moping. Sometimes she spoke regretfully of the gentilities of +her early life, and instead of comparing her present state with her +condition as the wife of the unlucky Hall, she mused rather on what +it had been before she took the first fatal step of clandestinely +marrying him. She did not care to please such people as those with +whom she was thrown as a thriving farmer's wife. She allowed the +pretty trifles of agricultural domesticity to glide by her as sorry +details, and had it not been for the children Darton's house would +have seemed but little brighter than it had been before. + +This led to occasional unpleasantness, until Darton sometimes +declared to himself that such endeavours as his to rectify early +deviations of the heart by harking back to the old point mostly +failed of success. 'Perhaps Johns 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 capsize.' But +he kept these unmelodious thoughts to himself, and was outwardly +considerate and kind. + +This somewhat barren tract of his life had extended to less than a +year and a half when his ponderings were 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 soured. Her stagnant +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 wrappings. To make life as easy as +possible to this touching object became at once his care. + +As this child learnt to walk and talk Darton learnt to see +feasibility in a scheme which pleased him. Revolving the experiment +which he had hitherto made upon life, he fancied he had gained +wisdom from his mistakes and caution from his miscarriages. + +What the scheme was needs no penetration to discover. Once more he +had opportunity to recast and rectify his ill-wrought situations by +returning to Sally Hall, who still lived quietly on under her +mother's roof at Hintock. Helena had been a woman to lend pathos +and refinement to a home; Sally was the woman to brighten it. She +would not, as Helena did, despise the rural simplicities of a +farmer's fireside. Moreover, she had a pre-eminent qualification +for Darton's household; no other woman could make so desirable a +mother to her brother's two children and Darton's one as Sally-- +while Darton, now that Helena had gone, was a more promising husband +for Sally than he had ever been when liable to reminders from an +uncured sentimental wound. + +Darton was not a man to act rapidly, and the working out of his +reparative designs might have been delayed for some time. But there +came a winter evening precisely like the one which had darkened over +that former ride to Hintock, and he asked himself why he should +postpone longer, when the very landscape called for a repetition of +that attempt. + +He told his man to saddle the mare, booted and spurred himself with +a younger horseman's nicety, kissed 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 Japheth Johns with him. +But Johns, alas! was missing. His removal to the other side of the +county had left unrepaired the breach which had arisen between him +and Darton; and though Darton had forgiven him a hundred times, as +Johns had probably forgiven Darton, the effort of reunion in present +circumstances was one not likely to be made. + +He screwed himself up to as cheerful a pitch as he could without his +former crony, 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 etching against the sky; old crooked +men with faggots at their backs said 'Good-night, sir,' and Darton +replied 'Good-night' right heartily. + +By the time he reached the forking roads it was getting as dark as +it had been on the occasion when Johns climbed the directing-post. +Darton 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 awry, and not a +momentary freak of fancy. + +Nothing hindered the smoothness of his journey, which seemed not +half its former length. Though dark, it was only between five and +six o'clock when the bulky chimneys of Mrs. Hall's residence +appeared in view behind the sycamore-tree. On second thoughts he +retreated and put up at the ale-house as in former time; and when he +had plumed himself before the inn mirror, called for something to +drink, and smoothed out the incipient wrinkles of care, he walked on +to the Knap with a quick step. + + + +CHAPTER V + + + +That evening Sally was making 'pinners' for the milkers, who were +now increased by two, for her mother and herself no longer joined in +milking 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 blacker; that the influence of modernism had +supplanted the open chimney corner by a grate; that Rebekah, who had +worn a cap when she had plenty of hair, had left it off 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 tongs, as she had used +to do. + +'Five years ago this very night, if I am not mistaken--' she said, +laying on an ember. + +'Not this very night--though 'twas one night this week,' said the +correct Sally. + +'Well, 'tis near enough. Five years ago Mr. Darton came to marry +you, and my poor boy Phil came home to die.' She sighed. 'Ah, +Sally,' she presently said, 'if you had managed well Mr. Darton +would have had you, Helena or none.' + +'Don't be 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 the midst of such a +hitch as that was,' she added with decision; 'and I don't think I +would if he were to ask me now.' + +'I am not sure about that, unless you have another in your eye.' + +'I wouldn't; and I'll tell you why. I could hardly marry him for +love at this time o' day. And as we've quite enough to live on if +we give up the dairy to-morrow, I should have no need to marry for +any meaner reason . . . I am quite happy enough as I am, and there's +an end of it.' + +Now it was not long after this dialogue that there came a mild rap +at the door, and in a moment there entered Rebekah, looking as +though a ghost had arrived. The fact was that that accomplished +skimmer and churner (now a resident in the house) had overheard the +desultory observations between mother and daughter, and on opening +the door to Mr. Darton thought the coincidence must have a grisly +meaning in it. Mrs. Hall welcomed the farmer with warm surprise, as +did Sally, and for a moment they rather wanted words. + +'Can you push up the chimney-crook for me, Mr Darton? the notches +hitch,' said the matron. He did it, and the homely little act +bridged over the awkward consciousness that he had been a stranger +for four years. + +Mrs. Hall soon saw what he had come for, and left the principals +together while she went to prepare him a late tea, smiling at +Sally's recent hasty assertions of indifference, when she saw how +civil Sally was. When tea was ready she joined them. She fancied +that Darton did not look so confident as when he had arrived; but +Sally was quite light-hearted, and the meal passed pleasantly. + +About seven he took his leave of them. Mrs. Hall went as far as the +door to light him down the slope. On the doorstep he said frankly-- +'I came to ask your daughter to marry me; chose the night and +everything, with an eye to a favourable answer. But she won't.' + +'Then she's a very ungrateful girl!' emphatically said Mrs. Hall. + +Darton paused to shape his sentence, and asked, 'I--I suppose +there's nobody else more favoured?' + +'I can't say that there is, or that there isn't,' answered Mrs. +Hall. 'She's private in some things. I'm on your side, however, +Mr. Darton, and I'll talk to her.' + +'Thank 'ee, thank 'ee!' said the farmer in a gayer accent; and with +this assurance the not very satisfactory visit came to an end. +Darton descended the roots of the sycamore, the light was withdrawn, +and the door closed. At the bottom of the slope he nearly ran +against a man about to ascend. + +'Can a jack-o'-lent believe his few senses on such a dark night, or +can't he?' exclaimed one whose utterance Darton recognized in a +moment, despite its unexpectedness. 'I dare not swear he can, +though I fain would!' The speaker was Johns. + +Darton said he was glad of this opportunity, bad as it was, of +putting an end to the silence of years, and asked the dairyman what +he was travelling that way for. + +Japheth showed the old jovial confidence in a moment. 'I'm going to +see your--relations--as they always seem to me,' he said--'Mrs. Hall +and Sally. Well, Charles, the fact is I find the natural +barbarousness of man is much increased by a bachelor life, and, as +your leavings were always good enough for me, I'm trying +civilization here.' He nodded towards the house. + +'Not with Sally--to marry her?' said Darton, feeling something like +a rill of ice water between his shoulders. + +'Yes, by the help of Providence and my personal charms. And I think +I shall get her. I am this road every week--my present dairy is +only four miles off, you know, and I see her through the window. +'Tis rather odd that I was going to speak practical to-night to her +for the first time. You've just called?' + +'Yes, for a short while. But she didn't say a word about you.' + +'A good sign, a good sign. Now that decides me. I'll swing the +mallet and get her answer this very night as I planned.' + +A few more remarks, and Darton, wishing his friend joy of Sally in a +slightly hollow tone of jocularity, bade him good-bye. Johns +promised to write particulars, and ascended, and was lost in the +shade of the house and tree. A rectangle of light appeared when +Johns was admitted, and all was dark again. + +'Happy Japheth!' said Darton. 'This then is the explanation!' + +He determined to return home that night. In a quarter of an hour he +passed out of the village, and the next day went about his swede- +lifting and storing as if nothing had occurred. + +He waited and waited to hear from Johns whether the wedding-day was +fixed: but no letter came. He learnt not a single particular till, +meeting Johns one day at a horse-auction, Darton exclaimed genially- +-rather more genially than he felt--'When is the joyful day to be?' + +To his great surprise a reciprocity of gladness was not conspicuous +in Johns. 'Not at all,' he said, in a very subdued tone. ''Tis a +bad job; she won't have me.' + +Darton held his breath till he said with treacherous solicitude, +'Try again--'tis coyness.' + +'O no,' said Johns decisively. 'There's been none of that. We +talked it over dozens of times in the most fair and square way. She +tells me plainly, I don't suit her. 'Twould be simply annoying her +to ask her again. Ah, Charles, you threw a prize away when you let +her slip five years ago.' + +'I did--I did,' said Darton. + +He returned from that auction with a new set of feelings in play. +He had certainly made a surprising mistake in thinking Johns his +successful rival. It really seemed as if he might hope for Sally +after all. + +This time, being rather pressed by business, Darton had recourse to +pen-and-ink, and wrote her as manly and straightforward a proposal +as any woman could wish to receive. The reply came promptly:- + + +'DEAR MR. DARTON,--I am as sensible as any woman can be of the +goodness that leads you to make me this offer a second time. Better +women than I would be proud of the honour, for when I read your nice +long speeches on mangold-wurzel, and such like topics, at the +Casterbridge 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 faithful friend, + +'SALLY HALL.' + + +Darton dropped the letter hopelessly. Beyond the negative, there +was just a possibility of sarcasm in it--'nice long speeches on +mangold-wurzel' 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 Darton had +lost heavily, and the similarity of name had probably led to the +error. Belief in it was so persistent that it demanded several days +of letter-writing to set matters straight, and persuade the world +that he was as solvent 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. + +Darton tore it open; it was very short. + + +'DEAR MR. DARTON,--We have been so alarmed these last few days by +the report that you were ruined by the stoppage 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, + +'SALLY HALL.' + + +'Mercenary little woman!' said Darton to himself with a smile. +'Then that was the secret of her refusal this time--she thought I +was ruined.' + +Now, such was Darton, 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. 'Begad,' 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 baulk him; and his reasoning was +purely formal. + +Anniversaries having been unpropitious, he waited on till a bright +day late in May--a day when all animate nature was fancying, in its +trusting, foolish way, that it was going to bask out of doors for +evermore. As he rode through Long-Ash Lane it was scarce +recognizable as the track of his two winter journeys. No mistake +could be made now, even with his eyes shut. The cuckoo's note was +at its best, between April tentativeness and midsummer decrepitude, +and the reptiles in the sun behaved as winningly as kittens on a +hearth. Though afternoon, and about the same time as on the last +occasion, it was broad day and sunshine when he entered Hintock, and +the details of the Knap dairy-house were visible far up the road. +He saw Sally in the garden, and was set vibrating. 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 horseman 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 riders 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, Darton succeeded not. 'NO,' said Sally firmly. 'I will +never, never marry you, Mr. Darton. I would have done it once; but +now I never can.' + +'But!'--implored Mr. Darton. 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 negative, which closed the course of his +argument like an iron gate across a highway. Darton 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 'twould have been all the +same.' + +'And 'tis not because of any soreness from my slighting you years +ago?' + +'No. That soreness is long past.' + +'Ah--then you despise me, Sally?' + +'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 +all. Now, may _I_ ask a favour, sir?' She spoke with an ineffable +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, but lovers and married never.' + +'I never will,' said Darton. '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 Darton and the Hall family ceased. It was +only by chance that, years after, he learnt that Sally, +notwithstanding the solicitations her attractions drew down upon +her, had refused several offers of marriage, and steadily adhered to +her purpose of leading a single life + +May 1884. + + + + +THE DISTRACTED PREACHER + + + + +CHAPTER I--HOW HIS COLD WAS CURED + + + +Something delayed the arrival of the Wesleyan minister, and a young +man came temporarily in his stead. It was on the thirteenth of +January 183- that Mr. Stockdale, the young man in question, made his +humble entry into the village, unknown, and almost unseen. But when +those of the inhabitants who styled themselves of his connection +became acquainted with him, they were rather pleased with the +substitute than otherwise, though he had scarcely as yet acquired +ballast of character sufficient to steady the consciences of the +hundred-and-forty Methodists of pure blood who, at this time, lived +in Nether-Moynton, and to give in addition supplementary 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 including the parish-clerk in the winter- +time, when it was too dark for the vicar 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 overlapping of creeds that the celebrated +population-puzzle arose among the denser gentry of the district +around Nether-Moynton: how could it be that a parish containing +fifteen score of strong full-grown Episcopalians, and nearly +thirteen score of well-matured Dissenters, numbered barely two-and- +twenty score adults in all? + +The young man being personally interesting, those with whom he came +in contact were content to waive for a while the graver question of +his sufficiency. 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 lovable +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 gied him a warmer welcome!' + +The fact was that, knowing him to be only provisionally selected, +and expecting nothing remarkable in his person or doctrine, they and +the rest of his flock in Nether-Moynton had felt almost as +indifferent about his advent as if they had been the soundest +church-going parishioners in the country, and he their true and +appointed parson. Thus when Stockdale 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. Lizzy +Newberry, at the upper end of the street. + +It was a youth who gave this information, and Stockdale asked him +who Mrs. Newberry might be. + +The boy said that she was a widow-woman, who had got no husband, +because he was dead. Mr. Newberry, 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. Newberry's serious side, Stockdale +gathered that she was one of the trimmers who went to church and +chapel both. + +'I'll go there,' said Stockdale, feeling that, in the absence of +purely sectarian lodgings, he could do no better. + +'She's a little particular, and won't hae gover'ment folks, or +curates, or the pa'son's friends, or such like,' said the lad +dubiously. + +'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 +carrier's.' + +In a quarter of an hour the lad came back, and said that Mrs. +Newberry would have no objection to accommodate him, whereupon +Stockdale called at the house. + +It stood within a garden-hedge, and seemed to be roomy 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 wished to house himself as soon as possible; the +village being a local centre from which he was to radiate at once to +the different small chapels in the neighbourhood. He forthwith sent +his luggage to Mrs. Newberry's from the carrier's, where he had +taken shelter, and in the evening walked up to his temporary home. + +As he now lived there, Stockdale felt it unnecessary to knock at the +door; and entering quietly he had the pleasure of hearing footsteps +scudding away like mice 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 over-laid the trodden +areas, leaving sandy deserts under the bulging mouldings of the +table-legs, playing with brass furniture. But the room looked snug +and cheerful. The firelight shone out brightly, trembling on the +knobs and handles, and lurking in great strength on the under +surface of the chimney-piece. A deep arm-chair, covered with +horsehair, and studded with a countless throng of brass nails, was +pulled up on one side of the fireplace. The tea-things were on the +table, the teapot cover was open, and a little hand-bell had been +laid at that precise point towards which a person seated in the +great chair might be expected instinctively to stretch his hand. + +Stockdale sat down, not objecting to his experience of the room thus +far, and began his residence by tinkling the bell. A little girl +crept in at the summons, and made tea for him. Her name, she said, +was Marther Sarer, and she lived out there, nodding towards the road +and village generally. Before Stockdale had got far with his meal, +a tap sounded on the door behind him, and on his telling the +inquirer to come in, a rustle of garments caused him to turn his +head. He saw before 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 appreciative souls. + +'Can I get you anything else for tea?' she said, coming forward a +step or two, an expression of liveliness on her features, and her +hand waving the door by its edge. + +'Nothing, thank you,' said Stockdale, 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 conscientiously examined the tea-things, and found them all +there. 'Quite sure, Miss Newberry,' he said. + +'It is Mrs. Newberry,' she said. 'Lizzy Newberry, I used to be +Lizzy Simpkins.' + +'O, I beg your pardon, Mrs. Newberry.' And before he had occasion +to say more she left the room. + +Stockdale remained in some doubt till Martha Sarah came to clear the +table. 'Whose house is this, my little woman,' said he. + +'Mrs. Lizzy Newberry's, sir.' + +'Then Mrs. Newberry is not the old lady I saw this afternoon?' + +'No. That's Mrs. Newberry's mother. It was Mrs. Newberry who comed +in to you just by now, because she wanted to see if you was good- +looking.' + +Later in the evening, when Stockdale was about to begin supper, she +came again. 'I have come myself, Mr. Stockdale,' she said. The +minister stood up in acknowledgment of the honour. 'I am afraid +little Marther might not make you understand. What will you have +for supper?--there's cold rabbit, and there's a ham uncut.' + +Stockdale said he could get on nicely with those viands, and supper +was laid. He had no more than cut a slice when tap-tap came to the +door again. The minister had already learnt that this particular +rhythm in taps denoted the fingers of his enkindling landlady, and +the doomed young fellow buried his first mouthful under a look of +receptive blandness. + +'We have a chicken in the house, Mr. Stockdale--I quite forgot to +mention it just now. Perhaps you would like Marther Sarer to bring +it up?' + +Stockdale 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 Martha Sarah. Stockdale was +disappointed, which perhaps it was intended that he should be. + +He had finished supper, and was not in the least anticipating Mrs. +Newberry again that night, when she tapped and entered as before. +Stockdale's gratified look told that she had lost nothing by not +appearing when expected. It happened that the cold in the head from +which the young man suffered had increased with the approach of +night, and before she had spoken he was seized with a violent fit of +sneezing which he could not anyhow repress. + +Mrs. Newberry looked full of pity. 'Your cold is very bad to-night, +Mr. Stockdale.' + +Stockdale replied that it was rather troublesome. + +'And I've a good mind'--she added archly, looking at the cheerless +glass of water on the table, which the abstemious minister was going +to drink. + +'Yes, Mrs. Newberry?' + +'I've a good mind that you should have something more likely to cure +it than that cold stuff.' + +'Well,' said Stockdale, 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. Stockdale, 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.' + +Lizzy went away, and Stockdale 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?' + +Stockdale, 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 Stockdale +discerned in the night shades several grey headstones, and the +outlines of the church roof and tower. + +'It is easy to get up this way,' she said, stepping upon a bank +which abutted on the wall; then putting her foot on the top of the +stonework, and descending a spring inside, where the ground was much +higher, as is the manner of graveyards to be. Stockdale 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 framework, pews, panels, and pieces of flooring, that from +time to time had been removed from their original fixings in the +body of the edifice and replaced by new. + +'Perhaps you will drag some of those boards aside?' she said, +holding the lantern over her head to light him better. 'Or 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 +hoops, each barrel being about as large as the nave of a heavy +waggon-wheel. + +When they were laid open Lizzy 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 Stockdale simply. He was an inland man, the +son of highly respectable parents, and brought up with a single eye +to the ministry; and the sight suggested nothing beyond the fact +that such articles were there. + +'You are quite right, they are barrels,' she said, in an emphatic +tone of candour that was not without a touch of irony. + +Stockdale looked at her with an eye of sudden misgiving. 'Not +smugglers' liquor?' he said. + +'Yes,' said she. 'They are tubs of spirit that have accidentally +come over in the dark from France.' + +In Nether-Moynton and its vicinity at this date people always smiled +at the sort of sin called in the outside world illicit trading; and +these little kegs of gin and brandy were as well known to the +inhabitants as turnips. So that Stockdale's innocent ignorance, and +his look of alarm when he guessed the sinister mystery, seemed to +strike Lizzy first as ludicrous, and then as very awkward for the +good impression that she wished to produce upon him. + +'Smuggling is carried on here by some of the people,' she said in a +gentle, apologetic voice. 'It has been their practice for +generations, and they think it no harm. Now, will you roll out one +of the tubs?' + +'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 jiffy. +O, it is all right about our taking it. I may have what I like; the +owner of the tubs 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 the 'tubs' out from the corner into +the middle of the tower floor. 'How do you wish me to get it out-- +with a gimlet, I suppose?' + +'No, I'll show you,' said his interesting companion; and she held up +with her other hand a shoemaker's awl and a hammer. 'You must never +do these things with a gimlet, because the wood-dust gets in; and +when the buyers pour out the brandy that would tell them that the +tub had been broached. An awl makes no dust, and the hole nearly +closes up again. Now tap one of the hoops forward.' + +Stockdale took the hammer and did so. + +'Now make the hole in the part that was covered by the hoop.' + +He made the hole as directed. 'It won't run out,' he said. + +'O yes it will,' said she. 'Take the tub between your knees, and +squeeze the heads; and I'll hold the cup.' + +Stockdale obeyed; and the pressure taking effect upon the tub, which +seemed, to be thin, the spirit spirted out in a stream. When the +cup was full he ceased pressing, and the flow immediately stopped. +'Now we must fill up the keg with water,' said Lizzy, 'or it will +cluck like forty hens when it is handled, and show that 'tis not +full.' + +'But they tell you you may take it?' + +'Yes, the SMUGGLERS: but the BUYERS must not know that the +smugglers have been kind to me at their expense.' + +'I see,' said Stockdale 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 +mouthfuls, conveying each to the keg by putting her pretty lips to +the hole, where it was sucked in at each recovery of the cask from +pressure. When it was again full he plugged the hole, knocked the +hoop down to its place, and buried the tub in the lumber as before. + +'Aren't the smugglers afraid that you will tell?' he asked, as they +recrossed 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 corner,' said Stockdale +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. Stockdale was so honest and unsophisticated 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 tantalized between your memories and your conscience. I +do hope, Mrs. Newberry, that you will soon see your way out of this +unpleasant position.' + +'Well, I don't just now,' 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 +light, even though as yet only of the halfpenny-candle sort, were +quite justified in doing this thing. A sneeze 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 cures for a cold in the head that he had ever known, +particularly at this chilly time of the year. + +Stockdale sat in the deep chair about twenty minutes sipping and +meditating, till he at length took warmer views of things, and +longed for the morrow, when he would see Mrs. Newberry again. He +then felt that, though chronologically at a short distance, it would +in an emotional sense be very long before to-morrow came, and walked +restlessly round the room. His eye was attracted by a framed and +glazed sampler in which a running ornament of fir-trees and peacocks +surrounded the following pretty bit of sentiment:- + + +'Rose-leaves smell when roses thrive, +Here's my work while I'm alive; +Rose-leaves smell when shrunk and shed, +Here's my work when I am dead. + +'Lizzy Simpkins. Fear God. Honour the King. +'Aged 11 years. + + +''Tis hers,' he said to himself. 'Heavens, how I like that name!' + +Before he had done thinking that no other name from Abigail to +Zenobia 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 seductive eyes. + +'Would you like a fire in your room, Mr. Stockdale, on account of +your cold?' + +The minister, being still a little pricked in the conscience for +countenancing her in watering the spirits, saw here a way to self- +chastisement. 'No, I thank you,' 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 scorched him out +of bed and endangered his self-discipline for a dozen days. +However, he consoled himself with what was in truth a rare +consolation for a budding lover, that he was under the same roof +with Lizzy; her guest, in fact, to take a poetical view of the term +lodger; and that he would certainly see her on the morrow. + +The morrow came, and Stockdale rose early, his cold quite gone. He +had never in his life so longed for the breakfast hour as he did +that day, and punctually at eight o'clock, after a short walk, to +reconnoitre the premises, he re-entered the door of his dwelling. +Breakfast passed, and Martha Sarah attended, but nobody came +voluntarily as on the night before to inquire if 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 chapel-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- +broaching in the neighbouring church tower, which proceeding he +resolved to render more moral by steadfastly insisting that no water +should be introduced to fill up, though the tub should cluck like +all the hens in Christendom. But nothing could disguise the fact +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, compunction vanished with the decline of day. Night came, +and his tea and supper; but no Lizzy Newberry, and no sweet +temptations. At last the minister could bear it no longer, and said +to his quaint little attendant, 'Where is Mrs. Newberry to-day?' +judiciously handing a penny as he spoke. + +'She's busy,' said Martha. + +'Anything serious happened?' he asked, handing another penny, and +revealing yet additional pennies in the background. + +'O no--nothing at all!' said she, with breathless confidence. +'Nothing ever happens to her. She's only biding upstairs in bed +because 'tis her way sometimes.' + +Being a young man of some honour, he would not question further, and +assuming that Lizzy must have a bad headache, or other slight +ailment, in spite of what the girl had said, he went to bed +dissatisfied, not even setting eyes on old Mrs. Simpkins. '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-violets 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 designing consciousness, and savoured more of pride +than of vanity. + +As for Stockdale, he clearly perceived that he possessed unlimited +capacity for backsliding, and wished that tutelary saints were not +denied to Dissenters. He set a watch upon his tongue and eyes for +the space of one 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 +distract my mind no more! . . . And then, shall I go on living by +myself for ever? No; when my two years of probation are finished, I +shall have a furnished house to live in, with a varnished door and a +brass knocker; and I'll march straight back to her, and ask her +flat, as soon as the last plate is on the dresser! + +Thus a titillating fortnight was passed by young Stockdale, 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 coquetry was perhaps fair enough under the +circumstances of their being so closely lodged, and Stockdale put up +with it as philosophically as he was able. Being in her own house, +she could, after vexing him or disappointing 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 huff to the +dreariest and dampest walk he could discover, she would restore +equilibrium in the evening with 'Mr. Stockdale, 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 sneezed twice again this morning, Mr. +Stockdale. 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 posset for you.' + +Sometimes in coming home he found his sitting-room rearranged, +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 shreds and nails. Thus they became friends again after +a disagreement. She would utter on these occasions some pretty and +deprecatory 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. + + + +CHAPTER II--HOW HE SAW TWO OTHER MEN + + + +Matters being in this advancing state, Stockdale was rather +surprised one cloudy evening, while sitting in his room, at hearing +her speak in low tones of expostulation to some one at the door. It +was nearly dark, but the shutters were not yet closed, nor the +candles lighted; and Stockdale was tempted to stretch his head +towards the window. He saw outside the door a young man in clothes +of a whitish colour, and upon reflection judged their wearer to be +the well-built 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 +Stockdale could in no way hear. + +Before the colloquy had ended, the minister's attention was +attracted by a second incident. Opposite Lizzy's home grew a clump +of laurels, 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 Stockdale stood in +any other relation to Lizzy than that of a lover, he might have gone +out and investigated the meaning of this: but being as yet but an +unprivileged ally, he did nothing more than stand up and show +himself against the firelight, whereupon the listener disappeared, +and Lizzy and the miller spoke in lower tones. + +Stockdale was made so uneasy by the circumstance, that as soon as +the miller was gone, he said, 'Mrs. Newberry, 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 looking from the +laurel-tree as jealously 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?' + +'I was talking only on business,' she said. + +'Lizzy, 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 eavesdropper.' + +'Ah yes,' she said, smiling in spite of her preoccupation. 'Well, +my cousin Owlett 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. Newberry!' + +'It would. Not that I should ha' chimed in with him, of course. I +wish it for other reasons. I am glad, Mr. Stockdale, that you have +told me of that listener. It is a timely warning, and I must see my +cousin again.' + +'But don't go away till I have spoken,' said the minister. 'I'll +out with it at once, and make no more ado. Let it be Yes or No +between us, Lizzy; 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 Lizzy, 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 parried 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?' + +'Tubs--they are called Things here.' + +'But why don't you deny him, my dear Lizzy?' + +'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 smuggling tricks. Promise me +that the next time he wants to leave his tubs 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 Owlett into the hands of the excisemen.' + +Stockdale sighed, and said that he thought hers a mistaken +generosity when it extended to assisting those who cheated the king +of his dues. 'At any rate, you will let me make him keep his +distance as your lover, and tell him flatly 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 Owlett who is concerned.' + +'This is too bad,' said Stockdale impatiently. + +'On my honour, I won't encourage him as my lover,' Lizzy answered +earnestly. 'A reasonable man will be satisfied with that.' + +'Well, so I am,' said Stockdale, his countenance clearing. + + + +CHAPTER III--THE MYSTERIOUS GREATCOAT + + + +Stockdale now began 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 markedly +irregular 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 second time that this extreme +lateness 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 ailment, unless she had kept herself invisible to avoid +meeting and talking to him, which he could hardly believe. The +former supposition was disproved, 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 heaviness, headache, or illness of +any kind since the previous January twelvemonth. + +'I am glad to hear it,' said he. 'I thought quite otherwise.' + +'What, do I look sickly?' she asked, turning up her face 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 your room through the best part of the day.' + +'O, as for that--it means nothing,' she murmured, 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 sleepiness, Mr. Stockdale.' + +'Never!' + +'It is, I tell you. When I stay in my room till half-past 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 Stockdale, thinking of the disastrous effects +of such indulgence upon the household of a minister, should it +become a habit of everyday occurrence. + +'But then,' she said, divining his good and prescient thoughts, 'it +only happens when I stay awake all night. I don't go to sleep till +five or six in the morning sometimes.' + +'Ah, that's another matter,' said Stockdale. 'Sleeplessness to such +an alarming extent is real illness. Have you spoken to a doctor?' + +'O no--there is no need for doing that--it is all natural to me.' +And she went away without further remark. + +Stockdale might have waited a long time to know the real cause of +her sleeplessness, had it not happened that one dark night he was +sitting in his bedroom jotting down notes for a sermon, which +occupied him perfunctorily for a considerable time after the other +members of the household had retired. He did not 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, Stockdale 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 Susan Wallis was there, and that +she had come to ask if Mrs. Newberry could give her some mustard to +make a plaster with, as her father was taken very ill on the chest. + +The minister, having neither bell nor servant, was compelled to act +in person. 'I will call Mrs. Newberry,' he said. Partly dressing +himself; he went along the passage and tapped at Lizzy's door. She +did not answer, and, thinking of her erratic habits in the matter of +sleep, he thumped the door persistently, when he discovered, by its +moving ajar 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. Newberry, you are wanted.' + +The room was quite silent; not a breathing, not a rustle, came from +any part of it. Stockdale now sent a positive shout through the +open space of the door: 'Mrs. Newberry!'--still no answer, or +movement of any kind within. Then he heard sounds from the opposite +room, that of Lizzy's mother, as if she had been aroused by his +uproar though Lizzy had not, and was dressing herself hastily. +Stockdale softly closed the younger woman's door and went on to the +other, which was opened by Mrs. Simpkins 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. + +Stockdale told the girl's errand, adding seriously, 'I cannot wake +Mrs. Newberry.' + +'It is no matter,' said her mother. 'I can let the girl have what +she wants as well as my daughter.' And she came out of the room and +went downstairs. + +Stockdale retired towards his own apartment, saying, however, to +Mrs. Simpkins from the landing, as if on second thoughts, 'I suppose +there is nothing the matter with Mrs. Newberry, 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. Simpkins returned up the staircase, went to her daughter's +room, and came out again almost instantly. 'There is nothing at all +the matter with Lizzy,' she said; and descended again to attend to +the applicant, who, having seen the light, had remained quiet during +this interval. + +Stockdale went into his room and lay down as before. He heard +Lizzy'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 medicament required. The girl departed, the door was fastened, +Mrs. Simpkins 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 harassing in being, if +true, the most unaccountable thing within his experience. That +Lizzy Newberry was in her bedroom when he made such a clamour 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 nor movement during a shouting and knocking loud +enough to rouse the Seven Sleepers. + +Before coming to any positive conclusion he fell asleep himself, and +did not awake till day. He saw nothing of Mrs. Newberry 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 +far off by hearing her in the kitchen, and though he saw nothing of +her person, that back apartment being rigorously closed against his +eyes, she seemed to be talking, ordering, and bustling about among +the pots and skimmers in so ordinary a manner, that there was no +reason for his wasting more time in fruitless surmise. + +The minister suffered from these distractions, and his extemporized +sermons were not improved thereby. Already he often said Romans for +Corinthians in the pulpit, and gave out hymns in strange cramped +metres, that hitherto had always been skipped, 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, repenting 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 go; and away they went +over a stile, to a shrouded footpath suited for the occasion. But, +in spite of attempts on both sides, they were unable to infuse much +spirit into the ramble. She looked rather paler than usual, and +sometimes turned her head away. + +'Lizzy,' said Stockdale reproachfully, when they had walked in +silence a long distance. + +'Yes,' said she. + +'You yawned--much my company is to you!' He put it in that way, but +he was really wondering whether her yawn could possibly have more to +do with physical weariness from the night before than mental +weariness of that present moment. Lizzy apologized, 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 uncomfortably resolved to wait. + +The month of February passed with alternations of mud and frost, +rain and sleet, east winds and north-westerly gales. The hollow +places in the ploughed fields showed themselves as pools of water, +which had settled there from the higher levels, and had not yet +found time to soak away. The birds began to get lively, and a +single thrush came just before sunset each evening, and sang +hopefully on the large elm-tree which stood nearest to Mrs. +Newberry's house. Cold blasts and brittle earth had given place to +an oozing dampness more unpleasant in itself than frost; but it +suggested coming spring, and its unpleasantness was of a bearable +kind. + +Stockdale had been going to bring about a practical understanding +with Lizzy 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 whenever he wanted to speak out. Thus they still +lived on as indefinitely affianced lovers, each of whom hardly +acknowledged the other's claim to the name of chosen one. Stockdale +persuaded himself that his hesitation was owing to the postponement +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 +reasserting itself, and telling him that he had better get clearer +ideas of Lizzy 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 degree which would have kept +from flagging the passion of a far more mutable man. + +On the evening of the first of March he went casually into his +bedroom about dusk, and noticed lying on a chair a greatcoat, 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 +Martha Sarah. + +'How did these things come in my room?' he said, flinging the +objectionable articles to the floor. + +Martha said that Mrs. Newberry had given them to her to brush, and +that she had brought them up there thinking they must be Mr. +Stockdale's, as there was no other gentleman a-lodging there. + +'Of course you did,' said Stockdale. '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. Newberry, in a tone of confusion. 'Why, +Marther Sarer, I did not tell you to take 'em to Mr. Stockdale's +room?' + +'I thought they must be his as they was so muddy,' said Martha +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 Stockdale's room, and threw them forcibly into a +closet 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 moth-eaten, or creased, or +mouldy from long lying by; but that they should be splashed with +recent mud bothered Stockdale a good deal. When a young pastor is +in the aspen stage of attachment, and open to agitation at the +merest trifles, a really substantial incongruity 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. Newberry +herself brushing the tails of a long drab greatcoat, which, if he +mistook not, was the very same garment as the one that had adorned +the chair of his room. It was densely splashed up to the hollow of +the back with neighbouring Nether-Moynton 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 inference was +irresistible that the wearer had quite recently been walking some +considerable distance about the lanes and fields. Stockdale opened +the window and looked out, and Mrs. Newberry 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. + +Stockdale 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. + +But, though Lizzy had not offered an explanation at the moment, the +subject was brought forward by her at the next time of their +meeting. She was chatting to him concerning some other event, and +remarked that it happened about the time when she was dusting some +old clothes that had belonged to her poor husband. + +'You keep them clean out of respect to his memory?' said Stockdale +tentatively. + +'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 practising. + +'What did you say?' asked Lizzy. + +'Nothing, nothing,' said he mournfully. 'Mere words--a phrase that +will do for my sermon next Sunday.' It was too plain that Lizzy was +unaware that he had seen actual pedestrian splashes upon the skirts +of the tell-tale overcoat, and that she imagined him to believe it +had come direct from some chest or drawer. + +The aspect of the case was now considerably darker. Stockdale was +so much depressed by it that he did not challenge her explanation, +or threaten to go off as a missionary to benighted islanders, 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. + + + +CHAPTER IV--AT THE TIME OF THE NEW MOON + + + +The following Thursday was changeable, damp, and gloomy; and the +night threatened to be windy and unpleasant. Stockdale had gone +away to Knollsea in the morning, to be present at some commemoration +service there, and on his return he was met by the attractive Lizzy +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 natural disposition to let bygones alone, he +allowed himself to be fascinated into forgetfulness of the greatcoat +incident, and upon the whole passed a pleasant evening; not so much +in her society as within 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. Newberry retired, and then Stockdale +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 socket as it suddenly declined and went out. Knowing +that there were a tinder-box, matches, and another candle in his +bedroom, he felt his way upstairs without a light. On reaching his +chamber he laid his hand on every possible ledge and corner for the +tinderbox, but for a long time in vain. Discovering it at length, +Stockdale produced a spark, and was kindling the brimstone, when he +fancied that he heard a movement in the passage. He blew harder at +the lint, the match flared up, and looking by aid of the blue 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 Lizzy had been brushing, and +something in the outline and gait suggested to the minister that the +wearer was Lizzy herself. + +But he was not sure of this; and, greatly excited, Stockdale +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 tiptoe towards Lizzy's room. A +faint grey square of light in the direction of the chamber-window as +he approached told him that the door was open, and at once suggested +that the occupant was gone. He turned and brought down his fist +upon the handrail 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 front +door. It was fastened as usual: he went to the back door, found +this unlocked, and emerged into the garden. The night was mild and +moonless, 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 Stockdale heard the faint fall of feet upon the +road outside, and he guessed from the step that it was Lizzy's. He +followed the sound, and, helped by the circumstance of the wind +blowing from the direction in which the pedestrian 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. Lizzy stopped; the minister stepped upon the grass and +stopped also. + +'Is that Mrs. Newberry?' said the man who had come out, whose voice +Stockdale recognized as that of one of the most devout members of +his congregation. + +'It is,' said Lizzy. + +'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 chaps are waiting, and tell them they will not be wanted till +to-morrow night at the same time. I go to burn the lugger off.' + +'I will,' he said; and instantly went off through a gate, Lizzy +continuing her way. + +On she tripped at a quickening pace till the lane turned into the +turnpike-road, which she crossed, and got into the track for +Ringsworth. Here she ascended the hill without the least +hesitation, passed the lonely hamlet of Holworth, and went down the +vale on the other side. Stockdale 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 Nether-Moynton; 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. + +Lizzy soon ascended a small mound, which Stockdale at the same time +adroitly skirted on the left; and a dull monotonous roar burst upon +his ear. The hillock 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. Stockdale, 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 Lizzy 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 stunted 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 uninterrupted washings of the sea, and which suggested that they +were not engaged in any business at their own risk. This proved to +be the fact: some of their words floated across to him, and caused +him to forget at once the coldness of his situation. + +'What's the vessel?' + +'A lugger, about fifty tons.' + +'From Cherbourg, I suppose?' + +'Yes, 'a b'lieve.' + +'But it don't all belong to Owlett?' + +'O no. He's only got a share. There's another or two in it--a +farmer and such like, but the names I don't know.' + +The voices died away, and the heads and shoulders of the men +diminished towards the cliff, and dropped out of sight. + +'My darling has been tempted to buy a share by that unbeliever +Owlett,' groaned the minister, his honest affection for Lizzy having +quickened to its intensest point during these moments of risk to her +person and name. 'That's why she's here,' he said to himself. 'O, +it will be the ruin of her!' + +His perturbation was interrupted by the sudden bursting out of a +bright and increasing light from the spot where Lizzy was in hiding. +A few seconds later, and before it had reached the height of a +blaze, he heard her rush past him down the hollow like a stone from +a sling, in the direction of home. The light now flared high and +wide, and showed its position clearly. She had kindled a bough of +furze and stuck it into the bush under which she had been crouching; +the wind fanned the flame, which crackled fiercely, and threatened +to consume the bush as well as the bough. Stockdale paused just +long enough to notice thus much, and then followed rapidly the route +taken by the young woman. His intention was to overtake her, and +reveal himself as a friend; but run as he would he could see nothing +of her. Thus he flew across the open country about Holworth, +twisting his legs and ankles in unexpected fissures and descents, +till, on coming to the gate between the downs and the road, he was +forced to pause to get breath. There was no audible movement either +in front or behind him, and he now concluded that she had not outrun +him, but that, hearing him at her heels, and believing him one of +the excise party, she had hidden herself somewhere on the way, and +let him pass by. + +He went on at a more leisurely pace towards the village. On +reaching the house he found his surmise to be correct, for the gate +was on the latch, and the door unfastened, just as he had left them. +Stockdale closed the door behind him, and waited silently in the +passage. In about ten minutes he heard the same light footstep that +he had heard in going out; it paused at the gate, which opened and +shut softly, and then the door-latch was lifted, and Lizzy came in. + +Stockdale went forward and said at once, 'Lizzy, don't be +frightened. I have been waiting up for you.' + +She started, though she had recognized the voice. 'It is Mr. +Stockdale, isn't it?' she said. + +'Yes,' he answered, becoming angry now that she was safe indoors, +and not alarmed. 'And a nice game I've found you out in to-night. +You are in man's clothes, and I am ashamed of you!' + +Lizzy could hardly find a voice to answer this unexpected reproach. + +'I am only partly in man's clothes,' she faltered, shrinking back to +the wall. 'It is only his greatcoat and hat and breeches that I've +got on, which is no harm, as he was my own husband; and I do it only +because a cloak blows about so, and you can't use your arms. I have +got my own dress under just the same--it is only tucked in! Will +you go away upstairs and let me pass? I didn't want you to see me +at such a time as this!' + +'But I have a right to see you! How do you think there can be +anything between us now?' Lizzy was silent. 'You are a smuggler,' +he continued sadly. + +'I have only a share in the run,' she said. + +'That makes no difference. Whatever did you engage in such a trade +as that for, and keep it such a secret from me all this time?' + +'I don't do it always. I only do it in winter-time when 'tis new +moon.' + +'Well, I suppose that's because it can't be done anywhen else . . . +You have regularly upset me, Lizzy.' + +'I am sorry for that,' Lizzy meekly replied. + +'Well now,' said he more tenderly, 'no harm is done as yet. Won't +you for the sake of me give up this blamable and dangerous practice +altogether?' + +'I must do my best to save this run,' said she, getting rather husky +in the throat. 'I don't want to give you up--you know that; but I +don't want to lose my venture. I don't know what to do now! Why I +have kept it so secret from you is that I was afraid you would be +angry if you knew.' + +'I should think so! I suppose if I had married you without finding +this out you'd have gone on with it just the same?' + +'I don't know. I did not think so far ahead. I only went to-night +to burn the folks off, because we found that the excisemen knew +where the tubs were to be landed.' + +'It is a pretty mess to be in altogether, is this,' said the +distracted young minister. 'Well, what will you do now?' + +Lizzy slowly murmured the particulars of their plan, the chief of +which were that they meant to try their luck at some other point of +the shore the next night; that three landing-places were always +agreed upon before the run was attempted, with the understanding +that, if the vessel was 'burnt off' from the first point, which was +Ringsworth, as it had been by her to-night, the crew should attempt +to make the second, which was Lulstead Cove, on the second night; +and if there, too, danger threatened, they should on the third night +try the third place, which was behind a headland further west. + +'Suppose the officers hinder them landing there too?' he said, his +attention to this interesting programme displacing 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 tubs +to a stray-line, and sink 'em a little-ways from shore, and take the +bearings; and then when they have a chance they'll go to creep for +'em.' + +'What's that?' + +'O, they'll go out in a boat and drag a creeper--that's a grapnel-- +along the bottom till it catch hold of the stray-line.' + +The minister stood thinking; and there was no sound within doors but +the tick of the clock on the stairs, and the quick breathing of +Lizzy, 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 whitewashed surface the greatcoat and broad hat +which covered her. + +'Lizzy, all this is very wrong,' he said. 'Don't you remember the +lesson of the tribute-money? "Render unto Caesar the things that +are Caesar's." Surely you have heard that read times enough in your +growing up?' + +'He's dead,' she pouted. + +'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 Nether-Moynton lives 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 Stockdale was dreadfully depressed all the next day by the +discoveries of the night before. Lizzy was unmistakably a +fascinating young woman, but as a minister's wife she was hardly to +be contemplated. 'If I had only stuck to father's little grocery +business, instead of going in for the ministry, 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 Nether- +Moynton, and never have known her. + +The estrangement 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 +reproachful eye upon her, 'Do you promise, Lizzy?' But she did not +reply. The evening drew on, and he knew well enough that Lizzy +would repeat her excursion at night--her half-offended manner had +shown that she had not the slightest intention of altering 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 unlawful escapades. + + + +CHAPTER V--HOW THEY WENT TO LULSTEAD COVE + + + +As he had expected, she left the house at the same hour at night, +this time passing his door without stealth, 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, Lizzy?' he said as he stood on the step beside +her, who now again appeared as a little man with a face altogether +unsuited 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 buoyant +tones. 'Everybody does who tries it.' + +'God forbid that I should!' he said. 'But I must look after you.' + +They opened the wicket 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 smuggling enterprise than +the last had been, the wind being lower, and the sky somewhat clear +towards the north. + +'It is rather lighter,' said Stockdale. + +''Tis, unfortunately,' said she. 'But it is only from 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 stuff taste bleachy, +and folks don't like it so well.' + +Her course was different from that of the preceding night, branching +off to the left over Lord's Barrow as soon as they had got out of +the lane and crossed the highway. By the time they reached Chaldon +Down, Stockdale, who had been in perplexed thought as to what he +should say to her, decided that he would not attempt expostulation +now, while she was excited by the adventure, but wait till it was +over, and endeavour to keep her from such practices in future. It +occurred to him once or twice, as they rambled on, that should they +be surprised by the excisemen, 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 ravine which lay on the outskirts of Chaldon, +a village two miles on their way towards the point of the shore they +sought. Lizzy broke the silence this time: 'I have to wait here to +meet the carriers. I don't know if they have come yet. As I told +you, we go to Lulstead Cove to-night, and it is two miles further +than Ringsworth.' + +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 carriers were men whom Lizzy and other proprietors +regularly employed to bring the tubs from the boat to a hiding-place +inland. They were all young fellows of Nether-Moynton, Chaldon, and +the neighbourhood, quiet and inoffensive persons, who simply engaged +to carry the cargo for Lizzy and her cousin Owlett, as they would +have engaged in any other labour for which they were fairly 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 remuneration 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 Lulstead Cove;' the men till +that moment not having been told whither they were bound, for +obvious reasons. 'Owlett will meet you there,' added Lizzy. 'I +shall follow behind, to see that we are not watched.' + +The carriers went on, and Stockdale and Mrs. Newberry followed at a +distance of a stone's throw. 'What do these men do by day?' he +said. + +'Twelve or fourteen of them are labouring men. Some are +brickmakers, some carpenters, some shoe-makers, some thatchers. +They are all known to me very well. Nine of 'em are of your own +congregation.' + +'I can't help that,' said Stockdale. + +'O, 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 unfriendliness to a customer.' + +'How do you choose 'em?' said Stockdale. + +'We choose 'em for their closeness, and because they are strong and +surefooted, and able to carry a heavy load a long way without being +tired.' + +Stockdale sighed as she enumerated 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 at this moment than he had felt all the +foregoing day. Perhaps it was that her experienced manner and hold +indifference stirred his admiration in spite of himself. + +'Take my arm, Lizzy,' 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 carriers paced along over Chaldon Down with as little +hesitation as if it had been day, avoiding the cart-way, and leaving +the village of East Chaldon on the left, so as to reach the crest of +the hill at a lonely trackless place not far from the ancient +earthwork called Round Pound. An hour's brisk walking brought them +within sound of the sea, not many hundred yards from Lulstead Cove. +Here they paused, and Lizzy and Stockdale 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 uncoiled 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, Lizzy?' said Stockdale anxiously. + +'No. I stay here to watch,' she said. 'Owlett 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 boat's bow. In a moment the keel +gently touched the shingle, and Stockdale heard the footsteps of the +thirty-six carriers running forwards over the pebbles towards the +point of landing. + +There was a sousing in the water as of a brood of ducks plunging in, +showing that the men had not been particular about keeping their +legs, or even their waists, dry from the brine: but it was +impossible to see what they were doing, and in a few minutes the +shingle was trampled again. The iron bar sustaining the rope, on +which Stockdale's hand rested, began to swerve a little, and the +carriers one by one appeared climbing up the sloping cliff; dripping +audibly as they came, and sustaining themselves by the guide-rope. +Each man on reaching the top was seen to be carrying a pair of tubs, +one on his back and one on his chest, the two being slung together +by cords passing round the chine hoops, and resting on the carrier'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 weighty enough to give their bearer the sensation +of having chest and backbone in contact after a walk of four or five +miles. + +'Where is Owlett?' said Lizzy to one of them. + +'He will not come up this way,' said the carrier. '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, Lizzy pulled up the rope, wound it round her arm, wriggled +the bar from the sod, and turned to follow the carriers. + +'You are very anxious about Owlett's safety,' said the minister. + +'Was there ever such a man!' said Lizzy. 'Why, isn't he my cousin?' + +'Yes. Well, it is a bad night's work,' said Stockdale heavily. +'But I'll carry the bar and rope for you.' + +'Thank God, the tubs have got so far all right,' said she. + +Stockdale shook his head, and, taking the bar, 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 spoke of having +business with Owlett?' the young man asked. + +'This is it,' she replied. 'I never see him on any other matter.' + +'A partnership 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 Lizzy's and Owlett's, and where risks +were shared, as with them, in every undertaking, there would be a +peculiar appropriateness in her answering Owlett's standing question +on matrimony in the affirmative. This did not soothe Stockdale, its +tendency being rather to stimulate in him an effort to make the pair +as inappropriate as possible, and win her away from this nocturnal +crew to correctness of conduct and a minister's parlour in some far- +removed inland county. + +They had been walking near enough to the file of carriers for +Stockdale 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 Lizzy and +Stockdale reached their own house these men had scaled the +churchyard wall, and were proceeding noiselessly over the grass +within. + +'I see that Owlett has arranged for one batch to be put in the +church again,' observed Lizzy. 'Do you remember my taking you there +the first night you came?' + +'Yes, of course,' said Stockdale. 'No wonder you had permission to +broach the tubs--they were his, I suppose?' + +'No, they were not--they were mine; I had permission from myself. +The day after that they went several miles inland in a waggon-load +of manure, 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 Lizzy's +house, and the first man, who had no tubs upon his shoulders, came +forward. + +'Mrs. Newberry, isn't it?' he said hastily. + +'Yes, Jim,' said she. 'What's the matter?' + +'I find that we can't put any in Badger's Clump to-night, Lizzy,' +said Owlett. 'The place is watched. We must sling the apple-tree +in the orchet if there's time. We can't put any more under the +church lumber than I have sent on there, and my mixen hev already +more in en than is safe.' + +'Very well,' she said. 'Be quick about it--that's all. What can I +do?' + +'Nothing at all, please. Ah, it is the minister!--you two that +can't do anything had better get indoors and not be zeed.' + +While Owlett thus conversed, in a tone so full of contraband anxiety +and so free from lover's jealousy, the men who followed him had been +descending one by one from the hedge; and it unfortunately happened +that when the hindmost took his leap, the cord slipped which +sustained his tubs: the result was that both the kegs fell into the +road, one of them being stove in by the blow. + +''Od drown it all!' said Owlett, rushing back. + +'It is worth a good deal, I suppose?' said Stockdale. + +'O no--about two guineas and half to us now,' said Lizzy 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 spilt in +the road like that! I do hope Latimer won't pass by till it is gone +off.' + +Owlett and one or two others picked up the burst tub and began to +scrape and trample over the spot, to disperse the liquor as much as +possible; and then they all entered the gate of Owlett's orchard, +which adjoined Lizzy's garden on the right. Stockdale did not care +to follow them, for several on recognizing him had looked +wonderingly at his presence, though they said nothing. Lizzy 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 tubs. All was done noiselessly, +and without a light; and when it was over they dispersed in +different directions, those who had taken their cargoes to the +church having already gone off to their homes. + +Lizzy returned to the garden-gate, over which Stockdale was still +abstractedly leaning. 'It is all finished: I am going indoors +now,' she said gently. 'I will leave the door ajar for you.' + +'O no--you needn't,' said Stockdale; '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!' cried Lizzy exultingly. + +'Who?' said Stockdale. + +'Latimer, the riding-officer, and some assistant of his. We had +better go indoors.' + +They entered the house, and Lizzy bolted the door. 'Please don't +get a light, Mr. Stockdale,' she said. + +'Of course I will not,' said he. + +'I thought you might be on the side of the king,' said Lizzy, with +faintest sarcasm. + +'I am,' said Stockdale. 'But, Lizzy Newberry, I love you, and you +know it perfectly well; and you ought to know, if you do not, what I +have suffered in my conscience on your account these last few days!' + +'I guess very well,' she said hurriedly. 'Yet I don't see why. Ah, +you are better than I!' + +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 horsemen suddenly revived, almost close to the house. Lizzy +turned to the staircase window, opened the casement about an inch, +and put her face close to the aperture. 'Yes, one of 'em is +Latimer,' she whispered. 'He always rides a white horse. One would +think it was the last colour for a man in that line.' + +Stockdale looked, and saw the white shape of the animal as it passed +by; but before the riders had gone another ten yards, Latimer reined +in his horse, and said something to his companion which neither +Stockdale nor Lizzy could hear. Its drift was, however, soon made +evident, for the other man stopped also; and sharply turning the +horses' heads they cautiously retraced their steps. When they were +again opposite Mrs. Newberry's garden, Latimer dismounted, and the +man on the dark horse did the same. + +Lizzy and Stockdale, intently listening and observing the +proceedings, naturally put their heads as close as possible to the +slit formed by the slightly opened casement; and thus it occurred +that at last their cheeks came positively into contact. They went +on listening, as if they did not know of the singular incident which +had happened to their faces, and the pressure of each to each rather +increased than lessened with the lapse of time. + +They could hear the excisemen sniffing the air like hounds as they +paced slowly along. When they reached the spot where the tub had +burst, both stopped on the instant. + +'Ay, ay, 'tis quite strong here,' said the second officer. 'Shall +we knock at the door?' + +'Well, no,' said Latimer. 'Maybe this is only a trick to put us off +the scent. They wouldn't kick up this stink anywhere near their +hiding-place. I have known such things before.' + +'Anyhow, the things, or some of 'em, must have been brought this +way,' said the other. + +'Yes,' said Latimer musingly. 'Unless 'tis all done to tole us the +wrong way. I have a mind that we go home for to-night without +saying a word, and come the first thing in the morning with more +hands. I know they have storages about here, but we can do nothing +by this owl's light. We will look round the parish and see if +everybody is in bed, John; and if all is quiet, we will do as I +say.' + +They went on, and the two inside the window could hear them passing +leisurely through the whole village, the street of which curved +round at the bottom and entered the turnpike road at another +junction. This way the excisemen followed, and the amble of their +horses died quite away. + +'What will you do?' said Stockdale, withdrawing from his position. + +She knew that he alluded to the coming search by the officers, to +divert her attention from their own tender incident by the casement, +which he wished to be passed over as a thing rather dreamt of than +done. 'O, nothing,' she replied, with as much coolness as she could +command under her disappointment at his manner. 'We often have such +storms as this. You would not be frightened if you knew what fools +they are. Fancy riding o' horseback through the place: of course +they will hear and see nobody while they make that noise; but they +are always afraid to get off, in case some of our fellows should +burst out upon 'em, and tie them up to the gate-post, as they have +done before now. Good-night, Mr. Stockdale.' + +She closed the window and went to her room, where a tear fell from +her eyes; and that not because of the alertness of the riding- +officers. + + + +CHAPTER VI--THE GREAT SEARCH AT NETHER-MOYNTON + + + +Stockdale was so excited by the events of the evening, and the +dilemma that he was placed in between conscience and love, that he +did not sleep, or even doze, but remained as broadly awake as at +noonday. As soon as the grey light began to touch ever so faintly +the whiter objects in his bedroom he arose, dressed himself, and +went downstairs into the road. + +The village was already astir. Several of the carriers had heard +the well-known tramp of Latimer's horse while they were undressing +in the dark that night, and had already communicated with each other +and Owlett on the subject. The only doubt seemed to be about the +safety of those tubs which had been left under the church gallery- +stairs, and after a short discussion at the corner of the mill, it +was agreed that these should be removed before it got lighter, and +hidden in the middle of a double hedge bordering the adjoining +field. However, before anything could be carried into effect, the +footsteps of many men were heard coming down the lane from the +highway. + +'Damn it, here they be,' said Owlett, who, having already drawn the +hatch and started his mill for the day, stood stolidly at the mill- +door covered with flour, as if the interest of his whole soul was +bound up in the shaking walls around him. + +The two or three with whom he had been talking dispersed to their +usual work, and when the excise officers, and the formidable body of +men they had hired, reached the village cross, between the mill and +Mrs. Newberry's house, the village wore the natural aspect of a +place beginning its morning labours. + +'Now,' said Latimer to his associates, who numbered thirteen men in +all, 'what I know is that the things are somewhere in this here +place. We have got the day before us, and 'tis hard if we can't +light upon 'em and get 'em to Budmouth Custom-house before night. +First we will try the fuel-houses, and then we'll work our way into +the chimmers, and then to the ricks and stables, and so creep round. +You have nothing but your noses to guide ye, mind, so use 'em to-day +if you never did in your lives before.' + +Then the search began. Owlett, during the early part, watched from +his mill-window, Lizzy from the door of her house, with the greatest +self-possession. A farmer down below, who also had a share in the +run, rode about with one eye on his fields and the other on Latimer +and his myrmidons, prepared to put them off the scent if he should +be asked a question. Stockdale, who was no smuggler at all, felt +more anxiety than the worst of them, and went about his studies with +a heavy heart, coming frequently to the door to ask Lizzy some +question or other on the consequences to her of the tubs being +found. + +'The consequences,' she said quietly, 'are simply that I shall lose +'em. As I have none in the house or garden, they can't touch me +personally.' + +'But you have some in the orchard?' + +'Owlett rents that of me, and he lends it to others. So it will be +hard to say who put any tubs there if they should be found.' + +There was never such a tremendous sniffing known as that which took +place in Nether-Moynton parish and its vicinity this day. All was +done methodically, and mostly on hands and knees. At different +hours of the day they had different plans. From daybreak to +breakfast-time the officers used their sense of smell in a direct +and straightforward manner only, pausing nowhere but at such places +as the tubs might be supposed to be secreted in at that very moment, +pending their removal on the following night. Among the places +tested and examined were + +Hollow trees Cupboards Culverts +Potato-graves Clock-cases Hedgerows +Fuel-houses Chimney-flues Faggot-ricks +Bedrooms Rainwater-butts Haystacks +Apple-lofts Pigsties Coppers and ovens. + +After breakfast they recommenced with renewed vigour, taking a new +line; that is to say, directing their attention to clothes that +might be supposed to have come in contact with the tubs in their +removal from the shore, such garments being usually tainted with the +spirit, owing to its oozing between the staves. They now sniffed at +- + +Smock-frocks Smiths' and shoemakers' aprons +Old shirts and waistcoats Knee-naps and hedging-gloves +Coats and hats Tarpaulins +Breeches and leggings Market-cloaks +Women's shawls and gowns Scarecrows + +And as soon as the mid-day meal was over, they pushed their search +into places where the spirits might have been thrown away in alarm:- + +Horse-ponds Mixens Sinks in yards +Stable-drains Wet ditches Road-scrapings, and +Cinder-heaps Cesspools Back-door gutters. + +But still these indefatigable excisemen discovered nothing more than +the original tell-tale smell in the road opposite Lizzy's house, +which even yet had not passed off. + +'I'll tell ye what it is, men,' said Latimer, about three o'clock in +the afternoon, 'we must begin over again. Find them tubs I will.' + +The men, who had been hired for the day, looked at their hands and +knees, muddy with creeping on all fours so frequently, and rubbed +their noses, as if they had almost had enough of it; for the +quantity of bad air which had passed into each one's nostril had +rendered it nearly as insensible as a flue. However, after a +moment's hesitation, they prepared to start anew, except three, +whose power of smell had quite succumbed under the excessive wear +and tear of the day. + +By this time not a male villager was to be seen in the parish. +Owlett was not at his mill, the farmers were not in their fields, +the parson was not in his garden, the smith had left his forge, and +the wheelwright's shop was silent. + +'Where the divil are the folk gone?' said Latimer, waking up to the +fact of their absence, and looking round. 'I'll have 'em up for +this! Why don't they come and help us? There's not a man about the +place but the Methodist parson, and he's an old woman. I demand +assistance in the king's name!' + +'We must find the jineral public afore we can demand that,' said his +lieutenant. + +'Well, well, we shall do better without 'em,' said Latimer, who +changed his moods at a moment's notice. 'But there's great cause of +suspicion in this silence and this keeping out of sight, and I'll +bear it in mind. Now we will go across to Owlett's orchard, and see +what we can find there.' + +Stockdale, who heard this discussion from the garden-gate, over +which he had been leaning, was rather alarmed, and thought it a +mistake of the villagers to keep so completely out of the way. He +himself, like the excisemen, had been wondering for the last half- +hour what could have become of them. Some labourers were of +necessity engaged in distant fields, but the master-workmen should +have been at home; though one and all, after just showing themselves +at their shops, had apparently gone off for the day. He went in to +Lizzy, who sat at a back window sewing, and said, 'Lizzy, where are +the men?' + +Lizzy laughed. 'Where they mostly are when they're run so hard as +this.' She cast her eyes to heaven. 'Up there,' she said. + +Stockdale looked up. 'What--on the top of the church tower?' he +asked, seeing the direction of her glance. + +'Yes.' + +'Well, I expect they will soon have to come down,' said he gravely. +'I have been listening to the officers, and they are going to search +the orchard over again, and then every nook in the church.' + +Lizzy looked alarmed for the first time. 'Will you go and tell our +folk?' she said. 'They ought to be let know.' Seeing his +conscience struggling within him like a boiling pot, she added, 'No, +never mind, I'll go myself.' + +She went out, descended the garden, and climbed over the churchyard +wall at the same time that the preventive-men were ascending the +road to the orchard. Stockdale could do no less than follow her. +By the time that she reached the tower entrance he was at her side, +and they entered together. + +Nether-Moynton church-tower was, as in many villages, without a +turret, and the only way to the top was by going up to the singers' +gallery, and thence ascending by a ladder to a square trap-door in +the floor of the bell-loft, above which a permanent ladder was +fixed, passing through the bells to a hole in the roof. When Lizzy +and Stockdale reached the gallery and looked up, nothing but the +trap-door and the five holes for the bell-ropes appeared. The +ladder was gone. + +'There's no getting up,' said Stockdale. + +'O yes, there is,' said she. 'There's an eye looking at us at this +moment through a knot-hole in that trap-door.' + +And as she spoke the trap opened, and the dark line of the ladder +was seen descending against the white-washed wall. When it touched +the bottom Lizzy dragged it to its place, and said, 'If you'll go +up, I'll follow.' + +The young man ascended, and presently found himself among +consecrated bells for the first time in his life, nonconformity +having been in the Stockdale blood for some generations. He eyed +them uneasily, and looked round for Lizzy. Owlett stood here, +holding the top of the ladder. + +'What, be you really one of us?' said the miller. + +'It seems so,' said Stockdale sadly. + +'He's not,' said Lizzy, who overheard. 'He's neither for nor +against us. He'll do us no harm.' + +She stepped up beside them, and then they went on to the next stage, +which, when they had clambered over the dusty bell-carriages, was of +easy ascent, leading towards the hole through which the pale sky +appeared, and into the open air. Owlett remained behind for a +moment, to pull up the lower ladder. + +'Keep down your heads,' said a voice, as soon as they set foot on +the flat. + +Stockdale here beheld all the missing parishioners, lying on their +stomachs on the tower roof, except a few who, elevated on their +hands and knees, were peeping through the embrasures of the parapet. +Stockdale did the same, and saw the village lying like a map below +him, over which moved the figures of the excisemen, each +foreshortened to a crablike object, the crown of his hat forming a +circular disc in the centre of him. Some of the men had turned +their heads when the young preacher's figure arose among them. + +'What, Mr. Stockdale?' said Matt Grey, in a tone of surprise. + +'I'd as lief that it hadn't been,' said Jim Clarke. 'If the pa'son +should see him a trespassing here in his tower, 'twould be none the +better for we, seeing how 'a do hate chapel-members. He'd never buy +a tub of us again, and he's as good a customer as we have got this +side o' Warm'll.' + +'Where is the pa'son?' said Lizzy. + +'In his house, to be sure, that he mid see nothing of what's going +on--where all good folks ought to be, and this young man likewise.' + +'Well, he has brought some news,' said Lizzy. 'They are going to +search the orchet and church; can we do anything if they should +find?' + +'Yes,' said her cousin Owlett. 'That's what we've been talking o', +and we have settled our line. Well, be dazed!' + +The exclamation was caused by his perceiving that some of the +searchers, having got into the orchard, and begun stooping and +creeping hither and thither, were pausing in the middle, where a +tree smaller than the rest was growing. They drew closer, and bent +lower than ever upon the ground. + +'O, my tubs!' said Lizzy faintly, as she peered through the parapet +at them. + +'They have got 'em, 'a b'lieve,' said Owlett. + +The interest in the movements of the officers was so keen that not a +single eye was looking in any other direction; but at that moment a +shout from the church beneath them attracted the attention of the +smugglers, as it did also of the party in the orchard, who sprang to +their feet and went towards the churchyard wall. At the same time +those of the Government men who had entered the church unperceived +by the smugglers cried aloud, 'Here be some of 'em at last.' + +The smugglers remained in a blank silence, uncertain whether 'some +of 'em' meant tubs or men; but again peeping cautiously over the +edge of the tower they learnt that tubs were the things descried; +and soon these fated articles were brought one by one into the +middle of the churchyard from their hiding-place under the gallery- +stairs. + +'They are going to put 'em on Hinton's vault till they find the +rest!' said Lizzy hopelessly. The excisemen had, in fact, begun to +pile up the tubs on a large stone slab which was fixed there; and +when all were brought out from the tower, two or three of the men +were left standing by them, the rest of the party again proceeding +to the orchard. + +The interest of the smugglers in the next manoeuvres of their +enemies became painfully intense. Only about thirty tubs had been +secreted in the lumber of the tower, but seventy were hidden in the +orchard, making up all that they had brought ashore as yet, the +remainder of the cargo having been tied to a sinker and dropped +overboard for another night's operations. The excisemen, having re- +entered the orchard, acted as if they were positive that here lay +hidden the rest of the tubs, which they were determined to find +before nightfall. They spread themselves out round the field, and +advancing on all fours as before, went anew round every apple-tree +in the enclosure. The young tree in the middle again led them to +pause, and at length the whole company gathered there in a way which +signified that a second chain of reasoning had led to the same +results as the first. + +When they had examined the sod hereabouts for some minutes, one of +the men rose, ran to a disused porch of the church where tools were +kept, and returned with the sexton's pickaxe and shovel, with which +they set to work. + +'Are they really buried there?' said the minister, for the grass was +so green and uninjured that it was difficult to believe it had been +disturbed. The smugglers were too interested to reply, and +presently they saw, to their chagrin, the officers stand several on +each side of the tree; and, stooping and applying their hands to the +soil, they bodily lifted the tree and the turf around it. The +apple-tree now showed itself to be growing in a shallow box, with +handles for lifting at each of the four sides. Under the site of +the tree a square hole was revealed, and an exciseman went and +looked down. + +'It is all up now,' said Owlett quietly. 'And now all of ye get +down before they notice we are here; and be ready for our next move. +I had better bide here till dark, or they may take me on suspicion, +as 'tis on my ground. I'll be with ye as soon as daylight begins to +pink in.' + +'And I?' said Lizzy. + +'You please look to the linch-pins and screws; then go indoors and +know nothing at all. The chaps will do the rest.' + +The ladder was replaced, and all but Owlett descended, the men +passing off one by one at the back of the church, and vanishing on +their respective errands. + +Lizzy walked boldly along the street, followed closely by the +minister. + +'You are going indoors, Mrs. Newberry?' he said. + +She knew from the words 'Mrs. Newberry' that the division between +them had widened yet another degree. + +'I am not going home,' she said. 'I have a little thing to do +before I go in. Martha Sarah will get your tea.' + +'O, I don't mean on that account,' said Stockdale. 'What CAN you +have to do further in this unhallowed affair?' + +'Only a little,' she said. + +'What is that? I'll go with you.' + +'No, I shall go by myself. Will you please go indoors? I shall be +there in less than an hour.' + +'You are not going to run any danger, Lizzy?' said the young man, +his tenderness reasserting itself. + +'None whatever--worth mentioning,' answered she, and went down +towards the Cross. + +Stockdale entered the garden gate, and stood behind it looking on. +The excisemen were still busy in the orchard, and at last he was +tempted to enter, and watch their proceedings. When he came closer +he found that the secret cellar, of whose existence he had been +totally unaware, was formed by timbers placed across from side to +side about a foot under the ground, and grassed over. + +The excisemen looked up at Stockdale's fair and downy countenance, +and evidently thinking him above suspicion, went on with their work +again. As soon as all the tubs were taken out, they began tearing +up the turf; pulling out the timbers, and breaking in the sides, +till the cellar was wholly dismantled and shapeless, the apple-tree +lying with its roots high to the air. But the hole which had in its +time held so much contraband merchandize was never completely filled +up, either then or afterwards, a depression in the greensward +marking the spot to this day. + + + +CHAPTER VII--THE WALK TO WARM'ELL CROSS AND AFTERWARDS + + + +As the goods had all to be carried to Budmouth that night, the +excisemen's next object was to find horses and carts for the +journey, and they went about the village for that purpose. Latimer +strode hither and thither with a lump of chalk in his hand, marking +broad-arrows so vigorously on every vehicle and set of harness that +he came across, that it seemed as if he would chalk broad-arrows on +the very hedges and roads. The owner of every conveyance so marked +was bound to give it up for Government purposes. Stockdale, who had +had enough of the scene, turned indoors thoughtful and depressed. +Lizzy was already there, having come in at the back, though she had +not yet taken off her bonnet. She looked tired, and her mood was +not much brighter than his own. They had but little to say to each +other; and the minister went away and attempted to read; but at this +he could not succeed, and he shook the little bell for tea. + +Lizzy herself brought in the tray, the girl having run off into the +village during the afternoon, too full of excitement at the +proceedings to remember her state of life. However, almost before +the sad lovers had said anything to each other, Martha came in in a +steaming state. + +'O, there's such a stoor, Mrs. Newberry and Mr. Stockdale! The +king's excisemen can't get the carts ready nohow at all! They +pulled Thomas Ballam's, and William Rogers's, and Stephen Sprake's +carts into the road, and off came the wheels, and down fell the +carts; and they found there was no linch-pins in the arms; and then +they tried Samuel Shane's waggon, and found that the screws were +gone from he, and at last they looked at the dairyman's cart, and +he's got none neither! They have gone now to the blacksmith's to +get some made, but he's nowhere to be found!' + +Stockdale looked at Lizzy, who blushed very slightly, and went out +of the room, followed by Martha Sarah. But before they had got +through the passage there was a rap at the front door, and Stockdale +recognized Latimer's voice addressing Mrs. Newberry, who had turned +back. + +'For God's sake, Mrs. Newberry, have you seen Hardman the blacksmith +up this way? If we could get hold of him, we'd e'en a'most drag him +by the hair of his head to his anvil, where he ought to be.' + +'He's an idle man, Mr. Latimer,' said Lizzy archly. 'What do you +want him for?' + +'Why, there isn't a horse in the place that has got more than three +shoes on, and some have only two. The waggon-wheels be without +strakes, and there's no linch-pins to the carts. What with that, +and the bother about every set of harness being out of order, we +shan't be off before nightfall--upon my soul we shan't. 'Tis a +rough lot, Mrs. Newberry, that you've got about you here; but +they'll play at this game once too often, mark my words they will! +There's not a man in the parish that don't deserve to be whipped.' + +It happened that Hardman was at that moment a little further up the +lane, smoking his pipe behind a holly-bush. When Latimer had done +speaking he went on in this direction, and Hardman, hearing the +exciseman's steps, found curiosity too strong for prudence. He +peeped out from the bush at the very moment that Latimer's glance +was on it. There was nothing left for him to do but to come forward +with unconcern. + +'I've been looking for you for the last hour!' said Latimer with a +glare in his eye. + +'Sorry to hear that,' said Hardman. 'I've been out for a stroll, to +look for more hid tubs, to deliver 'em up to Gover'ment.' + +'O yes, Hardman, we know it,' said Latimer, with withering sarcasm. +'We know that you'll deliver 'em up to Gover'ment. We know that all +the parish is helping us, and have been all day! Now you please +walk along with me down to your shop, and kindly let me hire ye in +the king's name.' + +They went down the lane together; and presently there resounded from +the smithy the ring of a hammer not very briskly swung. However, +the carts and horses were got into some sort of travelling +condition, but it was not until after the clock had struck six, when +the muddy roads were glistening under the horizontal light of the +fading day. The smuggled tubs were soon packed into the vehicles, +and Latimer, with three of his assistants, drove slowly out of the +village in the direction of the port of Budmouth, some considerable +number of miles distant, the other excisemen being left to watch for +the remainder of the cargo, which they knew to have been sunk +somewhere between Ringsworth and Lulstead Cove, and to unearth +Owlett, the only person clearly implicated by the discovery of the +cave. + +Women and children stood at the doors as the carts, each chalked +with the Government pitchfork, passed in the increasing twilight; +and as they stood they looked at the confiscated property with a +melancholy expression that told only too plainly the relation which +they bore to the trade. + +'Well, Lizzy,' said Stockdale, when the crackle of the wheels had +nearly died away. 'This is a fit finish to your adventure. I am +truly thankful that you have got off without suspicion, and the loss +only of the liquor. Will you sit down and let me talk to you?' + +'By and by,' she said. 'But I must go out now.' + +'Not to that horrid shore again?' he said blankly. + +'No, not there. I am only going to see the end of this day's +business.' + +He did not answer to this, and she moved towards the door slowly, as +if waiting for him to say something more. + +'You don't offer to come with me,' she added at last. 'I suppose +that's because you hate me after all this?' + +'Can you say it, Lizzy, when you know I only want to save you from +such practices? Come with you of course I will, if it is only to +take care of you. But why will you go out again?' + +'Because I cannot rest indoors. Something is happening, and I must +know what. Now, come!' And they went into the dusk together. + +When they reached the turnpike-road she turned to the right, and he +soon perceived that they were following the direction of the +excisemen and their load. He had given her his arm, and every now +and then she suddenly pulled it back, to signify that he was to halt +a moment and listen. They had walked rather quickly along the first +quarter of a mile, and on the second or third time of standing still +she said, 'I hear them ahead--don't you?' + +'Yes,' he said; 'I hear the wheels. But what of that?' + +'I only want to know if they get clear away from the neighbourhood.' + +'Ah,' said he, a light breaking upon him. 'Something desperate is +to be attempted!--and now I remember there was not a man about the +village when we left.' + +'Hark!' she murmured. The noise of the cartwheels had stopped, and +given place to another sort of sound. + +''Tis a scuffle!' said Stockdale. 'There'll be murder! Lizzy, let +go my arm; I am going on. On my conscience, I must not stay here +and do nothing!' + +'There'll be no murder, and not even a broken head,' she said. 'Our +men are thirty to four of them: no harm will be done at all.' + +'Then there IS an attack!' exclaimed Stockdale; 'and you knew it was +to be. Why should you side with men who break the laws like this?' + +'Why should you side with men who take from country traders what +they have honestly bought wi' their own money in France?' said she +firmly. + +'They are not honestly bought,' said he. + +'They are,' she contradicted. 'I and Owlett and the others paid +thirty shillings for every one of the tubs before they were put on +board at Cherbourg, and if a king who is nothing to us sends his +people to steal our property, we have a right to steal it back +again.' + +Stockdale did not stop to argue the matter, but went quickly in the +direction of the noise, Lizzy keeping at his side. 'Don't you +interfere, will you, dear Richard?' she said anxiously, as they drew +near. 'Don't let us go any closer: 'tis at Warm'ell Cross where +they are seizing 'em. You can do no good, and you may meet with a +hard blow!' + +'Let us see first what is going on,' he said. But before they had +got much further the noise of the cartwheels began again; and +Stockdale soon found that they were coming towards him. In another +minute the three carts came up, and Stockdale and Lizzy stood in the +ditch to let them pass. + +Instead of being conducted by four men, as had happened when they +went out of the village, the horses and carts were now accompanied +by a body of from twenty to thirty, all of whom, as Stockdale +perceived to his astonishment, had blackened faces. Among them +walked six or eight huge female figures, whom, from their wide +strides, Stockdale guessed to be men in disguise. As soon as the +party discerned Lizzy and her companion four or five fell back, and +when the carts had passed, came close to the pair. + +'There is no walking up this way for the present,' said one of the +gaunt women, who wore curls a foot long, dangling down the sides of +her face, in the fashion of the time. Stockdale recognized this +lady's voice as Owlett's. + +'Why not?' said Stockdale. 'This is the public highway.' + +'Now look here, youngster,' said Owlett. 'O, 'tis the Methodist +parson!--what, and Mrs. Newberry! Well, you'd better not go up that +way, Lizzy. They've all run off, and folks have got their own +again.' + +The miller then hastened on and joined his comrades. Stockdale and +Lizzy also turned back. 'I wish all this hadn't been forced upon +us,' she said regretfully. 'But if those excisemen had got off with +the tubs, half the people in the parish would have been in want for +the next month or two.' + +Stockdale was not paying much attention to her words, and he said, +'I don't think I can go back like this. Those four poor excisemen +may be murdered for all I know.' + +'Murdered!' said Lizzy impatiently. 'We don't do murder here.' + +'Well, I shall go as far as Warm'ell Cross to see,' said Stockdale +decisively; and, without wishing her safe home or anything else, the +minister turned back. Lizzy stood looking at him till his form was +absorbed in the shades; and then, with sadness, she went in the +direction of Nether-Moynton. + +The road was lonely, and after nightfall at this time of the year +there was often not a passer for hours. Stockdale pursued his way +without hearing a sound beyond that of his own footsteps; and in due +time he passed beneath the trees of the plantation which surrounded +the Warm'ell Cross-road. Before he had reached the point of +intersection he heard voices from the thicket. + +'Hoi-hoi-hoi! Help, help!' + +The voices were not at all feeble or despairing, but they were +unmistakably anxious. Stockdale had no weapon, and before plunging +into the pitchy darkness of the plantation he pulled a stake from +the hedge, to use in case of need. When he got among the trees he +shouted--'What's the matter--where are you?' + +'Here,' answered the voices; and, pushing through the brambles in +that direction, he came near the objects of his search. + +'Why don't you come forward?' said Stockdale. + +'We be tied to the trees!' + +'Who are you?' + +'Poor Will Latimer the exciseman!' said one plaintively. 'Just come +and cut these cords, there's a good man. We were afraid nobody +would pass by to-night.' + +Stockdale soon loosened them, upon which they stretched their limbs +and stood at their ease. + +'The rascals!' said Latimer, getting now into a rage, though he had +seemed quite meek when Stockdale first came up. ''Tis the same set +of fellows. I know they were Moynton chaps to a man.' + +'But we can't swear to 'em,' said another. 'Not one of 'em spoke.' + +'What are you going to do?' said Stockdale. + +'I'd fain go back to Moynton, and have at 'em again!' said Latimer. + +'So would we!' said his comrades. + +'Fight till we die!' said Latimer. + +'We will, we will!' said his men. + +'But,' said Latimer, more frigidly, as they came out of the +plantation, 'we don't KNOW that these chaps with black faces were +Moynton men? And proof is a hard thing.' + +'So it is,' said the rest. + +'And therefore we won't do nothing at all,' said Latimer, with +complete dispassionateness. 'For my part, I'd sooner be them than +we. The clitches of my arms are burning like fire from the cords +those two strapping women tied round 'em. My opinion is, now I have +had time to think o't, that you may serve your Gover'ment at too +high a price. For these two nights and days I have not had an +hour's rest; and, please God, here's for home-along.' + +The other officers agreed heartily to this course; and, thanking +Stockdale for his timely assistance, they parted from him at the +Cross, taking themselves the western road, and Stockdale going back +to Nether-Moynton. + +During that walk the minister was lost in reverie of the most +painful kind. As soon as he got into the house, and before entering +his own rooms, he advanced to the door of the little back parlour in +which Lizzy usually sat with her mother. He found her there alone. +Stockdale went forward, and, like a man in a dream, looked down upon +the table that stood between him and the young woman, who had her +bonnet and cloak still on. As he did not speak, she looked up from +her chair at him, with misgiving in her eye. + +'Where are they gone?' he then said listlessly. + +'Who?--I don't know. I have seen nothing of them since. I came +straight in here.' + +'If your men can manage to get off with those tubs, it will be a +great profit to you, I suppose?' + +'A share will be mine, a share my cousin Owlett's, a share to each +of the two farmers, and a share divided amongst the men who helped +us.' + +'And you still think,' he went on slowly, 'that you will not give +this business up?' + +Lizzy rose, and put her hand upon his shoulder. 'Don't ask that,' +she whispered. 'You don't know what you are asking. I must tell +you, though I meant not to do it. What I make by that trade is all +I have to keep my mother and myself with.' + +He was astonished. 'I did not dream of such a thing,' he said. 'I +would rather have swept the streets, had I been you. What is money +compared with a clear conscience?' + +'My conscience is clear. I know my mother, but the king I have +never seen. His dues are nothing to me. But it is a great deal to +me that my mother and I should live.' + +'Marry me, and promise to give it up. I will keep your mother.' + +'It is good of you,' she said, trembling a little. 'Let me think of +it by myself. I would rather not answer now.' + +She reserved her answer till the next day, and came into his room +with a solemn face. 'I cannot do what you wished!' she said +passionately. 'It is too much to ask. My whole life ha' been +passed in this way.' Her words and manner showed that before +entering she had been struggling with herself in private, and that +the contention had been strong. + +Stockdale turned pale, but he spoke quietly. 'Then, Lizzy, we must +part. I cannot go against my principles in this matter, and I +cannot make my profession a mockery. You know how I love you, and +what I would do for you; but this one thing I cannot do.' + +'But why should you belong to that profession?' she burst out. 'I +have got this large house; why can't you marry me, and live here +with us, and not be a Methodist preacher any more? I assure you, +Richard, it is no harm, and I wish you could only see it as I do! +We only carry it on in winter: in summer it is never done at all. +It stirs up one's dull life at this time o' the year, and gives +excitement, which I have got so used to now that I should hardly +know how to do 'ithout it. At nights, when the wind blows, instead +of being dull and stupid, and not noticing whether it do blow or +not, your mind is afield, even if you are not afield yourself; and +you are wondering how the chaps are getting on; and you walk up and +down the room, and look out o' window, and then you go out yourself, +and know your way about as well by night as by day, and have +hairbreadth escapes from old Latimer and his fellows, who are too +stupid ever to really frighten us, and only make us a bit nimble.' + +'He frightened you a little last night, anyhow: and I would advise +you to drop it before it is worse.' + +She shook her head. 'No, I must go on as I have begun. I was born +to it. It is in my blood, and I can't be cured. O, Richard, you +cannot think what a hard thing you have asked, and how sharp you try +me when you put me between this and my love for 'ee!' + +Stockdale was leaning with his elbow on the mantelpiece, his hands +over his eyes. 'We ought never to have met, Lizzy,' he said. 'It +was an ill day for us! I little thought there was anything so +hopeless and impossible in our engagement as this. Well, it is too +late now to regret consequences in this way. I have had the +happiness of seeing you and knowing you at least.' + +'You dissent from Church, and I dissent from State,' she said. 'And +I don't see why we are not well matched.' + +He smiled sadly, while Lizzy remained looking down, her eyes +beginning to overflow. + +That was an unhappy evening for both of them, and the days that +followed were unhappy days. Both she and he went mechanically about +their employments, and his depression was marked in the village by +more than one of his denomination with whom he came in contact. But +Lizzy, who passed her days indoors, was unsuspected of being the +cause: for it was generally understood that a quiet engagement to +marry existed between her and her cousin Owlett, and had existed for +some time. + +Thus uncertainly the week passed on; till one morning Stockdale said +to her: 'I have had a letter, Lizzy. I must call you that till I +am gone.' + +'Gone?' said she blankly. + +'Yes,' he said. 'I am going from this place. I felt it would be +better for us both that I should not stay after what has happened. +In fact, I couldn't stay here, and look on you from day to day, +without becoming weak and faltering in my course. I have just heard +of an arrangement by which the other minister can arrive here in +about a week; and let me go elsewhere.' + +That he had all this time continued so firmly fixed in his +resolution came upon her as a grievous surprise. 'You never loved +me!' she said bitterly. + +'I might say the same,' he returned; 'but I will not. Grant me one +favour. Come and hear my last sermon on the day before I go.' + +Lizzy, who was a church-goer on Sunday mornings, frequently attended +Stockdale's chapel in the evening with the rest of the double- +minded; and she promised. + +It became known that Stockdale was going to leave, and a good many +people outside his own sect were sorry to hear it. The intervening +days flew rapidly away, and on the evening of the Sunday which +preceded the morning of his departure Lizzy sat in the chapel to +hear him for the last time. The little building was full to +overflowing, and he took up the subject which all had expected, that +of the contraband trade so extensively practised among them. His +hearers, in laying his words to their own hearts, did not perceive +that they were most particularly directed against Lizzy, till the +sermon waxed warm, and Stockdale nearly broke down with emotion. In +truth his own earnestness, and her sad eyes looking up at him, were +too much for the young man's equanimity. He hardly knew how he +ended. He saw Lizzy, as through a mist, turn and go away with the +rest of the congregation; and shortly afterwards followed her home. + +She invited him to supper, and they sat down alone, her mother +having, as was usual with her on Sunday nights, gone to bed early. + +'We will part friends, won't we?' said Lizzy, with forced gaiety, +and never alluding to the sermon: a reticence which rather +disappointed him. + +'We will,' he said, with a forced smile on his part; and they sat +down. + +It was the first meal that they had ever shared together in their +lives, and probably the last that they would so share. When it was +over, and the indifferent conversation could no longer be continued, +he arose and took her hand. 'Lizzy,' he said, 'do you say we must +part--do you?' + +'You do,' she said solemnly. 'I can say no more.' + +'Nor I,' said he. 'If that is your answer, good-bye!' + +Stockdale bent over her and kissed her, and she involuntarily +returned his kiss. 'I shall go early,' he said hurriedly. 'I shall +not see you again.' + +And he did leave early. He fancied, when stepping forth into the +grey morning light, to mount the van which was to carry him away, +that he saw a face between the parted curtains of Lizzy's window, +but the light was faint, and the panes glistened with wet; so he +could not be sure. Stockdale mounted the vehicle, and was gone; and +on the following Sunday the new minister preached in the chapel of +the Moynton Wesleyans. + + +One day, two years after the parting, Stockdale, now settled in a +midland town, came into Nether-Moynton by carrier in the original +way. Jogging along in the van that afternoon he had put questions +to the driver, and the answers that he received interested the +minister deeply. The result of them was that he went without the +least hesitation to the door of his former lodging. It was about +six o'clock in the evening, and the same time of year as when he had +left; now, too, the ground was damp and glistening, the west was +bright, and Lizzy's snowdrops were raising their heads in the border +under the wall. + +Lizzy must have caught sight of him from the window, for by the time +that he reached the door she was there holding it open: and then, +as if she had not sufficiently considered her act of coming out, she +drew herself back, saying with some constraint, 'Mr. Stockdale!' + +'You knew it was,' said Stockdale, taking her hand. 'I wrote to say +I should call.' + +'Yes, but you did not say when,' she answered. + +'I did not. I was not quite sure when my business would lead me to +these parts.' + +'You only came because business brought you near?' + +'Well, that is the fact; but I have often thought I should like to +come on purpose to see you . . . But what's all this that has +happened? I told you how it would be, Lizzy, and you would not +listen to me.' + +'I would not,' she said sadly. 'But I had been brought up to that +life; and it was second nature to me. However, it is all over now. +The officers have blood-money for taking a man dead or alive, and +the trade is going to nothing. We were hunted down like rats.' + +'Owlett is quite gone, I hear.' + +'Yes. He is in America. We had a dreadful struggle that last time, +when they tried to take him. It is a perfect miracle that he lived +through it; and it is a wonder that I was not killed. I was shot in +the hand. It was not by aim; the shot was really meant for my +cousin; but I was behind, looking on as usual, and the bullet came +to me. It bled terribly, but I got home without fainting; and it +healed after a time. You know how he suffered?' + +'No,' said Stockdale. 'I only heard that he just escaped with his +life.' + +'He was shot in the back; but a rib turned the ball. He was badly +hurt. We would not let him be took. The men carried him all night +across the meads to Kingsbere, and hid him in a barn, dressing his +wound as well as they could, till he was so far recovered as to be +able to get about. He had gied up his mill for some time; and at +last he got to Bristol, and took a passage to America, and he's +settled in Wisconsin.' + +'What do you think of smuggling now?' said the minister gravely. + +'I own that we were wrong,' said she. 'But I have suffered for it. +I am very poor now, and my mother has been dead these twelve months +. . . But won't you come in, Mr. Stockdale?' + +Stockdale went in; and it is to be supposed that they came to an +understanding; for a fortnight later there was a sale of Lizzy's +furniture, and after that a wedding at a chapel in a neighbouring +town. + +He took her away from her old haunts to the home that he had made +for himself in his native county, where she studied her duties as a +minister's wife with praiseworthy assiduity. It is said that in +after years she wrote an excellent tract called Render unto Caesar; +or, The Repentant Villagers, in which her own experience was +anonymously used as the introductory story. Stockdale got it +printed, after making some corrections, and putting in a few +powerful sentences of his own; and many hundreds of copies were +distributed by the couple in the course of their married life. + +April 1879. + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg eText Wessex Tales + |