Wessex Poems and Other Verses

kedly 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 n

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 he

t,' said he. 'I thou

her face to show the impossibility of his gazi

our being sometimes obliged to keep you

h some might have called cold, and which was the worst look that

ev

three in the afternoon, you may always be sure that I sl

rous effects of such indulgence upon the household of a

ughts, 'it only happens when I stay awake all night. I do

'Sleeplessness to such an alarming extent i

at-it is all natural to me.' And sh

ly 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

she had come to ask if Mrs. Newberry could give her some mustard t

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

ovement 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.

n calling about?'

rrand, adding seriously, 'I

girl have what she wants as well as my daughter.'

Simpkins from the landing, as if on second thoughts, 'I suppose ther

old lady hastily.

d. 'Will you go in and see?' he sai

t instantly. 'There is nothing at all the matter with Lizzy,' she said; and descended again to

ter 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 ups

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 be

ave 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 s

oposition 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. B

achfully, when they had walke

' sai

ysical weariness from the night before than mental weariness of that present moment. Lizzy apologized, and owned that she was rather tired, which

here 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 nea

ers, 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 its

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 th

room?' he said, flinging the ob

and that she had brought them up there thinking they must be Mr

hem down to your mis'ess, and say they are some

ow stupid!' said Mrs. Newberry, in a tone of confusion. 'Why, Mart

his as they was so mud

pstairs with the garments on her arm, quickly passed Stockdale's room, and threw them forcibly in

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 incong

d, 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, a

he bounds of possibility; but he himself could not think of one; and he wished that she had

t the next time of their meeting. She was chatting to him concerning some other event, and remarked that

f respect to his memory?'

s,' she said, with the most c

k in mud?' murmured the minister, in a cold s

you say?'

t was too plain that Lizzy was unaware that he had seen actual pedestrian splashes upon the skirts of t

nation, or threaten to go off as a missionary to benighted islanders, or reproach her in any way whatever. He simply parted f