Gone to Earth

he pose of one se

's lost her way,

ay"' (he looked ironically at the poultry-basket behind the trap, from which peere

om the lower pasture. They s

than lad's love, so t

ss

of love between u

raising look at his master's flushed face

hadows lurked. Oak chests and carved chairs, all more or less dusty, stood about, looking

e ends. She only saw what seemed to her fabulous splendour. A foxhound rose fr

ound-dogs,' she said.

dogs g

kills the

rmi

She clenched her hands and

f our Foxy, or I un

's F

ll cub as I to

reared it

ke having no mam.

her as thoughtfully as his

e should stay at Under

ring one of these days,' he remarked to the fire, with a h

g how long it would take her to le

e arch speeches at such cost of imagin

and was gleeful. He put his hand on hers heavily, and a discord was wrung fr

d Hazel. 'What for d'yo

than ever to repeat his

n on your dress?'

rabbit as I loosed out'

eak, to le

n un, so tiny and all,'

ty here,' said he, going to a chest and pulling out an armful of old-f

ed,' said Hazel. 'That green un's proper, like when

I see what Ves

the kitchen, seem

mood could be judged only b

d him repl

ready; I've only

hases of his day's work

ng her dress to hear

for the lady?' ('The lady

old useless cat and an o'erdruv man of six-and-sixty, a pot of victuals not yet simmering, and a gentle

hed. 'Maybe I'd best go,' she thought. Yet only vague insti

g female found no friend in Andrew Vessons; never shall it be said'-his voice soared over variou

up, Ve

phrased it himself, 'in full hon

'd ought to stay. This 'ere ru

were no children gotte

ll get a bit of rest, n

at old chap,'

l of the world and the monastery-natural man and t

e this girl's goo

to self. It marks the end of childhood. She no more saw herself throned above life and

in their conventional order-or reversed-and she had remained, as it were, intact. She

ho cared to hear. But she had not heard. They had let fall such sentences as 'He got the better of me,' 'I cried out, and

he realized nothing of their life. Nor did sh

ed to herself a stationary being. But the convolvulus has budded and bloomed and closed again while y

*

through the glass, and saw the sad feather-flights of snow wandering and hesitating, and finally coming to earth. They held to their i

of white grew deeper over Undern. Hazel shivered in the cold wind off the hill, and saw Undern Pool curdling and thickening in the frost. No sound came across the outspread country. There were no roads near Undern except its

ong in her spirit of free

tired. She turned back to the fire. But the instinct that had awaken

f the silk dress,

ave a long, wild walk home, but she could creep in through her bedroom window, whi

d eat a loaf, I will, fo

ves come and go. Even as she went, the door betrayed her, for R