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diff --git a/3717-h/3717-h.htm b/3717-h/3717-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..88067e6 --- /dev/null +++ b/3717-h/3717-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1659 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII" /> +<title>The Parson's Daughter of Oxney Colne, by Anthony Trollope</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + P.gutsumm { margin-left: 5%;} + P.poetry {margin-left: 3%; } + .GutSmall { font-size: 0.7em; } + H1, H2 { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + } + H3, H4, H5 { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + BODY{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + table { border-collapse: collapse; } +table {margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto;} + td { vertical-align: top; border: 1px solid black;} + td p { margin: 0.2em; } + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ + + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .pagenum {position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: small; + text-align: right; + font-weight: normal; + color: gray; + } + img { border: none; } + img.dc { float: left; width: 50px; height: 50px; } + p.gutindent { margin-left: 2em; } + div.gapspace { height: 0.8em; } + div.gapline { height: 0.8em; width: 100%; border-top: 1px solid;} + div.gapmediumline { height: 0.3em; width: 40%; margin-left:30%; + border-top: 1px solid; } + div.gapmediumdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 40%; margin-left:30%; + border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} + div.gapshortdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 20%; + margin-left: 40%; border-top: 1px solid; + border-bottom: 1px solid; } + div.gapdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 50%; + margin-left: 25%; border-top: 1px solid; + border-bottom: 1px solid;} + div.gapshortline { height: 0.3em; width: 20%; margin-left:40%; + border-top: 1px solid; } + .citation {vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: none;} + img.floatleft { float: left; + margin-right: 1em; + margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; } + img.floatright { float: right; + margin-left: 1em; margin-top: 0.5em; + margin-bottom: 0.5em; } + img.clearcenter {display: block; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0.5em; + margin-bottom: 0.5em} + --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Parson's Daughter of Oxney Colne, by +Anthony Trollope + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most +other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of +the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + + + + +Title: The Parson's Daughter of Oxney Colne + + +Author: Anthony Trollope + + + +Release Date: January 16, 2015 [eBook #3717] +[This file was first posted on August 7, 2001] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PARSON'S DAUGHTER OF OXNEY +COLNE*** +</pre> +<p>Transcribed from the 1864 Chapman and Hall “Tales of All +Countries” edition by David Price, email +ccx074@pglaf.org</p> +<h1>THE PARSON’S DAUGHTER OF OXNEY COLNE.</h1> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> prettiest scenery in all +England—and if I am contradicted in that assertion, I will +say in all Europe—is in Devonshire, on the southern and +south-eastern skirts of Dartmoor, where the rivers Dart, and +Avon, and Teign form themselves, and where the broken moor is +half cultivated, and the wild-looking upland fields are half +moor. In making this assertion I am often met with much +doubt, but it is by persons who do not really know the +locality. Men and women talk to me on the matter, who have +travelled down the line of railway from Exeter to Plymouth, who +have spent a fortnight at Torquay, and perhaps made an excursion +from Tavistock to the convict prison on Dartmoor. But who +knows the glories of Chagford? Who has walked through the +parish of Manaton? Who is conversant with Lustleigh Cleeves +and Withycombe in the moor? Who has explored Holne +Chase? Gentle reader, believe me that you will be rash in +contradicting me, unless you have done these things.</p> +<p>There or thereabouts—I will not say by the waters of +which little river it is washed—is the parish of Oxney +Colne. And for those who wish to see all the beauties of +this lovely country, a sojourn in Oxney Colne would be most +desirable, seeing that the sojourner would then be brought nearer +to all that he would wish to visit, than at any other spot in the +country. But there in an objection to any such +arrangement. There are only two decent houses in the whole +parish, and these are—or were when I knew the +locality—small and fully occupied by their +possessors. The larger and better is the parsonage, in +which lived the parson and his daughter; and the smaller is a +freehold residence of a certain Miss Le Smyrger, who owned a farm +of a hundred acres, which was rented by one Farmer Cloysey, and +who also possessed some thirty acres round her own house, which +she managed herself; regarding herself to be quite as great in +cream as Mr. Cloysey, and altogether superior to him in the +article of cyder. “But yeu has to pay no rent, +Miss,” Farmer Cloysey would say, when Miss Le Smyrger +expressed this opinion of her art in a manner too defiant. +“Yeu pays no rent, or yeu couldn’t do +it.” Miss Le Smyrger was an old maid, with a pedigree +and blood of her own, a hundred and thirty acres of fee-simple +land on the borders of Dartmoor, fifty years of age, a +constitution of iron, and an opinion of her own on every subject +under the sun.</p> +<p>And now for the parson and his daughter. The +parson’s name was Woolsworthy—or Woolathy, as it was +pronounced by all those who lived around him—the Rev. Saul +Woolsworthy; and his daughter was Patience Woolsworthy, or Miss +Patty, as she was known to the Devonshire world of those +parts. That name of Patience had not been well chosen for +her, for she was a hot-tempered damsel, warm in her convictions, +and inclined to express them freely. She had but two +closely intimate friends in the world, and by both of them this +freedom of expression had now been fully permitted to her since +she was a child. Miss Le Smyrger and her father were well +accustomed to her ways, and on the whole well satisfied with +them. The former was equally free and equally warm-tempered +as herself, and as Mr. Woolsworthy was allowed by his daughter to +be quite paramount on his own subject—for he had a +subject—he did not object to his daughter being paramount +on all others. A pretty girl was Patience Woolsworthy at +the time of which I am writing, and one who possessed much that +was worthy of remark and admiration, had she lived where beauty +meets with admiration, or where force of character is +remarked. But at Oxney Colne, on the borders of Dartmoor, +there were few to appreciate her, and it seemed as though she +herself had but little idea of carrying her talent further +afield, so that it might not remain for ever wrapped in a +blanket.</p> +<p>She was a pretty girl, tall end slender, with dark eyes and +black hair. Her eyes were perhaps too round for regular +beauty, and her hair was perhaps too crisp; her mouth was large +and expressive; her nose was finely formed, though a critic in +female form might have declared it to be somewhat broad. +But her countenance altogether was wonderfully +attractive—if only it might be seen without that resolution +for dominion which occasionally marred it, though sometimes it +even added to her attractions.</p> +<p>It must be confessed on behalf of Patience Woolsworthy, that +the circumstances of her life had peremptorily called upon her to +exercise dominion. She had lost her mother when she was +sixteen, and had had neither brother nor sister. She had no +neighbours near her fit either from education or rank to +interfere in the conduct of her life, excepting always Miss La +Smyrger. Miss Le Smyrger would have done anything for her, +including the whole management of her morals and of the parsonage +household, had Patience been content with such an +arrangement. But much as Patience had ever loved Miss Le +Smyrger, she was not content with this, and therefore she had +been called on to put forth a strong hand of her own. She +had put forth this strong hand early, and hence had come the +character which I am attempting to describe. But I must say +on behalf of this girl, that it was not only over others that she +thus exercised dominion. In acquiring that power she had +also acquired the much greater power of exercising rule over +herself.</p> +<p>But why should her father have been ignored in these family +arrangements? Perhaps it may almost suffice to say, that of +all living men her father was the man best conversant with the +antiquities of the county in which he lived. He was the +Jonathan Oldbuck of Devonshire, and especially of Dartmoor, +without that decision of character which enabled Oldbuck to keep +his womenkind in some kind of subjection, and probably enabled +him also to see that his weekly bills did not pass their proper +limits. Our Mr. Oldbuck, of Oxney Colne, was sadly +deficient in these. As a parish pastor with but a small +cure, he did his duty with sufficient energy, to keep him, at any +rate, from reproach. He was kind and charitable to the +poor, punctual in his services, forbearing with the farmers +around him, mild with his brother clergymen, and indifferent to +aught that bishop or archdeacon might think or say of him. +I do not name this latter attribute as a virtue, but as a +fact. But all these points were as nothing in the known +character of Mr. Woolsworthy, of Oxney Colne. He was the +antiquarian of Dartmoor. That was his line of life. +It was in that capacity that he was known to the Devonshire +world; it was as such that he journeyed about with his humble +carpet-bag, staying away from his parsonage a night or two at a +time; it was in that character that he received now and again +stray visitors in the single spare bedroom—not friends +asked to see him and his girl because of their +friendship—but men who knew something as to this buried +stone, or that old land-mark. In all these things his +daughter let him have his own way, assisting and encouraging +him. That was his line of life, and therefore she respected +it. But in all other matters she chose to be paramount at +the parsonage.</p> +<p>Mr. Woolsworthy was a little man, who always wore, except on +Sundays, grey clothes—clothes of so light a grey that they +would hardly have been regarded as clerical in a district less +remote. He had now reached a goodly age, being full seventy +years old; but still he was wiry and active, and showed but few +symptoms of decay. His head was bald, and the few remaining +locks that surrounded it were nearly white. But there was a +look of energy about his mouth, and a humour in his light grey +eye, which forbade those who knew him to regard him altogether as +an old man. As it was, he could walk from Oxney Colne to +Priestown, fifteen long Devonshire miles across the moor; and he +who could do that could hardly be regarded as too old for +work.</p> +<p>But our present story will have more to do with his daughter +than with him. A pretty girl, I have said, was Patience +Woolsworthy; and one, too, in many ways remarkable. She had +taken her outlook into life, weighing the things which she had +and those which she had not, in a manner very unusual, and, as a +rule, not always desirable for a young lady. The things +which she had not were very many. She had not society; she +had not a fortune; she had not any assurance of future means of +livelihood; she had not high hope of procuring for herself a +position in life by marriage; she had not that excitement and +pleasure in life which she read of in such books as found their +way down to Oxney Colne Parsonage. It would be easy to add +to the list of the things which she had not; and this list +against herself she made out with the utmost vigour. The +things which she had, or those rather which she assured herself +of having, were much more easily counted. She had the birth +and education of a lady, the strength of a healthy woman, and a +will of her own. Such was the list as she made it out for +herself, and I protest that I assert no more than the truth in +saying that she never added to it either beauty, wit, or +talent.</p> +<p>I began these descriptions by saying that Oxney Colne would, +of all places, be the best spot from which a tourist could visit +those parts of Devonshire, but for the fact that he could obtain +there none of the accommodation which tourists require. A +brother antiquarian might, perhaps, in those days have done so, +seeing that there was, as I have said, a spare bedroom at the +parsonage. Any intimate friend of Miss Le Smyrger’s +might be as fortunate, for she was equally well provided at Oxney +Combe, by which name her house was known. But Miss Le +Smyrger was not given to extensive hospitality, and it was only +to those who were bound to her, either by ties of blood or of +very old friendship, that she delighted to open her doors. +As her old friends were very few in number, as those few lived at +a distance, and as her nearest relations were higher in the world +than she was, and were said by herself to look down upon her, the +visits made to Oxney Combe were few and far between.</p> +<p>But now, at the period of which I am writing, such a visit was +about to be made. Miss Le Smyrger had a younger sister, who +had inherited a property in the parish of Oxney Colne equal to +that of the lady who now lived there; but this the younger sister +had inherited beauty also, and she therefore, in early life, had +found sundry lovers, one of whom became her husband. She +had married a man even then well to do in the world, but now rich +and almost mighty; a Member of Parliament, a lord of this and +that board, a man who had a house in Eaton Square, and a park in +the north of England; and in this way her course of life had been +very much divided from that of our Miss Le Smyrger. But the +Lord of the Government Board had been blessed with various +children; and perhaps it was now thought expedient to look after +Aunt Penelope’s Devonshire acres. Aunt Penelope was +empowered to leave them to whom she pleased; and though it was +thought in Eaton Square that she must, as a matter of course, +leave them to one of the family, nevertheless a little cousinly +intercourse might make the thing more certain. I will not +say that this was the sole cause of such a visit, but in these +days a visit was to be made by Captain Broughton to his +aunt. Now Captain John Broughton was the second son of +Alfonso Broughton, of Clapham Park and Eaton Square, Member of +Parliament, and Lord of the aforesaid Government Board.</p> +<p>“And what do you mean to do with him?” Patience +Woolsworthy asked of Miss Le Smyrger when that lady walked over +from the Combe to say that her nephew John was to arrive on the +following morning.</p> +<p>“Do with him? Why I shall bring him over here to +talk to your father.”</p> +<p>“He’ll be too fashionable for that; and papa +won’t trouble his head about him if he finds that he +doesn’t care for Dartmoor.”</p> +<p>“Then he may fall in love with you, my dear.”</p> +<p>“Well, yes; there’s that resource at any rate, and +for your sake I dare say I should be more civil to him than +papa. But he’ll soon get tired of making love, and +what you’ll do then I cannot imagine.”</p> +<p>That Miss Woolsworthy felt no interest in the coming of the +Captain I will not pretend to say. The advent of any +stranger with whom she would be called on to associate must be +matter of interest to her in that secluded place; and she was not +so absolutely unlike other young ladies that the arrival of an +unmarried young man would be the same to her as the advent of +some patriarchal paterfamilias. In taking that outlook into +life of which I have spoken, she had never said to herself that +she despised those things from which other girls received the +excitement, the joys, and the disappointment of their +lives. She had simply given herself to understand that very +little of such things would come her way, and that it behoved her +to live—to live happily if such might be +possible—without experiencing the need of them. She +had heard, when there was no thought of any such visit to Oxney +Colne, that John Broughton was a handsome, clever man—one +who thought much of himself, and was thought much of by +others—that there had been some talk of his marrying a +great heiress, which marriage, however, had not taken place +through unwillingness on his part, and that he was on the whole a +man of more mark in the world than the ordinary captain of +ordinary regiments.</p> +<p>Captain Broughton came to Oxney Combe, stayed there a +fortnight,—the intended period for his projected visit +having been fixed at three or four days,—and then went his +way. He went his way back to his London haunts, the time of +the year then being the close of the Easter holidays; but as he +did so he told his aunt that he should assuredly return to her in +the autumn.</p> +<p>“And assuredly I shall be happy to see you, +John—if you come with a certain purpose. If you have +no such purpose, you had better remain away.”</p> +<p>“I shall assuredly come,” the Captain had replied, +and then he had gone on his journey.</p> +<p>The summer passed rapidly by, and very little was said between +Miss Le Smyrger and Miss Woolsworthy about Captain +Broughton. In many respects—nay, I may say, as to all +ordinary matters, no two women could well be more intimate with +each other than they were,—and more than that, they had the +courage each to talk to the other with absolute truth as to +things concerning themselves—a courage in which dear +friends often fail. But nevertheless, very little was said +between them about Captain John Broughton. All that was +said may be here repeated.</p> +<p>“John says that he shall return here in August,” +Miss Le Smyrger said, as Patience was sitting with her in the +parlour at Oxney Combe, on the morning after that +gentleman’s departure.</p> +<p>“He told me so himself,” said Patience; and as she +spoke her round dark eyes assumed a look of more than ordinary +self-will. If Miss Le Smyrger had intended to carry the +conversation any further, she changed her mind as she looked at +her companion. Then, as I said, the summer ran by, and +towards the close of the warm days of July, Miss Le Smyrger, +sitting in the same chair in the same room, again took up the +conversation.</p> +<p>“I got a letter from John this morning. He says +that he shall be here on the third.”</p> +<p>“Does he?”</p> +<p>“He is very punctual to the time he named.”</p> +<p>“Yes; I fancy that he is a punctual man,” said +Patience.</p> +<p>“I hope that you will be glad to see him,” said +Miss Le Smyrger.</p> +<p>“Very glad to see him,” said Patience, with a bold +clear voice; and then the conversation was again dropped, and +nothing further was said till after Captain Broughton’s +second arrival in the parish.</p> +<p>Four months had then passed since his departure, and during +that time Miss Woolsworthy had performed all her usual daily +duties in their accustomed course. No one could discover +that she had been less careful in her household matters than had +been her wont, less willing to go among her poor neighbours, or +less assiduous in her attentions to her father. But not the +less was there a feeling in the minds of those around her that +some great change had come upon her. She would sit during +the long summer evenings on a certain spot outside the parsonage +orchard, at the top of a small sloping field in which their +solitary cow was always pastured, with a book on her knees before +her, but rarely reading. There she would sit, with the +beautiful view down to the winding river below her, watching the +setting sun, and thinking, thinking, thinking—thinking of +something of which she had never spoken. Often would Miss +Le Smyrger come upon her there, and sometimes would pass by her +even without a word; but never—never once did she dare to +ask her of the matter of her thoughts. But she knew the +matter well enough. No confession was necessary to inform +her that Patience Woolsworthy was in love with John +Broughton—ay, in love, to the full and entire loss of her +whole heart.</p> +<p>On one evening she was so sitting till the July sun had fallen +and hidden himself for the night, when her father came upon her +as he returned from one of his rambles on the moor. +“Patty,” he said, “you are always sitting there +now. Is it not late? Will you not be cold?”</p> +<p>“No, papa,” said she, “I shall not be +cold.”</p> +<p>“But won’t you come to the house? I miss you +when you come in so late that there’s no time to say a word +before we go to bed.”</p> +<p>She got up and followed him into the parsonage, and when they +were in the sitting-room together, and the door was closed, she +came up to him and kissed him. “Papa,” she +said, “would it make you very unhappy if I were to leave +you?”</p> +<p>“Leave me!” he said, startled by the serious and +almost solemn tone of her voice. “Do you mean for +always?”</p> +<p>“If I were to marry, papa?”</p> +<p>“Oh, marry! No; that would not make me +unhappy. It would make me very happy, Patty, to see you +married to a man you would love—very, very happy; though my +days would be desolate without you.”</p> +<p>“That is it, papa. What would you do if I went +from you?”</p> +<p>“What would it matter, Patty? I should be free, at +any rate, from a load which often presses heavy on me now. +What will you do when I shall leave you? A few more years +and all will be over with me. But who is it, love? +Has anybody said anything to you?”</p> +<p>“It was only an idea, papa. I don’t often +think of such a thing; but I did think of it then.” +And so the subject was allowed to pass by. This had +happened before the day of the second arrival had been absolutely +fixed and made known to Miss Woolsworthy.</p> +<p>And then that second arrival took place. The reader may +have understood from the words with which Miss Le Smyrger +authorised her nephew to make his second visit to Oxney Combe +that Miss Woolsworthy’s passion was not altogether +unauthorised. Captain Broughton had been told that he was +not to come unless he came with a certain purpose; and having +been so told, he still persisted in coming. There can be no +doubt but that he well understood the purport to which his aunt +alluded. “I shall assuredly come,” he had +said. And true to his word, he was now there.</p> +<p>Patience knew exactly the hour at which he must arrive at the +station at Newton Abbot, and the time also which it would take to +travel over those twelve uphill miles from the station to +Oxney. It need hardly be said that she paid no visit to +Miss Le Smyrger’s house on that afternoon; but she might +have known something of Captain Broughton’s approach +without going thither. His road to the Combe passed by the +parsonage-gate, and had Patience sat even at her bedroom window +she must have seen him. But on such a morning she would not +sit at her bedroom window—she would do nothing which would +force her to accuse herself of a restless longing for her +lover’s coming. It was for him to seek her. If +he chose to do so, he knew the way to the parsonage.</p> +<p>Miss Le Smyrger—good, dear, honest, hearty Miss Le +Smyrger, was in a fever of anxiety on behalf of her friend. +It was not that she wished her nephew to marry Patience—or +rather that she had entertained any such wish when he first +came,—among them. She was not given to match-making, +and moreover thought, or had thought within herself, that they of +Oxney Colne could do very well without any admixture from Eaton +Square. Her plan of life had been that, when old Mr. +Woolsworthy was taken away from Dartmoor, Patience should live +with her; and that when she also shuffled off her coil, then +Patience Woolsworthy should be the maiden mistress of Oxney +Combe—of Oxney Combe and Mr. Cloysey’s farm—to +the utter detriment of all the Broughtons. Such had been +her plan before nephew John had come among them—a plan not +to be spoken of till the coming of that dark day which should +make Patience an orphan. But now her nephew had been there, +and all was to be altered. Miss Le Smyrger’s plan +would have provided a companion for her old age; but that had not +been her chief object. She had thought more of Patience +than of herself, and now it seemed that a prospect of a higher +happiness was opening for her friend.</p> +<p>“John,” she said, as soon as the first greetings +were over, “do you remember the last words that I said to +you before you went away?” Now, for myself, I much +admire Miss Le Smyrger’s heartiness, but I do not think +much of her discretion. It would have been better, perhaps, +had she allowed things to take their course.</p> +<p>“I can’t say that I do,” said the +Captain. At the same time the Captain did remember very +well what those last words had been.</p> +<p>“I am so glad to see you, so delighted to see you, +if—if—if—,” and then she paused, for with +all her courage she hardly dared to ask her nephew whether he had +come there with the express purpose of asking Miss Woolsworthy to +marry him.</p> +<p>To tell the truth, for there is no room for mystery within the +limits of this short story,—to tell, I say, at a word the +plain and simple truth, Captain Broughton had already asked that +question. On the day before he left Oxney Come, he had in +set terms proposed to the parson’s daughter, and indeed the +words, the hot and frequent words, which previously to that had +fallen like sweetest honey into the ears of Patience Woolsworthy, +had made it imperative on him to do so. When a man in such +a place as that has talked to a girl of love day after day, must +not he talk of it to some definite purpose on the day on which he +leaves her? Or if he do not, must he not submit to be +regarded as false, selfish, and almost fraudulent? Captain +Broughton, however, had asked the question honestly and +truly. He had done so honestly and truly, but in words, or, +perhaps, simply with a tone, that had hardly sufficed to satisfy +the proud spirit of the girl he loved. She by that time had +confessed to herself that she loved him with all her heart; but +she had made no such confession to him. To him she had +spoken no word, granted no favour, that any lover might +rightfully regard as a token of love returned. She had +listened to him as he spoke, and bade him keep such sayings for +the drawing-rooms of his fashionable friends. Then he had +spoken out and had asked for that hand,—not, perhaps, as a +suitor tremulous with hope,—but as a rich man who knows +that he can command that which he desires to purchase.</p> +<p>“You should think more of this,” she had said to +him at last. “If you would really have me for your +wife, it will not be much to you to return here again when time +for thinking of it shall have passed by.” With these +words she had dismissed him, and now he had again come back to +Oxney Colne. But still she would not place herself at the +window to look for him, nor dress herself in other than her +simple morning country dress, nor omit one item of her daily +work. If he wished to take her at all, he should wish to +take her as she really was, in her plain country life, but he +should take her also with full observance of all those privileges +which maidens are allowed to claim from their lovers. He +should contract no ceremonious observance because she was the +daughter of a poor country parson who would come to him without a +shilling, whereas he stood high in the world’s books. +He had asked her to give him all that she had, and that all she +was ready to give, without stint. But the gift must be +valued before it could be given or received, he also was to give +her as much, and she would accept it as beyond all price. +But she would not allow that that which was offered to her was in +any degree the more precious because of his outward worldly +standing.</p> +<p>She would not pretend to herself that she thought he would +come to her that day, and therefore she busied herself in the +kitchen and about the house, giving directions to her two maids +as though the afternoon would pass as all other days did pass in +that household. They usually dined at four, and she rarely +in these summer months went far from the house before that +hour. At four precisely she sat down with her father, and +then said that she was going up as far as Helpholme after +dinner. Helpholme was a solitary farmhouse in another +parish, on the border of the moor, and Mr. Woolsworthy asked her +whether he should accompany her.</p> +<p>“Do, papa,” she said, “if you are not too +tired.” And yet she had thought how probable it might +be that she should meet John Broughton on her walk. And so +it was arranged; but just as dinner was over, Mr. Woolsworthy +remembered himself.</p> +<p>“Gracious me,” he said, “how my memory is +going. Gribbles, from Ivybridge, and old John Poulter, from +Bovey, are coming to meet here by appointment. You +can’t put Helpholme off till to-morrow?”</p> +<p>Patience, however, never put off anything, and therefore at +six o’clock, when her father had finished his slender +modicum of toddy, she tied on her hat and went on her walk. +She started with a quick step, and left no word to say by which +route she would go. As she passed up along the little lane +which led towards Oxney Combe, she would not even look to see if +he was coming towards her; and when she left the road, passing +over a stone stile into a little path which ran first through the +upland fields, and then across the moor ground towards Helpholme, +she did not look back once, or listen for his coming step.</p> +<p>She paid her visit, remaining upwards of an hour with the old +bedridden mother of the tenant of Helpholme. “God +bless you, my darling!” said the old woman as she left her; +“and send you some one to make your own path bright and +happy through the world.” These words were still +ringing in her ears with all their significance as she saw John +Broughton waiting for her at the first stile which she had to +pass after leaving the farmer’s haggard.</p> +<p>“Patty,” he said, as he took her hand, and held it +close within both his own, “what a chase I have had after +you!”</p> +<p>“And who asked you, Captain Broughton?” she +answered, smiling. “If the journey was too much for +your poor London strength, could you not have waited till +to-morrow morning, when you would have found me at the +parsonage?” But she did not draw her hand away from +him, or in any way pretend that he had not a right to accost her +as a lover.</p> +<p>“No, I could not wait. I am more eager to see +those I love than you seem to be.”</p> +<p>“How do you know whom I love, or how eager I might be to +see them? There is an old woman there whom I love, and I +have thought nothing of this walk with the object of seeing +her.” And now, slowly drawing her hand away from him, +she pointed to the farmhouse which she had left.</p> +<p>“Patty,” he said, after a minute’s pause, +during which she had looked full into his face with all the force +of her bright eyes; “I have come from London to-day, +straight down here to Oxney, and from my aunt’s house close +upon your footsteps after you, to ask you that one +question—Do you love me?”</p> +<p>“What a Hercules!” she said, again laughing. +“Do you really mean that you left London only this +morning? Why, you must have been five hours in a railway +carriage and two in a postchaise, not to talk of the walk +afterwards. You ought to take more care of yourself, +Captain Broughton!”</p> +<p>He would have been angry with her—for he did not like to +be quizzed—had she not put her hand on his arm as she +spoke, and the softness of her touch had redeemed the offence of +her words.</p> +<p>“All that I have done,” said he, “that I may +hear one word from you.”</p> +<p>“That any word of mine should have such potency! +But let us walk on, or my father will take us for some of the +standing stones of the moor. How have you found your +aunt? If you only knew the cares that have sat on her dear +shoulders for the last week past, in order that your high +mightiness might have a sufficiency to eat and drink in these +desolate half-starved regions!”</p> +<p>“She might have saved herself such anxiety. No one +can care less for such things than I do.”</p> +<p>“And yet I think I have heard you boast of the cook of +your club.” And then again there was silence for a +minute or two.</p> +<p>“Patty,” said he, stopping again in the path; +“answer my question. I have a right to demand an +answer. Do you love me?”</p> +<p>“And what if I do? What if I have been so silly as +to allow your perfections to be too many for my weak heart? +What then, Captain Broughton?”</p> +<p>“It cannot be that you love me, or you would not joke +now.”</p> +<p>“Perhaps not, indeed,” she said. It seemed +as though she were resolved not to yield an inch in her own +humour. And then again they walked on.</p> +<p>“Patty,” he said once more, “I shall get an +answer from you to-night,—this evening; now, during this +walk, or I shall return to-morrow, and never revisit this spot +again.”</p> +<p>“Oh, Captain Broughton, how should we ever manage to +live without you?”</p> +<p>“Very well,” he said; “up to the end of this +walk I can hear it all;—and one word spoken then will mend +it all.”</p> +<p>During the whole of this time she felt that she was ill-using +him. She knew that she loved him with all her heart; that +it would nearly kill her to part with him; that she had heard his +renewed offer with an ecstacy of joy. She acknowledged to +herself that he was giving proof of his devotion as strong as any +which a girl could receive from her lover. And yet she +could hardly bring herself to say the word he longed to +hear. That word once said, and then she knew that she must +succumb to her love for ever! That word once said, and +there would be nothing for her but to spoil him with her +idolatry! That word once said, and she must continue to +repeat it into his ears, till perhaps he might be tired of +hearing it! And now he had threatened her, and how could +she speak after that? She certainly would not speak it +unless he asked her again without such threat. And so they +walked on in silence.</p> +<p>“Patty,” he said at last. “By the +heavens above us you shall answer me. Do you love +me?”</p> +<p>She now stood still, and almost trembled as she looked up into +his face. She stood opposite to him for a moment, and then +placing her two hands on his shoulders, she answered him. +“I do, I do, I do,” she said, “with all my +heart; with all my heart—with all my heart and +strength.” And then her head fell upon his +breast.</p> +<p>* * *</p> +<p>Captain Broughton was almost as much surprised as delighted by +the warmth of the acknowledgment made by the eager-hearted +passionate girl whom he now held within his arms. She had +said it now; the words had been spoken; and there was nothing for +her but to swear to him over and over again with her sweetest +oaths, that those words were true—true as her soul. +And very sweet was the walk down from thence to the parsonage +gate. He spoke no more of the distance of the ground, or +the length of his day’s journey. But he stopped her +at every turn that he might press her arm the closer to his own, +that he might look into the brightness of her eyes, and prolong +his hour of delight. There were no more gibes now on her +tongue, no raillery at his London finery, no laughing comments on +his coming and going. With downright honesty she told him +everything: how she had loved him before her heart was warranted +in such a passion; how, with much thinking, she had resolved that +it would be unwise to take him at his first word, and had thought +it better that he should return to London, and then think over +it; how she had almost repented of her courage when she had +feared, during those long summer days, that he would forget her; +and how her heart had leapt for joy when her old friend had told +her that he was coming.</p> +<p>“And yet,” said he, “you were not glad to +see me!”</p> +<p>“Oh, was I not glad? You cannot understand the +feelings of a girl who has lived secluded as I have done. +Glad is no word for the joy I felt. But it was not seeing +you that I cared for so much. It was the knowledge that you +were near me once again. I almost wish now that I had not +seen you till to-morrow.” But as she spoke she +pressed his arm, and this caress gave the lie to her last +words.</p> +<p>“No, do not come in to-night,” she said, when she +reached the little wicket that led up to the parsonage. +“Indeed, you shall not. I could not behave myself +properly if you did.”</p> +<p>“But I don’t want you to behave +properly.”</p> +<p>“Oh! I am to keep that for London, am I? +But, nevertheless, Captain Broughton, I will not invite you +either to tea or to supper to-night.”</p> +<p>“Surely I may shake hands with your father.”</p> +<p>“Not to-night—not till—John, I may tell him, +may I not? I must tell him at once.”</p> +<p>“Certainly,” said he.</p> +<p>“And then you shall see him to-morrow. Let me +see—at what hour shall I bid you come?”</p> +<p>“To breakfast.”</p> +<p>“No, indeed. What on earth would your aunt do with +her broiled turkey and the cold pie? I have got no cold pie +for you.”</p> +<p>“I hate cold pie.”</p> +<p>“What a pity! But, John, I should be forced to +leave you directly after breakfast. Come down—come +down at two, or three; and then I will go back with you to Aunt +Penelope. I must see her to-morrow;” and so at last +the matter was settled, and the happy Captain, as he left her, +was hardly resisted in his attempt to press her lips to his +own.</p> +<p>When she entered the parlour in which her father was sitting, +there still were Gribbles and Poulter discussing some knotty +point of Devon lore. So Patience took off her hat, and sat +herself down, waiting till they should go. For full an hour +she had to wait, and then Gribbles and Poulter did go. But +it was not in such matters as this that Patience Woolsworthy was +impatient. She could wait, and wait, and wait, curbing +herself for weeks and months, while the thing waited for was in +her eyes good; but she could not curb her hot thoughts or her hot +words when things came to be discussed which she did not think to +be good.</p> +<p>“Papa,” she said, when Gribbles’ long-drawn +last word had been spoken at the door. “Do you +remember how I asked you the other day what you would say if I +were to leave you?”</p> +<p>“Yes, surely,” he replied, looking up at her in +astonishment.</p> +<p>“I am going to leave you now,” she said. +“Dear, dearest father, how am I to go from you?”</p> +<p>“Going to leave me,” said he, thinking of her +visit to Helpholme, and thinking of nothing else.</p> +<p>Now, there had been a story about Helpholme. That +bedridden old lady there had a stalwart son, who was now the +owner of the Helpholme pastures. But though owner in fee of +all those wild acres, and of the cattle which they supported, he +was not much above the farmers around him, either in manners or +education. He had his merits, however; for he was honest, +well-to-do in the world, and modest withal. How strong love +had grown up, springing from neighbourly kindness, between our +Patience and his mother, it needs not here to tell; but rising +from it had come another love—or an ambition which might +have grown to love. The young man, after much thought, had +not dared to speak to Miss Woolsworthy, but he had sent a message +by Miss Le Smyrger. If there could be any hope for him, he +would present himself as a suitor—on trial. He did +not owe a shilling in the world, and had money by +him—saved. He wouldn’t ask the parson for a +shilling of fortune. Such had been the tenor of his +message, and Miss Le Smyrger had delivered it faithfully. +“He does not mean it,” Patience had said with her +stern voice. “Indeed he does, my dear. You may +be sure he is in earnest,” Miss Le Smyrger had replied; +“and there is not an honester man in these +parts.”</p> +<p>“Tell him,” said Patience, not attending to the +latter portion of her friend’s last speech, “that it +cannot be—make him understand, you know—and tell him +also that the matter shall be thought of no more.” +The matter had, at any rate, been spoken of no more, but the +young farmer still remained a bachelor, and Helpholme still +wanted a mistress. But all this came back upon the +parson’s mind when his daughter told him that she was about +to leave him.</p> +<p>“Yes, dearest,” she said; and as she spoke she now +knelt at his knees. “I have been asked in marriage, +and I have given myself away.”</p> +<p>“Well, my love, if you will be happy—”</p> +<p>“I hope I shall; I think I shall. But you, +papa?”</p> +<p>“You will not be far from us.”</p> +<p>“Oh, yes; in London.”</p> +<p>“In London?”</p> +<p>“Captain Broughton lives in London generally.”</p> +<p>“And has Captain Broughton asked you to marry +him?”</p> +<p>“Yes, papa—who else? Is he not good? +Will you not love him? Oh, papa, do not say that I am wrong +to love him?”</p> +<p>He never told her his mistake, or explained to her that he had +not thought it possible that the high-placed son of the London +great man should have fallen in love with his undowered daughter; +but he embraced her, and told her, with all his enthusiasm, that +he rejoiced in her joy, and would be happy in her +happiness. “My own Patty,” he said, “I +have ever known that you were too good for this life of ours +here.” And then the evening wore away into the night, +with many tears, but still with much happiness.</p> +<p>Captain Broughton, as he walked back to Oxney Combe, made up +his mind that he would say nothing on the matter to his aunt till +the next morning. He wanted to think over it all, and to +think it over, if possible, by himself. He had taken a step +in life, the most important that a man is ever called on to take, +and he had to reflect whether or no he had taken it with +wisdom.</p> +<p>“Have you seen her?” said Miss Le Smyrger, very +anxiously, when he came into the drawing-room.</p> +<p>“Miss Woolsworthy you mean,” said he. +“Yes, I’ve seen her. As I found her out, I took +a long walk, and happened to meet her. Do you know, aunt, I +think I’ll go to bed; I was up at five this morning, and +have been on the move ever since.”</p> +<p>Miss Le Smyrger perceived that she was to hear nothing that +evening, so she handed him his candlestick and allowed him to go +to his room.</p> +<p>But Captain Broughton did not immediately retire to bed, nor +when he did so was he able to sleep at once. Had this step +that he had taken been a wise one? He was not a man who, in +worldly matters, had allowed things to arrange themselves for +him, as is the case with so many men. He had formed views +for himself, and had a theory of life. Money for +money’s sake he had declared to himself to be bad. +Money, as a concomitant to things which were in themselves good, +he had declared to himself to be good also. That +concomitant in this affair of his marriage, he had now +missed. Well; he had made up his mind to that, and would +put up with the loss. He had means of living of his own, +the means not so extensive as might have been desirable. +That it would be well for him to become a married man, looking +merely to the state of life as opposed to his present state, he +had fully resolved. On that point, therefore, there was +nothing to repent. That Patty Woolsworthy was good, +affectionate, clever, and beautiful, he was sufficiently +satisfied. It would be odd indeed if he were not so +satisfied now, seeing that for the last four months he had so +declared to himself daily with many inward asseverations. +And yet though he repeated, now again, that he was satisfied, I +do not think that he was so fully satisfied of it as he had been +throughout the whole of those four months. It is sad to say +so, but I fear—I fear that such was the case. When +you have your plaything, how much of the anticipated pleasure +vanishes, especially if it be won easily.</p> +<p>He had told none of his family what were his intentions in +this second visit to Devonshire, and now he had to bethink +himself whether they would be satisfied. What would his +sister say, she who had married the Honourable Augustus +Gumbleton, gold-stick-in-waiting to Her Majesty’s Privy +Council? Would she receive Patience with open arms, and +make much of her about London? And then how far would +London suit Patience, or would Patience suit London? There +would be much for him to do in teaching her, and it would be well +for him to set about the lesson without loss of time. So +far he got that night, but when the morning came he went a step +further, and began mentally to criticise her manner to +himself. It had been very sweet, that warm, that full, that +ready declaration of love. Yes; it had been very sweet; +but—but—; when, after her little jokes, she did +confess her love, had she not been a little too free for feminine +excellence? A man likes to be told that he is loved, but he +hardly wishes that the girl he is to marry should fling herself +at his head!</p> +<p>Ah me! yes; it was thus he argued to himself as on that +morning he went through the arrangements of his toilet. +“Then he was a brute,” you say, my pretty +reader. I have never said that he was not a brute. +But this I remark, that many such brutes are to be met with in +the beaten paths of the world’s highway. When +Patience Woolsworthy had answered him coldly, bidding him go back +to London and think over his love; while it seemed from her +manner that at any rate as yet she did not care for him; while he +was absent from her, and, therefore, longing for her, the +possession of her charms, her talent and bright honesty of +purpose had seemed to him a thing most desirable. Now they +were his own. They had, in fact, been his own from the +first. The heart of this country-bred girl had fallen at +the first word from his mouth. Had she not so confessed to +him? She was very nice—very nice indeed. He +loved her dearly. But had he not sold himself too +cheaply?</p> +<p>I by no means say that he was not a brute. But whether +brute or no, he was an honest man, and had no remotest dream, +either then, on that morning, or during the following days on +which such thoughts pressed more quickly on his mind—of +breaking away from his pledged word. At breakfast on that +morning he told all to Miss Le Smyrger, and that lady, with warm +and gracious intentions, confided to him her purpose regarding +her property. “I have always regarded Patience as my +heir,” she said, “and shall do so still.”</p> +<p>“Oh, indeed,” said Captain Broughton.</p> +<p>“But it is a great, great pleasure to me to think that +she will give back the little property to my sister’s +child. You will have your mother’s, and thus it will +all come together again.”</p> +<p>“Ah!” said Captain Broughton. He had his own +ideas about property, and did not, even under existing +circumstances, like to hear that his aunt considered herself at +liberty to leave the acres away to one who was by blood quite a +stranger to the family.</p> +<p>“Does Patience know of this?” he asked.</p> +<p>“Not a word,” said Miss Le Smyrger. And then +nothing more was said upon the subject.</p> +<p>On that afternoon he went down and received the parson’s +benediction and congratulations with a good grace. Patience +said very little on the occasion, and indeed was absent during +the greater part of the interview. The two lovers then +walked up to Oxney Combe, and there were more benedictions and +more congratulations. “All went merry as a marriage +bell,” at any rate as far as Patience was concerned. +Not a word had yet fallen from that dear mouth, not a look had +yet come over that handsome face, which tended in any way to mar +her bliss. Her first day of acknowledged love was a day +altogether happy, and when she prayed for him as she knelt beside +her bed there was no feeling in her mind that any fear need +disturb her joy.</p> +<p>I will pass over the next three or four days very quickly, +merely saying that Patience did not find them so pleasant as that +first day after her engagement. There was something in her +lover’s manner—something which at first she could not +define—which by degrees seemed to grate against her +feelings.</p> +<p>He was sufficiently affectionate, that being a matter on which +she did not require much demonstration; but joined to his +affection there seemed to be—; she hardly liked to suggest +to herself a harsh word, but could it be possible that he was +beginning to think that she was not good enough for him? +And then she asked herself the question—was she good enough +for him? If there were doubt about that, the match should +be broken off, though she tore her own heart out in the +struggle. The truth, however, was this—that he had +begun that teaching which he had already found to be so +necessary. Now, had any one essayed to teach Patience +German or mathematics, with that young lady’s free consent, +I believe that she would have been found a meek scholar. +But it was not probable that she would be meek when she found a +self-appointed tutor teaching her manners and conduct without her +consent.</p> +<p>So matters went on for four or five days, and on the evening +of the fifth day Captain Broughton and his aunt drank tea at the +parsonage. Nothing very especial occurred; but as the +parson and Miss La Smyrger insisted on playing backgammon with +devoted perseverance during the whole evening, Broughton had a +good opportunity of saying a word or two about those changes in +his lady-love which a life in London would require—and some +word he said also—some single slight word as to the higher +station in life to which he would exalt his bride. Patience +bore it—for her father and Miss La Smyrger were in the +room—she bore it well, speaking no syllable of anger, and +enduring, for the moment, the implied scorn of the old +parsonage. Then the evening broke up, and Captain Broughton +walked back to Oxney Combe with his aunt. +“Patty,” her father said to her before they went to +bed, “he seems to me to be a most excellent young +man.” “Dear papa,” she answered, kissing +him. “And terribly deep in love,” said Mr. +Woolsworthy. “Oh, I don’t know about +that,” she answered, as she left him with her sweetest +smile. But though she could thus smile at her +father’s joke, she had already made up her mind that there +was still something to be learned as to her promised husband +before she could place herself altogether in his hands. She +would ask him whether he thought himself liable to injury from +this proposed marriage; and though he should deny any such +thought, she would know from the manner of his denial what his +true feelings were.</p> +<p>And he, too, on that night, during his silent walk with Miss +Le Smyrger, had entertained some similar thoughts. “I +fear she is obstinate,” he said to himself; and then he had +half accused her of being sullen also. “If that be +her temper, what a life of misery I have before me!”</p> +<p>“Have you fixed a day yet?” his aunt asked him as +they came near to her house.</p> +<p>“No, not yet; I don’t know whether it will suit me +to fix it before I leave.”</p> +<p>“Why, it was but the other day you were in such a +hurry.”</p> +<p>“Ah—yes—I have thought more about it since +then.”</p> +<p>“I should have imagined that this would depend on what +Patty thinks,” said Miss Le Smyrger, standing up for the +privileges of her sex. “It is presumed that the +gentleman is always ready as soon as the lady will +consent.”</p> +<p>“Yes, in ordinary cases it is so; but when a girl is +taken out of her own sphere—”</p> +<p>“Her own sphere! Let me caution you, Master John, +not to talk to Patty about her own sphere.”</p> +<p>“Aunt Penelope, as Patience is to be my wife and not +yours, I must claim permission to speak to her on such subjects +as may seem suitable to me.” And then they +parted—not in the best humour with each other.</p> +<p>On the following day Captain Broughton and Miss Woolsworthy +did not meet till the evening. She had said, before those +few ill-omened words had passed her lover’s lips, that she +would probably be at Miss Le Smyrger’s house on the +following morning. Those ill-omened words did pass her +lover’s lips, and then she remained at home. This did +not come from sullenness, nor even from anger, but from a +conviction that it would be well that she should think much +before she met him again. Nor was he anxious to hurry a +meeting. His thought—his base thought—was this; +that she would be sure to come up to the Combe after him; but she +did not come, and therefore in the evening he went down to her, +and asked her to walk with him.</p> +<p>They went away by the path that led to Helpholme, and little +was said between them till they had walked some mile +together.</p> +<p>Patience, as she went along the path, remembered almost to the +letter the sweet words which had greeted her ears as she came +down that way with him on the night of his arrival; but he +remembered nothing of that sweetness then. Had he not made +an ass of himself during these last six months? That was +the thought which very much had possession of his mind.</p> +<p>“Patience,” he said at last, having hitherto +spoken only an indifferent word now and again since they had left +the parsonage, “Patience, I hope you realise the importance +of the step which you and I are about to take?”</p> +<p>“Of course I do,” she answered. “What +an odd question that is for you to ask!”</p> +<p>“Because,” said he, “sometimes I almost +doubt it. It seems to me as though you thought you could +remove yourself from here to your new home with no more trouble +than when you go from home up to the Combe.”</p> +<p>“Is that meant for a reproach, John?”</p> +<p>“No, not for a reproach, but for advice. Certainly +not for a reproach.”</p> +<p>“I am glad of that.”</p> +<p>“But I should wish to make you think how great is the +leap in the world which you are about to take.” Then +again they walked on for many steps before she answered him.</p> +<p>“Tell me, then, John,” she said, when she had +sufficiently considered what words she should speak; and as she +spoke a bright colour suffused her face, and her eyes flashed +almost with anger. “What leap do you mean? Do +you mean a leap upwards?”</p> +<p>“Well, yes; I hope it will be so.”</p> +<p>“In one sense, certainly, it would be a leap +upwards. To be the wife of the man I loved; to have the +privilege of holding his happiness in my hand; to know that I was +his own—the companion whom he had chosen out of all the +world—that would, indeed, be a leap upwards; a leap almost +to heaven, if all that were so. But if you mean upwards in +any other sense—”</p> +<p>“I was thinking of the social scale.”</p> +<p>“Then, Captain Broughton, your thoughts were doing me +dishonour.”</p> +<p>“Doing you dishonour!”</p> +<p>“Yes, doing me dishonour. That your father is, in +the world’s esteem, a greater man than mine is doubtless +true enough. That you, as a man, are richer than I am as a +woman, is doubtless also true. But you dishonour me, and +yourself also, if these things can weigh with you now.”</p> +<p>“Patience,—I think you can hardly know what words +you are saying to me.”</p> +<p>“Pardon me, but I think I do. Nothing that you can +give me—no gifts of that description—can weigh aught +against that which I am giving you. If you had all the +wealth and rank of the greatest lord in the land, it would count +as nothing in such a scale. If—as I have not +doubted—if in return for my heart you have given me yours, +then—then—then you have paid me fully. But when +gifts such as those are going, nothing else can count even as a +make-weight.”</p> +<p>“I do not quite understand you,” he answered, +after a pause. “I fear you are a little +high-flown.” And then, while the evening was still +early, they walked back to the parsonage almost without another +word.</p> +<p>Captain Broughton at this time had only one full day more to +remain at Oxney Colne. On the afternoon following that he +was to go as far as Exeter, and thence return to London. Of +course, it was to be expected that the wedding day would be fixed +before he went, and much had been said about it during the first +day or two of his engagement. Then he had pressed for an +early time, and Patience, with a girl’s usual diffidence, +had asked for some little delay. But now nothing was said +on the subject; and how was it probable that such a matter could +be settled after such a conversation as that which I have +related? That evening, Miss Le Smyrger asked whether the +day had been fixed. “No,” said Captain +Broughton, harshly; “nothing has been fixed.” +“But it will be arranged before you go?” +“Probably not,” he said; and then the subject was +dropped for the time.</p> +<p>“John,” she said, just before she went to bed, +“if there be anything wrong between you and Patience, I +conjure you to tell me.”</p> +<p>“You had better ask her,” he replied. +“I can tell you nothing.”</p> +<p>On the following morning he was much surprised by seeing +Patience on the gravel path before Miss Le Smyrger’s gate +immediately after breakfast. He went to the door to open it +for her, and she, as she gave him her hand, told him that she +came up to speak to him. There was no hesitation in her +manner, nor any look of anger in her face. But there was in +her gait and form, in her voice and countenance, a fixedness of +purpose which he had never seen before, or at any rate had never +acknowledged.</p> +<p>“Certainly,” said he. “Shall I come +out with you, or will you come up stairs?”</p> +<p>“We can sit down in the summer-house,” she said; +and thither they both went.</p> +<p>“Captain Broughton,” she said—and she began +her task the moment that they were both seated—“you +and I have engaged ourselves as man and wife, but perhaps we have +been over rash.”</p> +<p>“How so?” said he.</p> +<p>“It may be—and indeed I will say more—it is +the case that we have made this engagement without knowing enough +of each other’s character.”</p> +<p>“I have not thought so.”</p> +<p>“The time will perhaps come when you will so think, but +for the sake of all that we most value, let it come before it is +too late. What would be our fate—how terrible would +be our misery—if such a thought should come to either of us +after we have linked our lots together.”</p> +<p>There was a solemnity about her as she thus spoke which almost +repressed him,—which for a time did prevent him from taking +that tone of authority which on such a subject he would choose to +adopt. But he recovered himself. “I hardly +think that this comes well from you,” he said.</p> +<p>“From whom else should it come? Who else can fight +my battle for me; and, John, who else can fight that same battle +on your behalf? I tell you this, that with your mind +standing towards me as it does stand at present, you could not +give me your hand at the altar with true words and a happy +conscience. Am I not true? You have half repented of +your bargain already. Is it not so?”</p> +<p>He did not answer her; but getting up from his seat walked to +the front of the summer-house, and stood there with his back +turned upon her. It was not that he meant to be ungracious, +but in truth he did not know how to answer her. He had half +repented of his bargain.</p> +<p>“John,” she said, getting up and following him, so +that she could put her hand upon his arm, “I have been very +angry with you.”</p> +<p>“Angry with me!” he said, turning sharp upon +her.</p> +<p>“Yes, angry with you. You would have treated me +like a child. But that feeling has gone now. I am not +angry now. There is my hand;—the hand of a +friend. Let the words that have been spoken between us be +as though they had not been spoken. Let us both be +free.”</p> +<p>“Do you mean it?”</p> +<p>“Certainly I mean it.” As she spoke these +words her eyes filled with tears, in spite of all the efforts she +could make; but he was not looking at her, and her efforts had +sufficed to prevent any sob from being audible.</p> +<p>“With all my heart,” he said; and it was manifest +from his tone that he had no thought of her happiness as he +spoke. It was true that she had been angry with +him—angry, as she had herself declared; but nevertheless, +in what she had said and what she had done, she had thought more +of his happiness than of her own. Now she was angry once +again.</p> +<p>“With all your heart, Captain Broughton! Well, so +be it. If with all your heart, then is the necessity so +much the greater. You go to-morrow. Shall we say +farewell now?”</p> +<p>“Patience, I am not going to be lectured.”</p> +<p>“Certainly not by me. Shall we say farewell +now?”</p> +<p>“Yes, if you are determined.”</p> +<p>“I am determined. Farewell, Captain +Broughton. You have all my wishes for your +happiness.” And she held out her hand to him.</p> +<p>“Patience!” he said. And he looked at her +with a dark frown, as though he would strive to frighten her into +submission. If so, he might have saved himself any such +attempt.</p> +<p>“Farewell, Captain Broughton. Give me your hand, +for I cannot stay.” He gave her his hand, hardly +knowing why he did so. She lifted it to her lips and kissed +it, and then, leaving him, passed from the summer-house down +through the wicket-gate, and straight home to the parsonage.</p> +<p>During the whole of that day she said no word to any one of +what had occurred. When she was once more at home she went +about her household affairs as she had done on that day of his +arrival. When she sat down to dinner with her father he +observed nothing to make him think that she was unhappy; nor +during the evening was there any expression in her face, or any +tone in her voice, which excited his attention. On the +following morning Captain Broughton called at the parsonage, and +the servant-girl brought word to her mistress that he was in the +parlour. But she would not see him. “Laws, +miss, you ain’t a quarrelled with your beau?” the +poor girl said. “No, not quarrelled,” she said; +“but give him that.” It was a scrap of paper, +containing a word or two in pencil. “It is better +that we should not meet again. God bless you.” +And from that day to this, now more than ten years, they never +have met.</p> +<p>“Papa,” she said to her father that afternoon, +“dear papa, do not be angry with me. It is all over +between me and John Broughton. Dearest, you and I will not +be separated.”</p> +<p>It would be useless here to tell how great was the old +man’s surprise and how true his sorrow. As the tale +was told to him no cause was given for anger with any one. +Not a word was spoken against the suitor who had on that day +returned to London with a full conviction that now at least he +was relieved from his engagement. “Patty, my darling +child,” he said, “may God grant that it be for the +best!”</p> +<p>“It is for the best,” she answered stoutly. +“For this place I am fit; and I much doubt whether I am fit +for any other.”</p> +<p>On that day she did not see Miss Le Smyrger, but on the +following morning, knowing that Captain Broughton had gone off, +having heard the wheels of the carriage as they passed by the +parsonage gate on his way to the station,—she walked up to +the Combe.</p> +<p>“He has told you, I suppose?” said she.</p> +<p>“Yes,” said Miss Le Smyrger. “And I +will never see him again unless he asks your pardon on his +knees. I have told him so. I would not even give him +my hand as he went.”</p> +<p>“But why so, thou kindest one? The fault was mine +more than his.”</p> +<p>“I understand. I have eyes in my head,” said +the old maid. “I have watched him for the last four +or five days. If you could have kept the truth to yourself +and bade him keep off from you, he would have been at your feet +now, licking the dust from your shoes.”</p> +<p>“But, dear friend, I do not want a man to lick dust from +my shoes.”</p> +<p>“Ah, you are a fool. You do not know the value of +your own wealth.”</p> +<p>“True; I have been a fool. I was a fool to think +that one coming from such a life as he has led could be happy +with such as I am. I know the truth now. I have +bought the lesson dearly,—but perhaps not too dearly, +seeing that it will never be forgotten.”</p> +<p>There was but little more said about the matter between our +three friends at Oxney Colne. What, indeed, could be +said? Miss Le Smyrger for a year or two still expected that +her nephew would return and claim his bride; but he has never +done so, nor has there been any correspondence between +them. Patience Woolsworthy had learned her lesson +dearly. She had given her whole heart to the man; and, +though she so bore herself that no one was aware of the violence +of the struggle, nevertheless the struggle within her bosom was +very violent. She never told herself that she had done +wrong; she never regretted her loss; but yet—yet—the +loss was very hard to bear. He also had loved her, but he +was not capable of a love which could much injure his daily +peace. Her daily peace was gone for many a day to come.</p> +<p>Her father is still living; but there is a curate now in the +parish. In conjunction with him and with Miss Le Smyrger +she spends her time in the concerns of the parish. In her +own eyes she is a confirmed old maid; and such is my opinion +also. The romance of her life was played out in that +summer. She never sits now lonely on the hill-side thinking +how much she might do for one whom she really loved. But +with a large heart she loves many, and, with no romance, she +works hard to lighten the burdens of those she loves.</p> +<p>As for Captain Broughton, all the world know that he did marry +that great heiress with whom his name was once before connected, +and that he is now a useful member of Parliament, working on +committees three or four days a week with a zeal that is +indefatigable. Sometimes, not often, as he thinks of +Patience Woolsworthy, a gratified smile comes across his +face.</p> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PARSON'S DAUGHTER OF OXNEY +COLNE***</p> +<pre> + + +***** This file should be named 3717-h.htm or 3717-h.zip****** + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/7/1/3717 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part +of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +concept and trademark. 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