The Devil's Garden

n a means of filling the dull empty time. On Tuesday morning she told Mary that they would turn the master's absence to good

, and, most of all, while she was going through her husband's winter underclothes in search of moths, it seemed to her that she was not only retaining but strengthening her hold on all these inanimate friends, and that they themselves were eloquently though dumbly protesting against the mere idea of forcible separation

hough the spring cleaning, which by day proved mentally beneficial, became deleterious during these long night watches.

were like real blossoms budding after rain; and Mavis on the step-ladder, with a smudged face, untidy hair, and grimy han

egram,

rig

, and as she opened the yellow

d, ma'am. S

ll-No, do

s trembling violently. "Oh, how dreadful!" She muttered the words mechanica

t, ma'am?

d she stared stupidly at the paper that was shaking in her fing

Barradine. Is this true? Wire Dale, Appled

in possession of some sensational tidings. There was a knot of people standing in front of the saddler's, and anothe

and joined the gro

March. The stud-groom was riding him at a meet, and I said, 'Mr. Yeatman, you aren't surely going to let Mr. Barradine risk his neck with hound

ebody in

horse, w

nything bigger than a racing saddle; and I've always maintained the same thing. A bit of blood

tableman, "Mr. Barradine liked 'em

seman. That tremendous sound of the past tense answered

usiness, isn't

on talking; and she only thought: "He is dead. He is dead. He is dead." She wa

gentleman in our times, Mrs. Dale; nor one so open-handed. And it's not o

d. "Indeed they hav

ody else in the village except Mavis Dale and Mary, had known the news for hours; but she was greedy for the

body taken

of the c

, d

re could be no divorce. Now that he was dead, she would be forgiven. Then again she felt the horror of it. The thing was like an answer to her s

horse last nigh

gallopin' by, and followed un up Beacon Hill.

!" said M

nd the riderless horse had given the alarm some time about nine o'clock in the evening. But, although

h bracken, while others, the bigger ones, rose brown and bare and strange. They provided a redoubtable fortress for foxes, and contained what was known as the biggest "earth" of the neighborhood. Not far off, the main ride passed through the

was obvious. He had been riding through or near the rocks, and the horse, probably stumbling, had thrown him; and then, f

ore he could recover control of it; or, as perhaps was more probable, Mr. Barradine might have ridden from the safe and open track in order quietly t

jectures were at present idle. These and all ot

Waddy. "Will there h

ere will," sa

law always," sa

"in the case of such a well-kno

ales, or the Archbishop of Canterbury. Coroner's Court sits on

too, last night,

was some hea

tleman lying out in

e had forgotten about the reply telegram to her husband. She got Mr. Ridgett to wr

tically. "This was the party you told me of-the g

es

ry sad. How wi

killed by fall from his horse yesterday.

isn't it? Upon my word, you two are a pair of love-birds.... There, off it goes. G

ost, and as though the ghost, while imparting to her a piece of surprisingly good news, had at the same time almost frightened her out of her wits. It is so wicked, so impiously wicked to wish for the death of a fellow creature. But what are wishes? Common sense revolts from the supposition that thoughts can kill. Why, if th

to get to bed; and she slept dreamlessly. The feeling after all was one of unutterable relief. Mr. Barradine w

to the well-cleaned parlor, she heard her husband's voice just outside the do

, thank goodness, you've come home." She boldly took his arm, drew him in

self and moved away from he

tood stretching out her hands toward him implor

t," he said, after

he would do so some time or another. He listened to her pleadings impassively, stolidly; his attitude was stiffly dignified, and it seeme

I do think you're cruel to me. Especially considering what

ot chanced to die in this sudden and startling way, I could never have come home to you. It was the decision I had arrived at before I read of his accident in the paper. Othe

ting sentences that he had learned by rote: she who had helped in so many rehearsals before his public utterances could not be mistaken.

ons on one side and attend the funeral of the deceased in his public capacity of postmaster. This mark of respect woul

chen. He told Mary that he wished to sleep by himself because he felt twinges of rheumatism and was afraid of disturbing the mistress if

rs, speaking again whe

Yorke? Is Mr. Rid

old voice-rather loud, rather auth

re to be kept up. No breath of scandal was to tarnish the reputation of the Rodchurch postmaster; the curious world must not be allowed the very slightest peep behind the scenes of his private li

ng-room Dale greeted Mr

before the stipulated date; but he had written to headquarters explaining the circumstances, and he had no doubt they would approve. "There's the fu

blow to you-knowing him so long.

use to be," sa

hown himself a

returned to speak in a confidential whisper close to Mr. Ridgett's ear. "It was he who di

. Ever since the little Missis came home with the happy tale, I've

down the street, talk

ul seemed to recollect the famous controversy, the postmaster's campaign against detractors, his long absence or his brilliant success. Kibworth Rocks

st importance. All sorts of people gave evidence, but no one had anything to say that was really worth saying. Mr. All

ine had an ineradicable objection to patent detachable stirrups, and maintained that he would have been able, in five minutes' quiet conversation, to prevail on the deceased gentleman to adopt a certain device which was known to Allen bu

spouting out his nonsense, until Doctor Hollis told

r. Ridgett, who had come up to take high tea on the eve of

e's knowledge of his ridin' gen'rally; but it stands to reason, when you're past sixty your grip on a horse isn't the same thing as what it once was. Say, your mount gets bounding this way, that way;" and with his body and hands he in

ything but affection. She thought of that epithet that people so often echo-Death the Leveler. Could one hope that already, although Will might not know it, might not be willing to know it, death had taken from

eming animated, everywhere the sound of wheels, the roads full of people all going one way. She simulated gravity, even sadness, as they passed the dark pines near Hadleigh Wood; but in truth she was quite undisturbed by her

ot have guessed that the whole county of Hampshire contained so many policemen. There were soldiers also-members of some volunteer or yeoman

s. The service was long but very beautiful, with giant candles burning by the draped bier, organ music that seemed to swell and rumble in the pit of one's stomach, and light voices of singing boys that made one vibrate as if one had been turned into glass-all stirring one to a quite meaningless regret, not for the man who lay deaf and dumb and blind beneath the velv

interest-at the gentlefolk, now inextricably mixed up with the tenantry and the mob; at her husband, standing so black and solemn, with a face that might have belonged to a marble statue; at the puff of smoke that crept upward when the gun went bang, at the sunlight on the church tower, at the birds flying so hi

ced his stony glance at Auntie, w

little chat with her. Auntie had now entirely recovered from her recent hysterical storm; the

now, he promised the house for my life-but he wouldn't give me a lease. I've

ld think his wishes

Petherick, quite testily. "It'll be wis

Aun

s he never made a will at all. You can't believe the talk. But, oh, it'

ntly; "if you chance upon

y n

nswer. "He found ou

? How did h

lly b

e about the domestic trouble of Mavis and Will.

re's a will found, I shall be in it.

the Gauntlet Inn closed you could hear the shouting as far off as the post office.

stinctively that up-stairs, as well as down-stairs, a normal order would rule again before very long. Outwardly she and Dale were just w