Wessex Tales

ere a sharp ascent breaks its monotony. Farmers homeward-bound from the former mark

n 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

eeping 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, th

mer, 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 le

stared at me!' sa

; I saw th

f the villag

I think he lives with his

who we are

o be stared at just at fi

ooked at us in the hope we might relieve him

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

ne some mile and half short of the white farmstead, ascended tow

and was washing cabbage at the doorway in the declining light. 'Hold

bage-net, and as she filled its meshes with the dr

quite

e lady

ore. A lady

he yo

up, and her ways b

t colour is her

, and her face as com

en, are not d

th is very nice and red; and when

?' said the

ee. She was s

she's sure to be there. Go early and notice her walking

ut why don't you go a

he were to pass my window this instant. She was

e same a

notice

on

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, walk

mother said, 'Well?' befo

She is rather sh

s mother, wit

retty-very. In fa

ife had evidently made an impression eve

the table-cloth. The hare you caught is very tender; but mind that

'em. She never to

he wear thi

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 se

wever, that

he 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