Catharine Furze

s, in a very level country on the banks of a river, broad and deep, but with only just sufficient fall to enable its long-lingering waters to reach the sea. It was an ancient ma

t, there lived in 1840 the principal doctor, the lawyer, the parson, and two aged gentlewomen with some property, who were daughters of one of the former partners in the bank, had been born in Eastthorpe, and had scarcely ever quitted it. Here also were a young ladies' seminary and an ancient grammar school for the education of forty boys, sons of freemen of the town. The houses

nd advanced ideas, had replaced his bow-window with plate-glass, had put a cornice over it, had stuccoed his bricks, and had erected a kind of balustrade of stucco, so as to hide as much as possible the attic windows, which looked over, meekly protesting. Nearly opposite the Moot Hall was the Bell Inn, the principal inn in the town. There were other inns, respectable enough, such as the Bull, a little higher up, patronised by the smaller commercial travellers and farmers, but the entrance passage to the Bull had sand on the floor, and carriers made it a house of call. To the Bell the two coaches came which went through Eastthorpe, and there they changed hor

gaily painted sailing barges alongside, the fringe of slanting willows turning the silver-gray sides of their foliage towards the breeze, the island in the middle of the river with bigger willows, the large expanse of sky, the soft clouds distinct in form almost to the far

for Britons, some for Saxons, and some for Danes. As it was impossible to be sure if they were Christian, they could not be put in consecrated ground; they were therefore included in an auction of dead and live stock, and were bought by the doctor. Surnames survived in Eastthorpe with singular pertinacity, for it was remote from the world, but what was the relationship between the scores of Thaxtons, for example, whose deaths were inscribed on the tombstones, some of them all awry and weather-worn, and the Thaxtons of 1840, no living Thaxton could tell, every spiritual trace of them having disappeared more utterly th

ere all the foundry work for miles round Eastthorpe was done. It was Mr. Furze's practice always to keep a kind of open house on Saturday, and on this particular day, at half-past two, Mr. Bellamy, Mr. Chandler, Mr. Gosford, and Mr. Furze were drinking their whiskey-and-water and smoking their pipes in Mr. Furze's parlour. The first three were well-to-do farmers, and with t

dow still a-livin'

ing his pipe again and pausing for

me I wur behind his mare about five years ago last Michaelmas, and I wur well-nigh perished. I wur a-goin' t

roared with laughter, M

ood 'un," sai

"I mind that as well a

iged to attend to his shop. Gosford and Chandler, however, re

-stayin' on f

's left her a

younger

ence of so

take the Croft on hers

d Chandler, "fetched a goodish lot. S

go in for the

ler was a

tone and a smile) -

fourteen stone of her. Keep yer wa

ut it inside the fender, compressed his lips,

must be

they both went their ways,

her when she was on a visit in Eastthorpe. Her father was a draper in Cambridge, which was not only a much bigger place than Eastthorpe, but had a university, and Mrs. Furze talked about the university familiarly, so that, although he

as he ought to go in for old Bartlett's widow. Now what do you think? Wouldn't they make a

r in good temper, but as he disengaged himse

me dignity and asperity, "I am no judge in such ma

e, ma'am,

it, but he was extremely anxious that their dislike to her should not damag

e is no reason why Mr. Gosford should not make any sugg

and did not pursue the subje

en may I come to

s always glad to see you. Whenever you please," and Mr. Gosford i

. "We'll turn out your room and store ap

sick of me at last. You've forgotten when I had that bad cold at your house

says, 'I'd sooner have Catharine here, and me have tea up there with her, notwithstanding there must be a fire upstairs an

and was uncomfortably uncertain whether

or to Mr. Bellamy's, but you must consider your wardrobe a little. You wi

keep thorns from our legs; or, at any rate

, there is no reason why you

her included, she professed agreement by a simple monosyllable, either because she was lazy, or because she saw that there was no chance of further profit in the discussion. It was irritating, because it

with a little scream, "she's dripping we

ice's face and kissed it deliber

es - three of them - all as true as t

lucky, then, Miss Catharine, fo

l clatter with the crockery: Mr. Furze said the company must excu