Wessex Tales

t 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

closing hour had scarcely the cheerfulness that it possessed for the hired servants of the rest. Yet t

ily 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 wo

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 interes

ella into the sod, and seized the post with both hands, as if intending to loosen and throw it down. Then, like one bewildered

elf. 'I have declared there

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 distric

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 ways

again, the door was heard to open, though it was impossible to see by whose hand, the

hought asked him to come in. It would soon get a light, it said: but the nig

,' said Barnet hastily; 'it is not necessary

sage, and Barnet went forward at the same moment, so that no light should fall upon his face. On enteri

ous 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

atures 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 imag

I had a great wish to see you, and inquire how you were. You can g

ied with the request. 'When I think of the circumstances of our last meeting, I can hardly co

it surely? I don't tro

time, certainly, and I did not expect it now,' she said, with t

ned. 'At least I suppose so-thou

e, sir,' said the yo

cage by the window; the bird awoke hastily, and fluttered against the bars. She went and stilled it by lay

of you, of yourself alone; to inquire how you are getting on since

on fairly we

himself for not having guessed a thing so natural; and to dissipate all embarrassment, added, a

the outlines. I do that at night to save time-I ha

sentiment than he had hitherto shown. 'You ought not to do it. There was a time when I should have

e a gentlemanly respect for me, and for yourself. Don't speak any more as you have spoken, and

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 fai

ent 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 g

now, when she turned and sat

lected . . . ' 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 write to you? There was

been,' said Barnet, turn

one. Everything was so indefinite, and feeling your position to be so much wealthier than mine, I fancied I might have mistaken your mean

eparated us, dear Lucy. Anyhow you were the woman I ought to have

ubject to me; I am the wrong one to console you-think, sir,-you

id hastily. 'I am not right in doi

'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

ld soon have won them

ion; try to make it up with your wife! Those are my c

uch 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

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 eit

en 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 s

s right with you in the course of three weeks, Mr.

d-naturedly that t

advance of Charlson's present with the preci

' 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

n's umbrella, so as just to illumine his face against the shade behind, and show that his eye was turned up un

gravely, 'we'll ha

done many times before. He was profuse in his apologies, but Barnet did not reply. Of one thing he was certai