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border-bottom: thin dotted gray; } - span.floatright { text-align: right; float: right; width: 9em; min-width: 9em; - max-width: 9em; } - </style> - </head> - <body> - - -<pre> - -Project Gutenberg's Kitty Alone (Volume 2 of 3), by S. Baring Gould - -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: Kitty Alone (Volume 2 of 3) - A Story of Three Fires - -Author: S. Baring Gould - -Release Date: May 6, 2017 [EBook #54669] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK KITTY ALONE (VOLUME 2 OF 3) *** - - - - -Produced by KD Weeks, David Edwards and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive) - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<div class='tnotes'> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>Transcriber’s Note:</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c001'>Minor errors, attributable to the printer, have been corrected. Please -see the transcriber’s <a href='#endnote'>note</a> at the end of this text -for details regarding the handling of any textual issues encountered -during its preparation.</p> - -<p class='c001'>The cover image has been enhanced to include the volume number and, as -amended, is added to the public domain.</p> -<div class='htmlonly'> - -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/cover.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -</div> - -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_I'>I</span><span class='xlarge'>KITTY ALONE</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_II'>II</span>MORRISON AND GIBB, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_III'>III</span> - <h1 class='c003'><span class='xlarge'>KITTY ALONE</span></h1> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c000'> - <div><span class='large'>A STORY OF THREE FIRES</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c004'> - <div>BY</div> - <div class='c000'><span class='large'>S. BARING GOULD</span></div> - <div class='c000'><span class='small'>AUTHOR OF</span></div> - <div><span class='small'>“IN THE ROAR OF THE SEA” “THE QUEEN OF LOVE”</span></div> - <div><span class='small'>“MEHALAH” “CHEAP JACK ZITA” ETC. ETC.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>In Three Volumes</span></div> - <div class='c000'><span class='sc'>Vol. II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div>METHUEN & CO.</div> - <div>36 ESSEX STREET, W.C.</div> - <div>LONDON</div> - <div>1894</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_v'>v</span> - <h2 class='c005'>CONTENTS OF VOL. II</h2> -</div> - -<hr class='c006' /> - -<table class='table0' summary=''> -<colgroup> -<col width='13%' /> -<col width='76%' /> -<col width='9%' /> -</colgroup> - <tr> - <td class='c007'><span class='small'>CHAP.</span></td> - <td class='c008'> </td> - <td class='c009'><span class='small'>PAGE</span></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c007'>XIX.</td> - <td class='c008'>SUGGESTIONS OF EVIL</td> - <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_7'>7</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c007'>XX.</td> - <td class='c008'>A FACE IN THE WATER</td> - <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_19'>19</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c007'>XXI.</td> - <td class='c008'>AN OFFER</td> - <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_28'>28</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c007'>XXII.</td> - <td class='c008'>A RACE FOR LIFE</td> - <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_37'>37</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c007'>XXIII.</td> - <td class='c008'>BORROWING</td> - <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_45'>45</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c007'>XXIV.</td> - <td class='c008'>SHAVINGS</td> - <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_55'>55</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c007'>XXV.</td> - <td class='c008'>BORROWING AGAIN</td> - <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_64'>64</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c007'>XXVI.</td> - <td class='c008'>SILVER PENINKS</td> - <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_73'>73</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c007'>XXVII.</td> - <td class='c008'>TROUBLE</td> - <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_83'>83</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c007'>XXVIII.</td> - <td class='c008'>ALTERNATIVES</td> - <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_92'>92</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c007'>XXIX.</td> - <td class='c008'>A FRIEND GAINED</td> - <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_104'>104</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c007'>XXX.</td> - <td class='c008'>UNDER THE MULBERRY TREE</td> - <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_111'>111</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c007'>XXXI.</td> - <td class='c008'>ON MISCHIEF BENT</td> - <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_122'>122</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c007'>XXXII.</td> - <td class='c008'>JASON IN THE WAY</td> - <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_132'>132</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c007'>XXXIII.</td> - <td class='c008'>ONE CRIME LEADS TO ANOTHER</td> - <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_140'>140</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c007'>XXXIV.</td> - <td class='c008'>AND YET ANOTHER</td> - <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_149'>149</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c007'>XXXV.</td> - <td class='c008'>UNSUCCESSFUL</td> - <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_159'>159</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c007'>XXXVI.</td> - <td class='c008'>ALL IN VAIN</td> - <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_168'>168</a></td> - </tr> -</table> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_7'>7</span><span class='xlarge'>KITTY ALONE</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER XIX <br /> <span class='small'>SUGGESTIONS OF EVIL</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_4_0_4 c010'>The crowd in the market-place and in the streets of -Ashburton began to thin as the afternoon crept on. -In vain did the showmen blow their trumpets, ring their -bells, and invite to their entertainments. Those who had -come to the fair had spent their loose cash. The proprietors -of the stalls offered their wares at reduced prices, but -found few purchasers. Young men who had been hired by -the farmers swaggered about singing or shouting, some -tipsy, others merely on the road to tipsiness. The ostlers -in the inns were harnessing horses to the traps, market -carts, gigs, dog-carts, that had brought in the farmers and -their wives. Empty waggons were departing. The roads -were full of streams of people flowing homeward to the -surrounding villages.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pasco Pepperill started with the schoolmaster. He had -surrendered Kate to her father. The reins were in his -hand, and he had whipped the cob, when he saw Coaker, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_8'>8</span>the man from whom he had bought the wool, coming -towards him.</p> - -<p class='c001'>The blood rushed into Pepperill’s face.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“How d’ye do?” asked the farmer. “Going home?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I be,” answered Pasco, with constrained anger.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“You’ll find all the wool there. I sent off the lot this -morning—three waggon-loads.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Why did you not inform me?—and I would have -waited for it, and not come to the fair.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I did not know how the weather might be—and I -wished to be rid of it.” Coaker laughed.</p> - -<p class='c001'>This angered Pasco further, and, losing command of -himself, he said, “’Twas scurvy—that selling me at such a -price when you knew wool was down.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“That was your concern. Each man for himself. But -I reckon you’ve made a worse bargain at Brimpts, if, as -they tell me, you have bought the wood.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“How so? Is not the timber first-rate?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Oh, the timber is good enough.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Then what is wrong?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Have you been to Brimpts?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“No—but Quarm has.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Then you don’t know the road. It is thus”—Coaker -made a motion with his hand up and down. “The waves -of the sea mountains high is nothing to it—and bad—the -road is! Lor’ bless y’! the cost o’ moving the timber when -cut will swallow up all the profits.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Pshaw! The distance from Ashburton is only three miles.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Better ten on a decent road. You’ll never get the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_9'>9</span>timber drawn, or, if you do, farewell to all profits. But -when you have got it to Ashburton—who will buy it there?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Oh, Quarm has an idea of disposing of the oak to -the Government—selling it to the dockyard at Devonport.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“How far off is that? Some five-and-twenty miles—and -over the moor!” Coaker laughed.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“If I don’t sell the oak, I am a”—Pasco’s face was -as red as blood. He checked himself from the confession -that he would be a ruined man, and said between his teeth, -“I’ll never speak to Quarm again. He’s led me into a -pretty quandary.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Quarm? He’s a Jack-o’-lantern—don’t trust he.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Coaker waved his hand, and, still laughing, went his way -to the stable-yard to get his cob.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pasco whipped his horse and drove homewards. His -lips were closed, his brows knitted, he looked straight before -him at the ears of his horse. He was in no disposition to -speak. Nor, for the matter of that, was his companion. -Bramber was thinking of Kitty, of the uncongenial surroundings, -the hot-headed father, running himself and his -brother-in-law into speculative ventures that must lead them -to ruin; of the uncle, boastful, conceited, and withal -stupid; of the hard, selfish aunt. He saw that young -Pooke admired her, and this did not altogether please -Bramber. Pooke might be well off and amiable, but he -was dull of intellect—a boor—and could never be a suitable -companion to the eager Kitty, whose mind was greedy for -knowledge, and whose tastes were those of a class above -that in which she was cast. The admiration of Jan Pooke -<span class='pageno' id='Page_10'>10</span>brought on her contrariety. It had involved her in the -quarrel between Jan and Noah, and had roused the jealousy -of Rose Ash.</p> - -<p class='c001'>As the trap passed out of Ashburton, many a salutation -was cast at Pepperill, but he hardly acknowledged any. -He put up his hand and beat his hat down over his brows, -then lashed savagely at his cob.</p> - -<p class='c001'>All at once something arrested his eye, and he instinctively -drew up, then muttered, and whipped his brute again. -What he had observed was a little plate, affixed to a house, -with the title of the Insurance Company on it, with which -he had that day had dealings.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I wonder,” thought Pasco, “what that house is insured -for? Not for twelve hundred pounds, I’ll swear.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Then a sense of bitterness rose in his heart against his -brother-in-law for drawing him into this expense of insuring -his property;—he had that day expended all the gold he -had about him in paying the first premium. There remained -only some silver in one pocket, and coppers in the other. -Where was he to find the money for the payment of the -oaks he had bought? Where that to meet the bill for the -wool? The tanner would not pay enough for the bark to -cover the cost of rending. Quarm had told him that the -sap rose badly, and that it would involve much labour and -waste of time to attempt to bark the trees.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Fevered with anxiety and disappointment, Pasco thrashed -his cob savagely, and sent it along at its fullest pace, -whirling past the gigs and waggons returning from the fair, -and giving the drivers hardly time to get on one side to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_11'>11</span>avoid him. He relieved his breast by swearing at them -for their sluggishness in making way, and some retaliated -with oaths, as, in order to escape him, they ran into the -hedge or over a heap of stones.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Presently his horse slackened speed, as it reached a -sharp ascent, and there Pasco met an empty waggon, with -“Coaker—Dart-meet” on it. He stopped his panting horse, -and shouted to the driver of the team, and asked whence -he came.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I’ve been to your place—Coombe Cellars,” answered -the waggoner. “Master sent me with a load of -fleeces.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Did my wife give you anything?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Not a glass of cider,” answered the man. “We had to -unload and do the work of hoisting into the warehouse -ourselves—no one was about.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“She left it for me—she knew you would meet us.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Tossing his head, to shake off the depression that had -come upon him, and with a flash of his vanity through the -gloom, he put his hand in his pocket and drew out a couple -of shillings.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“There,” said he; “you’d have had more, but I have -spent most of my cash at the fair. Buying, buying, -buying, that’s my trade. Go and drink a glass to my -health.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Then he drove on.</p> - -<p class='c001'>On descending the hill another waggon was encountered. -This was also one that had conveyed fleeces to Coombe -Cellars. Pasco gave this driver a couple of shillings. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_12'>12</span>Then he turned to Bramber and said, “Two years of -wool—I paid as much as thirteen pence a pound, and I -can’t sell at tenpence. They say it is going down to -sevenpence; that is nearly half what I gave. A loss to me -of sixpence a pound; I have bought three waggonload. -A good sheep may have sixteen pounds on his back, but -the average is ten or eleven. Coaker must keep a couple -of hundred. You’re a schoolmaster; reckon that up—two -hundred sheep at eleven. I’m not a quick man at figures -myself.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Nothing can be simpler than that calculation. Two -thousand two hundred.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Ah! But two years’ wool?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Well, that is four thousand four hundred.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“And I have lost, say, sixpence a pound.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Then you lose a hundred and ten pounds by the -transaction.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Think of that. A hundred and ten pounds—say a -hundred and twenty. That is something for a man to lose -and make no account of.” The vanity of the man was -flattered by the thought of the amount of his loss. “And -then,” said he, “there was what Coaker said about the oak. -I’ve undertaken to lay out two hundred pounds on that; -and there is the fellin’ and cartin’—say another hundred. -Suppose I lose this also—that is a matter of three hundred. -With the wool, four hundred and twenty pound. I reckon, -schoolmaster, you’ve never had the fingering of so much -money as I am losing.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Bramber looked round at Pasco with surprise. He -<span class='pageno' id='Page_13'>13</span>could not understand the sort of pride that was manifesting -itself in the man.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Are you able to meet such losses?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“If not—I can but fail. It’s something to fail for a good -sum. But I’ll not fail; I am full of resources.” He beat -the horse. “I shall sell the wool. It will go up. I shall -sell the timber at a good figure, and pocket a thousand -pounds. I am sorry I did not give those men half a crown -each, but I have spent most of my money, and”—</p> - -<p class='c001'>Crash! He drove against a post, and upset the trap.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pasco staggered to his feet.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Schoolmaister—are you hurt?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“No.” Walter sprang to the horse and seized its -head.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“It would have been best had I broken my neck and -finished so,” said Pepperill. Then he regretted the sudden -outburst of despair, and added, “So some folks might ha’ -said, but I’ve disappointed ’em. I may have a chuck -down, but I’m up again in a <a id='corr13.19'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='jiffey'>jiffy</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_13.19'><ins class='correction' title='jiffey'>jiffy</ins></a></span>. That’s been my way -all along, and will be to the end.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>One of the shafts was broken, and there ensued delay -whilst it was being patched up with rope. Then, when -they were able to pursue their career, Pasco was constrained -to drive more carefully and less rapidly. Night was coming -on as they neared Newton Abbot.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I’ll tell you what it is,” said Pasco; “I’m uncommon -hungry, and I’ll just go into the first public-house and have -a mouthful of something, and you shall do the same. The -cob is a bit shaken with that spill, and I’ll have the shaft -<span class='pageno' id='Page_14'>14</span>fastened up firmer before we proceed. What say you? -Here’s the ‘Crown and Anchor.’ How the place is -changed. Ah, ha! It is insured at the same office as I -am. Why—bless my life!—the old inn was a ramshackle -sort of a place.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pepperill descended from his trap, and gave instructions -to the ostler what he was to do to the broken shaft. “I’ll -pay you well if you do your work,” said he. Then to -Bramber, “Come in! Cold meat and bread-and-cheese, -and a glass of ale. We need refreshment, and the house -looks as if it could provide it. Don’t be concerned about -the cost. I don’t suppose you are overflush with cash. -I’ll pay—you are my guest.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pasco’s self-conceit was a constant spring of energy in -him. Dashed his spirits might be by disaster, but he -speedily recovered his buoyancy, owing to this characteristic -element in his nature. It is said that the fertility of Manitoba -is due to the fact that below the surface the soil is frozen -hard in winter, and during the summer the warmth of the -sun penetrating ever farther thaws the ice, and thus water -incessantly wells up, nourishing and moistening the roots -of the corn. There was a perennial body of self-esteem -deep in the heart of Pasco Pepperill, and this fed and -sustained in vigorous growth a harvest of generosity in -dealing with his inferiors, of liberality towards the poor, of -display in his mercantile transactions, that imposed on the -public and made it suppose that he was prosperous in his -many affairs.</p> - -<p class='c001'>The landlord came to the door.</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_15'>15</span>“How do you do, Mr. Pepperill?—glad to see you. -You do not often favour me.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Well—no. If I come this way I mostly stop at -the Golden Sun. You see, you are rather near my -home.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I hope this, though the first visit, is not the -last!”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I daresay not. What brings me now is an accident. -Can you let us have some supper?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Certainly. What would you like—cold beef, cold -mutton, or chops and potatoes?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“You have a supply of good things.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I am obliged to have. I get plenty of custom -now.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“What! more than of old?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Oh, double, since I have rebuilt my house.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I see. The place is completely changed. You had -but a poor sort of a tavern.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Yes; and now”—the landlord looked round, smiled, -and put his hands into his waistband—"middling good, -I think."</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Uncommon,” said Pasco. “I suppose it is the better -look of the house that has brought better custom.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“That’s just it. I had only common wayfarers before—mostly -tramps. Now—the better sort altogether. Where -I turned over a penny before, I turn over a shilling -now.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“So you rebuilt your public-house to get better -business?”</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_16'>16</span>“Well, you see, I couldn’t help myself. The old place -caught fire and burnt down.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“And it did not ruin you?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Dear me, no. I was insured.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“So—that set you on your legs again?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“It was the making of me, was that fire.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“How long had you been insured before you were burnt -out?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Well, now, that is the curious part of the story,” said -the landlord; “hardly a week.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“And how did your place catch fire?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“There was a tramp. I refused to take him in, as he -had no money. That was the best stroke of business I -ever did in my life. He hid himself in a sort o’ lean-to -there was over the pigs’ houses, joined on to the house, -and in it was straw. I reckon he went to sleep there -with his pipe alight, and he set fire to the place.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Was he burnt?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“No; he got away all right; but the straw set fire to -the rafters, and they ran into the wall. It was a poor old -wall, with no mortar in it, and the rafters came in just -under those of the upstairs chambers, so that when the -roof of the linhay was afire, it set the house in a blaze too. -That was how it all came about.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“And a good job it was for you!”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“It was the making of me.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pasco was silent through the meal. He seemed hardly -to taste what he was eating. He gulped down his food -and drank copiously.</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_17'>17</span>Bramber was relieved when he left. He was afraid -Pepperill would drink more than he could bear. At the -entrance to the village he left the cart, and thanked Pasco -for the lift.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pepperill drove on to Coombe Cellars.</p> - -<p class='c001'>As he came up, he saw his wife standing at the door -with a light in her hand.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Pasco, is that you?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Who else?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“So, you are home at last. There has been the coal -merchant here; he swears he will bring you no more, and -that, unless you pay up this month, he will set the lawyers -on you.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pepperill flung himself from his cart.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Heavens!” said he, looking sullenly at his stores; “if -they would but burn!”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Burn—what burn?” asked Mrs. Pepperill sharply. -“Do you think you cannot leave the house for a day but -some mischief must come on it? As if I were not to be -trusted, and everything lay with you.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I did not mean that, Zerah.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Then what did you mean?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I meant that it might have got me out of difficulties.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“What might?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pasco did not answer.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I should like to know how, if the store were to be -burnt, any good would come of that. You’ve been -drinking, Pasco.”</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_18'>18</span>“I’m insured,” said he in a low tone.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Oh, it has come to that, has it? Heaven help -us!”</p> - -<p class='c001'>The woman beat her face with her open palms, turned, -and went within.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_19'>19</span> - <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER XX <br /><span class='small'>A FACE IN THE WATER</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_4_0_4 c010'>Kate Quarm was very happy on the moor. Her -father had fetched her from Ashburton, and had -lodged her in a cottage near Dart-meet, the point where the -East and West Darts, rushing foaming from the moors, -dancing over boulders, breaking over granite floors, plunging -under tufts of golden gorse, and through brakes of -osmund and male fern, reach each other and meet in one -silver flood.</p> - -<p class='c001'>The weather was fine, though cold, that is to say, the -sun was hot, but a keen east wind blew. But then this is -one of the charms of the moor, that shelter can always be -found from the wind. A mighty bank of mountains rose -as a wall against the east, and in its dingles and dells, -dense with gorse, now in blaze of flower, the air was warm, -and balmy, and still.</p> - -<p class='c001'>At Coombe Cellars Kate had been kept continually -employed; her aunt, an active woman, gave the child no -rest. If she saw her flag in her work, Zerah goaded her -with reproach to fresh activity; she was, moreover, never -accorded a word of encouragement. Zerah accepted her -<span class='pageno' id='Page_20'>20</span>work as a matter of course; if it was well done, that was -but as it ought to be; everything that fell short of well, -was occasion for a scolding. Kate’s nature was one that -needed repose from manual and sordid labour, for her -mind desired to be active, and craved for freedom in which -to expand, and for liberty to seek material on which to -feed. This Zerah did not understand; with any other -activity, except that of the body in scrubbing and rubbing, -in cooking and baking, she had no sympathy; she entertained -a positive aversion for books. She had no eye for -beauty, no ear for melody, no heart for poetry.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Now Kate had leisure—now for the first time in her life -in which her soul could draw its tender wings out of its -case and flutter them in freedom. She felt much as must -the May-fly when it breaks from its chrysalis.</p> - -<p class='c001'>It was, moreover, a joy to think that her father had -considered her so far as to require her to be sent to the -moor to recover. He usually paid little heed to Kitty, and -now her heart was warm with gratitude because he had -given her that very thing of all others which she most -desired—rest in the presence of nature awakening under -a spring sun.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Kate had another source of pleasure with her. As -Walter Bramber parted from her at Ashburton, he put a -little book into her hand, and said—</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I will lend it you. I know you will value it.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>The book was Wordsworth’s poems.</p> - -<p class='c001'>As she sat beside her father in the gig, she had her hand -on the volume all the while, and her heart swelled with -<span class='pageno' id='Page_21'>21</span>excitement and eagerness to read it. At night she hugged -the book to her bosom, and fell asleep with both hands -clasped over it. She could hardly endure that night -should, with its darkness, deny her the happiness of reading. -She woke early, and in the breaking daylight devoured -the pages. As she read, she laughed and cried—laughed -and cried with sheer delight. She had a book to read; -and such a book!</p> - -<p class='c001'>This happy girl turned first to the verses on the daffodils -that she had learned by heart, to make quite certain that -she had all, that not a line had been missed, not a word -got awry. Then she looked at the little poems on the -celandine, and never did a famished child devour a meal -with greater avidity than did Kate read and master these -verses. There was much in Wordsworth that she could -not understand, but the fact that she encountered passages -that were unintelligible to her were of advantage, her clear -intellect striking on these hard portions threw out sparks—ideas -that had light in them. The book not only nourished -her mind, but proved educative to her imagination.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Kate was at first overwhelmed with the flood of happiness -that rolled over her. Her eyes could not satiate themselves -with the beauty of the moorland scenery. She ran among -the rocks, she dived into the coombs, she stepped on the -boulders over the water, she watched the workmen engaged -in felling trees.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Spring flowers peeped from behind rocks, bog plants -peered out of the morasses. Kate began collecting. She -dried the flowers between the leaves of her Prayer-book.</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_22'>22</span>She scrambled among the towering rocks that overhung -the Dart below the meeting of the waters, and watched the -shadows and lights travel over the vast tract of moorland -that stretched away as far as the eye could see in every -direction but the east, where the river rolled out of its -mountain cradle into a lap of the richest woodland. Sometimes -the beauty of the scenery, the variety of landscape, -were too much for her; she sought change and repose by -creeping among the rocks and drawing the book from her -bosom.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Yet she could not read for long. The verses exacted -close attention, and a flash of passing sun, or impatience at -some passage she could not comprehend, made her close -the volume and recommence her rambles. The exhilarating -air, the brilliancy of the light, the complete change from the -mild and languid atmosphere in the Teign estuary told on -Kate’s spirits and looks. Her cheeks gathered roundness -and colour, and her tread acquired elasticity. Her spirits -were light; they found vent occasionally in racing the cloud -shadows over a smooth hillside.</p> - -<p class='c001'>One day, with her lap full of moss of every rainbow hue, -she came upon the rector of Coombe-in-Teignhead, painting.</p> - -<p class='c001'>At her exclamation he turned, recognised her, and smiled.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“So—I thought I must soon see you,” he said. “My -dear little Kitty, I come with messages for you and kind -inquiries.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“From whom—from uncle and aunt?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“No; not from them. The schoolmaster, Mr. Bramber, -when he heard whither I was coming, begged me to see you -<span class='pageno' id='Page_23'>23</span>and ascertain how you were, and whether you liked the -book he lent you.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Oh, sir, I read it every day! I know several pieces by -heart.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“That you are well, I see. I never saw you with such a -glow of health and happiness in your bonnie face before.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Thank you, sir. And will you see him soon?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Whom? Bramber?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Yes, sir,” answered Kate, the glow in her face deepening. -“And will you say that I have been picking the -flowers as they come out, and I can find them, and that I -do want to know what they are called? God brought the -beasts to Adam to name them, and I do not think Adam -can have been happy with the beasts till he had given each -a name. It is so with me and the flowers. I see them, -and I love them; but I don’t feel content till I can tell -what each is called. Mr. Bramber can name them all.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“You have made a collection?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Yes, I have dried them in my Prayer-book. They are -waiting for Mr. Bramber to name. But”—Kate drew -back—"I am in your way, sir; you are painting the old -bridge."</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Yes; but you can sit down there if you like, and will -not disturb me.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“May I? Oh, I shall be pleased.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Kate placed herself on a lichen-covered rock on one side, -at a little distance from the water.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I have left my few sheep for a couple of days,” said Mr. -Fielding apologetically, partly to Kate, mostly to himself; -<span class='pageno' id='Page_24'>24</span>“but I do not think I have done wrong. Moses went up -into the Mount, and came back to his people with his face -shining. I do not know, but it seems to me that when I -have been here aloft, speaking with nature and nature’s God, -face to face, that I can go back and carry with me some of -the brightness and the freshness and the fragrance of the -mountain. I may be wrong, finding an excuse for myself, -because I love to come here.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Please, sir,” said Kate, “the Great Master of all dismissed -the multitude and went up into the mountain -apart.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Yes, child, yes,” answered the rector, painting as he -talked; “and when He came down, He walked on the -stormy waves. And I—His humble follower—I think I -can tread on the troubles and cares of life erect, and not -be swallowed up after I have been here.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I do not know how I shall bear to go back to Coombe -Cellars,” said Kate sadly.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“You will go back braced to do your work. We cannot -always play, Kitty dear. You know the fable of the bow. -It was relaxed only that it might be the better weapon when -restrung. Besides, when you return you will have pleasure.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I shall think about my delightful holiday.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Yes; and learn the names of the flowers you have dried -in your Prayer-book,” said Mr. Fielding, with a twinkle in -the corner of his eye.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Kate dropped her head in confusion, but looked up again -and said frankly, “Yes, that will be pleasant; and I can -tell where each grew and how I found it.”</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_25'>25</span>“Tell whom—your aunt?” A faint crease in the old -man’s cheek showed he was smiling.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“No, sir! she won’t care. I shall tell Mr. Bramber, if I -have the chance.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Kitty, I get very downhearted over my work sometimes. -Then I come up here, and gather courage and strength, -and—and trust, Kitty. You will return to Coombe Cellars -strengthened and nerved to do your duty well and hopefully. -Remember, it was kind of your aunt to let you come. She -has to drudge hard whilst you are absent, but she does it -because you have been ill and need relaxation in mind and -invigoration of body. She does it, Kitty, because she <em>loves</em> -you.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Oh, sir!” Kate coloured with astonishment and with -a twinge of pain at her heart.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Yes, dear little friend, she loves you. She is not a -demonstrative person. She is a clear-headed, practical -woman. She has had a hard life, and much to try her, and -to give her a cold and perhaps repellent manner. Nevertheless, -her heart is sound and warm. When you were ill -I spoke with her. I saw how anxious she was for your -welfare. I saw into her heart, and I read love there.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Kate trembled, and let the mosses fall from her lap and -strew themselves about her feet. The tears came into her -eyes.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Oh, sir, I should like to go home at once and do -everything I can for her! I did not think she really cared -for me.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“You do not return till your father decides that you are -<span class='pageno' id='Page_26'>26</span>to go back to work. Then, you will return with a good -courage, as I said.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“With all my heart!” answered Kate fervently, and her -face brightened as though the sun shone on it.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Afraid of disturbing the old rector at his painting, Kate -withdrew. She was happy at heart. What he had said -had done her good. She had shrunk from the thought of -return to the humdrum of her usual life, but Mr. Fielding -had given her a motive for facing work with cheerfulness. -It was a delight to her to think that her aunt loved her. -She loved her aunt. Daily association with Zerah had -made her cling to the hard, captious woman; she had had -no one else to love, and the young heart must love someone.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Kate delighted to lie by the river, or lie on a rock in it, -and look down into its pellucid pools, or at the flowing -crystal where it broke between the stones. She was accustomed -to the muddy estuary, and though the sea-water -when it flowed was clear, it had none of the perfect transparency -of this spring water near its source. The sea -sweeping up the creek was as bottle-green glass, but this -was liquid crystal itself, without colour of any sort, and -through it everything in the depths was visible as though -no medium intervened.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Kate could look at the shining pebbles, at the waving -water-weed, at the darting fish. When she had left Mr. -Fielding, she went to one of her favourite haunts beside the -Dart, where it brawled over a cataract of rocks and then -spread into a pool still as glass.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Now she saw what puzzled her, and set her active brain -<span class='pageno' id='Page_27'>27</span>questioning the reason. As she looked into the water, she -could see no reflection of her own face; the light sky was -mirrored, and where the shadow of her head came, she -could see far more distinctly to the bottom of the pool than -elsewhere. Indeed, when a fish darted past she could discern -its fins and scales, but when it passed beyond her -shadow, its form became indistinct.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Then Kate rose on her elbows, and as she did this the -sun caught her cheek and nose, and cheek and nose were -at once reflected in the water, and where the reflection -came, there the water was less transparent to her eyes.</p> - -<p class='c001'>To observe was to rouse in the girl’s mind a desire to -find an explanation for the very simple phenomenon that -puzzled her.</p> - -<p class='c001'>She was thus engaged, raising her face, then a hand, so -as to be now sunlit, then to intercept the light, and see -what the effect was on the water, when she was startled to -observe in the liquid mirror the reflection of a second face -looking down from above. The sun was on it, in the -eyes, and they glittered up at her from below.</p> - -<p class='c001'>With an exclamation of alarm, she turned and saw a man -standing above her.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_28'>28</span> - <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER XXI <br /><span class='small'>AN OFFER</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_4_0_4 c010'>Kate rose to a sitting posture, and drew her feet -under her, rested one hand on the rock, and with -the other screened her eyes from the glare of the sun, to -observe the intruder on her solitude.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Then she recognised Roger Redmore. He was without -his coat, an axe over one shoulder. In his right hand he -held a tuft of cotton grass dug up by the roots.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I knowed as you wor here,” said he, “but I dursn’t -speak before others, lest they should find me out who I -wor.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Are you living here, Roger?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I be working here at the felling Brimpts oaks. You -see, your fayther, he’s so little at Coombe that he don’t -know me, and I thought I might get money by working -here. And I want you to do a little job for me.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“What is it, Roger?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“There’s two jobs. First, do y’ see this here root o’ -white shiny grass? Well, I want y’ to take it to Coombe -and to set it on my little maid’s grave. Stick the roots in. -It may grow and it mayn’t. Hereabouts it groweth mostly -<span class='pageno' id='Page_29'>29</span>in wet land. But anyhows by it I shall know where the -little maid lies when I come back to Coombe.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“You are returning, Roger?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Not by day. I reckon some night I shall be back just -for an hour or so, and I want, when I does come, to go to -the churchyard and find out at once where my darlin’ -lieth. If it be moonlight, or dimmets (twilight), and I see -the little silver tuft glitter above her head, then I shall -know where her be. I can’t go wi’ my wife; that would -be tellin’ folks I wor home agin. I mun go by myself. -Whereabouts now have they put her?”</p> - -<p class='c001'><a id='corr29.22'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='By'>“By</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_29.22'><ins class='correction' title='By'>“By</ins></a></span> the wall where the cedar is, on the east side.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“There’ll niver be no headstone there,” observed -Redmore, “but what o’ that? When once I know where -her lieth, sure but I’ll put a fresh new tuft of silver tassels -as oft as the old ones die, and I reckon they’ll die, not -being in a wet place. My little maid’s grave won’t be wet -save wi’ her father and mother’s tears, and her fayther he -can’t be there but on the sly, and now and then.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I will do it for you gladly,” said Kate. “When do -you think you will be home?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Home!” repeated Roger; “I’ve no home—not like to -have. My wife and my little ones, wherever they be, that’s -all the world to me, and I cannot see them but at night, -and very chancy, when I don’t think nobody’s about. And -t’other thing be this.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Roger put his hand into his pocket and drew forth -some coin, and gave it to the girl.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Take this to my old woman. I’ve earned wi’ my work -<span class='pageno' id='Page_30'>30</span>a bit o’ money, and here is what I can send her. Tell her -to leave the door ajar. I may come any night; but,” he -paused, “I reckon they’ve turned her out o’ house and -home now.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Not yet, Roger,” answered Kate. “Mr. Pooke has -not insisted on her leaving at quarter-day, but I believe he -has a fresh workman coming to him in a week, and then -she will have to leave.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“And where will she go? Will they drive her into the -street?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I really do not know; but”—she considered and said -timidly, “I have had it on my heart, but have been afraid -to speak of it as yet to my father. There is his cottage, -never or hardly ever occupied. Now I will take courage, -and beg him to let your wife go into it till something can -be settled; but you must keep out of danger, and you are -not safe here.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I cannot go far till my wife and little ones are secure -and have a home. Here no one know’th me, the other -woodcutters are all men from the moor. There was but -your father, and he did not recognise me when I axed him -to take me on at felling the timber.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I will entreat him to allow your wife and children to -go into his house till something can be done for them. -You will have to escape into another part of the country.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Ay, I will go. If I were took, it would go bad with us -all, and there’d be the shame on my little ones—that their -father wor hanged. They’d never shake it off.” Then he -touched Kate on the head. “My hand be but a wicked -<span class='pageno' id='Page_31'>31</span>un. It hev set fire to a rick, but it be the hand o’ a hunted -man, as be nigh crushed with sorrows, as was druv to -wickedness thro’ his sufferin’s, and hev bitter repented it -since, and swears he’ll niver do it agin, so help me God!” -He raised his hand solemnly to heaven. “That’s one -thing I ha’ larned, as doin’ wrong niver brings matters right. -There wor just that gettin’ drunk. Then there wor the -cheek to Farmer Pooke. Then my heart were all wormwood; -and when my little maid died, I thought it wor his -doin’; and so in a way it wor, for I’d no work and no -wage, and us was just about starvin’, and I did that deed -o’ fire. It’s kindled a fire in here”—he touched his heart—"that -nothink can quench. The Lord ha’ pity on me. I -don’t know as I’d ha’ come to this mind but for you, little -Kitty Alone, as was pitiful to me when I were bound and -like to be given over to gaol, and you let me go, and fed -me wi’ crumbs out o’ your hand; and now you will find -a house for my dear ones." He laid his hand on her head -again. “Mebbe the Lord’ll hear a sinful thief o’ a man, -and I ax His blessin’ on thee; an’ if I can iver do anything -to show you I’m thankful, I will. Amen.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Hah!”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Roger. Redmore started. He was caught by a hand in -his collar-band.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Kate sprang to her feet. Her uncle, Pasco Pepperill, -was there. He had come up from behind unobserved, and -had laid hold of the incendiary.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I have you, you burning vagabond!” shouted he; “and -by heaven! I’ll hand you over to the constables, and see you -<span class='pageno' id='Page_32'>32</span>hanged, as you deserve. Kate, run away—away at -once!”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Oh, uncle, do not be cruel! Let him go.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“You mind your business,” answered Pasco sharply. -“It’s my belief you let him escape after Jan Pooke had -bound him in the boat. Jan left you in charge, and Roger -slipped away then.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“But think, uncle, of his poor wife and children.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>With a sudden wrench Roger freed himself, and then, -standing back with brandished axe, he said—</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Touch me, and I’ll split your head.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Get away from here,” ordered Pasco, turning to his -niece; “and as for you, Redmore, I want a word. You -know very well that if I give the hue and cry you will be -caught, even though now you have slipped from me. -Lower your hatchet; I’m not going to hurt you if you be -reasonable; but wait till that girl is out of earshot.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pepperill put his hands into his pockets and watched -Kate as she withdrew. Roger assumed an attitude of -wariness. He was ready at a moment’s notice to defend -himself with his axe, or to take to flight.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Look here,” said Pasco, satisfied that he could not be -overheard, “it seems to me that you, with your head -almost in the noose, have done a wonderful silly thing to -stay so near the scene of your crime.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I’d my reasons as is not for you to know,” answered -Redmore surlily. “I’m sure you don’t consarn yourself -for me and mine so as to care.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“There you are mistaken,” said Pasco. “I don’t mean -<span class='pageno' id='Page_33'>33</span>to say that I am deeply interested in you, but I don’t -intend, unless driven to it, to take any steps to get you -acquainted with Jack Ketch.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I can defend myself pretty well, suppose you do.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I’m not the fool to risk my head in another man’s -quarrel.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“And I can take to my heels and find a hiding-place -anywhere on these moors.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Ay, and a starving-place where your bones will rot.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“What have you to say to me?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Redmore spoke surlily. Now that his whereabouts was -discovered, it would be needful for him to shift his place of -refuge.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I suppose you don’t deny setting fire to Farmer Pooke’s -rick?” said Pasco.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Roger shrugged his shoulders and jerked his head.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“How did you do it? smoking a pipe under the tree -when drunk?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“No, it warn’t.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“How was it, then?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I warn’t drunk, niver but that once, and that wor just -because o’ Jackson’s ‘Tee-dum.’ I’ve a bit of a orgin in -zingin’, and the innkeeper he wor terrible longing to have -me in the choir. So he got me in, and they tried to teach -me the tenor part o’ Jackson’s ‘Tee-dum,’ and I cu’dn’t -maister it noways; and they stood me liquor, and I tried, -and I cu’d do naught wi’ it. You see t’other parts went -curling up and about, and bothered me. If they’d a’ -stopped and let me zing alone, I cu’d ha’ done it. Then I -<span class='pageno' id='Page_34'>34</span>went out into the open air, and it wor cold and frosty, and -somehow I got mazed wi’ the drink and the ‘Tee-dum’ -together, and I rinned agin my maister, Farmer Pooke, and -I reckon I zed what I ort not, and he turned me off. That -wor it. I niver did it avor, and I’ll niver do it agin. Save -and presarve me from liquor and Jackson’s ‘Tee-dum’!”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Never mind about that. So you didn’t fire the rick -with your pipe?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“No, I didn’t. If it had niver been for Jackson’s -‘Tee-dum,’ I’d not now be in risk of bein’ hanged.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Of course it was Jackson did it all,” sneered Pasco.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I don’t mean to say that. It wor the beginning on it. -I were throwed out o’ work, and were starvin’, and my -little maid, her died, and then I wor like a mazed chap, -and I ran out wi’ the cann’l, and so I did it.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Oh, with the candle?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“It wor a rushlight.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I’ve heard of barns and storehouses being set fire to by -men going into them to sleep, and lighting their pipes. -There was the landlord of the Crown and Anchor at -Newton. He had a miserable sort of a house, but a tramp -got in one night”—</p> - -<p class='c001'>“What, into his house?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“No, into a linhay over the pigstye, and slept there, or -went there to sleep, and there was straw in the loft, and in -smoking his pipe he managed to set fire to the straw, and -then the whole public-house was in a blaze and burnt -down.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I’ve heard of that. Nobody knows what became o’ the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_35'>35</span>tramp. There wor roast pig found in the ashes, and -whether roast tramp nobody cared to inquire.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“The inn has been rebuilt. They call it a hotel now.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I daresay they does.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“The insurance money did that.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I s’pose so. Lucky the house wor insured. I wish -Varmer Pooke ’ad been.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“You do?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I reckon I does. I’m sorry for what I did when I wor -in a b’ilin’ blue rage. Now I can’t get over it noways, and -you may tell’n so.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Why, that fire was the making of the landlord. He -feels no ill-will against the tramp. What are you going to -do with yourself now?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I don’t know.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I suppose you will want to see your wife again?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I s’pose I shall.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“For that you will return to Coombe?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“In coorse I must.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“At night—lest you should be seen?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Ay—to be sure.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“You will lurk about—be in hiding. I’ll tell you what, -I’m your good friend. I will do you no harm. I’ll just -leave the door of my stores open—unhasped; and if you -want to creep in, there’s a lot of wool and other things -there, you can be warm there, Roger, warm in the -wool.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Thanky’, sir. You’ll not peach?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“And if—if you like a pipe—well”—</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_36'>36</span>“No, Mr. Pepperill, I won’t do you that ill turn if you’re -so good to me—and the little maid, Kitty, too.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Oh, I did not mean that. I can’t say but if a spark -chanced to fall among the wool, and the whole was to -blaze away, I should be sorry. I can’t say that I should be -troubled, any more than was the landlord at Newton when -the tramp set fire to his linhay over the pigs.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Redmore said nothing. Pepperill spoke slowly, and did -not look the man in the face as he spoke.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“If that chance was to happen to me as happened to -the man at Newton, it might, there’s no saying, be a saving -of me from a great misfortune, and—I shouldn’t mind -being a liberal friend, and helping you out of the country.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“That is what you mean, is it?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“It might be a convenience to both of us.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“’Tis a wonderful world,” exclaimed Redmore, “when -the biggest rascals go free, and one of them be you! A -little rascal like me, who’s sorry that ever he done wrong, -is chivied like a mad dog.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Well—what do you say?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“You’re a rascal and I despise you,” cried Roger, and -turned to go.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Will you have me as your friend or your enemy?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Your enemy rather than friend on them terms.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Then I’ll hang you!” exclaimed Pasco, and set off -running in the direction of Brimpts.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_37'>37</span> - <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER XXII <br /><span class='small'>A RACE FOR LIFE</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_4_0_4 c010'>Kate had walked away without a thought of attempting -to gather the subject of her uncle’s conversation -with Redmore. She resolved at once to seek her father -and obtain from him permission to house the unfortunate -wife with her children in his cottage. She had been told -that he had gone to a farm lying somewhat to the right of -the Ashburton road, near the prominent and stately rock -citadel of Sharpitor. She therefore ascended the long, steep -hill, up which scrambles the high road from Dart-meet.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Halfway up the ascent is an oblong mass of granite, -lying in the moor, which goes by the name of the Coffin -Stone, because on it coffins are rested by those who are -bearing a corpse to its lasting resting-place in the distant -churchyards of Buckland or Ashburton. Kate had reached -this stone, and was panting for breath, when she heard -shouts and cries in the valley she was leaving, and, leaping -upon the Coffin Stone, she saw a swarm of men on the -opposite bank of the Dart—the Brimpts side—running in -the direction of the bridge, headed by her uncle, who was -then levelling a gun he carried.</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_38'>38</span>From her elevation she could not only see but hear -everything.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“An incendiary! He set fire to a stack. A pound to -any man who takes him, alive or dead!” shouted Pasco, -and to Kate every word was audible. Then she saw the -flash of the gun, and a little later heard the report. The -shot had missed, for her uncle urged on the men to run -and not let the scoundrel escape, and he himself lagged -behind to reload his barrel.</p> - -<p class='c001'>She looked for the fugitive, but was able to see him for -one moment only, as he leaped a ruinous fence in his flight -down stream.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Why was he taking that direction? Because the way -into the fastnesses of the moorland was closed to him by -his pursuers. He could not run up the hill that Kate -ascended, as he would be exposed throughout, without the -smallest cover, to the gun of Pepperill. Though a course -down the river led ultimately into inhabited land, yet between -the moor and population lay the great woodland -belt of Buckland and Holme Chase, where the river wound -its way in sweeps among dense forest and rock, and where -Redmore knew he could hide with the greatest ease. But -before he could be in the woodland he had a long stretch -of moor to traverse, where there was no road, at best a -fisherman’s track, among rocks scattered in confusion, -among heather and furze bushes, with here and there sloe -and thorn trees and an occasional “witch beam” or rowan -growing out of the rocks. Almost immediately after the -junction of the East with the West Dart, the united stream -<span class='pageno' id='Page_39'>39</span>doubles round Sharpitor, that shoots high above it on one -side, and under the ridges of Benjietor on the other side, -in whose lap grows a little copse, and which, from its crags -to the water’s edge, is green with bracken in summer, -but at this period was russet with withered leaves. -Thence smoke rose—some boys had ignited the gorse, -and the flames ran among the withered ferns and the fallen -oak-leaves, and blackened and burnt the copse.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Kate hastened on her way. She knew that on reaching -the head of the ridge a short distance intervened between -the road and the precipices of Sharpitor that overhung the -ravine. Thence she could see all that followed—if Roger -Redmore succeeded in turning the moorland spur round -which the river foamed.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Hot, trembling, and breathless, Kate ran, then halted to -gasp, then ran on, and did not rest for more than a minute -till she had reached the vantage-point on the rocks, and -looked down into a wondrous ravine of river, granite -boulder, and glaring golden furze, and with the blue smoke -of the smouldering fern forming a haze that hung in its -depths, but which rose in places above the rocky crests of -the moor and showed brown against the luminous sky.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Kate ensconced herself among the piles of granite, with -a “clatter,” as it is locally termed, at her feet, a mass of -rocky ruin, composed of granite, in fragments of every size -and in various conditions of disintegration.</p> - -<p class='c001'>She saw Redmore as he doubled the foot of the mountain, -and for awhile had the advantage of being invisible -to his pursuers, and safe from the gun of Pepperill. He -<span class='pageno' id='Page_40'>40</span>stood on a great rock half-way out of the water, and looked -about him. He was resolving what to do, whether to continue -his course down stream, or to endeavour to conceal -himself at once. The fire and smoke on the farther side -in the bosom of Benjietor made it impossible for him to -secrete himself there—every lurking-place was scorched or -menaced by the flames. The slope of Sharpitor on his left, -though strewn with the wreckage of the crags above, offered -no safe refuge; it was exposed to full light, without any -bushes in it other than the whortle and heather. Roger -did not take long to make up his mind; he pursued his -course down the river, now wading, then scrambling over -stones, then leaping from rock to rock, and then again -flying over a tract of smooth turf. Occasionally the wind, -playing with the smoke, carried a curl of it across the river, -and drew it out and shook it as a veil, obscuring Redmore -from the eyes of Kate, who watched him in panting unrest, -and with prayers for his safety welling up in her heart. -Then shouts—the men who hunted him had rounded the -flank of Shapitor, and had caught sight of the man they -were endeavouring to catch. One fellow, with very long -legs, familiar with the ground, accustomed all his life to -the moor, was making great way, and bade fair to catch -Roger.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Redmore looked behind him. He had cast away his -axe, and was therefore unarmed, but was lightened for the -race.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“A sovereign to the man who catches him!” yelled -Pepperill. “Knock him down, brain him!”</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_41'>41</span>Then one man heaved a stone, picked out of the river, -and threw it. A vain attempt. He was not within reach -of Redmore; but in a pursuit, none can quite consider -what is possible, and measure distances with nicety, without -much greater coolness than is possessed by men running -and leaping over difficult ground. The long-legged -man kept forging ahead, with his elbows close to his sides; -he had distanced the rest. He was fleet of foot, he sprang -from stone to stone without pausing to consider, and -without ever missing his footing. Roger advanced slowly: -he was unaccustomed to such difficult ground; sometimes -he fell; he floundered into the river up to his armpits and -scrambled out with difficulty. His pursuer never got into -the water. The man had not merely long legs, he had a -long nose and protruding eyes, and as he ran, with his -elbows back, he held his forefingers extended, the rest -folded. Every stride brought him nearer to Redmore, and -Roger, who had just scrambled upon a rock in the river, -saw that he must be overtaken, and he prepared for the -inevitable struggle.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Kate, leaning forward in her eagerness, at this moment -displaced a large block, that slid down, turned on its edge -and rolled, then leaped, then bounded high into the air, -crashed down on another rock, and from it leaped again in -its headlong course.</p> - -<p class='c001'>The girl held her breath. It seemed as though the -rock must strike the running pursuer, and if it struck him -it would inevitably be his death. The rattle of displaced -stones, the crash of the block as it struck, the cries of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_42'>42</span>those behind, who saw the danger, arrested the long-legged -man. He halted, and looked up and around, and at that -moment the stone whizzed past and plunged into the river. -Kate saw in a moment the advantage thus gained, and in -palpitating haste threw down every stone she could reach -or tilt over from its resting-place, where nicely balanced, -thus sending a succession of volleys of leaping, whistling -stones across the path, between the pursued and the pursuers.</p> - -<p class='c001'>She heard shouts and execrations from those who were -coming up, and who stood still, not daring to continue their -course, and run the risk of having their brains beaten out -by one of the falling stones. She regarded them not. Her -one idea was to save Roger. She could see that the man -for whom she acted had recognised her intervention, and -continued his flight. She could see that the pursuers were -stationary, uncertain what to do.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Then her uncle again raised his gun. Kate put her hands -to her mouth and called to Roger, who looked over his -shoulder, and dropped behind a stone just as the gun was -discharged.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Then he picked himself up once more and ran on. Kate -dared not desist. She continued to send block after block -rolling. Some were shattered in their descent, and resolved -themselves into a cloud of whizzing projectiles. Some in -striking the soil set a mass of rubble in motion that shot -down and threw up a cloud of dust.</p> - -<p class='c001'>She was hot, weary, her hands wounded. But the consciousness -of success strung her to renewed exertion. -Pasco Pepperill called the party in pursuit together. He -<span class='pageno' id='Page_43'>43</span>shouted up the height to the girl. Who it was there engaged -in dislodging stones he couldn’t discern, for Kate kept herself -concealed as far as possible, and the confusion of the -granite rocks thrown into heaps and dislocated, served to -disguise the presence of anyone among them. He threatened, -but threatened in vain; Kate did not stay her hand to give -time to listen to what he cried.</p> - -<p class='c001'>After a brief consultation, as the avalanche did not decrease, -the party resolved to cross the river and continue -the pursuit down it on the farther side, through the smoke -and over the ashes of the conflagration. By this means -Roger Redmore could be kept in sight, and possibly it -would be more easy to run over the charred soil among -bushes reduced to ash. Moreover, few, if any, of the stones -dislodged by Kate had sufficient weight and velocity to carry -them to the farther side of the river.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Accordingly, the party began to step on the rocks that -projected from the water, or to wade, so as to reach the -farther side, Pepperill lingering behind reloading his gun, -and keeping his eye on the fugitive. Then a sudden idea -struck him, and, calling to the men to proceed as they had -proposed, he started to climb the steep tide of Sharpitor, at -a point where not menaced by the falling stones, judging -that by this means he would dislodge the person who had -come to the assistance of the fugitive, and at the same time -be able to follow the flight of the latter with his eye better -than below, and to obtain a more leisurely shot at him when -a suitable occasion offered, as his poising himself on a rock, -or halting to resolve on his course.</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_44'>44</span>Kate desisted from sending down volleys of stones, till -the occasion should arise again. She watched the flight of -Roger, and perceived that he was aiming at a coppice which -was in a fold of the hills undiscernible by those on the -farther side of the river; by means of this coppice, if he -could reach it, Roger would be able to effect his escape.</p> - -<p class='c001'>In three minutes he was safe; then Kate drew a long -breath. At the same moment she was touched on the -shoulder, and, looking round, saw her father.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“What’s all this about? What’s this shouting and firing -of guns?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Oh, father, I hope I have not done wrong! Uncle and -all the men are after Roger Redmore.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Who is he?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“The man who burnt Mr. Pooke’s ricks, and he has been -working for you here—and uncle recognised him, and sent -the men to take him, and he ran away, and I have helped -him.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“You?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Yes; by rolling down rocks.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Jason burst into a fit of laughter. “Come, that is fine. -You and I, Kitty, aiders and abettors of an incendiary. Is -he clear off now?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Yes; but here comes uncle up the steep side.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Jason hobbled to the edge of the rock, and, leaning over -called, “Halloo, Pasco! Here we are waiting for you—Kitty -Alone and I.”</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_45'>45</span> - <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER XXIII <br /><span class='small'>BORROWING</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_4_0_4 c010'>“It is you—you two!” exclaimed Pepperill, as he reached -the summit. He gasped the words; he could not -shout, so short of breath was he. His face with heat was -purple as a blackberry. “What’s the meaning of this?” -He held to a projection of granite, and panted. “Interfering -with law—protecting a scoundrel.” He paused to -wipe his face. “A malefactor—a criminal—guilty”—again -gasped like a fish out of water—"guilty of incendiarism, of -arson, of felony!"</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Why, Pasco, you’re hot. Keep cool, old boy,” said -Jason, laughing. “Who has created you constable, or sheriff -of the county, that you are so anxious to apprehend rogues?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Rogues? rogues? Only rogues assist rogues in escaping -the reward of their deeds.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Is there a warrant out for his apprehension?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I don’t know.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Then what on earth makes you put yourself in a heat -and commotion to catch him?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pasco mopped his brow, and, tearing up some ferns, dry -though they were, proceeded to fan his face.</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_46'>46</span>“Why? Do you ask? For the public security, of course. -And now”—again he puffed—"now I can’t talk; my wind -is gone."</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pepperill looked into the ravine. He could see that the -men on the farther side of the stream were at a nonplus. -The fugitive had escaped them, had dived out of their sight -into the coppice-wood, and they knew that pursuit was in -vain. He turned sharply on his brother-in-law.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“This is your doing—you and Kate. First you give him -work, and then you let him escape. He who helps a felon -is a felon himself.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“My dear Pasco,” said Jason Quarm, laughing, “what -makes you so fiery in this matter?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Fiery? of course I’m fiery. And look there, Jason! -There are the workmen, a dozen of them, doing nothing, -and we shall have to pay their wages for a half day, and -nothing to show for it.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Whose fault is that? You sent them from their -tasks.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Yes, to catch a villain.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Which was no concern of yours.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“It is a concern of mine, and of every honest man. How -can one be safe with such a malefactor at large? I have -my house, my stores; I shall not be able to sleep at night -with ease, knowing that this fellow is at large. If anything -happens, I shall come on you.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“You’ll get nothing from me.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“That is the worst; I know it. Why did you help the -man to escape? No one is safe—no one. And I, least -<span class='pageno' id='Page_47'>47</span>of all; for now he regards me as his enemy. He has -sworn vengeance; he may come on me and cut my -throat.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Not much throat to be cut, Pasco.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“There is my money-box”—</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Box, not money.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“He may set fire to my house—my barns—burn me and -my wife—your sister—Kitty—your daughter. Don’t you -care for that?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I am not afraid. If you went after him, and have -angered him, well, we helped him, as you suppose, and have -won his good-will.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“As I know. Have I not found you here? Who else -could have rolled down the rocks? Show me your hands. -There, I said so!—there is blood on Kate’s hands; they -are cut and bruised. She has been doing what she could; -and you, her father, who ought to have known better, have -encouraged her. Rascals! rogues!—rogues all!”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“And oh, how honest am I!—eh, Pasco?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Of course I’m an honest man. I don’t encourage -burglars, and murderers, and incendiaries.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I did not know that Redmore was a murderer or a -burglar.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Who can say but, having been an incendiary, he may -go on to murder and plunder; these things run together. -One who can commit arson is capable of doing the other -crimes as well. I shall have to drive back to Ashburton -alone.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Kitty returns with you.”</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_48'>48</span>“What help is there in Kitty? That fellow Roger, full -of rage and desire of revenge, is about the woods, and may -shoot me.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“He has not a gun.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“He may spring upon me with his axe.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“He has thrown it away,” said Kate.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“You mind your own concerns,” exclaimed the angry -man, turning on his niece. “There are plenty of ways in -which he may fall on me and murder me, and then he will -pick my pockets and make off in my clothes, and Kitty -will help him.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“You are talking nonsense, Pasco. Are you such a -weakling that you cannot defend yourself? But, pshaw! -the man will not injure you.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“He will steal by night to Coombe. His wife is there; -his children are there. He knows where I am. He has -sworn revenge against me.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“When? When he escaped?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“No; before I set the men after him.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Before he knew you would hunt him? A probable -story!”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Probable or improbable, it is true. I threatened him, -and I would have arrested him, but could not. Kate knows -I had him by the throat; but he was armed with his axe, -and I could not retain him. Then he swore he would do -me an evil turn, and he will keep his word.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“He cannot harm you; he is afraid for himself.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“He can harm me. He can do to my house, my stores, -what he did to Pooke’s rick.”</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_49'>49</span>“Well, that would not hurt you greatly; you are insured -over value.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Not over value, with the wool in.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“You were a fool about that wool, Pasco. Why did you -not consult me before dealing with Coaker? I knew of -the fall.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Oh, you know everything. You knew that the Brimpts -oak bark was worth three times more than it is; and now -you are felling, without considering that the bark at present -is practically worthless.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“The sap doesn’t run.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“If the sap ran like the Dart, it would not make the bark -sell for tan. You either knew nothing about the conditions, -or you wilfully deceived me; and I dare be sworn it was -the latter. I can believe even that of you now, a favourer -of incendiaries.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Come, do not be extravagant. What other criminals -have I ever favoured?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I am too hot and too angry to argue,” retorted Pasco. -“But I want to know something for certain about this -Brimpts wood. It is well enough to cut it down, but what -I want to know is, how will you transport the oak so as to -make it pay?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Sell on the spot.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“To whom?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“To timber merchants.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“They will reckon the cost of carriage.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“We shan’t have to pay for it.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“We shall sell at a good price.”</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_50'>50</span>“We shall sell! Such oak as Brimpts oak is not to be -had every day.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Have you offered it to anyone—advertised it?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“No, I have not. Time for that when it is all felled.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“You will make as much a misreckoning in this as you -have along of the bark.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Trust me. The oak will sell high.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“You said the same of the bark. All your ducks are -swans. I <em>must</em> have money.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“So must I,” said Quarm. “I want it as the March -fields want April showers.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I am in immediate need,” urged Pepperill.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“In a fortnight I shall require money to pay the men -their wages,” observed Quarm.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I have nothing. You were right; I have a cash-box, -but no cash in it. I have paid away all I had.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Dispose of something,” said Quarm cheerily.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Dispose of what? Coals? No one wants coals now.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Then something else.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Wool, and lose on every pound? That were fatal. I -have not paid for all the wool yet. I want money to satisfy -the coal-merchant, money to meet the bill I gave Coaker; -and then the agent for the bank which has its hold on the -Brimpts estate says we may not remove a stick till everything -is paid.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Then do not remove,” said Quarm. “Sell on the spot.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“To whom?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“There are plenty will buy.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Why have you not advertised?” asked Pasco testily.</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_51'>51</span>“For one thing, because I did not know you were in -immediate need of cash; for the other, because, till the -timber is down, it cannot be measured. Never sell sticks -standing. A timber merchant will always buy the trees -before felled, and many a landowner is fool enough to sell -standing trees. The merchant knows his gain; the landlord -does not know his loss.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Felled or unfelled, I must realise. My condition is -desperate. I cannot meet any of the demands on me.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pepperill had lost his purple colour. He wiped his brow -again, but this time the drops did not rise from heat, but -from uneasiness of mind.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“You have drawn me into this Brimpts venture, and I -have now all my fortunes on one bottom. If this fails, I am -ruined; there will remain nothing for me but to sell Coombe -Cellars, and then—I am cast forth as a beggar into the -roads. I have trusted you; you must not fail me.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Oh, all will come right in the end.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“The end—the end! It must come right now. I tell -you that I have to meet the demands of the bank, or I can -do nothing with the sale of the oak, and all now hangs on -that. Owing to the ruinous purchase of Coaker’s fleeces, I -am driven to desperate straits. I cannot sell them at a -loss. I calculated it with the schoolmaster—a loss of some -hundred and twenty pounds. You must help me out of -my difficulty.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I can but suggest one thing. Go to Devonport, and -see if the Government Dockyard will buy the oak. Ship-building -can’t go on without material. If Government will -<span class='pageno' id='Page_52'>52</span>take the timber, you need not concern yourself about the -bank’s demand; it will be satisfied, and more than satisfied, -that the money is safe. Bless you! in these times a man -is happy to see his money within twelve months of him, -and know he must have it.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I don’t mind; but I’ll go to Devonport at once,” said -Pepperill.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Whilst the conversation thus detailed was taking place, -the three had crossed a strip of moor that intervened -between Sharpitor and the high road, walking slowly, for -Pasco was fagged with his scramble, and Jason was -crippled.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I don’t mind,” said Pasco again. “But I shall want a -few pounds to take me there, and my pockets are empty.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I can’t help you. Mine wouldn’t yield if wrung out.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Here comes the parson,” said Pepperill—"our parson, -jogging along as if nothing were the matter and went -contrary in the world. I’ll borrow of him."</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Oh, uncle,” protested Kate, flushing crimson, “pray -do not, if you have no chance of paying.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“You impudent hussy, mind your own concerns,” -answered Pasco angrily. “I, with no chance of paying! -I’m a man of means. I’ll let you see what that signifies. -How d’ y’ do, parson?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“What! my churchwarden?” exclaimed Mr. Fielding, -drawing rein. “What brings you to the moors?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Business, sir, a trifle with regard to oak timber. I’ve -bought the Brimpts wood—cost me a few hundred, and -will bring me a thousand.”</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_53'>53</span>“Glad to hear it, Mr. Pepperill;—and then we shall have -a double subscription to our school.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I daresay, Mr. Fielding; I’m a free man with my -money, as you and others have found. And, by the way, -talking of that, could you kindly accommodate me with a -little loan of a few pounds. I started from home without -a thought but of returning to-day, and I learn that the -Government has an eye on these oaks—first-rate timber—and -I must to Devonport to strike a bargain. I won’t -come to their terms, they must come to mine. Such -timber as this is worth its weight in gold.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“How much do you want, Mr. Pepperill?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“How much can you spare, Mr. Fielding?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Well, let me see.” The rector of Coombe opened his -purse. “I have about six guineas here. I shall want to -retain one for current expenses. When can you let me -have the loan returned.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Any day. I’ll drop you a line to my wife—or—on my -return. I’m only going to Devonport to get the best price -for the timber, and then I shall be back. If you can spare -me five guineas—or five sovereigns—I shall be obliged. -You know me—a man of substance, a man of means, a -warm man. We represent the Church, do we not, Mr. -Fielding? and hang Dissenters all, say I.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I can let you have five pounds,” said the rector; “I -see I am short of silver.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“That will suffice,” answered Pasco, with dignity. “I -will let you have it back directly I have settled with -Government about the oaks.”</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_54'>54</span>Mr. Fielding gave Pepperill the gold, then excused -himself, as he desired to reach home before dark, and rode -on his way.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I had no idea that to borrow was so easy,” said Pasco. -“Of course, all depends on the man who asks. Everyone -knows me—sound as the Bank of England.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“And same thing,” said Quarm; “all depends on the -man solicited.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Then Pepperill, with his hands in his pockets and head -in the air, his spirits revived as though he had borrowed -five hundred pounds in place of five pounds, walked towards -Dart-meet Bridge humming the old harvest song,—</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c011'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“We’ve cheated the parson; we’ll cheat him again;</div> - <div class='line'>For why should the vicar have one in ten?</div> - <div class='line in2'>One in ten?</div> - <div class='line'>We’ll drink off our liquor while we can stand,</div> - <div class='line'>And hey for the honour of Old England!</div> - <div class='line in2'>Old England!”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_55'>55</span> - <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER XXIV <br /><span class='small'>SHAVINGS</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_4_0_4 c010'>With five pounds in his pocket, Pepperill drove to -Plymouth and on to Devonport. His moral -courage was up again now he had gold to spend. When -his purse was empty, his spirits, his tone of mind, became -depressed and despairing. A very little—a few pounds—sufficed -to send them up to bragging point. There was no -limit to his self-complacency and assurance as he appeared -at the dockyard.</p> - -<p class='c001'>His spirits, his consequence that had so risen, were -doomed to sink when he learned that no oak, however -good, was required. Okehampton Park, the finest, the -most extensive in the county, had been delivered over by -the impecunious owners to the woodman; thousands of -magnificent trees, as ancient and as sound as those of -Brimpts, had been felled. The market was glutted, oak -of the best quality sold cheap as beech; and the Government -had bought as much at Okehampton as would be -needed for several years.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“That is the way with all Government concerns, stupidly -managed by blunderheads. I can do business better with -<span class='pageno' id='Page_56'>56</span>private firms. I know very well what this means—to grease -the palms of the authorities. I am a man of principle—I -won’t do it.” So said Pepperill, as he swung away from -the dockyard. “Bah! I’ve always been a staunch supporter -of Church and State, churchwarden and Tory. If the -Government can’t oblige me when I want a little favour -done, but must go to the cheapest shop, blow me if I don’t -turn Whig—that’s not bad enough—roaring Radical, and -cry, Down with the Constitution and the Crown! As for -the Church, I don’t say as I’ll go in for disestablishment -and disendowment just now. There is some benefit in an -Established Church when it will accommodate one at a -pinch with five pounds, and don’t press to have it returned -till convenient.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pasco betook himself now to private firms of shipbuilders, -but was unable to dispose of his timber. The mowing -down of Okehampton Park had flooded the market with -first-quality oak. One firm was inclined to deal with him, -if he would draw the timber into Plymouth. Sanguine at -this undertaking, he returned to Dart-meet to drive a bargain -with some of the farmers on the moor for conveying the -oak logs to the seaport town. He found that their charges -were likely to be high. The way was long, the road hilly, -in places bad. It would take them two days at least to -convey each load, with a pair of horses, or a team of three, -to Plymouth; and what was one load?—what, but a single -log. Then there was the return journey, that might be done -in a long day; but after three such days, the horses would -not be fit for work on the fourth. A pair of horses was ten -<span class='pageno' id='Page_57'>57</span>shillings; and for three days—that was five-and-twenty; but -in reality three horses would be needed, and that would be -thrice fifteen—two pounds five for each stick of timber -before it was sold. As for the spray,—all the upper portion -of the trees,—that would have to be disposed of on the -spot; and Pepperill foresaw, with something like dismay, -that he would get no price for it. The expense of carriage -would deter all save moor farmers from purchasing, and -they were so few in number, that the supply would exceed -the demand, especially as they could have as much turf as -they wanted for the cutting; and practically not sufficient -would be got from the sale of the faggot wood to pay for -the felling of the timber.</p> - -<p class='c001'>It is one of the peculiar features of England that our -roads are absolutely without any of the facilities which -modern engineering would yield to travellers on wheels. -Our ancient highways were those struck out by packmen, -and when wheeled conveyances came into use, the carriages -had to scramble over roads only suitable for pack-horses. -In France and Germany it is otherwise, there modern road-engineering -has made locomotion easy. The main arteries -of traffic ascend and descend by gentle gradients, and -make sweeps where a direct course would be arduous and -exhaustive of time.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Now the road from Dart-meet, a main thoroughfare over -the moor, might be carried along the river-bank, with a -gentle fall of a hundred feet in the mile, for six miles. But -instead of that, it scrambles for a mile up a hogsback of -moor, nearly five hundred feet in sheer ascent, then comes -<span class='pageno' id='Page_58'>58</span>down to the Dart again; then scrambles another ridge, -and then again descends to the same river. Nothing could -be easier than to have a trotting road the whole way; but -in mediæval times packmen went up and down hill; consequently -we in our brakes, and landaus, and dog-carts must -do the same; not only so, but the transport of granite, -peat, wool, and the oaks from the felled forest was rendered -a matter of heavy labour and great cost. Pepperill saw that -it was quite hopeless to expect to effect any dealings on the -Ashburton side, on account of the tremendous hills that -intervened.</p> - -<p class='c001'>With rage and mortification at his heart, he sought for -his brother-in-law, and could not find him. He was told -that Quarm had gone to Widdecomb. Some repairs were -to be done in the church, the parsonage was to be rebuilt, -and he was going to ascertain whether oak timber would be -required there, and how much, and whether he could -dispose of some of the wood of Brimpts for this object.</p> - -<p class='c001'>He could not wait for Quarm. He wanted to be home. -He was to convey Kate to Coombe Cellars—it had been -so arranged. His wife was impatient for her return, had -begun to discover what a useful person in the house Kate -was. Moreover, the moor air had done what was required -of it, had restored health to the girl’s cheeks.</p> - -<p class='c001'>In rough and testy tone, Pepperill told his niece to put -together her traps and to jump up beside him.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“You’ve had play enough at our expense,” he growled. -“Your aunt has had to hire a girl, and she’s done nothing -but break, break—and she’s given Zerah cheek—awful. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_59'>59</span>Time you was back. We can’t be ruined just because your -father wants you to be a lady, and idle. We’re not -millionaires, that we can afford to put our hands in our -pockets and spend the day loafing. If your father thinks -of bringing you up to that, it’s a pity he hasn’t made -better ventures with his money.” After a pause, with a -burst of rancour, “His money! <em>His</em> money, indeed! it -is mine he plays games with, it is my hard-earned coin he -plays ducks and drakes with—chucks it away as though I -hadn’t slaved to earn every groat.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>As he talked, he worked himself up into great wrath; -and like a coward poured forth his spite upon the harmless -child at his side, because harmless, unable to retaliate. -He was accustomed to hear his wife find fault with Kate, -and now he followed suit. We all, unless naturally -generous, cast blame on those who are beneath us; on -our children, our servants, the poor and weak, when we -are conscious of wrong within ourselves, but are too proud -for self-accusation. It has been so since Adam blamed -Eve for his fall, and Eve threw the blame on the serpent.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I don’t hold with holiday-making,” said Pasco. “It is -all very well for wealthy people, but not for those who are -workers for their daily bread. I might ha’ been, and I -would ha’ been, an independent man, and a gentleman -living on my own means, but for your father. He’s been -the mischief-maker. He has led me on to speculate in -ventures that were rotten from root to branch, and all my -poor savings, and all that your aunt Zerah has earned by -years of toil—it is all going—it is all gone. There are -<span class='pageno' id='Page_60'>60</span>those workmen cutting down the oak, they are eating my -silver, gorging themselves on my store, and reducing me -and Zerah to beggary. To the workhouse—that’s our -goal. To the workhouse—that is where your father is -driving us. What are you staring about you for like an -owl in daylight?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Oh, uncle,” answered Kate in a voice choked with -tears, “I have been so happy on the moor, and it is all -so beautiful, so beautiful—a heaven on earth; and I was -only looking my last—and saying good-bye to it all.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Not listening to what I said?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Indeed I was, and I was unhappy—and what you said -made me feel I should never come back here, and I must -work hard now for Aunt Zerah. There was no harm in -my looking my last at what I have loved and shall not see -again! It is so beautiful.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Beautiful? Gah!” retorted Pasco. “A beastly place. -What is beautiful here? The rocks? The peat? The -heather? Gah! It is all foul stuff—I hate it. What are -you hugging there as if it were a purse of gold?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Oh, uncle, it is something I love so! The schoolmaster -sent it me by Mr. Fielding. It’s only a book.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“A book? of what sort? Let me see.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Kate reluctantly produced the cherished volume.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Pshaw!” said Pasco, rejecting it with disgust. “Poetry—rotten -rubbish—I hate it. It’s no good to anyone, it -stuffs heads with foolery. I wish I was king, and I’d -make it a hanging matter to write a line of poetry and -publish it. It’s just so much poison. No wonder you -<span class='pageno' id='Page_61'>61</span>don’t like work, when you read that vile, unwholesome -trash.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Kate hastily folded up the volume and replaced it in -her bosom.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“No wonder you and your father encourage vagabonds -and incendiaries if you read poetry.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Father did not help Roger Redmore to escape,” said -Kate. “It was I who rolled down the stones. Father -came up when he had already got away to a hiding-place. -I, and I alone, did it.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“More shame to you! You’re a bad girl, a vicious girl, -and will come to no good.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>He continued grumbling and snarling and harping on -his grievances, and, for some while, jerking out spiteful -remarks. Presently he relapsed into silence, and let the -tired cob jog along till he reached a point where, near -Holne, roads branched: one went down the hill to Ashburton -without passing through the village, the other went -round by the church and village inn. Here Pasco drew -up, uncertain which road to take. There was not much -difference in the distance. The direct way was the shorter, -but by not more than half a mile, whereas the other afforded -opportunity for refreshment.</p> - -<p class='c001'>At this point was a carpenter’s shop. The workman -was not there, but he had left his shop open, and outside -was a great pile of shavings.</p> - -<p class='c001'>As Pasco sat ruminating, doubtful which way to take, -his eye rested for some while on the shavings. Presently, -without a word, he got out of the conveyance, let down -<span class='pageno' id='Page_62'>62</span>the back of the cart, collected as many shavings as he -could carry, and thrust them in, under the seat. He went -back to the pile, took as many more as he thought would -suffice, and crammed the body of the cart with them. -Then, still without speaking, he shut the back, remounted, -and drove down the shortest way—the steep hill, the direct -road to Ashburton that avoided the village.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Uncle!” said Kate, after a while.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pepperill started, as though he had been stung. -“Bless me!” he exclaimed; “I had forgotten you were -here.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Uncle,” pursued the girl, “you know my dear mother -left a little money, a few hundred pounds, for me. And -my father is trustee, and he has charge of it, and has -invested it somewhere for me. If you are in difficulties, -and really want money, I am sure you are heartily welcome -to mine. I will ask my father to let you have the use of -it. I cannot do other—you and Aunt Zerah have been -very kind to me.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Yes, that we have, and been to tremendous expense -over your keep; and there was your education with Mr. -Puddicombe, and the doctor’s bill coming in, and the -medicines; and there has been your clothing—and you -have always eaten—awful. That costs money, and ruins -one. Yes, you are right, you couldn’t do other. I had -not thought of that. But I don’t know what your father -will say.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“In a very few years I shall be old enough to have it -as my own to do with as I like. I do not think that my -<span class='pageno' id='Page_63'>63</span>father will object to its being employed as I wish. And I -know it will be quite safe with you.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Oh, perfectly safe, safe as in the Bank of England. -I’m one of your sound men. Sound, and straight, and -square, all round—everything you can desire, you know. -Everyone trusts me. A man of substance, a man of -means—and with a head for business.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I will ask father when I see him.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“That is right. It will be a little relief. You are a -good girl, I always said you were, and had your heart in -the right place. You will write to your father to-morrow.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pasco Pepperill was comparatively genial, even boastful, -on the rest of the way. When he arrived at Coombe -Cellars, his wife heard the wheels and came to the door. -She received Kate without cordiality, and took her husband’s -little bag of clothes he had taken with him. Kate -carried hers in her hand.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Anything in the cart? Shall I open?” asked Zerah.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Nothing—absolutely nothing. Leave the cart alone,” -answered Pasco hastily. “Nothing at all.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pepperill drew his horse away, unharnessed it, and ran -the dog-cart into the coach-house. Then he stood for a -moment musing, and looking at it. Presently he turned -his back, locked the door, and left his conveyance undischarged -of its load of shavings.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I may chuck ’em away, any time,” said he, “or give -’em to Zerah to kindle her kitchen fire with, or”— He -did not finish the sentence, even in thought.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_64'>64</span> - <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER XXV <br /><span class='small'>BORROWING AGAIN</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_4_0_4 c010'>When Pepperill, tired with his long day’s journey, -and harassed in mind, went to his bedroom, -Zerah at once fell upon him.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“How have you fared, I’d like to know? But lawk! -what’s the good of my axing, when I’m pretty confident -your journey has been all down hill, with an upset of the -cart presently.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“And if it be so, who is to blame but your brother?” -retorted Pepperill angrily.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“My brother may have made his mistakes sometimes, -but not always—you never by any chance fail to do the -wrong thing.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“He has dragged me into this confounded affair of the -Brimpts timber; and now—I cannot sell the bark or the -oaks.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“He had nothing to say to the wool. What made you -buy at a wrong price?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“The market is always changing.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Yes—against your interests. We shall end in the -workhouse.”</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_65'>65</span>“Things will come right.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“They cannot. Look here! Here is a lawyer’s letter -about the coals. You must pay by the first of the next -month, or they will put in the bailiffs.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“It will come right. I have had an offer.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“For the oak?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“No, of a loan. Kate, like a good and reasonable and -affectionate girl, is going to get Jason to withdraw her -money and lend it to me.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Zerah flushed crimson. “So!” she exclaimed, planting -herself in front of her husband, and lodging her hands on -her hips; “you want to swindle the orphan out of her little -fortune. You know as well as I do, if that money gets -into your hands, it will run between your fingers as has -all other money that ever got there. Folks say that there -is a stone as turns all base metal to gold. I say that your -palm has the faculty of converting gold into quicksilver, -that escapes and cannot be recovered.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“This is only a temporary embarrassment.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“It shall not be done,” said Zerah. “I don’t myself -believe Jason will hear of it, and if he does, and prepares -to carry it out, I’ll knock his head off—that’s my last word. -The parson said I didn’t love Kate, that I was starving her; -but I’ll stand up for her against you—and her own father -if need be.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“The coal merchant must wait,” said Pasco, shrugging -his shoulders.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“He will not wait. You have passed over unnoticed -his former demands, and now, unless in a fortnight the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_66'>66</span>money is paid, he will make the house too hot to hold -us.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“We can sell something.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“What? You have parted with your farm, the orchard, -the meadow—with everything but the house, to follow your -foolish passion to be a merchant.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“He must wait. I have to wait till folk pay me my -little bills. Money doesn’t come in rushes, but in leaks.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“He will not wait. Where is the ready money to come -from?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pasco scratched his head.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“If everything else fails,” said she further, “then I propose -you go to old Farmer Pooke and get a loan of him.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Pooke? he won’t lend money.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I am not so sure of that. Jan has called several times -since Kitty has been away, and yesterday he told me, in -his shy, awkward fashion, that he had spoken with his -father about her. The old man made some to-do—he had -fancied Rose Ash as a match for his son, as she is likely to -have a good round sum of money; but when Jan insisted, -he gave way. You see everyone in the place knows that -Kate has something left by her mother, but they don’t -know how much, and, instead of three hundred pounds or -so, they have got the notion into their heads that it is a -thousand pounds. Now, as the father is ready to let his -son marry Kate, I think it like enough he would help you, -so as to prevent the scandal of bailiffs in Coombe Cellars.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“He may make that the excuse for breaking off the -match.”</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_67'>67</span>“Jan is obstinate. When that lad sets his head on a -thing, there is no turning him, and that his father knows -well. He’d ha’ turned his son away from Kitty and on to -Rose if he could, but he can’t do it; and what he is aware -of is, that the least show of opposition will make Jan ten -times more set on it than before.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Then you go to Farmer Pooke and borrow.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I! I made to go round as a beggar-woman! You -have brought trouble on the house. You must ask for the -loan.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Next day, Pasco Pepperill started for Pooke’s house. -The lion is said to lash itself with its tail till it lashes itself -into fury. Pasco blustered and bragged with everyone he -encountered, till he had worked himself up into self-confidence -and assurance enough for his purpose, and then, -with bold face and swaggering gait, entered the farm-house.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pooke senior was a stout man, as became a yeoman of -substance; he had a red, puffed face, with stony dark eyes; -his hands were enormous, and their backs were covered -with hair.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pooke and Pepperill had not been on the best of terms. -Pooke for some time had been churchwarden, but in a fit -of pique had thrown up the office, when Pepperill had been -elected in his room. But Pooke had not intended his -resignation to be accepted seriously. He had withdrawn -to let the parish feel that it had absolutely no one else fit -to take his place, and he had anticipated that he would -have been entreated to reconsider his resignation. When, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_68'>68</span>however, Pepperill stepped into his vacant office, and everything -went on as usual, Pooke was very irate, and spoke of -the supplanter with bitterness and contempt.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“How do y’ do?” said Pooke, and extended his hand -with gracious condescension, such as he only used to the -rector and to those whom he considered sufficiently well-off -to deserve his salutation. “What have you come here -about?—that matter of Jan?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Well, now,” answered Pepperill, with a side look at a -servant, “between ourselves, you know, we are men who -conduct business in a different way from the general -run.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Get along with you, Anne,” said Pooke to the maid. -“Now we are by ourselves, what is it? That boy Jan is -headstrong. It runs in the blood. I married, clean contrary -to my father’s wishes, just because I knew he didn’t -like the girl. I don’t think that it was anything else made -me do it. But your niece, Kitty, has money.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Money? oh, of course! We are a moneyed family.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“That is well. Mine is a moneyed family. One cannot -be comfortable oneself without money, nor have anything -to do comfortably with other people unless they’re moneyed. -I have often thought there is a great gulf fixed between the -comfortably off and those who are in poor circumstances, -and those who are in comfort can’t pass to the other side—not -right they should; let them make their associates -among the comfortably off. That’s my doctrine.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“And mine also,” said Pasco. “I like to hear you talk -like this—it’s wholesome.”</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_69'>69</span>“Well, and what do you want with me?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pepperill crossed his legs, uncrossed them, and crossed -them again.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I’ve been doing a lot o’ business lately,” said he.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“So I hear. But do you want to do business with me? -I bought your orchard and meadow. There I think you -did wrong. Hold on to land; never let that go—that’s my -doctrine. You got rid of it, and where are you now? In -Coombe Cellars, without as much as five acres around it of -your own.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I never was calculated to be a farmer,” said Pasco. -“My head was always set on a commercial life, and I -can’t say I regret it. A lot of money has passed through -my hands.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I don’t care so much for the passing as the sticking of -money,” retorted Pooke.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Well, in my line, money comes in with a tide and goes -out with a tide. When it is out, it is very much out indeed; -but I have only to wait awhile, and, sure as anything in -nature, in comes the tide once more.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pooke’s stony eye was fixed on Pepperill.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Which is it now—high tide or low water?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“There it is—low.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Oh!”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pooke thrust his chair back, and looked at the space -between him and Pepperill, as though it were the great gulf -fixed, across which no communication was possible.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Merely temporary,” said Pasco, with affected indifference. -“Nevertheless, unpleasant rather; not that I am -<span class='pageno' id='Page_70'>70</span>inconvenienced and straitened myself, but that I am unable -to extend my money ventures. You see, I have been buying -a great oak wood on Dartmoor—splendid oak, hard as -iron; will make men-of-war, with which we shall bamboozle -the French and Spaniards. Then I’ve bought in a quantity -of wool.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“What, now? It is worth nothing.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Exactly—because there is a panic. In my business -this is a time for buying. There will be a rebound, and I -shall sell. It is the same with coals. I lay in now when -cheap, and sell when dear—in winter.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“What do you want with me?” asked Pooke -suspiciously.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“The thing is this. I find I have to pay for the timber -before I can sell a stick to Government, and I haven’t the -cash at this instant. I’ve had to pay for the wool,—I -bought in two years’ fleeces,—and for the coals, and if I -could lay my hand on four hundred pounds”—</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Four hundred pound ain’t things easy laid hands -on.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I want the money for three months at the outside. -I’ll give you my note of hand, and what interest you -demand.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Likely to make a good thing out of Government? I’ve -always heard as dealing with Government is like dealing -with fools—all gain your side, all loss theirs.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Well! ’Tis something like that,” said Pepperill, with -a knowing wink. “But don’t trouble yourself; if you can’t -conveniently raise four or five hundred, I can easily go -<span class='pageno' id='Page_71'>71</span>elsewhere. I came to you, because my wife said there was -likely to be a marriage between the families, and so I -thought you might help me to make this hit.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Now, look here,” said Pooke. “I’ve often had a notion -I should like to deal with Government. I’ve a lot of hay -and straw.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I’m your man. Trust me. If I get to deal with -Government about the timber, they’ll have confidence in -me, for the oak is about first-rate, and no <a id='corr71.9'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='mistake'>mistake.</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_71.9'><ins class='correction' title='mistake'>mistake.</ins></a></span> They’ll -become confiding, and I’ll speak a word for you. But if -you haven’t any loose cash, such as four or five hundred -pounds”— Pepperill stood up, and took his hat.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Don’t go in a hurry,” said Pooke. “That’s been my -ambition, to deal with Government. Then if one has -mouldy hay, one can get rid of it at a good figure, and -Government is so innocent, it will buy barley straw for -wheaten.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“If you are so hard up that you have no money”—</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I—I hard up? Sit down again, Pasco.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pooke considered for a moment, and then said, “Now, I -know well enough that in business matters sometimes one -wants a loan. It is always so. If you’ll just give me a leg -up with Government, I don’t mind accommodating you. -But—I must have security.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“On my stores?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“No; they might sell out. On your house.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Won’t my note of hand do?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“No, it won’t,” answered Pooke. “See here: my Jan -has gone down your way to make it up with Kitty. When -<span class='pageno' id='Page_72'>72</span>they have settled, you get me your deeds, and then I don’t -mind advancing the sum you want on that security—that -is, if Kitty accepts Jan.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“She will do so, of course,” said Pepperill.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Well, of course,” said Pooke.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_73'>73</span> - <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER XXVI <br /><span class='small'>SILVER PENINKS</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_4_0_4 c010'>As soon in the morning as Kate could disengage herself -from the tasks which her aunt at once imposed on -her, she ran to the cottage occupied by the wife and children -of Roger Redmore. It was of cob, or clay and straw beaten -and trampled together, then shaved down, and the whole -thatched.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Such cottages last for centuries, and are warm and dry. -So long as the thatch is preserved over the walls, there is -simply no saying how long they may endure, but if the rain -be suffered to fall on the top of the walls, the clay crumbles -rapidly away. The cob is usually whitewashed, and the -white faces of these dwellings of the poor under the brown -velvet-pile thatched roofs, with the blinking windows beneath -the straw thatching just raised, like the brow of a sleepy -eye, have an infinitely more pleasing, cosy appearance than -the modern cottages of brick or stone, roofed with cold blue -slate.</p> - -<p class='c001'>The cottage of the Redmores was built against a red -hedge, rank with hawthorn and primroses. But in verity it -was no longer the cottage of the Redmores, for the family -<span class='pageno' id='Page_74'>74</span>had been given notice to quit, and although after Lady-Day -Farmer Pooke had suffered the woman to inhabit it -for a few weeks, yet now the term of his concession was -exceeded. He had a new workman coming in, and the -unhappy woman was forced to leave.</p> - -<p class='c001'>When Kate arrived at the dwelling, she found that some -sympathetic neighbours were there, who were assisting Jane -Redmore to remove her sticks of furniture from the interior. -The labourer who was incomer was kindly, and also lent a -hand. Her goods had been brought out into the lane, and -were piled up together against the bank, and on them she -sat crying, with her children frightened and sobbing around -her. Neighbours had been good to her, and now endeavoured -to appease the tears and distress of the children -with offers of bread and treacle, and bits of saffron cake, and -endearments. The woman herself was helpless; she did -not know whither she should betake herself for the night, -where she should bestow her goods.</p> - -<p class='c001'>The incomer urged Mrs. Redmore to tell him what were -her intentions. He must bring in his own family that afternoon, -and would help her, as much as he was able, to settle -herself somewhere. It was not possible for her to remain in -the road. The parish officers would interfere, and carry her -off to the poorhouse; but it was uncertain whether she could -be accommodated there, interposed a neighbour, as the house -was full of real widows.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Mrs. Redmore was a feeble, incapable creature, delicate, -without the mental or moral power of rising to an emergency -and forming a resolution. She sat weeping and crying out -<span class='pageno' id='Page_75'>75</span>that she was without Roger, and he always managed for -her.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“But you see, Jane,” argued a neighbour, “as how Roger -can’t be here for very good reasons, which us needn’t -mention, and so someone must do something, and who else -is there but you?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I wish I was dead,” wailed the poor creature.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Well, now, Jane,” said the neighbour, “don’t ye -be so silly. If you was dead, what ’d become o’ the -childer?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>At this juncture Kate arrived, breathless with running.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“It is well.” She stood panting, with her eyes bright with -pleasure at the consciousness that she brought relief. “I -asked my father, and he says Mrs. Redmore and the little ones -may go into his cottage at Roundle Post, and stay there till -something is settled.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“That’s brave!” exclaimed the women who were standing -round. “Now, let me take the little ones, Jane, and you -lead the way, and Matthew Woodman, he’ll help to carry -some of your things.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I have the key,” said Kate; “and the distance is nothing.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Lawk a mussy!” exclaimed one of the women; “what -would us ever a’ done wi’out you, Kitty. The poor creetur -is that flummaged and mazed, her don’t seem right in her -head, and us couldn’t do nothing with she.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Mrs. Redmore caught Kate’s hand, and kissed it.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“We’d all a’ died here, but for you,” she said.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Indeed,” answered Kate, hastily snatching her hand -<span class='pageno' id='Page_76'>76</span>away, “it is my father who has come to your assistance -not I. He lends you the house.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“But you axed him for it. Oh, if Roger could do anything -for you!”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I assure you my father is the one to be thanked, if anyone -is.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Well, if Roger could do aught for he, it would be the -same as to you.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Come, let us be on the move.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>A little procession formed—women carrying the children, -or crocks, a couple of men with wheelbarrows, removing -some of the heavier goods. Then up came Jan Pooke, -and at once offered his assistance, and worked as hard as -any.</p> - -<p class='c001'>As soon as the poor woman was settled into her new -quarters, Jan sidled up to Kate, and, seizing her hand and -breathing heavily, said, “Kitty, I want to say something to -you.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>The girl looked at him inquiringly, waiting for what he -had to say.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I mean, Kitty, alone.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I am Kitty Alone,” observed she, with a smile.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I don’t mean that. I have something I want to say to -you.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“What is it?” said she. “You look very odd.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“It’s—it’s—the silver peninks.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“What of them?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>It must be premised that the “silver peninks” are the -<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><em>narcissus poeticus</em></span>.</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_77'>77</span>“They are in an orchard.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I know it,” said Kate. “Lovely they are—and yet, -somehow, I like the daffodils as well.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Now, it’s a curious thing,” said Jan, “that the same -roots bring up first daffies, and then silver peninks.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“That is not possible,” objected Kate.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“But it is so. Come into the orchard, Kitty, and see for -yourself.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I know, without seeing, that it cannot be.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“If you will come and look, Kitty, you will see that just -where the daffies were, there the peninks are now. When -the daffies die down, the peninks bloom.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Exactly, Jan, because their time for blooming is a month -later than the daffodils.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“But they come out of the same roots.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“That cannot be, by any means.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pooke rubbed his head, and said humbly, “I know, -Kitty, I’m a duffer, and that you’re clever, but I’ve seen ’em -with my own eyes.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Have you ever dug up the bulbs?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“No, I can’t say I have done that.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Till you have, you cannot say that the golden flower -and the silver flower spring from one root.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“It isn’t only the peninks, Kitty—can’t you understand?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I do not. You are very wonderful to-day.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I want to talk to you in the orchard.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“You can say what it is, here.”</p> - -<p class='c001'><a id='corr77.26'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='‘No,'>“No,</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_77.26'><ins class='correction' title='‘No,'>“No,</ins></a></span> I cannot. I want to show you the silver peninks, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_78'>78</span>and I want to say”—he let go her hand, with which he had -been sawing.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Kate looked round. It would be considerate to leave -the poor woman alone with her children to get settled into -her new quarters, and she desired to escape another outburst -of gratitude.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Well, Jan, I will go and look at the flowers, and I hope -to show you your mistake—the withered heads of <a id='corr78.8'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='daffodill'>daffodil</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_78.8'><ins class='correction' title='daffodill'>daffodil</ins></a></span> -apart from the bursting bud of the penink.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>The two young people walked together down the lane to -the gate into the orchard. Jan threw this open, and Kate, -without hesitation, stepped in.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Now,” said Jan, “I said it was not the peninks.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“What is not the peninks—the daffodils? I thought -you said that the one plant was the same which throws up -yellow flowers and white ones.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“You try not to understand me, Kitty.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I am trying hard to understand you, Jan.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Look here,” he exclaimed, letting go the gate. Kate -did as desired; she looked him full in the face. His mouth -was twitching. “Tell me, Kate”—</p> - -<p class='c001'>She waited for him to conclude the sentence, and as he -did not, she asked him gently what it was that he desired -her to tell him.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“You know already what I mean,” he exclaimed, breathing -short and quick.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Kate shook her head.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Look here, Kitty. My father has given his consent at -last, and I am going to be married.”</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_79'>79</span>“I am so glad to hear it, Jan.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Kate, you tease me. You—you”—</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Indeed, I wish you all happiness.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“That I can only have with you.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“With me?” Kate was frightened, drew back, and fixed -her great, dark blue, tranquil eyes on him. The sweat rolled -off his brow.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Oh, Jan! What do you mean?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“You know what I mean. You shall be my missus.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Jan—that cannot be.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Why not? Give me your hand—no, give me both.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I cannot do that.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>A pause ensued.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Kitty, you don’t care for me?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I do care for you, Jan.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Then love me—take me. Sister Sue will be so -pleased.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I cannot do it, Jan, even for sister Sue.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“You cannot love me?” he gasped, and his face lost its -colour. “Oh, Kitty, since we were in the boat together I -have thought only of you.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“And before that, of Rose. Was it not so?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“No, Kitty. Rose rather teased me.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Jan, you are a dear, good old fellow, and I like you -better than any—I mean, almost better than anyone else -in the world.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Whom do you like better?” he inquired in a tone -between sulk and anger.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“My dear father, of course.”</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_80'>80</span>“Oh, your father!—anyone else?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I love the dear old parson.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“The parson? why so?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Because one can learn so much from him.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Oh, learn, learn!” exclaimed Pooke impatiently. “At -that rate you will love the schoolmaster, for he can teach -you all sorts of things—why some stars twinkle and others -do not; and why the tides do not come regular by half an -hour. If that sort of foolery suits you, he’ll do.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“It is no foolery, dear friend Jan. I have said that I -did regard and like you.” Her face had become crimson.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“But you will not love me.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Jan, I shall always think of you as a brother or a cousin. -You are so good, so true, so kind. You deserve the best -girl in Coombe, and I am not that.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>He wanted to interrupt her, but she proceeded, laying -her finger-tips on his breast.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“No, Jan, I am not that—I know it well; and I know -that your father, not even sister Sue, would have you marry -me. I cannot love you, and you would be unhappy with -me.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Why that?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Because I would be for ever asking you questions which -you could not answer. And I, with you, would not be -happy, because I could get no answers out of you. You -would be telling me such things as that silver peninks -sprang out of daffodil roots, and that—I could not believe.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“So you refuse me?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Jan, you must get a good dear wife, who will believe -<span class='pageno' id='Page_81'>81</span>that silver peninks grow out of daffodil bulbs—will not -bother whether they do or not—one who loves you with her -whole heart. I know one who does that—no—listen to -me!” as he made a gesture of impatience, as if he would -turn away. “Let me speak plainly, Jan. Rose is a merry, -good-hearted girl; and if she has done an unkind thing to -me, it has not been out of malice, but because it made her -mad to think that you did not love her, and cared a little -for me. No one in Coombe can say a bad word against her. -She is the prettiest girl in all the country round. She is -always neat and fitty (dapper). If you know at all what -love is, Jan, you must judge how miserable Rose is, when, -loving you with all her heart, she finds you indifferent, and -even rough towards her; she hates me, only because you -prefer me to her. Your father, I am quite sure, has no -wish to see you marry anyone but Rose. Sister Sue is her -friend, and Sue knows and cares nothing about me. Let -us always remain friends. I shall ever value you for your -goodness of heart, dear Jan. I wish I could love you -enough to accept you, but I cannot—I cannot, Jan—and -after saying that silver peninks”—</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Oh, confound the peninks!” he used a worse word than -“confound.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Jan! Do not say that. It is a necessity of my heart -to learn. I must ask questions, and I never can love a -man who cannot give me something to satisfy my mind. -Dear Jan, if we were married, and you said that silver”—</p> - -<p class='c001'>He stamped his feet.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Well, never mind the peninks. It cannot be, Jan. It -<span class='pageno' id='Page_82'>82</span>cannot be. We were never created for each other. Woman -is made out of a rib of the man to whom she must belong. -If I am so eager to ask questions, and get to know things, -that shows, Jan, I was never made out of your rib, never -taken from your side, and so never can go there.”</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_83'>83</span> - <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER XXVII <br /><span class='small'>TROUBLE</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_4_0_4 c010'>When Kate returned to Coombe Cellars, she saw -that some trouble had occurred. Her aunt was -sitting at the table in tears, Pasco had planted himself -on the settle, with his legs stretched before him, wide -apart, the soles turned up and his hands in his pockets. -His hat was on and he was whistling a tune—a strain out -of Jackson’s “Tee-dum”—in unconcern.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Kate had heard enough of the altercations between her -aunt and uncle to be aware that their circumstances were -strained, and that Zerah disbelieved in her husband’s -business capacities. Pasco had himself admitted to her, -on the drive from Brimpts, that he was in difficulties.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Zerah, so far from refraining from her comments before -Kate, hailed her entrance as an opportunity for renewing -her animadversions on Pasco.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Look here, Kitty! Here is what we have come to—read -that! Your uncle, like a reckless fool, has gone and -bought wool when there is no sale for it, and has given a -bill for it which has expired. The bank has returned it to -Coaker, dishonoured,—dishonoured, do you hear that, Pasco?—and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_84'>84</span>here is Coaker, furious, and demanding immediate -payment. On the other side, there is the Teignmouth coal -merchant threatening proceedings. What is to be done?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Kate looked at her uncle.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Don’t be excited and angry, Zerah,” said he, with the -utmost composure. “After rain comes sunshine. It is -darkest before dawn. When the tide is at lowest ebb, it is -on the turn to the flow.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“But what is to be done? Dishonoured!” exclaimed -Zerah.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Dishonoured?—fiddlesticks! The bill is returned, that -is all. The money will come.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Whence. Can you stamp on the ground and make the -coin leap up? Can you throw your net into the Teign and -gather guineas as you can shrimps?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“It will come right,” said Pasco. “There is no need -for this heat, I tell you. I have seen Farmer Pooke, and -he will advance me five hundred pounds.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Yes—on the security of this house.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Well, what of that?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“And five hundred pounds will not suffice to meet all -the claims.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Well, there are Kitty’s hundreds.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“They shall not be touched.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“You promised me the loan of them, did you not, Kitty?” -asked her uncle, scarcely raising his head to look at her.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Yes, you are heartily welcome to them,” said the girl.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“They shall not be touched!” exclaimed Zerah, leaning -her fists on the table.</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_85'>85</span>“That is as Jason thinks and chooses,” answered Pasco. -“He is trustee for Kitty, not you. He got me into the -hobble, and must get me out.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“What!—did he get you into this about the wool?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I should have managed about the wool, were it not for -the Brimpts business.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“And the coals?” asked Zerah ironically.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I can manage well enough when not drawn away into -foreign speculations. Jason persuaded me against my will -to embark in this timber business, and that is it which is -creating this obstruction. He got me in—he must get me -out. Kate’s a good girl,—she helps, and don’t rate and -rant as you do, Zerah.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I don’t say she is not a good girl,” retorted Zerah. -“What I say is, you are a bad uncle to desire to rob -her”—</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Rob her? I ask only a loan for a few weeks. Her -money and that from Pooke will set us on our feet again.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>At that moment, the man just alluded to came in with -much noise. His face was red, his expression one of great -anger, and without a greeting, he roared forth—</p> - -<p class='c001'>“It is an insult. The girl is an idiot. She has refused -him—him—a Pooke!”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Who? What?” asked Zerah, letting go the table and -staggering back, overcome by a dreadful anticipation of evil.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Who? What?” retorted Pooke, shaking his red face -and then his great flabby hand at Kate. “She—Kitty -Alone—has said No to my John!”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Zerah uttered an exclamation of dismay. Pasco’s jaw -<span class='pageno' id='Page_86'>86</span>fell, and, drawing in his feet, he pulled his hands from his -pockets and leaned them on the arms of the settle, to be -ready to lift himself.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“She—that chit—has dared to refuse him!” roared Pooke. -“Not that I wanted her as my daughter. Heaven defend! -I think my John is worth better girls than she. But that -she should have refused him—my John—she who ought to -have gone down on her knees and thanked him if he gave -her a look—that she should have the impudence—the—the”—he -choked with rage. “Now, not one penny of -mine shall you have, not on note of hand, on no security -of your beggarly house—a cockle and winkle eating tea-house—bah!—not -a penny!”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Then he turned, snapped his fingers at Zerah and Pasco, -and went out.</p> - -<p class='c001'>There ensued a dead hush for some moments. Kate -had turned very white, and looked with large frightened -eyes at her uncle, then at her aunt. She felt that this was -but the first puff of a storm which would break in full force -on her head.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pasco stumbled to his feet, planted his right fist in the -hollow of his left palm, and, coming up close to Kate, said -hoarsely, “You won’t have him? You, you frog in a well! -You won’t have him, the richest young chap in Coombe! -I say you shall have him. You shall run after Mr. Pooke, -and say it is all a mistake—you take Jan thankfully—you -only said No just out of bashfulness, you did not think -yourself worthy. Tell him you said No because you -thought Jan was asking you against his father’s wishes. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_87'>87</span>Say that now you know how the old man feels, you -gratefully accept. Do you hear? Run.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Kate did not move. Her head had fallen on her bosom -when he began, now she raised it, and, looking her uncle -steadily in the face, she said, “I cannot. I have told Jan -my reasons.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Reasons, indeed! precious reasons. What are they?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Kate did not answer. Her reasons were such as Pasco -could not understand.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Kate,” interposed Zerah in an agitated voice, “what -is the meaning of this?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Oh, dear aunt, it is true, I cannot take Jan. I have -refused him, and I cannot, will not withdraw the No. In -this matter I alone am answerable, and answerable to God.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I insist,” stormed Pasco.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I cannot obey,” answered Kate.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Cannot—will not obey us who have brought you up. -I suppose next you will refuse to obey your father?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“In this matter, yes, if he were to order me to take -Jan Pooke.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I’ll force you to take him.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“You cannot do that, uncle.” She spoke with composure, -whereas he was in a towering passion.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Look at this,” said he, snatching up the letter from the -table. “I’m dishonoured now, indeed, as Zerah says. -If you take Jan, all is well. The old father will find me -money, and all runs on wheels. You put in your spoke, -and everything is upset. Dishonoured, ruined, beggared—and -all through you.”</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_88'>88</span>He beat down his hat over his brows, laughed wildly, -and shook his fist at Kate. “I was chucked out of the -trap t’other day. I wish I had broken my neck sooner -than come to this. I’ve nourished a viper in my bosom, -and now it turns and stings me.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Leave her to me,” said Zerah. “You make matters -worse by your violence. That is the way with you men. -Leave her to me.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pasco flung himself back in the settle, and thrust out his -legs as before, and rammed his fists into his pockets. -Before he had held his chin up, now it was buried in his -shirt front.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Then Zerah pulled her niece into the window. Kate -drew a long breath. She knew that now came the worst -trial of all.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Kitty,” said the aunt, holding both the girl’s arms, and -looking into her face. “Are you utterly heartless? Is it -a matter of no concern to you that we should be ruined? -You have but to run after Mr. Pooke, and all will be well. -Why should you not give way to my wishes and those of -your uncle? What have you against the lad? He is -good, and he is rich.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I do not love him,” answered Kate confusedly.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“But he is so well off. There is no one with half his -prospects in the place. I can’t understand. He likes you. -He is desperately fond of you.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I will never take one I do not love,” said Kate, shaking -her head.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“And you have heard the condition we are in? Your -<span class='pageno' id='Page_89'>89</span>uncle owes money on all sides. If money is due to him, he -cannot recover it. He has sold the farm, there remains -only this house. If he sells that, we are without a home. -Then where will you be? Come—yield to our wishes, -child.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I cannot, indeed I cannot,” answered Kate, trembling -in all her limbs. “I would have taken Jan if I could.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“What is to prevent you?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Kate was silent.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“There is—there can be no one else in the way?” -pursued Zerah.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Again no answer.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Stubborn and hardhearted, that is what you are,” said -Zerah bitterly. “It is all the same to you what becomes -of us. We reared you. We have loved you. I have -been to you as a mother. You have never shown either -your uncle or me that you were grateful for what we have -done for you. Your own father you treat as though he -were a dog—take no notice of him. I have heard of -hearts of stone, I never believed in them before. I do -now. No; there is—there can be no one else so insensible. -You have not got it in you to love anyone.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Kate sighed. The tears ran down her cheeks.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Dear aunt, I have always loved you, and I love you -now, and ever will.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Then show me that you have a heart,” said Zerah. -“Words without deeds are wind. If my own dear child -Wilmot had been alive, this would not have happened. -Jan would have loved her, not you; and even if she had -<span class='pageno' id='Page_90'>90</span>not cared for him, yet, when she knew my wishes, she -would have yielded. She would have given her heart’s -blood for me.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Kate pressed her folded hands to her bosom; her heart -was bursting with pain.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“What is it that I ask of you?” pursued Zerah, and -brushed the tears from her own eyes. “Nothing but what -is for your own advantage, your own happiness. How will -you like starvation—rags, no roof over your head? If you -take Jan Pooke, you become the first woman in the place. -You will have money to do with just as you likes. Jan is a -good-hearted fellow. Never have you heard of his having -wronged man, woman, or child. He is amiable; you can -turn him round your little finger. What more can a woman -wish for?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Kate’s mind was tossed with trouble. She had so -often longed that the opportunity might arise for her to -prove to her aunt that she loved her. Now the occasion -had come. The future was full of threat and disaster, and -one word from her might avert this and restore serenity; -and not only would that one word relieve her uncle and -aunt in their present distress, but it would also suffice to -make poor, worthy Jan a happy man. But that word she -could not speak, she could not prevail with herself to speak -it. She liked John Pooke, and but for one thing she -perhaps might have yielded—that one thing was that she -had met with a man very different from the young yeoman, -one who could answer questions and satisfy her hungry -mind.</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_91'>91</span>“I cannot, dear auntie.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Cannot? What stands in the way? <em>Who</em> stands in -the way?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I cannot, auntie.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Perverse, headstrong, heartless child! When luck -comes to you, you throw it away, and cast your own self, -and all belonging to you, into misery. I wish you had -never come here; I wish I had never nursed you in my -arms, never cared for you as a child, never watched over -you as a grown girl.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Auntie!”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Away—I will not speak to you again.”</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_92'>92</span> - <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER XXVIII <br /><span class='small'>ALTERNATIVES</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_4_0_4 c010'>Pasco had left the room and the house. His anger -with Kate was obscured by his unrest as to his own -condition. What could he do? He must meet the bill -for the wool, he must pay for the Brimpts timber before -he removed any of it, or forfeit what had already been -spent over felling the trees. He must pay the coal -merchant’s account, or bailiffs would be put into the house.</p> - -<p class='c001'>He went into his stores and observed the contents of his -warehouse. There was wool on the upper storey, coal was -lodged below. Above stairs all the space was pretty well -filled with fleeces.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Then he went to his stable, and looked at his cob, then -into the covered shed that served as coach-house. He put -his hand in his pocket, pulled out the key, and opened the -back of the cart. The shavings he had put in were there -still. He could not carry them into the house now, whilst -Zerah was engaged with Kate. Besides, he would not -require so much kindling matter within doors. Where -should he bestow it?</p> - -<p class='c001'>Suspecting that he heard a step approach, Pasco hastily -<span class='pageno' id='Page_93'>93</span>closed the flap of the cart, and went to the front of the -shed. No one was there. He returned to the shed and -reopened the box of the cart, and filled his arms with -shavings, came out and hastily ran across with them to his -warehouse.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Then he came back on his traces, carefully picking up -the particles that had escaped him. There remained more -in his dog-cart. Would it do for him to run to and fro, -conveying the light shavings from shed to warehouse? -Might it not attract attention? What would a customer -think were he to come for coals, and find a bundle of -kindling wood among them? What would neighbours -think at the light curls caught by the wind and carried -away over the fields?</p> - -<p class='c001'>He went hastily back to the warehouse and collected -the bundle he had just taken there, and brought it all back -in a sack, and rammed this sack into the box of his cart; -and then went again to the stores, and raked the coals over -the particles of shavings that remained.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Then Pasco harnessed his cob, and drove away to the -little town of Newton. A craving desire had come over him -to see again the new public-house erected in the place of -that which had been burnt. He had no clear notion why -he desired to see it.</p> - -<p class='c001'>As he drove along, he passed the mill, and Ash, the -miller, who was standing outside his house, hailed him.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“By the way, Pepperill—sorry to detain you; there is -a little account of mine I fancy has been overlooked. Will -you wait?—I will run in and fetch it; my Rose—she does -<span class='pageno' id='Page_94'>94</span>all the writing for me, I’m a poor scholard—she has just -made it out again. It was sent in Christmas, and forgot, -I s’pose, then again Lady-Day, and I reckon again overlooked. -You won’t mind my telling of it, and if you could -make it convenient to pay”—</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Certainly, at once,” answered Pasco, and thrust his -hand into his pocket and drew it forth empty. “No hurry -for a day or two, I reckon? I find I have come away -without my purse.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Oh no, not for a day or two; but when it suits you, -I shall be obliged.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Will to-morrow do?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Of course. I say, Pepperill, your brother-in-law is a -right sort of a man.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Why do you say that?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Giving up his cottage to that poor creetur, Jane -Redmore.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I do not understand you.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“What—have you not heard? There was like to be a -proper mess. Farmer Pooke wanted Roger’s cottage for -his new man, and so she, poor soul, had to turn out. -There was no help for it. She had no notion where to go, -and what to do. A lost sort of creetur I always thought, -and now that Roger is away and not to be found, and -what wi’ the death of her little maid, gone almost tottle -(silly). Her had to clear out, and folks was nigh mazed -to know what to do wi’ her, when your niece, Kitty Alone, -came and said as how her father Jason gave his cottage -till Jane Redmore could settle something.”</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_95'>95</span>“I never heard a word of this till this moment,” said -Pasco. “When did it happen?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“To-day—not long ago. Jane Redmore is in Jason -Quarm’s house now. Kate gave her the key.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pepperill grew red, and said, not looking Ash in the face, -but away at the ears of his horse, “I don’t like this—not -at all. We ought to get rid of Redmore and all his -belongings. You are not safe in your house, your mill is -not safe, I am not safe, with that firebrand coming and -going amongst us—and come and go he will so long as -his wife and children be here. He were mighty fond of -they.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Roger will do you no harm. Your people have been -good to him.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“What! do you call Jason ‘my people’?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Jason and Kitty have housed his wife.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“It don’t follow that he loves me. I set the men in -pursuit of him at Dart-meet, and he knows it, and hates me. -I live in fear of him as long as he is uncaught.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>The miller shrugged his shoulders. “Roger is not so -bad, but Farmer Pooke did try him terrible. I won’t -detain you. You’ll mind and pay that little account, will -you not—to-morrow?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Yes—certain.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Then Pepperill drove on. He passed a man in a cart, -and the man did not salute him. In fact, the way was -narrow, and the fellow was careful that the wheels should -clear, and had not leisure to look at and touch his hat to -Pasco. But Pepperill regarded the omission as an intentional -<span class='pageno' id='Page_96'>96</span>slight. He was in an irritable condition, and -when shortly after he drove before a cottage, and the -woman in the doorway, hushing her child, did not address -him, or answer his address, his brows knitted and he swore -that everyone was against him. His disturbed and anxious -mind longed for recognition, flattery, to give it ease, and -unless he received this from everyone, he suspected that -there was a combination against him, that a wind of his -difficulties had got abroad, and that folk considered he was -no longer worth paying attention to.</p> - -<p class='c001'>There were not many on the road, and he acted capriciously -towards those few. Some he greeted, others he -passed without notice. He fancied he detected a sneer -in the faces of such as returned his salutation or a -purposeful lessening of cordiality. On reaching the new -inn at Newton, his heart was full of anger against all -mankind.</p> - -<p class='c001'>The host did not receive him with cordiality, as he -expected; he looked out at the door and went in again -with a hasty nod.</p> - -<p class='c001'>In the yard Pasco cautiously opened his gig-box when -the ostler was not looking and drew out a halter, then, -hastily closed the flaps, and, extending the cord, said, -“I’m not going to stay many minutes; don’t take the -cob out of harness. Let him stand and eat a bite, that -is all.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Then Pepperill went into the inn and called for a glass -of ale.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Halloa, Pepperill!” said a cheery voice, and Coaker -<span class='pageno' id='Page_97'>97</span>moved up to him at the table. “How are you? Sold the -wool yet? I hear there is a rise.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pepperill drew back and turned blood-red; this was the -man to whom he owed so much money—the man to whom -he had given the bill that was dishonoured.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“No, I haven’t sold,” answered Pasco surlily.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I advise you not to. You’ll make something yet. -That Australian wool won’t go down with our weavers. -It’s not our quality, too fine, not tough enough. Hold -back, and you will make your price.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“That is all very well for you to say, but”— Pasco -checked himself. What was on his lips was—"It is ready-money -I need, not a profit a few months hence."</p> - -<p class='c001'>“There’s good things coming to you yet,” continued -Coaker. “I heard on the moor that your brother-in-law -has near on made a sale of the Brimpts oaks.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“He has?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Yes; there has been a timber merchant from Portsmouth -come there. He wanted the Okehampton oaks, -but was too late, they had been picked up, so he came on -to Dart-meet, and I reckon now it is only about price they -are haggling, that is all.” Coaker dropped his voice and -said, “There’s an awkwardness about that bill of yours. -Nay, don’t kick out; I won’t be so terrible down on you -just for a fortnight or three weeks. I’ll let you turn that -timber over first if you will be sharp about it. There, -don’t say I’m down on you. A fortnight or three weeks -I give you.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pasco held up his head, but the sudden elation was -<span class='pageno' id='Page_98'>98</span>damped by the thought that he could not remove any of -the timber till the covenanted price had been paid for it, -and whence was this money to come? Money he must -have to enable him to hold on with the wool till it fetched -a better price, and to dispose of the oaks he had felled on -the moor, to enable him to escape the scandal and -humiliation of having the bailiffs put in his house by the -coal merchant.</p> - -<p class='c001'>But then, in the event of a certain contingency which -loomed before Pasco’s inner eye, there would be no wool -to be disposed of, it would have been reduced to—even -to himself he would not complete the sentence. -Would that matter? The insurance would more than -cover the loss, and he would be able to dispose of the -oak.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Will you have a pipe?” asked Coaker, and after having -stuffed his tobacco into his bowl, he produced a match-box -and struck a light with a lucifer. At the period of this -tale lucifer matches were a novelty. The tinder-box was -in general use for domestic purposes, and men carried -about with them small metal boxes, armed with a steel -side, containing amadou and flint, for kindling their pipes -and cigars.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“What do you call that?” asked Pepperill, observing -the proceedings of the farmer.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Ah! I reckon this be one of the finest inventions of -the times. Have you never seen or read of this yet? It -is better than the phosphorus bottle, and than Holmberg’s -box. Look here. This little stick has got some chemical -<span class='pageno' id='Page_99'>99</span>stuff, sulphur and something else, phosphorus, I believe, -at the end; all you have to do is to rub, and the whole -bursts into flame.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pepperill took the box, turned it over, opened it, looked -at and smelt the matches.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Are they terrible expensive?” he asked musingly.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Oh no. There, as you are curious about it, I’ll give -you the box, and you can show it to your missus.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pasco put out his hand to shake that of Coaker. It was -cold and trembled.</p> - -<p class='c001'>The devil was playing a game with him. He was offering -him a reprieve from his embarrassments, and at the same -time thrusting him forward to the accomplishment of the -evil deed on which he brooded, and was placing in his hands -the means of executing it.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pasco sank into deep thought, looking at the match-box -and playing with it, now opening, then shutting it.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I’m depriving you of it,” he said.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Not a bit. I have a dozen. They are just brought in -from London and are selling off amazin’ fast at Ashburton. -In a week they’ll be all over the country and the tinder -boxes chucked away.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Are they dangerous—I mean to carry about with -one?” asked Pasco.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Not a bit. There is no fire till you strike it -out.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Then Pepperill again fell into meditation. He put the -box into his pocket, and sat looking before him into space, -speechless.</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_100'>100</span>Suddenly a shock went through his frame. He had -been touched on the arm by Coaker.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“What is it?” he asked, with quivering lips.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Look at the landlord,” said the farmer in an undertone, -with his hand to his mouth. “Do you know what folks -say of him?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pasco asked with his eyes. He could not frame the -words with his lips.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“They do say that he set fire to the old place, so -as to get the insurance money for rebuilding in grand -style.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“A tramp did it—got into the cellar,” said Pasco in a -whisper.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Nobody never saw thickey tramp come, and sure and -sartain nobody never saw him go. I don’t believe in the -tramp. He did it himself.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“You should not speak that unless sure of it,” said -Pepperill, thrusting back his chair. “You have no evidence.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Oh, evidence! Folks talk, and form their opinion.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Talk first and form opinions after on the idle chatter—that’s -about it.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pasco stood up. He was alarmed. He was afraid he -had not fastened the box of his dog-cart. The flap might -have fallen, and then the interior would be exposed to -view; and what would the ostler, what would anyone -think who happened to come into the stable-yard and saw -what constituted the lading of his cart? His hand had -shaken as he turned the key, after bringing out the halter; -<span class='pageno' id='Page_101'>101</span>almost certainly in his nervousness he had imperfectly -turned it. He could not rest. He went out into the yard -and looked at his dog-cart. It was closed. He tried the -key. The lock was fast.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Put the cob in,” said he to the ostler, and he returned, -much relieved, to the house.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Coaker had departed. Pepperill called for another glass -of ale, and found interest in observing the landlord. That -man had set fire to his tavern so that he might construct -an hotel. He seemed cheery. He was not bowed down -with consciousness of guilt. His voice was loud, his spirits -buoyant. He looked Pepperill full in the eyes, and -it was the eyes of Pepperill that fell, not those of the -landlord.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I wonder,” considered Pasco, “whether he did do it, -or did not? If he did not, it is just as bad as if he did, -for people charge him with it all the same. No one will -believe he is innocent. Suppose he did it—and I reckon it -is most likely—well, Providence don’t seem to ha’ turned -against him; on the contrary, it is a showering o’ prosperity -over him. P’r’aps, after all, there ain’t no wrong in it. -It was his own house he burnt. A man may do what he -will with his own.” He put resolutely from him the -thought of fraud on the insurance company. What was a -company? Something impersonal. Then Pepperill rose, -paid for his ale, and went forth. As he jumped into the -dog-cart, the ostler held up the halter.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Will you give me the key and I will put it inside?” -asked the man.</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_102'>102</span>“No, thank you—hand it to me.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>The ostler gave him the halter, and Pepperill -fastened it to the splashboard and drove on. He -had attached it hastily, carelessly, and before long the -rope uncoiled and hung before him. His eyes were -drawn to it.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“What would come to me if the bailiffs were put into -the house, and Coombe Cellars were sold over my head to -pay what I owe?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pasco was a man who could live only where he was -esteemed, looked up to, and where he could impose on -underlings and brag among equals. The idea of being in -every man’s mouth as “gone scatt”—a ruined man—was -intolerable. “I would die rather than that,” he exclaimed -aloud, and put his hand to the halter to twist it and knot -it again.</p> - -<p class='c001'>It was a sin to commit suicide. His life was his own, -but he could not take that. His storehouse with his stores -was his own. Would it be wrong for him to destroy that? -Better that than his own life. There were but two courses -open to him. He must either use the halter for his own -neck and swing in the barn, or recover himself out of the -insurance money on his stores. He drove on brooding -over this question, arguing with his conscience, and presently -he held up his head. He saw that his life was too -precious to be thrown away. What would Zerah do without -him? He must consider his wife, her despair, her -tears. He had no right to make her a widow, homeless. -Were he to die—that would not relieve the strain. The -<span class='pageno' id='Page_103'>103</span>sale would take place just the same, and Zerah be left -destitute. Pepperill held up his head. He felt virtuous, -heroic; he had done the right thing for the sake of his -dear wife, made his election, and saw a new day dawning—dawning -across a lurid glare.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_104'>104</span> - <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER XXIX <br /><span class='small'>A FRIEND GAINED</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_4_0_4 c010'>Kate fled upstairs to her bedroom, where she might -be alone and have free scope for tears. She threw -herself on her knees by her bed, and putting her hands -under the patchwork quilt, drew it over her ears and head, -that the sound of her sobs might be muffled, so as not to -reach her aunt were she to ascend the staircase. She -feared lest there should be a repetition of the scene on the -return of her father. Aunt Zerah would wait impatiently -for him, and the moment that he arrived, would pour forth -her story, not in his ear only, but in Kate’s as well, whom -she would forcibly retain to hear it and receive the reproaches -of her father. That her father would be disappointed -that she had put from her the chance of becoming -a well-to-do yeoman’s wife, she knew for certain. He had -never concerned himself very greatly about her, had never -endeavoured to sound her mind and put his finger on her -heart, and would be quite unable to appreciate the reasons -she could give for her conduct; he would look on her -refusal of young Pooke as a bit of girlish caprice. She -feared that he would view it as a bad speculation, and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_105'>105</span>would hasten off without consulting her, to endeavour to -pacify the mortified vanity of the old man, and to assure -the young one that she, Kate, had rejected him out of -girlish bashfulness, whilst loving him in her heart. There -was no bond of sympathy between her father and herself. -That which filled his mind had no place in hers; what -interested him she shrank from. She had returned from -Dartmoor with heart glowing with gratitude to him for -having insisted on her having a holiday, to her uncle for -having taken her out to Dartmoor, and to her aunt for having -spared her. It had been her desire to find occasions to -prove to them that she was grateful, and now, her first act -on return was to run contrary to their wishes, and anger -her uncle and aunt, and lay up matter for reprimand on -the arrival of her father.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Her aunt had never comprehended the character of Kate, -filled to the full as her heart was with bitterness at the loss -of her own daughter. Kate was in all points the reverse of -Wilmot, and because so unlike, woke the antipathy of the -bereaved mother, as though the silence and reserve of Kate -were assumed out of slight to the memory of the merry, -open-hearted girl. She looked on her niece as perverse, as -acting in everything out of a spirit of contrariety. How -else explain that a young girl with warm blood in her veins -should not retain the longings and express the wishes -common to other girls of her age? that she had no fancy -for dress, made no efforts to coquette with anyone, had no -desire for social amusements?</p> - -<p class='c001'>Wilmot had been frolicsome, roguish, winsome—did -<span class='pageno' id='Page_106'>106</span>Kate desire to eschew everything that had made her cousin -a sunbeam in the house, and the delight of her mother’s -heart, out of wilfulness, and determination not to please -her aunt, not to make up to her for the loss of her own -child?</p> - -<p class='c001'>Not only by her aunt was Kate regarded as heartless and -perverse. That was the character she bore in the village, -among the girls of her own age, among the elders who -adopted the opinions of their daughters. Kate had been -brought in contact with the village girls at school, in the -choir, and elsewhere, and some had even attempted to -make friends with her. But those things which occupied -the whole souls of such young creatures—dress, the budding -inclination to attract the youths of the place—were -distasteful to Kate; there was nothing in common between -them and her, and when both became conscious of this, -they mutually drew apart, and the girls arrived at the same -conclusion as her aunt, that she was a dull, unfeeling child, -who was best left alone.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Kate had felt acutely this solitariness in which she lived; -her aunt had often thrown it in her teeth that she made no -friends. Her father was displeased that he heard no good -report of his daughter; her uncle had rudely told her that -a girl who made herself so unpopular to her own sex would -never attract one of the other. Now the opportunity had -come to her to falsify his predictions, to gratify her father, -and to make her aunt proud—but she had rejected it, and was -more than ever alone. Loneliness was endurable ordinarily. -Kitty had her occupations, and, when not occupied, her -<span class='pageno' id='Page_107'>107</span>thoughts, recently her book, to engross her; but now, -when her own relatives were against her it was more than -she could bear. The pain of desolation became insupportable. -There were but two persons she knew with whom -she was in touch, two persons only who could feel with and -for her, and to one of these she could not fly.</p> - -<p class='c001'>The rector, whom she had loved and respected, was the -only friend to whom she could unburden her trouble, and -she feared to approach him, because she had just done -what he might not like, any more than did her uncle and -aunt. He would hear, and that speedily, of her conduct, -and Kate wished greatly to see him, and explain her -refusal to him as far as she could, that he might not blame -her. But even should her explanation prove unsatisfactory -to him, she was not prepared to withdraw her refusal. -Kate never wavered. She was one of those direct persons -who, when they have taken a course, hold to it persistently.</p> - -<p class='c001'>She rose from her knees, bathed her face, brushed her -hair, and descended.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Her aunt was in the kitchen, and averted her face as the -girl entered. She did not ask Kate where she was going, -nor turn her head to see what she was about.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I shall be back again in a few minutes, auntie; if you -can spare me, I should like to go out.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>No answer; and Kate left.</p> - -<p class='c001'>She had not taken many steps from the house, walking -with her head down, as the glare of the sun was too strong -for her tear-stung eyes, when she was caught, and before -<span class='pageno' id='Page_108'>108</span>she could see in whose arms she was, she was boisterously -kissed.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“You are a dear! you are a darling! I shall always love -you.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Kitty saw before her Rose Ash, with glowing cheeks and -dancing eyes.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“You darling! I never believed it of you, you are so -still. I thought you were sly. I am so sorry I misunderstood -you; so sorry I did anything or said anything against -you. I will never do it again. I will stand your friend; I -will fight your battles. And, look here!”</p> - -<p class='c001'>A polished wood workbox was at her feet. She had put -it down for the purpose of disengaging her hands to hug Kate.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Look, Kitty! This is my own workbox. Is it not -beautiful? It has a mother-of-pearl escutcheon on it and -lock-plate. And it locks—really locks—not make-believe, -like some you buy. And, see! pink silk inside. It is for -you. I give it to you. It is nearly new. I am not much -of a needlewoman, and so have not used it. It is really a -hundred times better than that which Noah knocked—I -mean, that which the bear danced upon and smashed. And -there is a silver thimble in it. I give it you with all my -heart—that is to say, with as much heart as I have left to -give to anyone.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Kate stepped back in astonishment. What did this -mean?</p> - -<p class='c001'>“O Kitty! you really shall no longer be Kitty Alone; -it shall be Kitty and Rose. We shall be regular friends. -Only think! I was so jealous of you. I thought that Jan -<span class='pageno' id='Page_109'>109</span>Pooke had taken a fancy to you—and I suppose the silly -noodle had done so for a bit, but you know he properly -belongs to me. We are to make a pair—everyone says so, -and his father and sister Sue wish it; and I’m sure, I’m -sure, so do I. But men are cruel giddy, they turn and -turn like weathercocks; and just for a while Jan fancied -you. But you put him off bravely, you did.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“What have I done to you?” asked Kate.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“My dear, I heard it all. I saw you and Jan going to -the orchard, and I was so jealous that I hid myself in the -linhay. I got over the hedge and tore my frock in a -bramble, but I did not heed it; I slipped in where I could -peep and see, and put out my ears and listen. I know -everything. I heard how you spoke up for me, and quite -right and reasonable too; and how you refused him, and -very sensible you was. Just think what a thing it would -ha’ been, Kitty, if he’d gone right off his head and married -you, and then come to his senses and found he had got the -wrong one, and it was me all along he should have had. -You would never have known happiness after. You never -would have enjoyed peace of conscience again. But you -were a sensible child, and did what you ought to ha’ done, -and nobody can’t do more than that; nor promise and vow -to do more than what is in the catechism. So, now, I’m all -for you, and there is my workbox I give you in place of -that the bear kicked to pieces. I don’t mind telling you -now, Kate, that Noah did it. I put him up to it; I told -him he was to do it. He didn’t like it, but I forced him -to it—I mean to knock the workbox from under your arm. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_110'>110</span>He’s a good chap is Noah, and now that it is all put right -between Jan and me”—</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Is it? Have you spoken with him?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Oh no, I can’t say that; but you have refused him. It -will take him a day or two to steady his head, and then he -will come up right again, and we will make it up, and be the -better friends in the end. And, what is more, I’ll stand -friend to you, Kate. I daresay you’d like Noah, and I’ll -get him to walk you out on Sundays and to sweetheart you.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I don’t want Noah,” said Kate, shrinking.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Oh yes, you do. Every girl must have her young chap. -It ain’t natural without. I’ll speak with him. He’s a terrible -good chap is Noah; he’ll do anything I ask him. I made -him knock the workbox under the bear’s feet, and if he’d -do that much for me, I’m sure you need not be afraid -but he’d sweetheart you at my axing. Besides, he’ll be -tremendous thrown out when he sees me take up with Jan -again, and he’ll want some one to walk with, and may just -as well take you as another.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“No; please, Rose, do not. I had rather be left alone.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Stuff and fiddlesticks! It is not right that you should -be without a sweetheart. You leave all that to me.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“No, dear Rose, no. You be my friend; that suffices.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“It is because I am your friend that I will do a friend’s part.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“No, no, Rose.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Well, you always were queer; I can’t understand you. -But never mind; we are friends, though you make me a -helpless one. What is the good of a friend but to assist -a girl to a lover?”</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_111'>111</span> - <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER XXX <br /><span class='small'>UNDER THE MULBERRY TREE</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_4_0_4 c010'>Kate disengaged herself from Rose, and hastened to -the Rectory. She opened the garden gate. She -was a privileged person there, coming when she liked about -choir matters, sent messages by her uncle, who was churchwarden, -running in when she had a spare hour to look at -Mr. Fielding’s picture-books, in strawberry time to gather -the fruit and eat it, in preserving time to collect his raspberries, -currants, plums, for the cook to convert into -jams.</p> - -<p class='c001'>She saw the rector sitting under a mulberry tree on his -lawn with a book on his lap. He had removed his hat, -and the spring air fluttered his silver hair.</p> - -<p class='c001'>He saw Kate at once, and, smiling, beckoned to her to -come and sit by him on the bench that half encircled the old -tree.</p> - -<p class='c001'>This she would not do, but she stood before him with -downcast eyes and folded hands, and said, “Please, sir, I -am afraid you will be cross with me.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I am never that, Kitty.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“No, sir, never.” She raised her flashing blue eyes for a -<span class='pageno' id='Page_112'>112</span>moment. “Perhaps you may be vexed with me. I’ve just -gone and done clean contrary to what you said.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“What did I say?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“You said after my holiday I was to go home, and obey -my uncle and aunt in everything.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I am sure I never said that.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“It was something like it—be obliging and good.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Well, have you not been obliging and good?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“No, sir.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“What have you done?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I’ve crossed them, and I fancy father will be cross -too.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“What have you done to cross them?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Refused Jan Pooke.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>The rector drew back against the tree and smiled.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Refused? I don’t quite understand.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Please, sir, Jan wanted to make me his wife.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Well?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“And I said ‘No.’”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“You had made up your mind already?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I knew I must say ‘No.’ Do you know, sir, Jan thought -that silver peninks came from daffodil roots.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Oh! and accordingly you could not say ‘Yes’?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“It was silly; was it not?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“And that was your real, true reason for saying ‘No’?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Kitty looked down.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“You are not angry with me, sir?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“No. Are your relations so?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Yes; uncle and aunt are dreadfully vexed, and that is -<span class='pageno' id='Page_113'>113</span>what has made me cry. I came home wishing to do everything -to please them, and the first thing I did was to make -them angry and call me a little viper they had brought up -in their bosom. You do not think I did wrong? You are -not angry also?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“No; I do not think you could have done otherwise, if -you did not care for John Pooke.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I did, and I do care for John Pooke.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Then why did you not take him? Only because of the -silver peninks?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“No, sir; not that only. I care for him, but not enough; -I like him, but not enough.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Quite so. You like, but do not love him.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Yes, that is it.” Kate breathed freely. “I did not -know how to put it. Do you think I did right?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>The rector paused before he answered. Then he said, -signing with his thin hand, “Come here, little Kitty. Sit -by me.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>He took her hand in his, and, looking before him, said, -“It would have been a great thing for this parish had you -become John Pooke’s wife, the principal woman in the -place, to give tone to it, the one to whom all would look up, -the strongest influence for good among the girls. I should -have had great hopes that all the bread I have strewed -upon the waters would not be strewn in vain.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I thought you wished it,” burst forth from the girl, with -a sob. “And yet I could not—I could not indeed. Now -I have turned everyone against me—everyone but Rose,” -she added, truthful in everything, exact in all she said.</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_114'>114</span>“No, Kitty, I do not wish it. It is true, indeed, that it -would be a rich blessing to such a place as this to have you -as the guiding star to all the womanhood in the place, set -up on such a candlestick as the Pookes’ farm. But I am -not so sure that the little light would burn there and not -be smothered in grease, or would gutter, and become extinguished -in the wind there. The place is good in itself, -but not good for you. It might be an advantage to the -parish, but fatal to yourself. John Pooke is an honest, -worthy fellow, and he has won my respect because he saw -your value and has striven to win you. But he is not the -man for you. For my little Kitty I hope there will come -some one possessed of better treasures than broad acres, -fat beeves, and many flocks of sheep; possessed of something -better even than amiability of temper.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“What is that, sir?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“A well-stored intellect—an active mind. Kitty, no one -has more regard for young John than myself, but it would -have been terrible to you to have been tied to him. ‘Thou -shalt not plough with an ox and an ass together’ was the -command of Moses, and we must not unite under one -yoke the sluggish mind with that which is full of activity. -No, no, Kitty. You acted rightly. The man who will be -fitted to be coupled in the same plough with you will be -one of another mould. He will be”—</p> - -<p class='c001'>The garden gate opened, and Walter Bramber entered. -A twig of laurel caught his sleeve, and he turned to extricate -himself, and did not perceive the rector and Kate. A -sudden confusion came over the girl, caused—whether by -<span class='pageno' id='Page_115'>115</span>her thoughts, whether by the words of the rector, whether -from natural shyness, she could not tell, but she started -from the seat and slipped behind the mulberry.</p> - -<p class='c001'>The schoolmaster came up to the rector when called, -and found the old man with a smile playing about his -lips.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I have come, sir,” said Bramber, “to ask your advice.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“In private?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Yes, sir, if you please.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Then I cannot grant you an audience now. If you -will run round the mulberry, you will discover why.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Bramber was puzzled.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Do what I say. There is someone there, someone who -must retire farther than behind a tree if you are to consult -me without being overheard.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>The schoolmaster stepped aside to go about the mulberry, -and saw Kate standing there, leaning against the trunk, -holding together her skirts, and looking down.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Oh!” laughed Walter; “this is the audience! I do -not in the least mind a discussion of my concerns before -such an one.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Come out, Kitty! You hear your presence is desired,” -called Mr. Fielding, and the girl stepped forward. “Take -the place where you were before on one side of me, and -Mr. Bramber shall sit on the other, and we will enter on -the consideration of his affairs. What are they as to -complexion, Bramber, sanguine or atrabilious?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Not cheerful, I am afraid. I have my troubles and -difficulties before my eyes.”</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_116'>116</span>“So has Kitty. She comes to me from the same cause.” -Then he added, “Well, let us hear and consider.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“It concerns Mr. Puddicombe. I do not know what I -ought to do, or whether I should do anything. There is -an organised opposition to me, and the late schoolmaster is -at the bottom of it. I can clearly perceive that not parents -only, but children as well, have been worked upon to offer -stubborn opposition to all my changes, and to make myself -ridiculous. I need not enter into details. There is this -feeling of antagonism in the place, and it paralyses me. -If the children were left unmanipulated, I could get along -and gain their confidence; but at home they hear what -their parents say, what is said to their parents, and they -come to school with a purpose not to obey me, not to -listen to my instructions, and to make my task in every -particular irksome and distasteful. I see precisely what -Puddicombe is aiming at—to force me to use the cane, not -once or twice, but continuously, and to force me to it by -making discipline impossible without it. Then he will -have a handle against me, and will rouse the parish to -hound me out. What am I to do?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Have you called on him?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“No, sir, I have not. I really could not pluck up -courage to do so. I hardly know what I could say to him -that is pleasant if we did meet.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“You have not yet met him?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“No. I do not know him by sight.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“He is not a bad fellow; jovial, a sportsman at heart, -and his heart was never in the school; it was to be sought -<span class='pageno' id='Page_117'>117</span>in the kennels, in stables, in the ring, anywhere save in -class. That was the blemish in the man. His thoroughness -was not where it should have been. His centre of gravity -was outside the sphere in which it was his duty to turn. -But he is not a bad fellow, good-hearted, placable, and only -your enemy because his vanity rather than his pocket is -touched by his dismissal. I hear he has announced his -intention of becoming a Dissenter; but as he hardly ever -came to church when he was professedly a Churchman, I -do not suppose chapel will see much of him when he -professes himself a Nonconformist. It is a great misfortune -when a man’s interests lie outside his vocation.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“What shall I do, sir?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Call on him.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“What shall I say to him?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Something that will please him—nothing about the -school; nothing about your difficulties.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I am supremely ignorant of the cockpit and the race-course. -It is very hard when two men belonging to different -spheres meet; they can neither understand the -other.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“My dear young man, that is what I have been -experiencing these many years here; we must strive to -accommodate ourselves to inferior ways of thinking and -speaking, and then, then only, shall we be able to insinuate -into the gross and dark minds some spark of the higher life. -Kitty, have I your permission to tell Mr. Bramber what it -is that you have just communicated to me? It will be -public property throughout Coombe in half an hour, if -<span class='pageno' id='Page_118'>118</span>everyone does not know it now, so it will be revealing no -secrets.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Kate looked, with a startled expression in her eyes, at the -rector. Why should he care to speak of this matter now? -Why before Bramber? But she had confidence in him, -and she did not open her lips in remonstrance.</p> - -<p class='c001'>With a quiet smile, Mr. Fielding said: “You have not -yet heard the tidings with regard to our little friend here, -I presume?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Tidings—what?” The schoolmaster looked hastily -round and saw Kate’s head droop, and a twinkle come in -the rector’s eye. A slight flush rose to his temples.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Merely that she has received an offer”—</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Offer?” Bramber caught his breath, and the colour -left his face.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Of marriage,” continued Mr. Fielding composedly. -“A most remarkable offer. The young man is eminently -respectable, very comfortably off; age suitable; looks -prepossessing; parents acquiescing.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Kate! Kitty!” Bramber’s voice was sharp with alarm -and pain.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I do not know whether the attachment has been one -of long continuance,” proceeded the rector. “The fact of -the proposal—now passing through Coombe—is like the -dropping of a meteorite in its midst. Popular fame had -attributed Rose Ash to John Pooke.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“John Pooke, is it?” gasped the schoolmaster, and he -sprang to his feet.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“John Pooke the younger, not the father, who is a -<span class='pageno' id='Page_119'>119</span>widower of many years’ standing. The disparity of ages -makes that quite impossible. The younger John it is who -has aspired.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Kate, tell me—it cannot be. It must not be,” exclaimed -Bramber, stepping before the girl, and in his excitement -catching her hands and drawing them from her face, in -which she had hidden them. She looked up at him with a -flutter in her eyes and hectic colour in her cheeks. She -made no attempt to withdraw her hands.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“By the way,” said the rector, “I will <a id='corr119.10'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='ook'>look</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_119.10'><ins class='correction' title='ook'>look</ins></a></span> up cockfighting -in my <cite>Encyclopædia Britannica</cite>, and make an -extract from the article, if I find one, that may be serviceable -to you, Bramber, when you call on Mr. Puddicombe. -I’ll go to my library. I shall not detain you many -minutes.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>The many minutes were protracted to twenty. When -Mr. Fielding returned, the young people were seated close -to each other under the mulberry-tree, and still held hands; -their eyes were bright, and their cheeks glowing.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I am sorry I have been so long,” said the rector; “but -there was a great deal of matter under the head of ‘Cock-pit’ -in the <cite>Encyclopædia</cite>; and I had to run through it, and -cull what would be of greatest utility. I have written it -out. Do not rise. I will sit beside you—no, not between -you—listen! ‘It must appear astonishing to every reflecting -mind, that a mode of diversion so cruel and inhuman as -that of cockfighting should so generally prevail, that not -only the ancients, barbarians, Greeks, and Romans should -have adopted it; but that a practice so savage and heathenish -<span class='pageno' id='Page_120'>120</span>should be continued by Christians of all sorts, and even -pursued in these better and more enlightened times.’ That -is how the article begins—very true, but won’t do for Mr. -Puddicombe. ‘The islanders of Delos, it seems, were great -lovers of cockfighting; and Tanagra, a city in Bœotia, the -Isle of Rhodes, Chalcis in Eubœa, and the country of -Media, were famous for their generous and magnanimous -race of chickens.’ I don’t think this is much good. -Puddicombe, though a schoolmaster, will hardly know the -whereabouts of Delos, Tanagra, Rhodes, and Chalcis. -‘The cock is not only an useful animal, but stately in his -figure, and magnificent in his plumage. His tenderness -towards his brood is such, that, contrary to the custom of -many other males, he will scratch and provide for them -with an assiduity almost equal to that of the hen; and his -generosity is so great, that, on finding a hoard of meat, he -will chuckle the hens together, and, without touching one -bit himself, will relinquish the whole of it to them. He -was called <em>the bird</em>, κατ’ ἐξοχήν by many of the ancients’—But, -bless me, are you attending?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Mr. Fielding,” answered Bramber, “I do not think I -shall have much trouble in finding a topic on which to -speak with my predecessor in the school. He was Kitty’s -schoolmaster. She will introduce me to him. We will go -to him at once; and when he hears what we have to say,—that -I, the new schoolmaster, am going to take to me the -favourite, most docile, the best scholar of the old one; and -when he learns that he is the first person to whom we make -the announcement, and that he is at liberty to run up and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_121'>121</span>down, and in and out of every house, communicating the -news,—why, I am pretty sure that he will be won.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Well, now!”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“And Kitty will cease to be Kitty Alone some time -next year.”</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_122'>122</span> - <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER XXXI <br /><span class='small'>ON MISCHIEF BENT</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_4_0_4 c010'>When Pasco returned from Newton, he drew up his -tax-cart close to the door of the storehouse, took -the horse out, but did not unharness him; he merely -removed the bridle and gave the brute a feed.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Then he entered the dwelling-house and seated himself -at the kitchen table without a word to his wife, and emptied -his pocket on the board. A couple of sovereigns and a few -shillings clinked together. With his forefinger he separated -the gold from the silver coins.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“What! money come in, in place of going out?” asked -Zerah. Then, looking over his shoulder, she said, “And -precious little it is.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Little is better than nothing,” growled Pasco. “I got -this from Cole, the baker. I’d somehow forgot he owed -me a trifle, and he stopped me and paid his account. I -owe something to the miller, so I’m no better off than I -was. In at one pocket, out at the other.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Now look here, Pasco,” said his wife. “For first and -last I say this. I have laid by a trifle that I have earned -by cockles and winkles, whilst you have been chucking -<span class='pageno' id='Page_123'>123</span>away in coals and wool. If you will pass me your word -not to run into extravagance, and not to listen to any more -of Jason’s schemes, I will let you have this. No”—she -corrected her intent; “you are not to be trusted with the -money. It shall not leave my hand to go into yours. And -your word ain’t of any strength, it is as weak as your -resolutions. I’ll settle the matter of the coals with the -merchant at Teignmouth; that is the great call at this -moment. I don’t do it for you, but to avoid the scandal -of having bailiffs in the house—a house where I’ve kept -myself respectable so many years, and where my Wilmot -was born and died. I wouldn’t have the brokers sell the -bed she laid on when dead, not for all my savings. So I’ll -over to Teignmouth and see what I can manage about the -coal merchant’s bill; and you, just take that money and -pay Ash the miller, and have done with him.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Again the thought rose up in the mind of Pasco that the -Evil One was making sport of him. At one time he was in -a condition of hopelessness, in another moment there was a -lightening in the sky before him. The means of striking -fire had been put into his hands at the same time that he -was shown that his difficulties were not insurmountable. -But the heart which has once resolved on a crime very -speedily comes to regard this object as a goal at which it -must necessarily aim, and to look with impatience upon all -suggestions of relief, upon all dissuasives, and stubbornly, -with shut eyes, to pursue the course determined on. The -struggle to form the determination once overpassed, the -mind shrinks from entering into struggle again, and allows -<span class='pageno' id='Page_124'>124</span>itself to be swept along as though impelled by fatality, as -though launched on a stream it is powerless to oppose.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Now his wife’s suggestion that she should go to Teignmouth -and settle with the merchant for the coals opened -up to him a prospect, not of relief from his pecuniary -difficulty, but of getting rid of her to enable him the more -easily to carry out his intention unobserved. He put his -shaking hand into his breast-pocket for his handkerchief, -and in pulling this forth drew out also the lucifer match-box, -that in falling rattled on the table.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“What have you there, Pasco?” asked Zerah.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Nothing,” he answered, and hastily replaced the -box.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Don’t tell me that was nothing which I saw and heard,” -said his wife testily.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Well—it’s lozenges.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Didn’t know you had a cough.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Never mind about that, Zerah,” said Pasco. “If you -go to Teignmouth it must be at once, or the tide will be out, -and I don’t see how you can get back to-night.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I’ve my cousin, Dorothy Bray, there. I’ll go to her. -I’ve not seen her some months, and she has a room. I’ll -leave Kitty at home now, to attend to the house, and you -won’t need me to the morning flow. I suppose, between -you, you can manage to light a fire?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pasco started and looked at his wife with alarm, thinking -that she had read his thoughts; but he was reassured by -her changing the topic. “There—I’ll give you three pounds -towards the miller’s bill.”</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_125'>125</span>Pepperill was now all anxiety to hurry his wife off. He -urged precipitancy on account of the falling tide. He bade -her row herself across, and leave the boat on the farther -shore till the next morning.</p> - -<p class='c001'>His impatience in a measure woke her suspicion.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“You seem mighty eager to get rid of me,” she said -querulously.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“’Tain’t that, Zerah,” he answered; “but I want myself -to be off to Brimpts.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“To Brimpts?—and leave Kitty alone in the house?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“No; I shall take her with me.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“What!—leave the house to take care of itself?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“What can harm it? No one will break in. They know -pretty well there is nothing to be got but bills that ain’t -paid.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I don’t half like it—and the stores?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“There is no moving wool or coals without waggons, and -I shall lock up.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Zerah stood in uncertainty.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I wish you’d not go, Pasco.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I may or may not—but be off, or you’ll get stuck in the -mud, as did Kitty.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>In ten minutes Pasco was alone. He stood on the -platform where were the tea-tables and benches, and watched -till his wife was half-way across. Then he drew a long -breath, and passed through the house, went out at the main -door, and hastened to the cart. Again he stood still, and -looked searchingly in every direction; then he let down -the flap behind, drew out first the sack of shavings and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_126'>126</span>carried it within, and then he cleared out all that remained. -He was not satisfied till with a broom he had swept every -particle of chip within, leaving not a tell-tale white atom -without. Then he tacked some scraps of sacking over the -window that no one might look within, and he proceeded -to place bundles of the shavings among the coals, not in one -great heap, but dispersed in handfuls here and there, and -he broke up some pieces of board into splinters and thrust -them among the shavings.</p> - -<p class='c001'>He was startled by a voice calling in the door, “Uncle, -are you here?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Hot, agitated, and alarmed, Pasco hastened to the -entrance, and saw Kate.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“What do you want? Why are you shouting?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Where is aunt? I want to see her. I cannot find her -in the house. I have something to tell her.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“You are not like to find her,” said Pepperill, coming -outside and locking the door behind him. “She is gone -over the water, and will stay at Cousin Bray’s; and I’m off -to Brimpts again, and mean to take you.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Why, uncle! we have but just returned from -there.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Well, that’s no concern of yours, where you are, so -long as you have your eatin’ and drinkin’. I must go, and -your aunt thinks I mustn’t leave you alone. So be sharp; -run and put what things you require together, and I will -harness the cob.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“How long shall we be away, uncle?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“We shall be back to-morrow evening, or the day after. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_127'>127</span>I can’t say. Come, be quick. I can’t wait talking with you; -it is late already.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Kate obeyed, a little surprised. She speedily returned, -with her little bundle tied up in a scarlet kerchief.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pasco was ready and waiting. He was looking up at the -drift of the clouds. The wind was from the east and -blowing strongly.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pepperill drove through the village. He halted at the -public-house to call out the taverner, ask for a glass of ale, -and tell him he was bound for Dartmoor. At the mill he -again drew up, and shouted for the miller, who, on emerging -from his door, saluted Pasco with the remark, “Why, you -are on the road to-day a great deal. I thought you had gone -this way already.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“So I had—to Newton; but there I learned something. -The Government has come round to a reasonable mind, -and will buy my timber. Not at Devonport, but at Portsmouth; -and I am going to measure up. I ran home to -tell my old woman. And now, by the way, I will settle that -little account between us, if agreeable to you.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Always right with me to receive,” said the miller.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pasco drew out a handful of money and discharged his -debt. “Just receipt it, will you, with the date, and say what -o’clock in the afternoon also—that there may be no mistake.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“You are not going to Brimpts to-night?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Yes, I am. Business must be attended to.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Rather late for the little maid by the time you get there.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“That can’t be helped—she is strong now.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Then Pepperill drove on. He continued his course -<span class='pageno' id='Page_128'>128</span>without interruption, as the country he passed through was -sparsely populated.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Kate’s heart was full. She was in doubt whether to tell -her uncle that which had taken place between herself and -Walter Bramber. She would greatly have preferred to have -made the communication to her aunt and let her inform -Mr. Pepperill. She was afraid of Pasco. He was violent -and brutal. Her aunt was merely harsh. Pasco had been -very angry with her for refusing Jan Pooke, and she did not -believe that he would receive with favour the communication -she had to make relative to the schoolmaster. She dreaded -another outburst. Yet her strong sense of duty pressed her -to communicate to him what he must learn within a short -time, from other lips if not from her own. Then ensued a -painful struggle in her breast, and she was constrained to -free herself at length, and to say—</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Uncle, you know I refused Jan Pooke, but since then, -what I could not say to him I have said to Walter Bramber, -the schoolmaster.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Oh, ah! Jan Pooke—yes, to be sure.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“No, not Jan, but the schoolmaster.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Drat it!” exclaimed Pasco, stroking his head; “I’ve -forgotten to lock up the house. I let the door stand as it -was when you came out. Now anyone can go in and take -what they like, break into my bureau and steal my money, -get hold of Zerah’s silver spoons. I say, Kitty, jump out -and open that field-gate. There is a linhay there. I’ll put -up the trap and horse, and you shall wait by ’em whilst I -run back to Coombe Cellars and lock the house.”</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_129'>129</span>“But how is aunt to get in when she returns?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“You be easy. I’ll put the key in the little hole over the -lintel. She knows where to find it. Look alive, jump and -open the gate. Drat it! what a way I shall have to run!”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Why not drive back, uncle?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Why not?—Because the cob must be spared. I’ve -been into Newton already to-day, and the distance he has -to go is just about enough to rub his hoofs down.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pepperill drove the cart into the field indicated, whilst -Kate held wide the gate. Then he took the cob out and -ran the cart under cover.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“You keep in shelter, and mind you do not show yourself. -If anyone pass along the road, be still as a mouse. -Never mind who it may be. I shall be gone perhaps an -hour, perhaps a little more. It will be dark before I am -back. You keep close. There is some straw in the corner, -lie on that and go to sleep. We have still a long journey -to take, and get on we must, through the night, and this is -a darned matter detaining me. Hush!”</p> - -<p class='c001'>They heard something like a cart rattling along.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Git along, Neddy! ‘If I had a donkey ’wot wouldn’t -go’—you know the rest, Neddy.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“It is my father, I believe,” said Kate.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I don’t believe it is. Anyhow, be still,” whispered -Pasco. “Your father is at Brimpts. He can’t be returned -here. It’s some other chap with a donkey.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>The sound of the wheels was lost, as at the point where -they had turned in at the gate there was a sweep in the -road between high hedges and overarching trees.</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_130'>130</span>“I think it was father,” said Kate.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“And I say it was not. However, whoever it was, he’s -gone now. You bide here. I’m off—mind don’t be seen -or heard by nobody till my return.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Then Pasco departed.</p> - -<p class='c001'>He did not take the way by the road. He crossed the -field, scrambled over a hedge, and directed his course -towards the river. This was not the shortest way, and it -was certainly the most arduous, for it entailed the breaking -through of several hedges, and the scrambling over many -banks.</p> - -<p class='c001'>The evening was rapidly closing in.</p> - -<p class='c001'>He saw—or heard—the keeper, and crouched under a -hedge, holding his breath. Happily for him, the man -passed at some distance. His dog barked, but was called -to heel, and Pasco did not venture from his lurking-place -till ten minutes after the man had gone his <a id='corr130.17'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='way,'>way.</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_130.17'><ins class='correction' title='way,'>way.</ins></a></span> Then he -sprang up and ran, and did not relax his pace till he had -reached the river bank, having first floundered through a -backwater deep in mire. On the bank was a foot-path, -somewhat frequented by lovers at dusk, and Pasco advanced -along it stealthily, listening and peering before him at -intervals, to make certain that no one approached.</p> - -<p class='c001'>The tide was out, the mud exhaled its peculiar and not -pleasant odour. Something flopped into it near at hand—whether -a bird had dropped, or a stone had been flung, or -a flounder had been left by the tide, and beat the mud with -his tail, Pasco could not tell. The sound sent the blood -with a rush to his heart and turned him sick and giddy.</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_131'>131</span>Looking at him over a rail was a white horse. He did -not see it until close upon the bank, and then the apparition -of the great head turning to him and rubbing its chin on the -rail gave him another start, and he almost slipped into the -mud beside the path.</p> - -<p class='c001'>At length he reached the field adjoining the spit of land -on which stood Coombe Cellars; here the path turned -towards the village, but there was a way through the hedge -to his own house. Pasco took this track, emerged in front -of the Cellars, and found the door open, a light shining -through the window of his kitchen and Jason Quarm inside.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_132'>132</span> - <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER XXXII <br /><span class='small'>JASON IN THE WAY</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_4_0_4 c010'>Jason had lighted a candle, and had made himself -comfortable in the settle. Pepperill stood staring at -him in speechless anger and uncertainty.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Where’s the sister? Where’s Kitty?” asked Jason in -unconcern.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“What are you doing here?” roared Pasco, convulsed -with sudden rage. “Is this your house, that you dare come -in and use it as your home?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Quarm looked at his brother-in-law in surprise.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Get out of the place at once,” shouted Pasco. “If I -happen to go away for ten minutes, is that a reason for -every Jack and Tom to come here, as if it was ‘Beggars’ -Hall’?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Why, what on earth has put you out?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“What has put me out? you—by coming in here. This -is my house, not yours.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Brother-in-law,” said Jason, puzzled at the strange -humour of Pasco, “is not that a sufficient answer, when I -give you that title? Zerah is my sister—I have ever been -welcome here. Kate is my daughter—she lives with you. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_133'>133</span>Why am I here? Put it—I have come to see my sister, -come to kiss my child.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Neither is in the house.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Then where are they?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I am not bound to answer you,” shouted Pepperill in -anger, vexation, and fear, aggravated by the coolness with -which Quarm answered him.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Yes, you are. I have ties of blood, and ties of affection, -your bad temper can’t snap. I ask, where is my -daughter?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Gone back to the moor.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“That can’t be—alone.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“She is not alone.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Is Zerah with her?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“No, she is not; Zerah is at Teignmouth, gone there to -get me out of one of the difficulties into which you have -plunged me.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I—I got you into difficulties? I am always showing -you rope’s-ends by which you may crawl out.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Who else but yourself has now put me in such an upsetment -that I do not know under what stone to look for -money; that I’m threatened with legal proceedings; that -the bailiffs are on the way to my house?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“It is your own doing, not mine. Who threatens -you?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“There is my bill for the wool unmet. There is my -account for coals unpaid.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I have had to do with neither. You acted like a fool -about Coaker’s wool—buying when in all the papers it was -<span class='pageno' id='Page_134'>134</span>told how that there had been an importation from New -South Wales.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I never read the papers.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Then you have no right to do business. You do it at -inevitable loss. But this is neither here nor there, above -nor below. Where is Kate?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I have told you—gone to the moor.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“When?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“An hour or two ago.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“With whom?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“With me.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Then how came you here?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Because I had left the doors unlocked against impertinent -fellows coming in. I left Kate with the trap -whilst I ran back. Now, are you content? Out of my -house immediately. I want to lock up and go back to her.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“This is a queer tale,” said Quarm. “I have myself -but just arrived. I must have passed you on the way.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Not at all, if we had gone into a friend’s for a cup of -tea.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“With what friends were you?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I shall not stand and be catechised by you. I say, get -out. I am going to lock up.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Now look here, Pasco, and be reasonable. I would -not have returned to Coombe and left the men at Dart-meet -unlooked after, had I not good news to communicate.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Good news?” mocked Pepperill. “The best of news -would be that you were going to take yourself off.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I believe we shall sell the oak.”</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_135'>135</span>“I have heard of that already—from Coaker.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Well, I tell you it is so. The authorities at Portsmouth -will take it at a reasonable price, if we deliver it.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“There is the thing we can’t do—that spoils it all.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Yes, we can—deliver it here in the Teign. There is -the Stover Canal—we can send it down by that and ship it -all to Portsmouth right away.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pepperill was silent. This was indeed a rift in the cloud. -“The only difficulty is not this—it is that we must have -the timber sawn at Brimpts, and sent down and put on -board in planks. They cannot freight a vessel with rude -oak timber unsawn. Now I have a scheme—there is the -river Dart pouring down its volumes of water of no good -to anyone. Let us put up a saw-mill, and we shall have -the oak run into planks and ready for transport in a -jiffy.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“And the cost?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Forty pounds.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Forty pounds?” roared Pasco, and thrust Quarm from -him by a rude stroke on the shoulder. “Where am I to -look for forty pence?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“It is our only chance. I must agree to-morrow, or the -thing is off. If I engage to saw up the timber and despatch -it by water, we shall get a very tidy profit—not what we -had hoped, but something. If I do not accept the offer, -then I really do not see my way to disposing of the oak -at all. The felling of the Okehampton Park oaks has -spoiled the market in this country. Come, what say you, -Pasco—shall I settle?”</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_136'>136</span>“I cannot do it,” answered Pepperill, a cold sweat breaking -out over his brow.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“There is an old mine wheel available. I can buy it -for a song,” said Quarm.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I have no money. Have I not told you that—or -must I knock it into your brain with my fist—or the house -key?” He raised his hand threateningly.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Be reasonable, Pasco. I cannot tell what has come -over you to-night. You are not yourself. If you do not -care about the outlay for a saw-mill, we must saw all up -by hand, and that will come costlier in the end. I fancy -if you bestirred yourself you could raise a loan.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I will not. I will have but one thing now—your -absence. Get out of my house!”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Where be I to go to?” asked Quarm, settling himself -from one leg to the other. “There’s Jane Redmore in my -cottage, with all her children.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Well”—</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I can’t go there—the place is full.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“You are a fool to have suffered it.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Kate begged and prayed of me”—</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Take the consequences, and be homeless.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I cannot, for to-night. You are going to Brimpts, and -it is as well the men should see you. I shall return to-morrow, -but to-night I must house me somewhere. Let -me stay here; there is no one in the place, and I’ll keep -guard for you if you wish.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“There is nothing here to guard, but emptiness. I -want no help of yourn.”</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_137'>137</span>“But I must have a roof over my head at night.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Any roof but mine. Will you go, or must I fling you -out and down the steps?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“You’re in a wonderful queer temper to-night. What is -up?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“My temper, as you say, is up; and like to be so—when -it is through you I am brought to ruin and beggary.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>He caught Jason by the shoulders, whirled him round, -and with hands and knees thrust him out of the door, and -then he slammed it behind him and turned the key. Next -moment he blew out the light. Then he threw himself -panting on the settle and buried his head in his hands.</p> - -<p class='c001'>He had not sat there many minutes before Quarm was -kicking at the door, and calling him by name. Transported -with anger, Pasco sprang to his feet, took down the -blunderbuss that was over the kitchen fire, and, going to -the door, half opened it and thrust forth the muzzle of -his piece.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Go away, or I will shoot.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“This is rank folly!” bawled Jason. “Are you gone -demented? Give me shelter for the night; I will do no -harm. What do you mean by refusing me such a reasonable -request? I tell you I can’t go home—all the Redmores -are there packing every corner.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Jason thrust up the end of the blunderbuss, and put his -shoulder to the door.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I’ll kill you if you trouble me further,” said Pasco -between his teeth. “Take the consequences of befriending -scoundrels and their families.”</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_138'>138</span>He drove Quarm back and refastened the door, then -he stood at the door listening, with the butt of the gun on -his foot. He heard his brother-in-law growl and pass -remarks upon him. He heard him limp away, and then -all was still.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pepperill stepped to a window and looked out, to -observe the direction taken by Quarm, but the darkness -was too great for him to see anything. He went back to -the settle and tried to think.</p> - -<p class='c001'>The elaborate precautions he had taken to dissemble -his return, to make believe that he had departed before -sunset, had been made futile by the appearance of Jason -on the scene. Should what he purposed take place—then -he could not declare that he had been from home at the -time. What availed it that he had paid the miller’s bill -at a quarter to seven, when his brother-in-law could aver -that he had been back at the Cellars an hour later?</p> - -<p class='c001'>What was to be done? Should he abandon his intention -because of this mischance? Rage against his brother-in-law -ate into his heart. All had promised so well. -Everything was moving with such smoothness, till Quarm -appeared. What but a malevolent mind could have -brought this fellow back from Brimpts to cross him?</p> - -<p class='c001'>What was to be done? It was of no practical use -storming against Jason. Should he abandon his purpose -or defer it?</p> - -<p class='c001'>To abandon it seemed to him an impossibility. By -carrying it out alone could he be released from his present -pecuniary difficulty. To defer it was difficult, for he -<span class='pageno' id='Page_139'>139</span>wanted immediate relief; moreover, when again could he -calculate on having the ground so clear now—his wife as -away in Teignmouth, his niece waiting at a distance with -the cart?</p> - -<p class='c001'>What if Jason had seen him? Would he dare to give -evidence against him—his own brother-in-law? Was it -not to Jason’s interest that he, Pasco, should be flush of -money, and ready to embark in the proposed scheme of -erecting a saw-mill?</p> - -<p class='c001'>Even if Jason spoke of having seen him, he could deny -it. Pasco sprang from the settle. He would run the risk. -It was worth it.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_140'>140</span> - <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER XXXIII <br /><span class='small'>ONE CRIME LEADS TO ANOTHER</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_4_0_4 c010'>Pasco remained in the dark in his house for about -half an hour, waiting till he supposed that Jason -was far away. He allowed him time to harness his ass, -put it into the cart, and depart. He went once or twice -to the door to listen, but did not venture to open it, lest -Jason should be without, and should take advantage of the -occasion to burst in. He remained all the while bathed in a -clammy sweat, his hair stuck to his skull as though plastered -about his temples with fish-glue, he felt it heavy and dank -on his head like a cap.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Repeatedly did he try to collect his thoughts and to -coolly consider whether it were not advisable for him, -under the circumstances, to abandon his scheme. But -his thoughts were in a condition of dislocation, he could -not gather them and fit them together into consecutive -order. He felt himself impelled, having formed his resolve, -to proceed with it, and to leave to the future the removal -of such difficulties as might spring up, as came in his -way.</p> - -<p class='c001'>He was restless, yet afraid to be stirring. He was -<span class='pageno' id='Page_141'>141</span>impatient for the time to pass, and counted the ticks of -the clock, yet forgot after a few minutes the number he -had reached.</p> - -<p class='c001'>The seat was hard and bruised him, he leaned back, -and his back ached. He held out his hand, placed it on -the table and endeavoured to steady it. He was aware -that it shook, and he used all the power of his will to arrest -its convulsive quiver, but ineffectually. At length, unable -longer to endure inaction, and convinced that sufficient -time had elapsed for his brother-in-law to have got away, -he cautiously unlocked the door and looked out.</p> - -<p class='c001'>In the dark he could see no one; he listened and could -hear no sound.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Then he stepped back to the kitchen table and removed -the candle-end from the stick, and put it into his pocket. -No sooner had he reached the door again, however, than -it occurred to him that a candlestick without a tallow -candle in it, if left on the table, would attract attention and -comment. He therefore returned for it, and placed it -on the mantelshelf above the hearth. In doing this he -knocked over a canister that fell at his feet. He groped -and found the canister; the cover had come off, and some -of the contents were spilled. This was gunpowder. -Greatly disconcerted, Pasco felt for a brush and swept all -the grains he could into the hollow of his hand, and shook -them into his trousers-pocket, then he swept the brush -vigorously about, so as to disperse over the floor any particles -that had escaped him in the dark. After which he proceeded -carefully to replace the canister. He now again -<span class='pageno' id='Page_142'>142</span>made his way to the door, passed without, locked the door -behind him, and placed the key in a hollow above the -lintel, known to Zerah and himself.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Then he stealthily crossed the yard to his great warehouse, -but at every second step turned his ears about, -listening for a sound which might alarm him.</p> - -<p class='c001'>He did not breathe freely till he was within his store. -He had not locked it—indeed, of late he had been wont -to leave it unfastened, labouring under the hope that the -hint thrown out to Roger Redmore might be taken by -the fellow, thus relieving himself of his self-imposed -task.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Without, there was a little light from the grey sky. -Within was none. What amount might have found its -way in through the window was excluded by the sacking -that Pasco had nailed over the opening.</p> - -<p class='c001'>He now proceeded to light his candle end. When the -wick was kindled, he looked about him timidly, then with -more confidence; lastly with a sensation of great regret -and even pity for the fabric in which he had so long stored -his supplies that he retailed to the neighbourhood.</p> - -<p class='c001'>But no thought of retreat came over his mind now, he -was impelled forward irresistibly. The doubt was past -that had tortured him, after his interview with Jason -Quarm.</p> - -<p class='c001'>He stuck the candle-end upon the ground, and went -about among the coals, examining the places where he had -put the shavings, adding here and there some bits of stick, -or rearranging the coals, and then strewing over them the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_143'>143</span>contents of his out-turned pocket. Then he sat down and -panted. He must rest a moment and wipe his brow before -the irrevocable act was accomplished.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Presently, slowly, painfully, he rose from the block of -coal on which he had seated himself. The sack lay hard -by into which he had stuffed the shavings. It was now -empty.</p> - -<p class='c001'>He took up the candle-end and went towards the nearest -mass of shavings, stooped—the grease ran over his fingers. -The wick had become long and the flame burnt dull. He -thought to snuff it with his fingers, but they shook too -much to be trusted. He might extinguish the flame, and -he shuddered at the thought of being left there—in his old -storehouse—in the dark. He again set down the candle, -and with a bit of stick beat the red wick, and struck off -sparks from it, till he had somewhat reduced the length of -the snuff.</p> - -<p class='c001'>He was about to take up the candle to apply it to the -shavings, when he heard a sound—a strange grating, -rattling sound behind him.</p> - -<p class='c001'>He looked round, but could see nothing, his great body -was between the light and the rear of the shed, whence the -sound proceeded. He was too much alarmed to perceive -the cause of the obscurity. Then he heard a voice—</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Pasco, I never thought you a scoundrel till now—but -now I know it.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pepperill recognised the voice at once—it was that of -Jason Quarm.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Immediately he realised the situation. Expelled from -<span class='pageno' id='Page_144'>144</span>Coombe Cellars, debarred from sheltering in his own house, -Quarm had entered the store-shed, and had climbed the -ladder into the loft to lie among the wool, and there -sleep.</p> - -<p class='c001'>A sudden wild, fierce thought shot through Pasco’s brain -like the flash of summer lightning. He sprang to his feet. -The terror that had momentarily unnerved him passed -away. Leaving the candle burning on the ground, without -a word, he strode to the ladder, which Quarm was descending -laboriously, owing to his lameness.</p> - -<p class='c001'>With clenched teeth and contracted brow, and with every -muscle knotted like cord, Pepperill threw himself on the -ladder, just as Jason got his head below the opening of the -loft, and shook it.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“For Heaven’s sake! what are you about?” screamed -Jason.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I’ll rid myself of a danger,” answered Pasco between -his teeth and lips, indistinctly, and he twisted the ladder, -and kicked at its feet to throw it down.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Pasco, let go! Pasco, will you kill me?” shrieked the -crippled man, catching ineffectually at the floor through -which he had crawled, then clutching the side of the -ladder.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pepperill uttered an oath; he ran under the ladder, set -his back against it and kicked with his heels.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Pasco! I’ll not tell—I swear!”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I won’t give you the chance,” gasped Pepperill. The -ladder was reeling, sliding, the feet were slipping on the -slate floor. A piercing scream, and down came ladder and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_145'>145</span>man upon Pasco, throwing him on his knees, but precipitating -the unfortunate cripple with a crash on the -pavement.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pepperill, though shaken and bruised, was not seriously -hurt. He gathered himself up, stretched his limbs, felt his -arms, and with lowering brow stepped towards his prostrate -brother-in-law, who lay on his back, his arms extended, the -hands convulsively contracted. His chin was up, and the -dim glow of the candle cast its light below the chin, and -had no rays for the upper portion of the face.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pepperill felt in his pocket for the lucifer matches, and, -stooping over Quarm, lit one, and passed the flame over his -countenance. Jason was apparently insensible. Blood -was flowing from his mouth at the corners. The flame of -the match was reflected in the white of the upturned -eyes.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pasco held the match till it burnt his fingers, then he let -it fall, and remained considering for a moment. Should -he let his brother-in-law lie where he was? Could he be -sure that he would not awake from a momentary daze -caused by the blow on his head as he fell on the stone -floor?</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pasco picked up a huge lump of coal and stood over -Jason, ready to dash it down on his head, and make sure -of his not awaking. But though his heart was hard, and -he was launched on a course of crime, yet conscience -makes strange distinctions in crime, and shrinks from doing -boldly the evil at which it aims covertly.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pasco laid aside the block of coal. He would not dash -<span class='pageno' id='Page_146'>146</span>out his brother-in-law’s brains, but he would by other means -make sure that he should not rouse to give him future -trouble.</p> - -<p class='c001'>He took the sack, in which had been the shavings, and -proceeded to thrust into it the legs of Quarm, who offered -no more resistance than would a dead man, and gave no -sign of consciousness. With much labour, Pasco drew the -sack up, enclosing the body; he pulled down the arms and -forced them into the sack also. But he was unable to -envelop Jason completely. The sack was not of sufficient -length for the purpose. It reached to his breast and -elbows only.</p> - -<p class='c001'>There was a rope hanging in the store to a crook in the -wall. Pepperill disengaged this, and with the cord bound -Jason’s feet, then tightly strapped him about the arms so as -to make it impossible for him to free himself, should he -return to consciousness.</p> - -<p class='c001'>The exertion used by Pasco had steadied his nerves. -He no longer trembled. His hand had ceased to shake, -and his heart no longer contracted with fear.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Greatly heated by his labour, he stood up and wiped his -brow with his sleeve. Then he was aware of a cool current -of air wafting across him, and he saw that in this same -current the candle-flame consumed its wick and swaled -away profusely. He turned in the direction of the draught, -and found that the door into the shed was partly open. -He had not locked it when he entered, but had closed it. -The night wind had swung it ajar, and then by its own -weight it had opened farther. Pepperill shut it again, and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_147'>147</span>placed a lump of coal against the foot to prevent a recurrence -of the same thing.</p> - -<p class='c001'>As he returned to where Jason lay, he heard a slight noise -overhead, and saw a white and black pigeon perched on a -swinging pole.</p> - -<p class='c001'>The bird was young. It had been given to Pasco the -week before, as he had expressed a wish to have pigeons. -He had shut the bird up in his shed to accustom it to -regard the shed as its home, and to remain there. He had -fed the bird himself with crumbs, and had entertained an -affection for it.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Now a qualm came over his heart. He could not bear -to think of this innocent bird falling a victim. He had -compunction for the pigeon, none for the unconscious -Jason. Therefore, rolling a barrel under the perch, he -climbed upon it, captured the sleep-stupid bird and carried -it between his hands to the door, pushed aside the lump -of coal, and threw the pigeon into the open air -without.</p> - -<p class='c001'>That act of mercy accomplished, he shut the door and -went back to where the candle was. This he now detached -from the floor and the mass of melted tallow around it, and -applied the flame to one, then to another, of the little -parcels of combustibles in various places. Flames danced -about, and for a minute Pasco looked on with satisfaction, -assuring himself that the shavings had ignited the sticks, -and the sticks had kindled the coals. When well satisfied -that all was as he desired, he knelt down, and by sheer -force rolled the heavy, lifeless body of Jason Quarm from -<span class='pageno' id='Page_148'>148</span>the floor, up the slope of the coals, and lodged it among -large blocks on the top.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Then Pepperill turned, extinguished his candle, went -out through the door, locked it, and started at a run across -the fields in the direction whence he had come an hour -before.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_149'>149</span> - <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER XXXIV <br /><span class='small'>AND YET ANOTHER</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_4_0_4 c010'>Pasco ran on, easily surmounting the hedges which he -had clambered over with difficulty on his way to -Coombe Cellars. He reached the track by the water’s -edge, and ran along that without once looking behind him, -and only paused when he arrived at the point at which he -must strike inland, to his left, leaving the river margin to -ascend the sloping shaws in the direction of the shed where -tarried Kitty with cob and cart. Here he halted, and a -chill ran through his arteries, making him shiver and his -teeth chatter. He was hot with running, yet withal in an -icy tremor, and with a feeling of swimming in his head and -sickness at his heart.</p> - -<p class='c001'>The thought had risen up in him, an almost tangible -thought, like a great beast coiled in his heart, stretching -itself, getting on its feet, and turning. The thought was -this—that it was not too late to save his brother-in-law. -He might return, unlock the store, rush in, and drag the -unconscious man down from the heap of coals, through the -smoke and flame. The fire had not yet reached him; it -was tonguing up the heap, sending the tips of its flames -<span class='pageno' id='Page_150'>150</span>tastingly towards him; the fire was hot beneath, but the -crust still upheld the man in the sack; would it be so -much longer? As the coals were consumed beneath, there -would be formed a great core of red fire, and if Jason -moved, the crust would give way, and then, shrieking, -unable to assist himself, he would drop into that glowing -mass, where the cords would be burnt to free him, but only -when it would be too late for him to escape.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Had Jason already woke from his trance, and was he -cuddled up in his sack, watching the approaching flames, -crying for help, and getting none? Was he tearing at his -bands with his teeth, writhing—trying to precipitate himself -down the black mound of combustible material, in the -hopes of being able to roll along the floor to the door? -And if he succeeded so far—what more could he do? -Nothing but watch the fire grow, break out in gushes of -scarlet and orange, pour forth volumes of stifling smoke, -and then lie with his mouth below the door, gasping for -the air that rushed in beneath.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Shuddering, Pasco Pepperill stood with eyes open, looking -into the night, seeing all this as really as though the -vision were unrolled before his naked eyes. He dared not -look behind him, his neck was stiff, and he could not turn -it—he could not even turn his eyes in the direction of the -Cellars.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Should he retrace his course and free Jason? Could he -not rely on Jason to remain silent after this terrible experience? -But what if he arrived too late? What if the fire -had already broken out, and had laid hold of its prey? -<span class='pageno' id='Page_151'>151</span>Why should he give himself the lasting horror of seeing -what he must then see? And of what avail would it be to -the burning man?</p> - -<p class='c001'>It was too late. Pasco had taken his line, had cast his -lot, and there was no return. He resumed his run up the -hill, through the meadows; the wind blowing off the river -assisted him. When he reached the field in which was the -shed, he knew that Coombe Cellars was no longer visible. -There was a shoulder of hill between.</p> - -<p class='c001'>But though the Cellars might not be visible, the sky -overhead might show redness, might throb with light; and -lest he should see this, he fixed his eyes resolutely in an -opposite direction.</p> - -<p class='c001'>In crossing the field he no longer ran. He had lost his -breath ascending the hill; he walked slowly, panting, and -ever and anon stopped to wipe his brow, and remove his -hat, that the cool wind might play about his wet hair.</p> - -<p class='c001'>The qualm of conscience relative to Jason was overpassed, -and now Pepperill congratulated himself on his -success. Now—all was as could be desired, there was -nothing to inculpate him, no one to turn evidence against -him, except—</p> - -<p class='c001'>There was one person, and one only, who was a danger to -Pasco; one person, and one only, who knew that he had -been to Coombe Cellars after having ostensibly left it; one, -and one only, that he had been on the spot precisely at the -time when, presumably, the fire broke out.</p> - -<p class='c001'>If Kate Quarm were to speak, then what he had done -was done in vain; the Company would refuse to pay the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_152'>152</span>sum for which his stock was insured, and he might be suspected -of having caused the death of his brother-in-law. -Would not Kate speak—when she knew that her father -was dead? Might she not make dangerous admissions -should there be an inquest? The charred corpse or burnt -bones would be discovered when the ashes of the store -were removed, and Jason’s cart and ass being in Coombe, -would lead to the conclusion that he, Jason Quarm, had -caused the conflagration and had perished in it. It would -be supposed that he had gone to the Cellars, and, finding it -locked and no one within, had taken shelter for the night in -the warehouse, where he had lit his pipe, gone to sleep, and -inadvertently had set fire to the coals and wool.</p> - -<p class='c001'>But then—what might Kate be brought to say if -questioned by the coroner?</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pepperill entered the shed and called the girl. He called -twice before he received an answer. Then he struck a -light, and as the match flared he saw before him the drowsy -face of Kate.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Oh, uncle! What a long time you have been away! -I fell asleep.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Long time? I have not been a quarter of an hour. I -ran to the Cellars and ran back the whole way.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“It has been more than a quarter of an hour, Uncle -Pasco. I waited, watching for ever such a time, and then -I went to sleep.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“You are mistaken. Because you shut your eyes you -think the time was long.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“What is that, uncle, you are burning?”</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_153'>153</span>“A lucifer match.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“How did you get it alight?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“By striking it on the box.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>"How could that light it? Is there a bit of tiny flint on -the match and steel on the box?</p> - -<p class='c001'>“No, there is not. I don’t know how the fire comes—but -it comes somehow.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“That must be a very curious contrivance, uncle.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Whether curious or not is no concern of yours.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>He struck another match and held it aloft. The girl -stood on one side of the cart, he on the other. The lucifer -flame twinkled in her eyes. Her hair was ruffled with -sleep.</p> - -<p class='c001'>As Pasco looked at her by the dying flame, he was considering -what to do. He had no doubt that he was -insecure so long as she lived. Desperate, hardened, projected -along an evil course, could he withhold his hand -now and not make himself secure? Would it not be -weakness as well as folly to allow this testimony to remain -who could at any moment reveal his guilt? But if he were -to strike her down with a stake or stone, what could he do -with the body?</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Take care, uncle,” said Kate. “There is dry furze -here. If the spark falls, there may be a blaze.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>He extinguished the match with his fingers. He did not -desire that his course should be marked by fires.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Is there much furze here, Kitty?” he asked in a -smothered voice.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Oh no! only just under foot.”</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_154'>154</span>“No great heap in a corner?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“None, uncle.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Not enough to cover you over if you were asleep.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Kate laughed and answered, “I would never lie on furze -if I could help it, and be covered with it—I should be -tormented with prickles. I sat down and laid my head -against the hedge that makes the back of the linhay.” He -was prodding the bedding of furze with his whip. “It is -all fresh,” said Kate. “I reckon Miller Ash is going to -turn his cow in here, when he has taken away her calf.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Ah! she has calved?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Yes; last week.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“True—the cow will be here to-morrow, or in a couple -of days.” To himself he muttered, “It won’t do”—then -aloud, “Jump into the cart, Kitty. We must push on. -You drive out, I will open the gate.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>In another minute Pasco Pepperill was in his seat with -Kitty at his side, driving in the direction away from the -Cellars.</p> - -<p class='c001'>He feared every moment to hear her say, “Uncle, what -is that light shining over Coombe? Can there be a -fire?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Instead of that she said, “Uncle, did you see nothing -of my father? I am quite sure that was he who drove by -after we had got into Mr. Ash’s field. I heard his voice. -I know his way with the donkey. I am quite certain that -was father.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Your father?—no. Never set eyes on him. You were -mistaken.”</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_155'>155</span>“I am sure it was my father. I know the rattle of the -cart wheel.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I say it was not; and take care how you say a word -about ever having gone into the field, and about my having -returned to the Cellars.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Why, uncle?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Because Ash will summons me for trespass, and because -my horse ate the grass. That’s one reason; but -there’s a better one—I don’t choose that you should -speak.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Kate was accustomed to his rough manner, and she did -not answer.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Then Pasco’s mind began to work on the theme that -had occupied it before. He had been seen driving out of -Coombe with Kate at his side. But what of that? Would -it not be a sufficient answer to give, were she not to be -seen again, that he had met Jason Quarm on the road, and -that the man had taken his daughter with him, and that -thereupon both had perished in the flames?</p> - -<p class='c001'>The more he considered the matter, the more essential -to his security did it seem to him that Kate should be got -rid of. The only embarrassment he felt was as to the -means to be employed, and the place where it was to be -done. Not till she was removed could the weight now -oppressing his mind be cast off.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Uncle,” said Kate after a long course in silence, “I -cannot think how that lucifer acts, if there be no flint -and no steel. How else can the match be made to -light?”</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_156'>156</span>“How is no matter to me—kindle it does, somehow.” -Then, abruptly, “Have you got your cotton dress on? -The wind is from the east and chilly.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Oh no, uncle, I have on my thick woollen dress, -and am very warm—thank you kindly for considering -me.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“The thick wool, is it?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Yes, uncle—very sure, very thick and warm.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Then that would not do. It had occurred to him to -drop a lighted match on her frock, set her in flames, and -throw her out into the road at a lonely spot. No, that -would not do. He reversed his whip and beat the cob -with the handle.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Diamond is not going badly, uncle,” said Kate in mild -remonstrance.</p> - -<p class='c001'>He was in reality trying the weight of the whip handle -and the stiffness of the stem. That would not effect his -purpose; there was no metal to signify at the butt-end. -The horse did not greatly mind a blow dealt it with a full -swing of its master’s arm.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pasco bore no malice against his niece. In his cold -fashion he liked her. She was useful in the house, and -saved him the expense of a maid. It was doubtful whether -any servant would have been as submissive to Zerah as was -Kitty, whether any would have continued so long in service -to her. He had forgotten his momentary resentment at -Kate refusing the offer of John Pooke. He wished the -girl ill for no other reason than his own safety. Had he -been able to send her away, out of the country, that would -<span class='pageno' id='Page_157'>157</span>have satisfied him. But as there was no opportunity for -getting her out of the way without hurt to himself, she -must be removed by such means as were possible to -him.</p> - -<p class='c001'>How to do this, and where to do it, remained undecided. -Not where he then was could it be attempted, for he was -now approaching Newton. The lights were twinkling through -the trees, cottages were passed with illumined windows, and -sometimes with persons standing in the doors.</p> - -<p class='c001'>On entering Newton, Pepperill turned his horse’s head to -make a detour, so as to avoid passing the inn that had been -rebuilt after having been burnt down. For some reason -undefined in his own heart, he shrank from driving before -that house.</p> - -<p class='c001'>In a few minutes the cob was trotting along the Ashburton -road. Pasco looked behind him. He heard the sound of -the hoofs of another horse, and the rattle of other wheels. -Some traveller was on the road that night.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Uncle,” said Kate, “I think the moon is going to -rise.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I suppose so.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Will it not be grand on the moor, with the moon shining -over it, and the Dart flowing like silver below?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Silver? I wish it were silver, and I’d pocket it,” growled -Pasco. “Dang it! what is that which is following?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>He slackened his pace, but the conveyance did not pass -him; it approached, and the driver was content to keep in -the rear.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Will you go on?” shouted Pasco, turning his head.</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_158'>158</span>“No, we’ll remain as we are,” answered the driver.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“How far are you going?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“To Ashburton.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Well, thought Pasco, the loneliest, wildest part of the -road is that between Ashburton and Brimpts.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_159'>159</span> - <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER XXXV <br /><span class='small'>UNSUCCESSFUL</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_4_0_4 c010'>On leaving Ashburton, Pasco Pepperill was relieved of -the attendance which had been so irksome to him. -He would not, probably, have carried out his purpose -between Newton and Ashburton, as that was a high road, -much frequented, running through cultivated lands, and -with farms and cottages along it at no great intervals. -Nevertheless, the knowledge irritated him that someone was -following him, that should an opportunity otherwise propitious -arise, he could not seize it because of the man in the trap -at his heels. Never able clearly to bring all contingencies -together before his inward eye, in the conduct of his business, -he was now more dull and confused in mind than usual.</p> - -<p class='c001'>He took it into his head that there was something -menacing in the pursuit; that the man in his rear was -aware of what he had done at the Cellars, that he foresaw -his present purpose, and was intentionally following him, -keeping him in sight, either that he might deliver him up -to justice for what he had done, or to prevent the execution -of his present design.</p> - -<p class='c001'>It was consequently with immense relief that he heard -the man’s cheery “Good-night,” and his wheels turn off by -<span class='pageno' id='Page_160'>160</span>a by-street, as he trotted through Ashburton and along the -road leading to Dart-meet and Brimpts.</p> - -<p class='c001'>At a distance of rather over a mile from Ashburton the -Dart is crossed, then the road climbs a steep hill, cutting -off the great sweep made by the river as it flows through -Holne Chase, and it crosses the river again as it bursts from -the moor at Newbridge. Nearly the whole of this way is -through woods, and does not pass a single human habitation.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Directly New Bridge is crossed, the character of the -surroundings changes. In place of rock and woods of pine -and oak and beech, succeed the solitude and desolation of -moorland, heather, and furze brake, with at one spot only -a cluster of small cottages about a little inn, with a clump -of sycamores behind them and a few acres of mountain -pasture before them, laboriously cleared of granite boulders. -Immediately after passing this hamlet, the road traverses -moorland entirely uninhabited. Tors rise to the height of -from twelve to fifteen hundred feet; their sides are strewn -with rocky ruin. Dense masses of furze cover the moorland -sweeps, and between the clefts of the rocks whortleberry grows -rankly into veritable bushes, hung in June with purple berries. -Below, at the depth of a thousand feet, foams and roars the -Dart amidst boulders and bushes of mountain-ash and thorn.</p> - -<p class='c001'>It was obvious to the clouded mind of Pepperill that if -he was to get rid of Kitty, it must be done either in the -Holne Wood or on the moor. One place was as good as -the other for disposal of the child’s body; the dense forest -growth or the equally dense whortle and furze would -effectually conceal it.</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_161'>161</span>When the first Dart bridge was crossed, and the steep -ascent begun, Pepperill said roughly to his niece—</p> - -<p class='c001'>“You ain’t going to sit here and make the horse drag you -all the way up this tremendous hill, be you?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“No, uncle dear; I was only waiting for you to draw up -that I might jump out. Do you see the moon coming up -behind the trees, shining through them, like a good thought -in the midst of dark imaginings?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Dang the moon and your imaginings! Get out.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I was thinking of something my book says,” apologised -Kate, descending to the road.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Your book? What do you mean?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I mean that which the schoolmaster gave me, which I -have read and read, and in which I always find something -new, and always am sure of something true.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“What does the book say?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I learned it by heart—</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c011'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>‘Within the soul a faculty abides,</div> - <div class='line'>That with interpositions’—</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>That means things which come between. He explained -that to me. I cannot always make out what is said till it -is explained; but when it is, then the full truth and loveliness -rises and shines into me like the moon when it has got -over the hills and the woods.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Go on.”</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c011'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in2'>“‘A faculty abides,</div> - <div class='line'>That with interpositions, which would hide</div> - <div class='line'>And darken, so can deal that they become</div> - <div class='line'>Contingencies of pomp, and serve to exalt</div> - <div class='line'>Her native brightness.’</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_162'>162</span>I did not understand what contingencies meant, but he told -me, and now all is quite plain as it is quite true. And it -goes on—</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c011'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in2'>‘As the ample moon</div> - <div class='line'>Rising behind a thick and lofty grove,</div> - <div class='line'>Burns like an unconsuming fire, light</div> - <div class='line'>In the green trees’”—</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c013'>“Cease this foolery,” said Pasco impatiently. He was -fumbling in his pocket for his clasp-knife, and was opening -it.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Do look, uncle dear!” exclaimed Kate, turning to -observe the moon as it mounted over the rich Buckland -Woods on the farther bank of the Dart.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Halt,” shouted Pasco to the horse.</p> - -<p class='c001'>They had reached an eminence. The girl stood wrapped -in delight, with the silver shield of the moon before her, -casting its glorious light over her face and folded hands. -Pasco had his knife out. She heard the click, as the spring -nipped the blade firmly, but did not turn to see what -occasioned the sound.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“The moon has come up out of the trees just as he said—I -mean the poet—like a power in the heart and soul that -has been entangled in all kinds of dark and twisted matters -of every day. Oh, uncle, what is that?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pasco drew back. A white dog—a mongrel, short-haired -lurcher—crossed the road. Simultaneously a whistle was -heard, and this was answered by another in the distance.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“There are poachers about,” said Pepperill. He shut his -knife, pocketed it, and called Kate to get into the trap. -He was not going to halt to see a darned moon rise, when -<span class='pageno' id='Page_163'>163</span>all kinds of vagabonds were about, and there was no safety -for honest men.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pasco drove rapidly down the hillside into the Dart -Valley at New Bridge. The road was mostly in shadow, -but the bare moor on the farther side was white in the -moonlight, as though it had been snowed over. The horse -was tired, and tripped. Pasco had to be on his guard lest -the beast should fall. In the shadow of the trees it could -not see the stones that strewed the way. At the bottom of -the valley flowed the Dart; the rush of the water breaking -over the rocks was audible.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“If a harm came to you or me in the river, I reckon -the body would be washed right away to Sharpitor,” said -Pepperill.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Uncle!” said Kate, with a laugh, “that would be going -up hill.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I’m getting mazed,” growled he; “so it is. Well, folk -would say one or other of us had come by an accident -among the rocks o’ Sharpitor, and tumbled into the river -and been carried down by the stream. That’s likely—eh?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I suppose so, uncle. But if anything were to happen -to one, that the other would know, and do all he could to -help.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Of course.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pepperill was looking at the brawling torrent.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“And if anything were to chance to one here, the body -would be carried right down the Chase for miles till it came -to the other bridge.”</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_164'>164</span>“I daresay, uncle. But don’t talk like that. Let us -look at the moonlight. There is a man yonder—by the -side of the river.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“A man—where?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“By that large stone.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“He is catching salmon. Not a fish has a chance up -here on the moor. What a parcel of rascals there -be!”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pepperill drove across the bridge. He had intended—he -hardly dared articulately to express to himself his -intention. Again he was frustrated—just at a suitable -point—by this fellow catching salmon by night.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Beyond the bridge the road rose rapidly. Both uncle -and niece were forced to descend from the cart, and relieve -the horse. Some six hundred feet had to be mounted -without any zigzags in the road. Kate walked along -cheerily. Pasco lagged behind. The horse, with nose -down, laboriously stepped up the steep incline. Pasco -took out his knife and cut a branch of thorn from the -hedge, and in doing so tore his fingers. He put the thorn -behind the seat.</p> - -<p class='c001'>When the summit of the hill was almost reached, he -said to Kate, “I shall turn to the left, and leave the -road.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“What—out on the moor?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Yes; I think we can cut off a great curve and -avoid the cottages. You walk by the horse’s head; I will -mount and hold the reins. There are large stones in the -way.”</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_165'>165</span>This was the case. Kate thought that her uncle was -rash in taking the track across the moor at night, a way he -could not know, merely to save a mile that the road made -in detour. But she said nothing. She was pleased to go -by a way that commanded the gorge of the Dart, and had -no fear, as the moon shone brilliantly, and every bush -and stone was visible as in the day. The mica and spar -in the granite made each rock sparkle as though encrusted -with diamonds. A heavy dew had fallen, cobwebs hanging -on the furze were as silvery fairy tissue.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Rabbits were out sporting, feeding, darting away with a -gleam of snowy tail when alarmed. Owls were flitting and -hooting in the ravine. The wind from the east hummed -an Æolian strain in the moor grass and heather.</p> - -<p class='c001'>The moon rose high above all obstruction to its placid -light, and Kate breathed slowly, and in the chill air her -breath came away as a fine shining vapour. Every now -and then the cob struck out a red fire-spark from the stones -against which his shoe struck. Kate held the reins at the -bit, and paced at his head, her heart swelling with -happiness, as she drank in the loveliness of the night, till -she was so full of the beauty that her eyes began to fill. -Pasco Pepperill was silent. He was knotting the thorn-branch -to his whip. His eye was on her.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Presently the track on the turf ran at the edge of a steep -slope. Rocks from a tor overhead had fallen and strewn -the incline, and formed fantastic objects in the moonlight, -casting shadows even more fantastic. A sheep that had -been sleeping under one of the rocks started up and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_166'>166</span>bounded away. The spring of the sheep close beside him -alarmed the horse, and he started back, plunged, and -dragged Kate off her feet.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Then, with a cry of rage, Pasco rose in the cart, whirled -his whip about, and lashed the cob with the full force of -his arm, at the same time that he raised the reins in his -left and beat with them as well, and jerked at the brute’s -mouth.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Kate was down. She had slipped; she was before the -plunging beast. Pasco saw it. He swore, lashed this side, -that, then at the flanks, at the head, at the belly of the -tortured brute, that leaped and staggered, kicked and -reeled under the strokes of the thorns which tore his skin. -He snorted, reared, put down his head; the steam came -off him in a cloud.</p> - -<p class='c001'>There was one thing the beast would not do—rush -forward and trample on the fallen girl. Pasco saw it, and -cursed the horse. He flung himself from the trap, he -rushed at the bridle; his foot was on Kate’s gown.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Uncle! uncle!” she cried.</p> - -<p class='c001'>With one hand he dragged the horse forward, with the -other he swung the thorn-bush. A step, and the hoofs and -wheels of the horse and cart would be over the girl. Then -a thrust would suffice to send her down the side of the -slope into the torrent below.</p> - -<p class='c001'>But the brute leaped into the air before the swinging -thorn-bush, swerved up hill, dragging Pasco at his head, -and flung him over a rock. His hand became entangled; -he could not for a moment disengage it; he was dragged -<span class='pageno' id='Page_167'>167</span>forward; the head-gear gave way, and Pasco fell among the -bushes, crying out with rage and pain. Next moment -Kate stood before him.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“What is the matter, uncle dear? Are you hurt? I -am safe.”</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_168'>168</span> - <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER XXXVI <br /><span class='small'>ALL IN VAIN</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_4_0_4 c010'>Pasco Pepperill staggered to his feet, and at once -felt pain in one ankle.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Are you hurt, dear uncle?” again inquired Kate.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Hurt? I’ve strained and bruised myself all over. My -right arm—my leg—I can hobble only. Where’s the trap?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“If you have no bones broken, uncle, sit down, and I -will see after Diamond.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>The horse was browsing unconcernedly at no great distance. -Too tired to run far, too hungry to heed his wounds, -he had at once applied himself to the consumption of the -sweet moorland grass. Happily the cart was uninjured. -It had not been upset, and no more of the harness was -broken than a strap at the head. The cob allowed Kate to -approach and take him by the forelock without remonstrance. -He knew Kate, who had been accustomed to -fondle him, and who, in the absence of friends of her own -order, had made one of the brute beast. She managed to -fasten up the broken strap and replaced the headstall; then -she drew the horse along to where her uncle sat rubbing -his leg and arm.</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_169'>169</span>“It’s the right arm, drat it!” said Pasco; “won’t I only -give that cursed beast a leathering when I can use my -arm again!”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Surely, uncle, poor Diamond was going on all right till -you beat him. He is so patient that he does not deserve -a beating. There is a thorn branch about which the whip -has become entangled. I suppose that must have hurt -him, poor fellow. He was good, too; when my foot -slipped and I fell, he would not trample on me. You were -beating him, uncle, and did not see where I was. Just -think how good he was!—notwithstanding the thorns, yet -he would not tread on me.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Oh yes, that is all you think about, you selfish minx, -your own self. Because you are uninjured, you don’t care -for me who am bruised all over.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>It was of no use pursuing the matter. Kate knew her -uncle’s unreasonable moods, so she changed the subject -and asked, “What is to be done now? shall we go on along -the moor or turn back?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“It is of no use going along the moor now. We may -come to some other darned accident with this vile brute. -Lead him back along our tracks to the road. I don’t want -to be thrown out again. This is the second time he has -treated me in this manner. If I had a gun, I’d shoot him.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Uncle, that other occasion was no fault of his. You -were driving the schoolmaster, and Walter Bramber told -me about it—you sent the wheel against a stone.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Of course the blame is mine, and this time also. The -horse is innocent.”</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_170'>170</span>“If you had not beaten poor Diamond”—</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Go on with the cart, and hold your tongue.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>But Pasco walked with pain. He had not taken many -steps before he asked to be helped up into the trap.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Kate led the horse and spoke caressingly to the brute, -that was greatly fagged with the long journey without a -break he had taken that evening. Usually he would be -given an hour’s rest and a feed at Ashburton, before the -worst and most arduous portion of the journey was taken; -but on this occasion he had been urged on at his fastest -pace and never allowed to slacken it, and not given any -rest, not even a mouthful of water, at Ashburton. No -wonder that he tripped.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pasco looked sullenly before him at the girl walking in -the moonlight, speaking to the horse. The chance of -doing her an injury was past. He could with difficulty -move his arm. If he drew his knife on her and attacked -her there on the moor, she could run from him, and he -would be unable to pursue her, owing to his sprained -ankle.</p> - -<p class='c001'>There was no help for it, he must make the best of the -circumstances, threaten her if she showed an inclination to -speak and compromise him. Perhaps, taken all in all, it -was as well that his purpose had been frustrated. There -was no telling; he might have got into difficulties had he -killed her. In escaping from one danger, he might have -precipitated himself into another.</p> - -<p class='c001'>He saw now what he had not seen before. It had been -his intention to attribute the fire to Jason Quarm. Had -<span class='pageno' id='Page_171'>171</span>Kitty disappeared according to his purpose, then he would -have said she had returned to Coombe with her father. It -was known that she had left the place in his own company -in the trap. She had been seen by the publican and by -the miller. But it was possible, it was probable, that Jason -had been seen as he drove through Coombe to the Cellars. -If so, then it would have been observed that he was alone; -accordingly his—Pasco’s—story of her return with her -father would have been refuted. Then, what explanation -could he have given of her disappearance?</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pepperill drew a long breath. He had been preserved -from making a fatal mistake. He was glad now that his -attempt on Kate had been frustrated.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Then, again, a new idea entered his brain. Could he -not have attributed her death to accident on the moor, had -the horse trampled on her? He might have done so, but -then, would not folks have thought there was something -more than coincidence in the death, the same night, of -father and daughter?</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I believe I’d ha’ been a stoopid if I’d ha’ done it,” -said Pasco, and resigned himself to circumstances. “Be us -in the road? I reckon us be.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Yes, uncle; here is where we turned off from the -highway. Which turn shall I take—on to Brimpts or back -to Ashburton?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“On ahead, Brimpts way. There’s a little public-house -at Pound Gate, and I be that dry, and the cob, I reckon, -be that lazy—we’d best turn in there and rest the night. -The shaking of the cart hurts me, moreover.”</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_172'>172</span>Kate got up into the vehicle and drove. Her uncle gladly -resigned the reins to her. He could have held them, -indeed, but not have used the whip, and Diamond would -not go with him unless he used the whip.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Before long the little tavern was reached—a low building -of moorstones, whitewashed, with a thatched roof, and a -sign over the door.</p> - -<p class='c001'>To the surprise of Pepperill, he saw a chaise without -horses outside.</p> - -<p class='c001'>At the inn he drew up. The landlord came to the door -and helped him to descend.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“What! hurt yourself, Mr. Pepperill?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Yes; had a spill.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“On your way to Brimpts, I suppose? I hear you are -selling the timber.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Yes, to Government. Have you visitors?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Ay! Some one come after you.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“After me?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Notwithstanding his bad ankle, Pasco started back. Had -his face not been in shadow, the landlord might have -observed how pale he had become.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“What! come from Coombe?” he asked in a faltering -voice.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Hardly that, master,” answered the landlord. “Not -likely <em>that</em> when you be come from there. No, o’ course, -came t’other road. He asked about you at Brimpts, and -then drove on. He’s purposing to sleep the night here, -and was intending to push on to Coombe to-morrow. He’s -ordered some supper, and my old woman ha’ done him a -<span class='pageno' id='Page_173'>173</span>couple of rashers and some eggs. Have you a mind to -join him?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“But who is he? What does he want?” Pasco was -still uneasy.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“A sort of a lawyer chap.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“A lawyer?” Pepperill hobbled to his trap. “I’ll push -on, thank ye, I’ll not stay.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Nay, you’d better. I hold wi’ you, master, that it is -best in general to give clear room to lawyers. But this -time I don’t think but you’d safest come in. He’ll do you -no hurt, and maybe he brings you good, Mr. Pepperill.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I’ll go on,” said Pasco decidedly. “I hate all lawyers -as I do ravens.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Halloo! What is this?” A gentleman put his head -out of the bar parlour window, which was open. “Who is -it that hates lawyers? Not Mr. Pepperill?”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pasco attempted to scramble into his trap.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Is that Mr. Pepperill, of Coombe Cellars? You must -stay. I have a word to speak with you.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I won’t stay—not a minute.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I’ll not charge you six-and-eight. Yet it is something -to your advantage. I’m Mr. James Squire, solicitor, -Tavistock. I have come about your affairs. Your old -uncle, Sampson Blunt, is dead—died of a stroke—sudden—and -you come in for everything. What say you now? -Will you stay? Will you put up your horse? Will you -come in and have some of my rasher and eggs? I’m -drinking stout—what will you take? You won’t drive any -farther to-night, I presume? Sampson has died worth -<span class='pageno' id='Page_174'>174</span>something like three thousand pounds; and every penny -comes to you, except what Government claims as pickings—probate -duty, you understand.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Three thousand pounds?” gasped Pasco.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Ay, not a guinea under, and it may be more. His -affairs haven’t been properly looked into yet. I came off -post-haste, took a chaise from Tavistock, didn’t think to -meet you. Was coming on to-morrow. An apoplectic -stroke. No children, no one else to inherit but yourself, -the only heir-at-law. Now, then, what do you say? Rum -and milk, they tell me, is the moor tipple, but I go in for -stout.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>With glazed eyes and open mouth stood Pasco Pepperill, -his hands fallen at his side; he seemed as though he had -been paralysed.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Three thousand five hundred—there’s no saying,” -continued Mr. Squire, through the window. “Look sharp, -come in, or the rashers and eggs will be cold. I asked for -a chop. Couldn’t have it. Pleaded for a steak. No good. -No butchers on the moor. So ham and eggs, and ham salt -as brine. Never mind—drink more. Come in.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Then the head of the lawyer disappeared behind the -blind, and the click of his knife and fork was audible.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pasco tried to raise his right arm, failed, then he clapped -his left hand to his brow.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Good heavens!” he almost shouted; “I’ve done it all -for naught.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Done what?” asked the innkeeper.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pasco recovered himself.</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_175'>175</span>“Nothing. I am stunned. This has turned my head. -Lend me your arm. I must go in. No—I must return -home—get me another horse—I cannot stay. Quick; I -must return—oh, be quick.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Well, that’s coorious!” said the landlord. “I reckon -you ought to go in and listen to what the lawyer has to -say, first. As for horses, I don’t keep ’em, and the lawyer’s -post-horses be gone into the stable for the night.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Lend me your arm,” said Pepperill. “I don’t know -right what I’m about. This has come on me quite -unexpected.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>“I wish three thousand pounds’d come unexpected on -me,” replied the host.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pasco entered the room where the lawyer was eating.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“That’s right,” said the latter. “Take a snack. There’s -some for all, I say, with my rasher, and you may say so -with your legacy, and give me a slice off your dish. Polly—a -plate and knife and fork for the gentleman.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Pepperill seated himself. He was as if stupefied. Then -he put both elbows on the table, though the movement of -his right arm pained him, and began to cry.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“That’s what I like,” said the lawyer. “Feeling, sentiment. -It’s what we all ought to do. Amen. When -grieving is done, there’s a couple of eggs left. But I like -that. Heart in the right place. Quite so. What is your -tipple? That’s very nice. Feeling—I love it. I didn’t -know, though, that you had seen your uncle for twenty -years, and cared twopence about him. P’r’aps you didn’t -in times gone by; now, of course, it’s different with -<span class='pageno' id='Page_176'>176</span>three thousand pounds. I respect your emotion; I love -it. But cry when you go to bed. Eat now. There is a -place and there is a time for everything. It does you -credit, I shall make a point of mentioning it—no extra -charge.”</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>END OF VOL. II.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><span class='small'>MORRISON AND GIBB, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_a1'>a1</span><span class='large'>A LIST OF NEW BOOKS</span></div> - <div>AND ANNOUNCEMENTS OF</div> - <div>METHUEN AND COMPANY</div> - <div>PUBLISHERS: LONDON</div> - <div>36 ESSEX STREET</div> - <div>W.C.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div>CONTENTS</div> - </div> -</div> - -<table class='table1' summary=''> -<colgroup> -<col width='88%' /> -<col width='11%' /> -</colgroup> - <tr> - <td class='c008'> </td> - <td class='c009'><span class='small'>PAGE</span></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>FORTHCOMING BOOKS,</td> - <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_a1'>2</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>POETRY,</td> - <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_a13'>13</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>GENERAL LITERATURE,</td> - <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_a15'>15</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>THEOLOGY,</td> - <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_a17'>17</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>LEADERS OF RELIGION,</td> - <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_a18'>18</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>WORKS BY S. BARING GOULD,</td> - <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_a19'>19</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>FICTION,</td> - <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_a21'>21</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>NOVEL SERIES,</td> - <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_a24'>24</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>BOOKS FOR BOYS AND GIRLS,</td> - <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_a25'>25</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>THE PEACOCK LIBRARY,</td> - <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_a26'>26</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>UNIVERSITY EXTENSION SERIES,</td> - <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_a26'>26</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>SOCIAL QUESTIONS OF TO-DAY,</td> - <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_a28'>28</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>CLASSICAL TRANSLATIONS,</td> - <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_a29'>29</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>COMMERCIAL SERIES,</td> - <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_a29'>29</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>WORKS BY A. M. M. STEDMAN, M.A.,</td> - <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_a30'>30</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>SCHOOL EXAMINATION SERIES,</td> - <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_a32'>32</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>PRIMARY CLASSICS,</td> - <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_a32'>32</a></td> - </tr> -</table> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='large'>OCTOBER 1894</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<div class='c014'><span class='pageno' id='Page_a2'>a2</span>October 1894.</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c015'> - <div><span class='xlarge'><span class='sc'>Messrs. Methuen’s</span></span></div> - <div class='c000'><span class='large'>ANNOUNCEMENTS</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class='c016' /> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><span class='large'>Poetry</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c017'><span class='floatright'>[<em>May</em> 1895.</span> -<b>Rudyard Kipling.</b> BALLADS. By <span class='sc'>Rudyard Kipling</span>. -<em>Crown 8vo. Buckram. 6s</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>The announcement of a new volume of poetry from Mr. Kipling will excite wide -interest. The exceptional success of ‘Barrack-Room Ballads,’ with which this -volume will be uniform, justifies the hope that the new book too will obtain a -wide popularity.</span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Henley.</b> ENGLISH LYRICS. Selected and Edited by <span class='sc'>W. E. Henley</span>. <em>Crown 8vo. Buckram. 6s.</em></p> -<div class='lg-container-l c019'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Also 30 copies on hand-made paper <em>Demy 8vo. £1, 1s.</em></div> - <div class='line'>Also 15 copies on Japanese paper. <em>Demy 8vo. £2, 2s.</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>Few announcements will be more welcome to lovers of English verse than the one -that Mr. Henley is bringing together into one book the finest lyrics in our -language. Robust and original the book will certainly be, and it will be produced -with the same care that made ‘Lyra Heroica’ delightful to the hand and -eye.</span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>“Q”</b> THE GOLDEN POMP: A Procession of English Lyrics -from Surrey to Shirley, arranged by <span class='sc'>A. T. Quiller Couch</span>. <em>Crown -8vo. Buckram. 6s.</em></p> -<div class='lg-container-l c019'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Also 40 copies on hand-made paper. <em>Demy 8vo. £1, 1s.</em></div> - <div class='line'>Also 15 copies on Japanese paper. <em>Demy 8vo. £2, 2s.</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>Mr. Quiller Couch’s taste and sympathy mark him out as a born anthologist, and -out of the wealth of Elizabethan poetry he has made a book of great attraction.</span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Beeching.</b> LYRA SACRA: An Anthology of Sacred Verse. -Edited by <span class='sc'>H. C. Beeching</span>, M.A. <em>Crown 8vo. Buckram. 6s.</em></p> -<p class='c020'>Also 25 copies on hand-made paper. <em>21s.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>This book will appeal to a wide public. Few languages are richer in serious verse -than the English, and the Editor has had some difficulty in confining his material -within his limits.</span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Yeats.</b> AN ANTHOLOGY OF IRISH VERSE. Edited by -<span class='sc'>W. B. Yeats</span>. <em>Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.</em></p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c021'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_a3'>a3</span><span class='xlarge'>Illustrated Books</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c017'><b>Baring Gould.</b> A BOOK OF FAIRY TALES retold by <span class='sc'>S. -Baring Gould</span>. With numerous illustrations and initial letters by -<span class='sc'>Arthur J. Gaskin</span>. <em>Crown 8vo. 6s.</em></p> -<div class='lg-container-l c019'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Also 75 copies on hand-made paper. <em>Demy 8vo.</em> £1, 1<em>s.</em></div> - <div class='line'>Also 20 copies on Japanese paper. <em>Demy 8vo.</em> £2, 2<em>s.</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>Few living writers have been more loving students of fairy and folk lore than Mr. -Baring Gould, who in this book returns to the field in which he won his spurs. -This volume consists of the old stories which have been dear to generations of -children, and they are fully illustrated by Mr. Gaskin, whose exquisite designs -for Andersen’s Tales won him last year an enviable reputation.</span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Baring Gould.</b> A BOOK OF NURSERY SONGS AND -RHYMES. Edited by <span class='sc'>S. Baring Gould</span>, and illustrated by the -Students of the Birmingham Art School. <em>Crown 8vo. 6s.</em></p> -<p class='c020'>Also 50 copies on hand-made paper. <em>4to. 21s.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>A collection of old nursery songs and rhymes, including a number which are little -known. The book contains some charming illustrations by the Birmingham -students under the superintendence of Mr. Gaskin, and Mr. Baring Gould has -added numerous notes.</span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Beeching.</b> A BOOK OF CHRISTMAS VERSE. Edited -by <span class='sc'>H. C. Beeching</span>, M.A., and Illustrated by <span class='sc'>Walter Crane</span>. -<em>Crown 8vo. 6s.</em></p> -<div class='lg-container-l c019'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Also 75 copies on hand-made paper. <em>Demy 8vo.</em> £1, 1<em>s.</em></div> - <div class='line'>Also 20 copies on Japanese paper. <em>Demy 8vo.</em> £2, 2<em>s.</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>A collection of the best verse inspired by the birth of Christ from the Middle Ages -to the present day. Mr. Walter Crane has designed some beautiful illustrations. -A distinction of the book is the large number of poems it contains by modern -authors, a few of which are here printed for the first time.</span>.</p> -<p class='c017'><b>Jane Barlow.</b> THE BATTLE OF THE FROGS AND MICE, -translated by <span class='sc'>Jane Barlow</span>, Author of ‘Irish Idylls’ and pictured -by <span class='sc'>F. D. Bedford</span>. <em>Small 4to. 6s. net.</em></p> -<div class='lg-container-l c019'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Also 50 copies on hand-made paper. <em>4to. 21s. net.</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>This is a new version of a famous old fable. Miss Barlow, whose brilliant volume -of ‘Irish Idylls’ has gained her a wide reputation, has told the story in spirited -flowing verse, and Mr. Bedford’s numerous illustrations and ornaments are as -spirited as the verse they picture. The book will be one of the most beautiful -and original books possible.</span></p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c022'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_a4'>a4</span><span class="blackletter"><span class='large'>Devotional Books</span></span></div> - <div><em>With full-page Illustrations.</em></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c017'>THE IMITATION OF CHRIST. By <span class='sc'>Thomas À Kempis</span>. -With an Introduction by <span class='sc'>Archdeacon Farrar</span>. Illustrated by -<span class='sc'>C. M. Gere</span>. <em>Fcap. 8vo. 5s.</em></p> -<div class='lg-container-l c019'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Also 50 copies on hand-made paper. 15<em>s.</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c017'>THE CHRISTIAN YEAR. By <span class='sc'>John Keble</span>. With an Introduction -and Notes by <span class='sc'>W. Lock</span>, M.A., Sub-Warden of Keble College, -Author of ‘The Life of John Keble,’ Illustrated by <span class='sc'>R. Anning -Bell</span>. <em>Fcap. 8vo. 5s.</em></p> -<div class='lg-container-l c019'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Also 50 copies on hand-made paper. 15<em>s.</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>These two volumes will be charming editions of two famous books, finely illustrated -and printed in black and red. The scholarly introductions will give them -an added value, and they will be beautiful to the eye, and of convenient size.</span></p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c021'> - <div><span class='xlarge'>General Literature</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c017'><b>Gibbon.</b> THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN -EMPIRE. By <span class='sc'>Edward Gibbon</span>. A New Edition, edited with -Notes and Appendices and Maps by <span class='sc'>J. B. Bury</span>, M.A., Fellow of -Trinity College, Dublin. <em>In seven volumes. Crown 8vo.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>The time seems to have arrived for a new edition of Gibbon’s great work—furnished -with such notes and appendices as may bring it up to the standard of recent historical -research. Edited by a scholar who has made this period his special study, -and issued in a convenient form and at a moderate price, this edition should fill -an obvious void.</span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Flinders Petrie.</b> A HISTORY OF EGYPT, <span class='sc'>from the -Earliest Times to the Hyksos</span>. By <span class='sc'>W. M. Flinders Petrie</span>, -D.C.L., Professor of Egyptology at University College. <em>Fully Illustrated. -Crown 8vo. 6s.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>This volume is the first of an illustrated History of Egypt in six volumes, intended -both for students and for general reading and reference, and will present a complete -record of what is now known, both of dated monuments and of events, from -the prehistoric age down to modern times. For the earlier periods every trace of -the various kings will be noticed, and all historical questions will be fully discussed. -The volumes will cover the following periods;—</span></p> -<p class='c023'><span class='small'>I. Prehistoric to Hyksos times. By Prof. Flinders Petrie. II. xviiith to xxth -Dynasties. III. xxist to xxxth Dynasties. IV. The Ptolemaic Rule. -V. The Roman Rule. VI. The Muhammedan Rule.</span></p> -<p class='c024'><span class='small'>The volumes will be issued separately. The first will be ready in the autumn, the -Muhammedan volume early next year, and others at intervals of half a year.</span></p> -<p class='c017'><span class='pageno' id='Page_a5'>a5</span><b>Flinders Petrie.</b> EGYPTIAN DECORATIVE ART. By -<span class='sc'>W. M. Flinders Petrie</span>, D.C.L. With 120 Illustrations. <em>Crown -8vo. 3s. 6d.</em> -<span class='small'>A book which deals with a subject which has never yet been seriously treated.</span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Flinders Petrie.</b> EGYPTIAN TALES. Edited by <span class='sc'>W. M. -Flinders Petrie</span>. Illustrated by <span class='sc'>Tristram Ellis</span>. <em>Crown 8vo. -3s. 6d.</em></p> -<p class='c024'><span class='small'>A selection of the ancient tales of Egypt, edited from original sources, and of great -importance as illustrating the life and society of ancient Egypt.</span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Southey.</b> ENGLISH SEAMEN (Howard, Clifford, Hawkins, -Drake, Cavendish). By <span class='sc'>Robert Southey</span>. Edited, with an -Introduction, by <span class='sc'>David Hannay</span>. <em>Crown 8vo. 6s.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>This is a reprint of some excellent biographies of Elizabethan seamen, written by -Southey and never republished. They are practically unknown, and they deserve, -and will probably obtain, a wide popularity.</span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Waldstein.</b> JOHN RUSKIN: a Study. By <span class='sc'>Charles Waldstein</span>, -M.A., Fellow of King’s College, Cambridge. With a Photogravure -Portrait after Professor <span class='sc'>Herkomer</span>. <em>Post 8vo. 5s.</em></p> -<div class='lg-container-l c019'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Also 25 copies on Japanese paper. <em>Demy 8vo.</em> 21<em>s.</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c024'><span class='small'>This is a frank and fair appreciation of Mr. Ruskin’s work and influence—literary -and social—by an able critic, who has enough admiration to make him sympathetic, -and enough discernment to make him impartial.</span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Henley and Whibley.</b> A BOOK OF ENGLISH PROSE. -Collected by <span class='sc'>W. E. Henley</span> and <span class='sc'>Charles Whibley</span>. <em>Cr. 8vo. 6s.</em></p> -<div class='lg-container-l c019'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Also 40 copies on Dutch paper. 21<em>s.</em> <em>net.</em></div> - <div class='line'>Also 15 copies on Japanese paper. 42<em>s.</em> <em>net.</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c024'><span class='small'>A companion book to Mr. Henley’s well-known ‘Lyra Heroica.’ It is believed that -no such collection of splendid prose has ever been brought within the compass of -one volume. Each piece, whether containing a character-sketch or incident, is -complete in itself. The book will be finely printed and bound.</span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Robbins.</b> THE EARLY LIFE OF WILLIAM EWART -GLADSTONE. By <span class='sc'>A. F. Robbins</span>. <em>With Portraits. Crown -8vo. 6s.</em></p> -<p class='c024'><span class='small'>A full account of the early part of Mr. Gladstone’s extraordinary career, based on -much research, and containing a good deal of new matter, especially with regard -to his school and college days.</span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Baring Gould.</b> THE DESERTS OF SOUTH CENTRAL -FRANCE. By <span class='sc'>S. Baring Gould</span>, With numerous Illustrations by -<span class='sc'>F. D. Bedford</span>, <span class='sc'>S. Hutton</span>, etc. <em>2 vols. Demy 8vo. 32s.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>This book is the first serious attempt to describe the great barren tableland that -extends to the south of Limousin in the Department of Aveyron, Lot, etc., a -country of dolomite cliffs, and canons, and subterranean rivers. The region is -full of prehistoric and historic interest, relics of cave-dwellers, of mediæval -robbers, and of the English domination and the Hundred Years’ War. The -book is lavishly illustrated.</span></p> -<p class='c017'><span class='pageno' id='Page_a6'>a6</span><b>Baring Gould.</b> A GARLAND OF COUNTRY SONG: -English Folk Songs with their traditional melodies. Collected and -arranged by <span class='sc'>S. Baring Gould</span> and <span class='sc'>H. Fleetwood Sheppard</span>. -<em>Royal 8vo. 6s.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>In collecting West of England airs for ‘Songs of the West,’ the editors came across -a number of songs and airs of considerable merit, which were known throughout -England and could not justly be regarded as belonging to Devon and Cornwall. -Some fifty of these are now given to the world.</span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Oliphant.</b> THE FRENCH RIVIERA. By Mrs. <span class='sc'>Oliphant</span> -and <span class='sc'>F. R. Oliphant</span>. With Illustrations and Maps. <em>Crown 8vo. -6s.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>A volume dealing with the French Riviera from Toulon to Mentone. Without falling -within the guide-book category, the book will supply some useful practical -information, while occupying itself chiefly with descriptive and historical matter. -A special feature will be the attention directed to those portions of the Riviera, -which, though full of interest and easily accessible from many well-frequented -spots, are generally left unvisited by English travellers, such as the Maures -Mountains and the St. Tropez district, the country lying between Cannes, Grasse -and the Var, and the magnificent valleys behind Nice. There will be several -original illustrations.</span></p> -<p class='c025'><b>George.</b> BRITISH BATTLES. By <span class='sc'>H. B. George</span>, M.A., -Fellow of New College, Oxford. <em>With numerous Plans. Crown -8vo. 6s.</em></p> -<p class='c026'><span class='small'>This book, by a well-known authority on military history, will be an important -contribution to the literature of the subject. All the great battles of English -history are fully described, connecting chapters carefully treat of the changes -wrought by new discoveries and developments, and the healthy spirit of patriotism -is nowhere absent from the pages.</span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Shedlock.</b> THE PIANOFORTE SONATA: Its Origin and -Development. By <span class='sc'>J. S. Shedlock</span>. <em>Crown 8vo. 5s.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>This is a practical and not unduly technical account of the Sonata treated historically. -It contains several novel features, and an account of various works little -known to the English public.</span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Jenks.</b> ENGLISH LOCAL GOVERNMENT. By <span class='sc'>E. Jenks</span>, -M.A., Professor of Law at University College, Liverpool. <em>Crown -8vo. 2s. 6d.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>A short account of Local Government, historical and explanatory, which will appear -very opportunely.</span></p> -<p class='c017'><span class='pageno' id='Page_a7'>a7</span><b>Dixon.</b> A PRIMER OF TENNYSON. By <span class='sc'>W. M. Dixon</span>, -M. A., Professor of English Literature at Mason College. <em>Fcap. 8vo. -1s. 6d.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>This book consists of (1) a succinct but complete biography of Lord Tennyson; -(2) an account of the volumes published by him in chronological order, dealing with -the more important poems separately; (3) a concise criticism of Tennyson in his -various aspects as lyrist, dramatist, and representative poet of his day; (4) a -bibliography. Such a complete book on such a subject, and at such a moderate -price, should find a host of readers.</span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Oscar Browning.</b> THE AGE OF THE CONDOTTIERI: A -Short History of Italy from 1409 to 1530. By <span class='sc'>Oscar Browning</span>, -M.A., Fellow of King’s College, Cambridge. <em>Crown 8vo. 5s.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>This book is a continuation of Mr. Browning’s ‘Guelphs and Ghibellines,’ and the -two works form a complete account of Italian history from 1250 to 1530.</span></p> -<p class='c025'><b>Layard.</b> RELIGION IN BOYHOOD. Notes on the Religious -Training of Boys. With a Preface by <span class='sc'>J. R. Illingworth</span>. -by <span class='sc'>E. B. Layard</span>, M.A. 18<em>mo.</em> 1<em>s.</em></p> -<p class='c025'><b>Hutton.</b> THE VACCINATION QUESTION. A Letter to -the Right Hon. <span class='sc'>H. H. Asquith</span>, M.P. by <span class='sc'>A. W. Hutton</span>, -M.A. <em>Crown 8vo. 1s.</em></p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c027'> - <div><span class='xlarge'>Leaders of Religion</span></div> - <div><em>NEW VOLUMES</em></div> - <div><em>Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.</em></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c025'>LANCELOT ANDREWES, Bishop of Winchester. By <span class='sc'>R. L. -Ottley</span>, Principal of Pusey House, Oxford, and Fellow of Magdalen. -<em>With Portrait.</em></p> -<p class='c025'>St. AUGUSTINE of Canterbury. By <span class='sc'>E. L. Cutts</span>, D.D. -<em>With a Portrait.</em></p> -<p class='c025'>THOMAS CHALMERS. By Mrs. <span class='sc'>Oliphant</span>. <em>With a -Portrait. Second Edition.</em></p> -<p class='c025'>JOHN KEBLE. By <span class='sc'>Walter Lock</span>, Sub-Warden of Keble -College. <em>With a Portrait. Seventh Edition.</em></p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c027'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_a8'>a8</span><span class='xlarge'>English Classics</span></div> - <div>Edited by <span class='sc'>W. E. Henley</span>.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c026'><span class='small'>Messrs. Methuen propose to publish, under this title, a series of the masterpieces of -the English tongue.</span></p> -<p class='c026'><span class='small'>The ordinary ‘cheap edition’ appears to have served its purpose: the public has -found out the artist-printer, and is now ready for something better fashioned. -This, then, is the moment for the issue of such a series as, while well within the -reach of the average buyer, shall be at once an ornament to the shelf of him that -owns, and a delight to the eye of him that reads.</span></p> -<p class='c026'><span class='small'>The series, of which Mr. William Ernest Henley is the general editor, will confine -itself to no single period or department of literature. Poetry, fiction, drama, -biography, autobiography, letters, essays—in all these fields is the material of -many goodly volumes.</span></p> -<p class='c026'><span class='small'>The books, which are designed and printed by Messrs. Constable, will be issued in -two editions—</span></p> -<p class='c025'>(1) A small edition, on the finest Japanese vellum, limited in most -cases to 75 copies, demy 8vo, 21<em>s.</em> a volume nett;</p> -<p class='c026'>(2) The popular edition on laid paper, crown 8vo, buckram, 3<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em> a -volume.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c028'> - <div><span class='small'>The first six numbers are:—</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c017'>THE LIFE AND OPINIONS OF TRISTRAM SHANDY. -By <span class='sc'>Lawrence Sterne</span>. With an Introduction by <span class='sc'>Charles -Whibley</span>, and a Portrait. 2 <em>vols.</em></p> -<p class='c029'>THE WORKS OF WILLIAM CONGREVE. With an Introduction -by <span class='sc'>G. S. Street</span>, and a Portrait. 2 <em>vols.</em></p> -<p class='c029'>THE LIVES OF DONNE, WOTTON, HOOKER, HERBERT, -and SANDERSON. By <span class='sc'>Izaak Walton</span>. With an Introduction -by <span class='sc'>Vernon Blackburn</span>, and a Portrait.</p> -<p class='c029'>THE ADVENTURES OF HADJI BABA OF ISPAHAN. -By <span class='sc'>James Morier</span>. With an Introduction by <span class='sc'>E. S. Browne</span>, M.A.</p> -<p class='c029'>THE POEMS OF ROBERT BURNS. With an Introduction -by <span class='sc'>W. E. Henley</span>, and a Portrait. 2 <em>vols.</em></p> -<p class='c029'>THE LIVES OF THE ENGLISH POETS. By <span class='sc'>Samuel -Johnson</span>, LL.D. With an Introduction by <span class='sc'>James Hepburn -Millar</span>, and a Portrait. 3 <em>vols.</em></p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c027'> - <div><span class='xlarge'>Classical Translations</span></div> - <div><em>NEW VOLUMES</em></div> - <div><span class='small'><em>Crown 8vo. Finely printed and bound in blue buckram.</em></span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c017'>LUCIAN—Six Dialogues (Nigrinus, Icaro-Menippus, The Cock, -The Ship, The Parasite, The Lover of Falsehood). Translated by <span class='sc'>S. -T. Irwin</span>, M.A., Assistant Master at Clifton; late Scholar of Exeter -College, Oxford. 3<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p> -<p class='c029'><span class='pageno' id='Page_a9'>a9</span>SOPHOCLES—Electra and Ajax. Translated by <span class='sc'>E. D. A. -Morshead</span>, M.A., late Scholar of New College, Oxford; Assistant -Master at Winchester. 2<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p> -<p class='c029'>TACITUS—Agricola and Germania. Translated by <span class='sc'>R. B. -Townshend</span>, late Scholar of Trinity College, Cambridge. 2<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p> -<p class='c029'>CICERO—Select Orations (Pro Milone, Pro Murena, Philippic II., -In Catilinam). Translated by <span class='sc'>H. E. D. Blakiston</span>, M.A., Fellow -and Tutor of Trinity College, Oxford. 5<em>s.</em></p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c027'> - <div><span class='xlarge'>University Extension Series</span></div> - <div><em>NEW VOLUMES. Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d.</em></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c026'>THE EARTH. An Introduction to Physiography. By <span class='sc'>Evan -Small</span>, M.A. <em>Illustrated.</em></p> -<p class='c025'>INSECT LIFE. By <span class='sc'>F. W. Theobald</span>, M.A. <em>Illustrated.</em></p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c027'> - <div><span class='xlarge'>Social Questions of To-day</span></div> - <div><em>NEW VOLUME. Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d.</em></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c029'>WOMEN’S WORK. By <span class='sc'>Lady Dilke</span>, <span class='sc'>Miss Bulley</span>, and -<span class='sc'>Miss Whitley</span>.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c021'> - <div><span class='xlarge'>Cheaper Editions</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c029'><b>Baring Gould.</b> THE TRAGEDY OF THE CAESARS: The -Emperors of the Julian and Claudian Lines. With numerous Illustrations -from Busts, Gems, Cameos, etc. By <span class='sc'>S. Baring Gould</span>, -Author of ‘Mehalah,’ etc. <em>Third Edition.</em> <em>Royal 8vo.</em> 15<em>s.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘A most splendid and fascinating book on a subject of undying interest. The great -feature of the book is the use the author has made of the existing portraits of the -Caesars, and the admirable critical subtlety he has exhibited in dealing with this -line of research. It is brilliantly written, and the illustrations are supplied on a -scale of profuse magnificence.’—<em>Daily Chronicle.</em></span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Clark Russell.</b> THE LIFE OF ADMIRAL LORD COLLINGWOOD. -By <span class='sc'>W. Clark Russell</span>, Author of ‘The Wreck -of the Grosvenor.’ With Illustrations by <span class='sc'>F. Brangwyn</span>. <em>Second -Edition. 8vo. 6s.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘A most excellent and wholesome book, which we should like to see in the hands of -every boy in the country.’—<em>St. James’s Gazette.</em></span></p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c021'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_a10'>a10</span><span class='xlarge'>Fiction</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c017'><b>Baring Gould.</b> KITTY ALONE. By <span class='sc'>S. Baring Gould</span>, -Author of ‘Mehalah,’ ‘Cheap Jack Zita,’ etc. <em>3 vols. Crown 8vo.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>A romance of Devon life.</span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Norris.</b> MATTHEW AUSTIN. By <span class='sc'>W. E. Norris</span>, Author of -‘Mdle. de Mersai,’ etc. <em>3 vols. Crown 8vo.</em> -in 4 -<span class='small'>A story of English social life by the well-known author of ‘The Rogue.’</span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Parker.</b> THE TRAIL OF THE SWORD. By <span class='sc'>Gilbert -Parker</span>, Author of ‘Pierre and his People,’ etc. <em>2 vols. Crown 8vo.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>A historical romance dealing with a stirring period in the history of Canada.</span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Anthony Hope.</b> THE GOD IN THE CAR. By <span class='sc'>Anthony -Hope</span>, Author of ‘A Change of Air,’ etc. <span class='sc'>2 vols. Crown 8vo.</span></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>A story of modern society by the clever author of ‘The Prisoner of Zenda.’</span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Mrs. Watson.</b> THIS MAN’S DOMINION. By the Author -of ‘A High Little World.’ <em>2 vols. Crown 8vo.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>A story of the conflict between love and religious scruple.</span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Conan Doyle.</b> ROUND THE RED LAMP. By <span class='sc'>A. Conan -Doyle</span>, Author of ‘The White Company,’ ‘The Adventures of Sherlock -Holmes,’ etc. <em>Crown 8vo. 6s.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>This volume, by the well-known author of ‘The Refugees,’ contains the experiences -of a general practitioner, round whose ‘Red Lamp’ cluster many dramas—some -sordid, some terrible. The author makes an attempt to draw a few phases of life -from the point of view of the man who lives and works behind the lamp.</span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Barr.</b> IN THE MIDST OF ALARMS. By <span class='sc'>Robert Barr</span>, -Author of ‘From Whose Bourne,’ etc. <em>Crown 8vo. 6s.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>A story of journalism and Fenians, told with much vigour and humour.</span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Benson.</b> SUBJECT TO VANITY. By <span class='sc'>Margaret Benson</span>. -With numerous Illustrations. <em>Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>A volume of humorous and sympathetic sketches of animal life and home pets.</span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>X. L.</b> AUT DIABOLUS AUT NIHIL, and Other Stories. -By X. L. <em>Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>A collection of stories of much weird power. The title story appeared some years -ago in ‘Blackwood’s Magazine,’ and excited considerable attention. The -‘Spectator’ spoke of it as ‘distinctly original, and in the highest degree imaginative. -The conception, if self-generated, is almost as lofty as Milton’s.’</span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Morrison.</b> LIZERUNT, and other East End Idylls. By -<span class='sc'>Arthur Morrison</span>. <em>Crown 8vo. 6s.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>A volume of sketches of East End life, some of which have appeared in the ‘National -Observer,’ and have been much praised for their truth and strength and pathos.</span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>O’Grady.</b> THE COMING OF CURCULAIN. By <span class='sc'>Standish -O’Grady</span>, Author of ‘Finn and his Companions,’ etc. Illustrated -by <span class='sc'>Murray Smith</span>. <em>Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>The story of the boyhood of one of the legendary heroes of Ireland.</span></p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c021'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_a11'>a11</span><span class='xlarge'>New Editions</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c017'><b>E. F. Benson.</b> THE RUBICON. By <span class='sc'>E. F. Benson</span>, Author -of ‘Dodo.’ <em>Fourth Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>Mr. Benson’s second novel has been, in its two volume form, almost as great a -success as his first. The ‘Birmingham Post’ says it is ‘<em>well written, stimulating, -unconventional, and, in a word, characteristic</em>’: the ‘National Observer’ -congratulates Mr. Benson upon ‘<em>an exceptional achievement</em>,’ and calls the -book ‘<em>a notable advance on his previous work</em>.’</span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Stanley Weyman.</b> UNDER THE RED ROBE. By <span class='sc'>Stanley -Weyman</span>, Author of ‘A Gentleman of France.’ With Twelve Illustrations -by R. Caton Woodville. <em>Fourth Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>A cheaper edition of a book which won instant popularity. No unfavourable review -occurred, and most critics spoke in terms of enthusiastic admiration. The ‘Westminster -Gazette’ called it ‘<em>a book of which we have read every word for the sheer -pleasure of reading, and which we put down with a pang that we cannot forget -it all and start again</em>.’ The ‘Daily Chronicle’ said that ‘<em>every one who reads -books at all must read this thrilling romance, from the first page of which to the -last the breathless reader is haled along</em>.’ It also called the book ‘<em>an inspiration -of manliness and courage</em>.’ The ‘Globe’ called it ‘<em>a delightful tale of chivalry -and adventure, vivid and dramatic, with a wholesome modesty and reverence -for the highest</em>.’</span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Baring Gould.</b> THE QUEEN OF LOVE. By <span class='sc'>S. Baring -Gould</span>, Author of ‘Cheap Jack Zita,’ etc. <em>Second Edition. -Crown 8vo, 6s.</em>.in 2</p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘The scenery is admirable and the dramatic incidents most striking.’—<em>Glasgow -Herald.</em></span></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘Strong, interesting, and clever.’—<em>Westminster Gazette.</em></span></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘You cannot put it down till you have finished it.’—<em>Punch.</em></span></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘Can be heartily recommended to all who care for cleanly, energetic, and interesting -fiction.’—<em>Sussex Daily News.</em></span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Mrs. Oliphant.</b> THE PRODIGALS. By Mrs. <span class='sc'>Oliphant</span>. -<em>Second Edition. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.</em></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Richard Pryce.</b> WINIFRED MOUNT. By <span class='sc'>Richard Pryce.</span> -<em>Second Edition. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>The ‘Sussex Daily News’ called this book ‘<em>a delightful story</em>’, and said that the -writing was ‘<em>uniformly bright and graceful</em>.’ The ‘Daily Telegraph’ said that the -author was a ‘<em>deft and elegant story-teller</em>,’ and that the book was ‘<em>an extremely -clever story, utterly untainted by pessimism or vulgarity</em>.’</span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Constance Smith.</b> A CUMBERER OF THE GROUND. -By <span class='sc'>Constance Smith</span>, Author of ‘The Repentance of Paul Wentworth,’ -etc. <em>New Edition. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.</em></p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c021'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_a12'>a12</span><span class='xlarge'>School Books</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c017'>A VOCABULARY OF LATIN IDIOMS AND PHRASES. -By <span class='sc'>A. M. M. Stedman</span>, M.A. 18<em>mo.</em> 1<em>s.</em></p> -<p class='c017'>STEPS TO GREEK. By <span class='sc'>A. M. M. Stedman</span>, M.A. 18mo. -1<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p> -<p class='c017'>A SHORTER GREEK PRIMER OF ACCIDENCE AND -SYNTAX. By <span class='sc'>A. M. M. Stedman</span>, M.A. <em>Crown 8vo. 1s. 6d.</em></p> -<p class='c017'>SELECTIONS FROM THE ODYSSEY. With Introduction -and Notes. By <span class='sc'>E. D. Stone</span>, M.A., late Assistant Master at Eton. -<em>Fcap. 8vo. 2s.</em></p> -<p class='c017'>THE ELEMENTS OF ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETISM. -With numerous Illustrations. By <span class='sc'>R. G. Steel</span>, M. A., Head Master -of the Technical Schools, Northampton. <em>Crown 8vo. 4s. 6d.</em></p> -<p class='c017'>THE ENGLISH CITIZEN: <span class='sc'>His Rights and Duties</span>. By -<span class='sc'>H. E. Malden</span>, M.A. <em>Crown 8vo. 1s. 6d.</em> -<span class='small'>A simple account of the privileges and duties of the English citizen.</span></p> -<p class='c017'>INDEX POETARUM LATINORUM. By <span class='sc'>E. F. Benecke</span>, -M.A. <em>Crown 8vo. 4s. 6d.</em> -<span class='small'>A concordance to Latin Lyric Poetry.</span></p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c021'> - <div><span class='xlarge'>Commercial Series</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c017'>A PRIMER OF BUSINESS. By <span class='sc'>S. Jackson</span>, M.A. <em>Crown -8vo. 1s. 6d.</em></p> -<p class='c017'>COMMERCIAL ARITHMETIC. By <span class='sc'>F. G. Taylor</span>. <em>Crown -8vo. 1s. 6d.</em></p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c021'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_a13'>a13</span><span class="blackletter"><span class='large'>New and Recent Books</span></span></div> - <div class='c000'><span class='xlarge'>Poetry</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c017'><b>Rudyard Kipling.</b> BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS; And -Other Verses. By <span class='sc'>Rudyard Kipling</span>. <em>Seventh Edition. Crown -8vo. 6s.</em></p> -<p class='c023'>A Special Presentation Edition, bound in white buckram, with -extra gilt ornament. 7<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘Mr. Kipling’s verse is strong, vivid, full of character.... Unmistakable genius -rings in every line.’—<em>Times.</em></span></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘The disreputable lingo of Cockayne is henceforth justified before the world; for a -man of genius has taken it in hand, and has shown, beyond all cavilling, that in -its way it also is a medium for literature. You are grateful, and you say to -yourself, half in envy and half in admiration: “Here is a <em>book</em>; here, or one is a -Dutchman, is one of the books of the year.”’—<em>National Observer.</em></span></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘“Barrack-Room Ballads” contains some of the best work that Mr. Kipling has -ever done, which is saying a good deal. “Fuzzy-Wuzzy,” “Gunga Din,” and -“Tommy,” are, in our opinion, altogether superior to anything of the kind that -English literature has hitherto produced.’—<em>Athenæum.</em></span></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘These ballads are as wonderful in their descriptive power as they are vigorous in -their dramatic force. There are few ballads in the English language more -stirring than “The Ballad of East and West,” worthy to stand by the Border -ballads of Scott.’—<em>Spectator.</em></span></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘The ballads teem with imagination, they palpitate with emotion. We read them -with laughter and tears; the metres throb in our pulses, the cunningly ordered -words tingle with life; and if this be not poetry, what is?’—<em>Pall Mall Gazette.</em></span></p> - -<p class='c017'><b>Henley.</b> LYRA HEROICA: An Anthology selected from the -best English Verse of the 16th, 17th, 18th, and 19th Centuries. By -<span class='sc'>William Ernest Henley</span>, Author of ‘A Book of Verse,’ ‘Views -and Reviews,’ etc. <em>Crown 8vo. Stamped gilt buckram, gilt top, -edges uncut. 6s.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘Mr. Henley has brought to the task of selection an instinct alike for poetry and for -chivalry which seems to us quite wonderfully, and even unerringly, right.’—<em>Guardian.</em></span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Tomson.</b> A SUMMER NIGHT, AND OTHER POEMS. By -<span class='sc'>Graham R. Tomson</span>. With Frontispiece by <span class='sc'>A. Tomson</span>. <em>Fcap. -8vo. 3s. 6d.</em></p> -<p class='c018'>An edition on hand-made paper, limited to 50 copies. 10<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em> <em>net.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘Mrs. Tomson holds perhaps the very highest rank among poetesses of English birth. -This selection will help her reputation.’—<em>Black and White.</em></span></p> -<p class='c017'><span class='pageno' id='Page_a14'>a14</span><b>Ibsen.</b> BRAND. A Drama by <span class='sc'>Henrik Ibsen</span>. Translated by -<span class='sc'>William Wilson</span>. <em>Crown 8vo. Second Edition. 3s. 6d.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘The greatest world-poem of the nineteenth century next to “Faust.” “Brand” -will have an astonishing interest for Englishmen. It is in the same set with -“Agamemnon,” with “Lear,” with the literature that we now instinctively regard -as high and holy.’—<em>Daily Chronicle.</em></span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>“Q.”</b> GREEN BAYS: Verses and Parodies. By “Q.,” Author -of ‘Dead Man’s Rock’ etc. <em>Second Edition. Fcap. 8vo. 3s. 6d.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘The verses display a rare and versatile gift of parody, great command of metre, and -a very pretty turn of humour.’—<em>Times.</em></span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>“A. G.”</b> VERSES TO ORDER. By “A. G.” <em>Cr. 8vo. 2s.6d. -net.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>A small volume of verse by a writer whose initials are well known to Oxford men.</span></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘A capital specimen of light academic poetry. These verses are very bright and -engaging, easy and sufficiently witty.’—<em>St. James’s Gazette.</em></span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Hosken.</b> VERSES BY THE WAY. By <span class='sc'>J. D. Hosken</span>. -<em>Crown 8vo. 5s.</em></p> - -<p class='c030'>A small edition on hand-made paper. <em>Price 12s. 6d. net.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>A Volume of Lyrics and Sonnets by J. D. Hosken, the Postman Poet. Q, the -Author of ‘The Splendid Spur,’ writes a critical and biographical introduction.</span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Gale.</b> CRICKET SONGS. By <span class='sc'>Norman Gale</span>. <em>Crown 8vo. -Linen. 2s. 6d.</em></p> - -<p class='c030'>Also a limited edition on hand-made paper. <em>Demy 8vo. 10s. 6d. -net.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘They are wrung out of the excitement of the moment, and palpitate with the spirit -of the game.’—<em>Star.</em></span></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘As healthy as they are spirited, and ought to have a great success.’—<em>Times.</em></span></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘Simple, manly, and humorous. Every cricketer should buy the book.’—<em>Westminster -Gazette.</em></span></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘Cricket has never known such a singer.’—<em>Cricket.</em></span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Langbridge.</b> BALLADS OF THE BRAVE: Poems of Chivalry, -Enterprise, Courage, and Constancy, from the Earliest Times to the -Present Day. Edited, with Notes, by Rev. <span class='sc'>F. Langbridge</span>. -<em>Crown 8vo. Buckram 3s. 6d.</em> School Edition, <em>2s. 6d.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘A very happy conception happily carried out. These “Ballads of the Brave” are -intended to suit the real tastes of boys, and will suit the taste of the great majority.’—<em>Spectator.</em></span></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘The book is full of splendid things.’—<em>World.</em></span></p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c021'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_a15'>a15</span><span class='xlarge'>General Literature</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c017'><b>Collingwood.</b> JOHN RUSKIN: His Life and Work. By -<span class='sc'>W. G. Collingwood</span>, M.A., late Scholar of University College, -Oxford, Author of the ‘Art Teaching of John Ruskin,’ Editor of -Mr. Ruskin’s Poems. <em>2 vols. 8vo. 32s. Second Edition.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>This important work is written by Mr. Collingwood, who has been for some years -Mr. Ruskin’s private secretary, and who has had unique advantages in obtaining -materials for this book from Mr. Ruskin himself and from his friends. It contains -a large amount of new matter, and of letters which have never been published, -and is, in fact, a full and authoritative biography of Mr. Ruskin. The book -contains numerous portraits of Mr. Ruskin, including a coloured one from a -water-colour portrait by himself, and also 13 sketches, never before published, by -Mr. Ruskin and Mr. Arthur Severn. A bibliography is added.</span></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘No more magnificent volumes have been published for a long time....’—<em>Times.</em></span></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘This most lovingly written and most profoundly interesting book.’—<em>Daily News.</em></span></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘It is long since we have had a biography with such varied delights of substance -and of form. Such a book is a pleasure for the day, and a joy for ever.’—<em>Daily -Chronicle.</em></span></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘Mr. Ruskin could not well have been more fortunate in his biographer.’—<em>Globe.</em></span></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘A noble monument of a noble subject. One of the most beautiful books about one -of the noblest lives of our century.’—<em>Glasgow Herald.</em></span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Gladstone.</b> THE SPEECHES AND PUBLIC ADDRESSES -OF THE RT. HON. W. E. GLADSTONE, M.P. With Notes -and Introductions. Edited by <span class='sc'>A. W. Hutton</span>, M.A. (Librarian of -the Gladstone Library), and <span class='sc'>H. J. Cohen</span>, M.A. With Portraits. -<em>8vo. Vols. IX. and X. 12s. 6d. each.</em></p> -<p class='c029'><b>Clark Russell.</b> THE LIFE OF ADMIRAL LORD COLLINGWOOD. -By <span class='sc'>W. Clark Russell</span>, Author of ‘The Wreck -of the Grosvenor.’ With Illustrations by <span class='sc'>F. Brangwyn</span>. <em>Second -Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘A really good book.’—<em>Saturday Review.</em></span></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘A most excellent and wholesome book, which we should like to see in the hands of -every boy in the country.’—<em>St. James’s Gazette.</em></span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Clark.</b> THE COLLEGES OF OXFORD: Their History and -their Traditions. By Members of the University. Edited by <span class='sc'>A. -Clark</span>, M.A., Fellow and Tutor of Lincoln College. <em>8vo. 12s. 6d.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘Whether the reader approaches the book as a patriotic member of a college, as an -antiquary, or as a student of the organic growth of college foundation, it will amply -reward his attention.’—<em>Times.</em></span></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘A delightful book, learned and lively.’—<em>Academy.</em></span></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘A work which will certainly be appealed to for many years as the standard book on -the Colleges of Oxford.’—<em>Athenæum.</em></span></p> -<p class='c017'><span class='pageno' id='Page_a16'>a16</span><b>Wells.</b> OXFORD AND OXFORD LIFE. By Members of -the University. Edited by <span class='sc'>J. Wells</span>, M.A., Fellow and Tutor of -Wadham College. <em>Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>This work contains an account of life at Oxford—intellectual, social, and religious—a -careful estimate of necessary expenses, a review of recent changes, a statement -of the present position of the University, and chapters on Women’s Education, -aids to study, and University Extension.</span></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘We congratulate Mr. Wells on the production of a readable and intelligent account -of Oxford as it is at the present time, written by persons who are, with hardly an -exception, possessed of a close acquaintance with the system and life of the -University.’—<em>Athenæum.</em></span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Perrens.</b> THE HISTORY OF FLORENCE FROM THE -TIME OF THE MEDICIS TO THE FALL OF THE -REPUBLIC. By <span class='sc'>F. T. Perrens</span>. Translated by <span class='sc'>Hannah -Lynch</span>. <em>In Three Volumes. Vol. I. 8vo. 12s. 6d.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>This is a translation from the French of the best history of Florence in existence. -This volume covers a period of profound interest—political and literary—and -is written with great vivacity.</span></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘This is a standard book by an honest and intelligent historian, who has deserved -well of his countrymen, and of all who are interested in Italian history.’—<em>Manchester -Guardian.</em></span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Browning.</b> GUELPHS AND GHIBELLINES: A Short History -of Mediæval Italy, <span class='fss'>A.D.</span> 1250-1409. By <span class='sc'>Oscar Browning</span>, Fellow -and Tutor of King’s College, Cambridge. <em>Second Edition. Crown -8vo. 5s.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘A very able book.’—<em>Westminster Gazette.</em></span></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘A vivid picture of mediæval Italy.’—<em>Standard.</em></span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>O’Grady.</b> THE STORY OF IRELAND. By <span class='sc'>Standish -O’Grady</span>, Author of ‘Finn and his Companions.’ <em>Cr. 8vo. 2s. 6d.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘Novel and very fascinating history. Wonderfully alluring.’—<em>Cork Examiner.</em></span></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘Most delightful, most stimulating. Its racy humour, its original imaginings, its -perfectly unique history, make it one of the freshest, breeziest volumes.’—<em>Methodist -Times.</em></span></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘A survey at once graphic, acute, and quaintly written.’—<em>Times.</em></span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Dixon.</b> ENGLISH POETRY FROM BLAKE TO BROWNING. -By <span class='sc'>W. M. Dixon</span>, M.A. <em>Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.</em></p> - -<p class='c030'>A Popular Account of the Poetry of the Century.</p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘Scholarly in conception, and full of sound and suggestive criticism.’—<em>Times.</em></span></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘The book is remarkable for freshness of thought expressed in graceful language.’—<em>Manchester -Examiner.</em></span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Bowden.</b> THE EXAMPLE OF BUDDHA: Being Quotations -from Buddhist Literature for each Day in the Year. Compiled -by <span class='sc'>E. M. Bowden</span>. With Preface by Sir <span class='sc'>Edwin Arnold</span>. <em>Third -Edition. 16mo. 2s. 6d.</em></p> -<p class='c017'><span class='pageno' id='Page_a17'>a17</span><b>Flinders Petrie.</b> TELL EL AMARNA. By <span class='sc'>W. M. Flinders -Petrie</span>, D.C.L. With chapters by Professor <span class='sc'>A. H. Sayce</span>, D.D.; -<span class='sc'>F. Ll. Griffith</span>, F.S.A.; and <span class='sc'>F. C. J. Spurrell</span>, F.G.S. With -numerous coloured illustrations. <em>Royal 4to. 20s. net.</em></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Massee.</b> A MONOGRAPH OF THE MYXOGASTRES. By -<span class='sc'>George Massee</span>. With 12 Coloured Plates. <em>Royal 8vo. 18s. net.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘A work much in advance of any book in the language treating of this group of -organisms. It is indispensable to every student of the Myxogastres. The -coloured plates deserve high praise for their accuracy and execution.’—<em>Nature.</em></span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Bushill.</b> PROFIT SHARING AND THE LABOUR QUESTION. -By <span class='sc'>T. W. Bushill</span>, a Profit Sharing Employer. With an -Introduction by <span class='sc'>Sedley Taylor</span>, Author of ‘Profit Sharing between -Capital and Labour.’ <em>Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d.</em></p> -<p class='c017'><b>John Beever.</b> PRACTICAL FLY-FISHING, Founded on -Nature, by <span class='sc'>John Beever</span>, late of the Thwaite House, Coniston. A -New Edition, with a Memoir of the Author by <span class='sc'>W. G. Collingwood</span>, -M.A. Also additional Notes and a chapter on Char-Fishing, by A. -and <span class='sc'>A. R. Severn</span>. With a specially designed title-page. <em>Crown -8vo. 3s. 6d.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>A little book on Fly-Fishing by an old friend of Mr. Ruskin. It has been out of -print for some time, and being still much in request, is now issued with a Memoir -of the Author by W. G. Collingwood.</span></p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c021'> - <div><span class='xlarge'>Theology</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c017'><b>Driver.</b> SERMONS ON SUBJECTS CONNECTED WITH -THE OLD TESTAMENT. By <span class='sc'>S. R. Driver</span>, D.D., Canon of -Christ Church, Regius Professor of Hebrew in the University of -Oxford. <em>Crown 8vo. 6s.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘A welcome companion to the author’s famous ‘Introduction.’ No man can read these -discourses without feeling that Dr. Driver is fully alive to the deeper teaching of -the Old Testament.’—<em>Guardian.</em></span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Cheyne.</b> FOUNDERS OF OLD TESTAMENT CRITICISM: -Biographical, Descriptive, and Critical Studies. By <span class='sc'>T. K. Cheyne</span>, -D.D., Oriel Professor of the Interpretation of Holy Scripture at -Oxford. <em>Large crown 8vo. 7s. 6d.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>This important book is a historical sketch of O.T. Criticism in the form of biographical -studies from the days of Eichhorn to those of Driver and Robertson Smith. -It is the only book of its kind in English.</span></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘The volume is one of great interest and value. It displays all the author’s well-known -ability and learning, and its opportune publication has laid all students of -theology, and specially of Bible criticism, under weighty obligation.’—<em>Scotsman.</em></span></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘A very learned and instructive work.’—<em>Times.</em></span></p> -<p class='c017'><span class='pageno' id='Page_a18'>a18</span><b>Prior.</b> CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. Edited by <span class='sc'>C. H. Prior</span>, -M.A., Fellow and Tutor of Pembroke College. <em>Crown 8vo. 6s.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>A volume of sermons preached before the University of Cambridge by various -preachers, including the Archbishop of Canterbury and Bishop Westcott.</span></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘A representative collection. Bishop Westcott’s is a noble sermon.’—<em>Guardian.</em></span></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘Full of thoughtfulness and dignity.’—<em>Record.</em></span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Beeching.</b> BRADFIELD SERMONS. Sermons by <span class='sc'>H. C. -Beeching</span>, M.A., Rector of Yattendon, Berks. With a Preface by -<span class='sc'>Canon Scott Holland</span>. <em>Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>Seven sermons preached before the boys of Bradfield College.</span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>James.</b> CURIOSITIES OF CHRISTIAN HISTORY PRIOR -TO THE REFORMATION. By <span class='sc'>Croake James</span>, Author of -‘Curiosities of Law and Lawyers.’ <em>Crown 8vo. 7s. 6d.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘This volume contains a great deal of quaint and curious matter, affording some -“particulars of the interesting persons, episodes, and events from the Christian’s -point of view during the first fourteen centuries.” Wherever we dip into his pages -we find something worth dipping into.’—<em>John Bull.</em></span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Kaufmann.</b> CHARLES KINGSLEY. By <span class='sc'>M. Kaufmann</span>, -M.A. <em>Crown 8vo. Buckram. 5s.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>A biography of Kingsley, especially dealing with his achievements in social reform.</span></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘The author has certainly gone about his work with conscientiousness and industry.’—<em>Sheffield -Daily Telegraph.</em></span></p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c021'> - <div><span class='xlarge'>Leaders of Religion</span></div> - <div>Edited by H. C. BEECHING, M.A. <em>With Portraits, crown 8vo.</em></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c031'><span class='floatright'><span class='xxlarge'>2/6 & 3/6</span></span> -A series of short biographies of the most prominent -leaders of religious life and thought of -all ages and countries.</p> - -<p class='c031'>The following are ready— <b>2s. 6d.</b></p> -<p class='c017'>CARDINAL NEWMAN. By <span class='sc'>R. H. Hutton</span>. <em>Second Edition.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘Few who read this book will fail to be struck by the wonderful insight it displays -into the nature of the Cardinal’s genius and the spirit of his life.’—<span class='sc'>Wilfrid -Ward</span>, in the <em>Tablet</em>.</span></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘Full of knowledge, excellent in method, and intelligent in criticism. We regard it -as wholly admirable.’—<em>Academy.</em></span></p> -<p class='c017'>JOHN WESLEY. By <span class='sc'>J. H. Overton</span>, M.A.</p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘It is well done: the story is clearly told, proportion is duly observed, and there is -no lack either of discrimination or of sympathy.’—<em>Manchester Guardian.</em></span></p> -<p class='c017'><span class='pageno' id='Page_a19'>a19</span>BISHOP WILBERFORCE. By <span class='sc'>G. W. Daniel</span>, M.A.</p> -<p class='c017'>CARDINAL MANNING. By <span class='sc'>A. W. Hutton</span>, M.A.</p> -<p class='c017'>CHARLES SIMEON. By <span class='sc'>H. C. G. Moule</span>, M.A.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c032'> - <div>3s. 6d.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c017'>JOHN KEBLE. By <span class='sc'>Walter Lock</span>, M.A. <em>Seventh Edition.</em></p> -<p class='c017'>THOMAS CHALMERS. By Mrs. <span class='sc'>Oliphant</span>. <em>Second Edition.</em></p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c033'> - <div><span class='small'>Other volumes will be announced in due course.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c021'> - <div><span class='xlarge'>Works by S. Baring Gould</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c017'>OLD COUNTRY LIFE. With Sixty-seven Illustrations by -<span class='sc'>W. Parkinson</span>, <span class='sc'>F. D. Bedford</span>, and <span class='sc'>F. Masey</span>. <em>Large Crown -8vo, cloth super extra, top edge gilt, 10s. 6d. Fourth and Cheaper -Edition. 6s.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘“Old Country Life,” as healthy wholesome reading, full of breezy life and movement, -full of quaint stories vigorously told, will not be excelled by any book to be -published throughout the year. Sound, hearty, and English to the core.’—<em>World.</em></span></p> -<p class='c017'>HISTORIC ODDITIES AND STRANGE EVENTS. <em>Third -Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘A collection of exciting and entertaining chapters. The whole volume is delightful -reading.’—<em>Times.</em></span></p> -<p class='c017'>FREAKS OF FANATICISM. <em>Third Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘Mr. Baring Gould has a keen eye for colour and effect, and the subjects he has -chosen give ample scope to his descriptive and analytic faculties. A perfectly -fascinating book.’—<em>Scottish Leader.</em></span></p> -<p class='c017'>SONGS OF THE WEST: Traditional Ballads and Songs of -the West of England, with their Traditional Melodies. Collected -by <span class='sc'>S. Baring Gould</span>, M.A., and <span class='sc'>H. Fleetwood Sheppard</span>, -M.A. Arranged for Voice and Piano. In 4 Parts (containing 25 -Songs each), <em>Parts I., II., III., 3s. each. Part IV., 5s. In one -Vol., French morocco, 15s.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘A rich and varied collection of humour, pathos, grace, and poetic fancy.’—<em>Saturday -Review.</em></span></p> -<p class='c017'>YORKSHIRE ODDITIES AND STRANGE EVENTS. -<em>Fourth Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s.</em></p> -<p class='c017'><span class='pageno' id='Page_a20'>a20</span>STRANGE SURVIVALS AND SUPERSTITIONS. With -Illustrations. By <span class='sc'>S. Baring Gould</span>. <em>Crown 8vo. Second Edition. -6s.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>A book on such subjects as Foundations, Gables, Holes, Gallows, Raising the Hat, Old -Ballads, etc. etc. It traces in a most interesting manner their origin and history.</span></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘We have read Mr. Baring Gould’s book from beginning to end. It is full of quaint -and various information, and there is not a dull page in it.’—<em>Notes and Queries.</em></span></p> -<p class='c017'><em class='gesperrt'>THE TRAGEDY OF THE CAESARS</em>: The -Emperors of the Julian and Claudian Lines. With numerous Illustrations -from Busts, Gems, Cameos, etc. By <span class='sc'>S. Baring Gould</span>, -Author of ‘Mehalah,’ etc. <em>Third Edition. Royal 8vo. 15s.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘A most splendid and fascinating book on a subject of undying interest. The great -feature of the book is the use the author has made of the existing portraits of the -Caesars, and the admirable critical subtlety he has exhibited in dealing with this -line of research. It is brilliantly written, and the illustrations are supplied on a -scale of profuse magnificence.’—<em>Daily Chronicle.</em></span></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘The volumes will in no sense disappoint the general reader. Indeed, in their way, -there is nothing in any sense so good in English.... Mr. Baring Gould has -presented his narrative in such a way as not to make one dull page.’—<em>Athenæum.</em></span></p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c033'> - <div><span class='large'><em>MR. BARING GOULD’S NOVELS</em></span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c025'><span class='small'>‘To say that a book is by the author of “Mehalah” is to imply that it contains a -story cast on strong lines, containing dramatic possibilities, vivid and sympathetic -descriptions of Nature, and a wealth of ingenious imagery.’—<em>Speaker.</em></span></p> -<p class='c026'><span class='small'>‘That whatever Mr. Baring Gould writes is well worth reading, is a conclusion that -may be very generally accepted. His views of life are fresh and vigorous, his -language pointed and characteristic, the incidents of which he makes use are -striking and original, his characters are life-like, and though somewhat exceptional -people, are drawn and coloured with artistic force. Add to this that his -descriptions of scenes and scenery are painted with the loving eyes and skilled -hands of a master of his art, that he is always fresh and never dull, and under -such conditions it is no wonder that readers have gained confidence both in his -power of amusing and satisfying them, and that year by year his popularity -widens.’—<em>Court Circular.</em></span></p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c034'> - <div><b>SIX SHILLINGS EACH</b></div> - </div> -</div> - - <ul class='ul_1 c000'> - <li>IN THE ROAR OF THE SEA: A Tale of the Cornish Coast. - </li> - <li>MRS. CURGENVEN OF CURGENVEN. - </li> - <li>CHEAP JACK ZITA. - </li> - <li>THE QUEEN OF LOVE. - </li> - </ul> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c035'> - <div><b>THREE SHILLINGS AND SIXPENCE EACH</b></div> - </div> -</div> - - <ul class='ul_1'> - <li>ARMINELL: A Social Romance. - </li> - <li>URITH: A Story of Dartmoor. - </li> - <li>MARGERY OF QUETHER, and other Stories. - </li> - <li>JACQUETTA, and other Stories. - </li> - </ul> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c036'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_a21'>a21</span><span class='xlarge'>Fiction</span></div> - <div class='c000'>SIX SHILLING NOVELS</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c037'><b>Corelli.</b> BARABBAS: A DREAM OF THE WORLD’S TRAGEDY. By <span class='sc'>Marie Corelli</span>, Author of ‘A Romance of Two -Worlds,’ ‘Vendetta,’ etc. <em>Eleventh Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>Miss Corelli’s new romance has been received with much disapprobation by the -secular papers, and with warm welcome by the religious papers. By the former -she has been accused of blasphemy and bad taste; ‘a gory nightmare’; ‘a hideous -travesty’; ‘grotesque vulgarisation’; ‘unworthy of criticism’; ‘vulgar redundancy’; -‘sickening details’—these are some of the secular flowers of speech. -On the other hand, the ‘Guardian’ praises ‘the dignity of its conceptions, the -reserve round the Central Figure, the fine imagery of the scene and circumstance, -so much that is elevating and devout’; the ‘Illustrated Church News’ styles the -book ‘reverent and artistic, broad based on the rock of our common nature, and -appealing to what is best in it’; the ‘Christian World’ says it is written ‘by one -who has more than conventional reverence, who has tried to tell the story that it -may be read again with open and attentive eyes’; the ‘Church of England -Pulpit’ welcomes ‘a book which teems with faith without any appearance of -irreverence.’</span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Benson.</b> DODO: A DETAIL OF THE DAY. By <span class='sc'>E. F. -Benson</span>. <em>Crown 8vo. Fourteenth Edition. 6s.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>A story of society by a new writer, full of interest and power, which has attracted -by its brilliance universal attention. The best critics were cordial in their -praise. The ‘Guardian’ spoke of ‘Dodo’ as <em>unusually clever and interesting</em>; -the ‘Spectator’ called it <em>a delightfully witty sketch of society</em>; the ‘Speaker’ -said the dialogue was <em>a perpetual feast of epigram and paradox</em>; the -‘Athenæum’ spoke of the author as <em>a writer of quite exceptional ability</em>; -the ‘Academy’ praised his <em>amazing cleverness</em>; the ‘World’ said the book was -<em>brilliantly written</em>; and half-a-dozen papers declared there <em>was not a dull page -in the book</em>.</span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Baring Gould.</b> IN THE ROAR OF THE SEA: A Tale of -the Cornish Coast. By <span class='sc'>S. Baring Gould</span>. <em>New Edition. 6s.</em></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Baring Gould.</b> MRS. CURGENVEN OF CURGENVEN. -By <span class='sc'>S. Baring Gould</span>. <em>Third Edition. 6s.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>A story of Devon life. The ‘Graphic’ speaks of it as <em>a novel of vigorous humour and -sustained power</em>; the ‘Sussex Daily News’ says that <em>the swing of the narrative -is splendid</em>; and the ‘Speaker’ mentions <em>its bright imaginative power</em>.</span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Baring Gould.</b> CHEAP JACK ZITA. By <span class='sc'>S. Baring Gould</span>. -<em>Third Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>A Romance of the Ely Fen District in 1815, which the ‘Westminster Gazette’ calls -‘a powerful drama of human passion’; and the ‘National Observer’ ‘a story -worthy the author.’</span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Baring Gould.</b> THE QUEEN OF LOVE. By <span class='sc'>S. Baring -Gould</span>. <em>Second Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>The ‘Glasgow Herald’ says that ‘the scenery is admirable, and the dramatic incidents -are most striking.’ The ‘Westminster Gazette’ calls the book ‘strong, -interesting, and clever.’ ‘Punch’ says that ‘you cannot put it down until you -have finished it.’ ‘The Sussex Daily News’ says that it ‘can be heartily recommended -to all who care for cleanly, energetic, and interesting fiction.’</span></p> -<p class='c017'><span class='pageno' id='Page_a22'>a22</span><b>Norris.</b> HIS GRACE. By <span class='sc'>W. E. Norris</span>, Author of -‘Mademoiselle de Mersac.’ <em>Third Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘The characters are delineated by the author with his characteristic skill and -vivacity, and the story is told with that ease of manners and Thackerayean insight -which give strength of flavour to Mr. Norris’s novels. No one can depict -the Englishwoman of the better classes with more subtlety.’—<em>Glasgow Herald.</em></span></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘Mr. Norris has drawn a really fine character in the Duke of Hurstbourne, at once -unconventional and very true to the conventionalities of life, weak and strong in -a breath, capable of inane follies and heroic decisions, yet not so definitely portrayed -as to relieve a reader of the necessity of study on his own behalf.’—<em>Athenæum.</em></span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Parker.</b> MRS. FALCHION. By <span class='sc'>Gilbert Parker</span>, Author of -‘Pierre and His People.’ <em>New Edition. 6s.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>Mr. Parker’s second book has received a warm welcome. The ‘Athenæum’ called -it <em>a splendid study of character</em>; the ‘Pall Mall Gazette’ spoke of the writing as -<em>but little behind anything that has been done by any writer of our time</em>; the -‘St. James’s’ called it <em>a very striking and admirable novel</em>; and the ‘Westminster -Gazette’ applied to it the epithet of <em>distinguished</em>.</span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Parker.</b> PIERRE AND HIS PEOPLE. By <span class='sc'>Gilbert -Parker</span>. <em>Crown 8vo. Buckram. 6s.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘Stories happily conceived and finely executed. There is strength and genius in Mr. -Parker’s style.’—<em>Daily Telegraph.</em></span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Parker.</b> THE TRANSLATION OF A SAVAGE. By <span class='sc'>Gilbert -Parker</span>, Author of ‘Pierre and His People,’ ‘Mrs. Falchion,’ etc. -<em>Crown 8vo. 5s.</em></p> -<p class='c029'><span class='small'>‘The plot is original and one difficult to work out; but Mr. Parker has done it with -great skill and delicacy. The reader who is not interested in this original, fresh, -and well-told tale must be a dull person indeed.’—<em>Daily Chronicle.</em></span></p> -<p class='c029'><span class='small'>‘A strong and successful piece of workmanship. The portrait of Lali, strong, dignified, -and pure, is exceptionally well drawn.’—<em>Manchester Guardian.</em></span></p> -<p class='c029'><span class='small'>‘A very pretty and interesting story, and Mr. Parker tells it with much skill. The -story is one to be read.’—<em>St. James’s Gazette.</em></span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Anthony Hope.</b> A CHANGE OF AIR: A Novel. By -<span class='sc'>Anthony Hope</span>, Author of ‘The Prisoner of Zenda,’ etc. -<em>Crown 8vo. 6s.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>A bright story by Mr. Hope, who has, the <em>Athenæum</em> says, ‘a decided outlook and -individuality of his own.’</span></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘A graceful, vivacious comedy, true to human nature. The characters are traced -with a masterly hand.’—<em>Times.</em></span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Pryce.</b> TIME AND THE WOMAN. By <span class='sc'>Richard Pryce</span>, -Author of ‘Miss Maxwell’s Affections,’ ‘The Quiet Mrs. Fleming,’ -etc. New and Cheaper Edition. <em>Crown 8vo. 6s.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘Mr. Pryce’s work recalls the style of Octave Feuillet, by its clearness, conciseness, -its literary reserve.’—<em>Athenæum.</em></span></p> -<p class='c017'><span class='pageno' id='Page_a23'>a23</span><b>Marriott Watson.</b> DIOGENES OF LONDON and other -Sketches. By <span class='sc'>H. B. Marriott Watson</span>, Author of ‘The Web -of the Spider.’ <em>Crown 8vo. Buckram. 6s.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘By all those who delight in the uses of words, who rate the exercise of prose above -the exercise of verse, who rejoice in all proofs of its delicacy and its strength, who -believe that English prose is chief among the moulds of thought, by these -Mr. Marriott Watson’s book will be welcomed.’—<em>National Observer.</em></span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Gilchrist.</b> THE STONE DRAGON. By <span class='sc'>Murray Gilchrist</span>. -<em>Crown 8vo. Buckram. 6s.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘The author’s faults are atoned for by certain positive and admirable merits. The -romances have not their counterpart in modern literature, and to read them is a -unique experience.’—<em>National Observer.</em></span></p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c032'> - <div><b>THREE-AND-SIXPENNY NOVELS</b></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c017'><b>Baring Gould.</b> ARMINELL: A Social Romance. By <span class='sc'>S. -Baring Gould</span>. <em>New Edition. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.</em></p> -<p class='c029'><b>Baring Gould.</b> URITH: A Story of Dartmoor. By <span class='sc'>S. Baring -Gould</span>. <em>Third Edition. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘The author is at his best.’—<em>Times.</em></span></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘He has nearly reached the high water-mark of “Mehalah.”’—<em>National Observer.</em></span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Baring Gould.</b> MARGERY OF QUETHER, and other Stories. -By <span class='sc'>S. Baring Gould</span>. <em>Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.</em></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Baring Gould.</b> JACQUETTA, and other Stories. By <span class='sc'>S. Baring -Gould</span>. <em>Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.</em></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Gray.</b> ELSA. A Novel. By <span class='sc'>E. M’Queen Gray</span>. <em>Crown 8vo. -3s. 6d.</em></p> -<p class='c029'><span class='small'>‘A charming novel. The characters are not only powerful sketches, but minutely -and carefully finished portraits.’—<em>Guardian.</em></span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Pearce.</b> JACO TRELOAR. By <span class='sc'>J. H. Pearce</span>, Author of -‘Esther Pentreath.’ <em>New Edition. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>A tragic story of Cornish life by a writer of remarkable power, whose first novel has -been highly praised by Mr. Gladstone.</span></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>The ‘Spectator’ speaks of Mr. Pearce as <em>a writer of exceptional power</em>; the ‘Daily -Telegraph’ calls the book <em>powerful and picturesque</em>; the ‘Birmingham Post’ -asserts that it is <em>a novel of high quality</em>.</span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Edna Lyall.</b> DERRICK VAUGHAN, NOVELIST. By -<span class='sc'>Edna Lyall</span>, Author of ‘Donovan,’ etc. <em>Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.</em></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Clark Russell.</b> MY DANISH SWEETHEART. By <span class='sc'>W. -Clark Russell</span>, Author of ‘The Wreck of the Grosvenor,’ etc. -<em>Illustrated. Third Edition. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.</em></p> -<p class='c017'><span class='pageno' id='Page_a24'>a24</span><b>Author of ‘Vera.’</b> THE DANCE OF THE HOURS. By -the Author of ‘Vera.’ <em>Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.</em></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Esmè Stuart.</b> A WOMAN OF FORTY. By <span class='sc'>Esmè Stuart</span>, -Author of ‘Muriel’s Marriage,’ ‘Virginié’s Husband,’ etc. <em>New -Edition. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘The story is well written, and some of the scenes show great dramatic power.’—<em>Daily -Chronicle.</em></span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Fenn.</b> THE STAR GAZERS. By <span class='sc'>G. Manville Fenn</span>, -Author of ‘Eli’s Children,’ etc. <em>New Edition. Cr. 8vo. 3s. 6d.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘A stirring romance.’—<em>Western Morning News.</em></span></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘Told with all the dramatic power for which Mr. Fenn is conspicuous.’—<em>Bradford -Observer.</em></span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Dickinson.</b> A VICAR’S WIFE. By <span class='sc'>Evelyn Dickinson</span>. -<em>Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.</em></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Prowse.</b> THE POISON OF ASPS. By <span class='sc'>R. Orton Prowse</span>. -<em>Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.</em></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Grey.</b> THE STORY OF CHRIS. By <span class='sc'>Rowland Grey</span>. -<em>Crown 8vo. 5s.</em></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Lynn Linton.</b> THE TRUE HISTORY OF JOSHUA DAVIDSON, -Christian and Communist. By <span class='sc'>E. Lynn Linton</span>. Eleventh -Edition. <em>Post 8vo. 1s.</em></p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c032'> - <div><b>HALF-CROWN NOVELS</b></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c030'><span class='floatright'><span class='xxlarge'>2/6</span></span></p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c032'> - <div><em>A Series of Novels by popular Authors, tastefully bound in cloth.</em></div> - </div> -</div> - - <ul class='ul_1'> - <li>1. THE PLAN OF CAMPAIGN. By <span class='sc'>F. Mabel Robinson</span>. - </li> - <li>2. DISENCHANTMENT. By <span class='sc'>F. Mabel Robinson</span>. - </li> - <li>3. MR. BUTLER’S WARD. By <span class='sc'>F. Mabel Robinson</span>. - </li> - <li>4. HOVENDEN, V.C. By <span class='sc'>F. Mabel Robinson</span>. - </li> - <li>5. ELI’S CHILDREN. By <span class='sc'>G. Manville Fenn</span>. - </li> - <li>6. A DOUBLE KNOT. By <span class='sc'>G. Manville Fenn</span>. - </li> - <li>7. DISARMED. By <span class='sc'>Betham Edwards</span>. - </li> - <li>8. A LOST ILLUSION. By <span class='sc'>Leslie Keith</span>. - </li> - <li>9. A MARRIAGE AT SEA. By <span class='sc'>W. Clark Russell</span>. - </li> - <li><span class='pageno' id='Page_a25'>a25</span>10. IN TENT AND BUNGALOW. By the Author of ‘Indian Idylls.’ - </li> - <li>11. MY STEWARDSHIP. By <span class='sc'>E. M’Queen Gray</span>. - </li> - <li>12. A REVEREND GENTLEMAN. By <span class='sc'>J. M. Cobban</span>. - </li> - <li>13. A DEPLORABLE AFFAIR. By <span class='sc'>W. E. Norris</span>. - </li> - <li>14. JACK’S FATHER. By <span class='sc'>W. E. Norris</span>. - </li> - </ul> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c032'> - <div><span class='small'>Other volumes will be announced in due course.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c021'> - <div><span class='xlarge'>Books for Boys and Girls</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c017'><b>Baring Gould.</b> THE ICELANDER’S SWORD. By <span class='sc'>S. -Baring Gould</span>, Author of ‘Mehalah,’ etc. With Twenty-nine -Illustrations by <span class='sc'>J. Moyr Smith</span>. <em>Crown 8vo. 6s.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>A stirring story of Iceland, written for boys by the author of ‘In the Roar of the Sea.’</span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Cuthell.</b> TWO LITTLE CHILDREN AND CHING. By -<span class='sc'>Edith E. Cuthell</span>. Profusely Illustrated. <em>Crown 8vo. Cloth, -gilt edges. 3s. 6d.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>Another story, with a dog hero, by the author of the very popular ‘Only a Guard-Room -Dog.’</span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Blake.</b> TODDLEBEN’S HERO. By <span class='sc'>M. M. Blake</span>, Author of -‘The Siege of Norwich Castle.’ With 36 Illustrations. <em>Crown -8vo. 3s. 6d.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>A story of military life for children.</span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Cuthell.</b> ONLY A GUARD-ROOM DOG. By Mrs. <span class='sc'>Cuthell</span>. -With 16 Illustrations by <span class='sc'>W. Parkinson</span>. <em>Square Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'> -‘This is a charming story. Tangle was but a little mongrel Skye terrier, but he had a -big heart in his little body, and played a hero’s part more than once. The book -can be warmly recommended.’—<em>Standard.</em></span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Collingwood.</b> THE DOCTOR OF THE JULIET. By <span class='sc'>Harry -Collingwood</span>, Author of ‘The Pirate Island,’ etc. Illustrated by -<span class='sc'>Gordon Browne</span>. <em>Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘“The Doctor of the Juliet,” well illustrated by Gordon Browne, is one of Harry -Collingwood’s best efforts.’—<em>Morning Post.</em></span></p> -<p class='c017'><span class='pageno' id='Page_a26'>a26</span><b>Clark Russell.</b> MASTER ROCKAFELLAR’S VOYAGE. By -<span class='sc'>W. Clark Russell</span>, Author of ‘The Wreck of the Grosvenor,’ etc. -Illustrated by <span class='sc'>Gordon Browne</span>. <em>Second Edition, Crown 8vo. -3s. 6d.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘Mr. Clark Russell’s story of “Master Rockafellar’s Voyage” will be among the -favourites of the Christmas books. There is a rattle and “go” all through it, and -its illustrations are charming in themselves, and very much above the average in -the way in which they are produced.’—<em>Guardian.</em></span></p> -<p class='c017'><b>Manville Fenn.</b> SYD BELTON: Or, The Boy who would not -go to Sea. By <span class='sc'>G. Manville Fenn</span>, Author of ‘In the King’s -Name,’ etc. Illustrated by <span class='sc'>Gordon Browne</span>. <em>Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘Who among the young story-reading public will not rejoice at the sight of the old -combination, so often proved admirable—a story by Manville Fenn, illustrated -by Gordon Browne? The story, too, is one of the good old sort, full of life and -vigour, breeziness and fun.’—<em>Journal of Education.</em></span></p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c021'> - <div><span class='xlarge'>The Peacock Library</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c038'><span class='floatright'><span class='xxlarge'>3/6</span></span> -<em>A Series of Books for Girls by well-known Authors, -handsomely bound in blue and silver, and well illustrated. -Crown 8vo.</em></p> - - <ul class='ul_2'> - <li>1. A PINCH OF EXPERIENCE. By <span class='sc'>L. B. Walford</span>. - </li> - <li>2. THE RED GRANGE. By Mrs. <span class='sc'>Molesworth</span>. - </li> - <li>3. THE SECRET OF MADAME DE MONLUC. By the Author of ‘Mdle Mori.’ - </li> - <li>4. DUMPS. By Mrs. <span class='sc'>Parr</span>, Author of ‘Adam and Eve.’ - </li> - <li>5. OUT OF THE FASHION. By <span class='sc'>L. T. Meade</span>. - </li> - <li>6. A GIRL OF THE PEOPLE. By <span class='sc'>L. T. Meade</span>. - </li> - <li>7. HEPSY GIPSY. By <span class='sc'>L. T. Meade</span>. <em>2s. 6d.</em> - </li> - <li>8. THE HONOURABLE MISS. By <span class='sc'>L. T. Meade</span>. - </li> - <li>9. MY LAND OF BEULAH. By Mrs. <span class='sc'>Leith Adams</span>. - </li> - </ul> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c021'> - <div><span class='xlarge'>University Extension Series</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c030'><span class='small'>A series of books on historical, literary, and scientific subjects, suitable -for extension students and home reading circles. Each volume is complete -<span class='pageno' id='Page_a27'>a27</span>in itself, and the subjects are treated by competent writers in a -broad and philosophic spirit.</span></p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c032'> - <div>Edited by J. E. SYMES, M.A.,</div> - <div>Principal of University College, Nottingham.</div> - <div class='c000'><em>Crown 8vo. Price (with some exceptions) 2s. 6d.</em></div> - <div class='c000'><em>The following volumes are ready</em>:—</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c017'>THE INDUSTRIAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND. By <span class='sc'>H. de -B. Gibbins</span>, M.A., late Scholar of Wadham College, Oxon., Cobden -Prizeman. <em>Third Edition.</em> With Maps and Plans. <em>3s.</em></p> -<p class='c018'><span class='small'>‘A compact and clear story of our industrial development. A study of this concise -but luminous book cannot fail to give the reader a clear insight into the principal -phenomena of our industrial history. The editor and publishers are to be congratulated -on this first volume of their venture, and we shall look with expectant -interest for the succeeding volumes of the series.’—<em>University Extension Journal.</em></span></p> -<p class='c017'>A HISTORY OF ENGLISH POLITICAL ECONOMY. By -<span class='sc'>L. L. Price</span>, M.A., Fellow of Oriel College, Oxon.</p> -<p class='c017'>PROBLEMS OF POVERTY: An Inquiry into the Industrial -Conditions of the Poor. By <span class='sc'>J. A. Hobson</span>, M.A.</p> -<p class='c017'>VICTORIAN POETS. By <span class='sc'>A. Sharp</span>.</p> -<p class='c017'>THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. By <span class='sc'>J. E. Symes</span>, M.A.</p> -<p class='c017'>PSYCHOLOGY. By <span class='sc'>F. S. Granger</span>, M.A., Lecturer in Philosophy -at University College, Nottingham.</p> -<p class='c017'>THE EVOLUTION OF PLANT LIFE: Lower Forms. By -<span class='sc'>G. Massee</span>, Kew Gardens. With Illustrations.</p> -<p class='c017'>AIR AND WATER. Professor <span class='sc'>V. B. Lewes</span>, M.A. Illustrated.</p> -<p class='c017'>THE CHEMISTRY OF LIFE AND HEALTH. By <span class='sc'>C. W. -Kimmins</span>, M.A. Camb. Illustrated.</p> -<p class='c017'>THE MECHANICS OF DAILY LIFE. By <span class='sc'>V. P. Sells</span>, M.A. -Illustrated.</p> -<p class='c017'>ENGLISH SOCIAL REFORMERS. <span class='sc'>H. de B. Gibbins</span>, M.A.</p> -<p class='c017'>ENGLISH TRADE AND FINANCE IN THE SEVENTEENTH -CENTURY. By <span class='sc'>W. A. S. Hewins</span>, B.A.</p> -<p class='c017'>THE CHEMISTRY OF FIRE. The Elementary Principles of -Chemistry. By <span class='sc'>M. M. Pattison Muir</span>, M.A. Illustrated.</p> -<p class='c017'>A TEXT-BOOK OF AGRICULTURAL BOTANY. By <span class='sc'>M. C. -Potter</span>, M.A., F.L.S. Illustrated. <em>3s. 6d.</em></p> -<p class='c017'><span class='pageno' id='Page_a28'>a28</span>THE VAULT OF HEAVEN. A Popular Introduction to -Astronomy. By <span class='sc'>R. A. Gregory</span>. With numerous Illustrations.</p> -<p class='c017'>METEOROLOGY. The Elements of Weather and Climate. -By <span class='sc'>H. N. Dickson</span>, F.R.S.E., F.R. Met. Soc. Illustrated.</p> -<p class='c017'>A MANUAL OF ELECTRICAL SCIENCE. By <span class='sc'>George -J. Burch</span>, M.A. With numerous Illustrations. <em>3s</em>.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c021'> - <div><span class='xlarge'>Social Questions of To-day</span></div> - <div class='c000'>Edited by <span class='sc'>H. de B. GIBBINS</span>, M.A.</div> - <div class='c000'><em>Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d</em>.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c030'><span class='floatright'><span class='xxlarge'>2/6</span></span> -A series of volumes upon those topics of social, economic, -and industrial interest that are at the present moment foremost -in the public mind. Each volume of the series is written by an -author who is an acknowledged authority upon the subject with which -he deals.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c032'> - <div><span class='small'><em>The following Volumes of the Series are ready:</em>—</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c017'>TRADE UNIONISM—NEW AND OLD. By <span class='sc'>G. Howell</span>, -M.P., Author of ‘The Conflicts of Capital and Labour.’ <em>Second -Edition</em>.</p> -<p class='c017'>THE CO-OPERATIVE MOVEMENT TO-DAY. By <span class='sc'>G. J. -Holyoake</span>, Author of ‘The History of Co-operation.’</p> -<p class='c017'>MUTUAL THRIFT. By Rev. <span class='sc'>J. Frome Wilkinson</span>, M.A., -Author of ‘The Friendly Society Movement.’</p> -<p class='c017'>PROBLEMS OF POVERTY: An Inquiry into the Industrial -Conditions of the Poor. By <span class='sc'>J. A. Hobson</span>, M.A.</p> -<p class='c017'>THE COMMERCE OF NATIONS. By <span class='sc'>C. F. Bastable</span>, -M.A., Professor of Economics at Trinity College, Dublin.</p> -<p class='c017'>THE ALIEN INVASION. By <span class='sc'>W. H. Wilkins</span>, B.A., Secretary -to the Society for Preventing the Immigration of Destitute Aliens.</p> -<p class='c017'>THE RURAL EXODUS. By <span class='sc'>P. Anderson Graham</span>.</p> -<p class='c017'>LAND NATIONALIZATION. By <span class='sc'>Harold Cox</span>, B.A.</p> -<p class='c017'>A SHORTER WORKING DAY. By <span class='sc'>H. de B. Gibbins</span> -and <span class='sc'>R. A. Hadfield</span>, of the Hecla Works, Sheffield.</p> -<p class='c017'>BACK TO THE LAND: An Inquiry into the Cure for Rural -Depopulation. By <span class='sc'>H. E. Moore</span>.</p> -<p class='c017'><span class='pageno' id='Page_a29'>a29</span>TRUSTS, POOLS AND CORNERS: As affecting Commerce -and Industry. By <span class='sc'>J. Stephen Jeans</span>, M.R.I., F.S.S.</p> -<p class='c017'>THE FACTORY SYSTEM. By <span class='sc'>R. Cooke Taylor</span>.</p> -<p class='c017'>THE STATE AND ITS CHILDREN. By <span class='sc'>Gertrude -Tuckwell</span>.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c021'> - <div><span class='xlarge'>Classical Translations</span></div> - <div class='c000'>Edited by H. F. FOX, M.A., Fellow and Tutor of Brasenose</div> - <div>College, Oxford.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c030'>Messrs. Methuen propose to issue a New Series of Translations from -the Greek and Latin Classics. They have enlisted the services of some -of the best Oxford and Cambridge Scholars, and it is their intention that -the Series shall be distinguished by literary excellence as well as by -scholarly accuracy.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c032'> - <div><em>Crown 8vo. Finely printed and bound in blue buckram.</em></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c017'>CICERO—De Oratore I. Translated by <span class='sc'>E. N. P. Moor</span>, M.A., -Assistant Master at Clifton. <em>3s. 6d.</em></p> -<p class='c017'>ÆSCHYLUS—Agamemnon, Chöephoroe, Eumenides. Translated -by <span class='sc'>Lewis Campbell</span>, LL.D., late Professor of Greek at St. -Andrews. <em>5s.</em></p> -<p class='c017'>LUCIAN—Six Dialogues (Nigrinus, Icaro-Menippus, The Cock, -The Ship, The Parasite, The Lover of Falsehood). Translated by -<span class='sc'>S. T. 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Stedman</span>, M.A. <em>Second Edition.</em> <span class='sc'>Key</span> (issued as -above). <em>7s.</em></p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c021'> - <div><span class='xlarge'>Primary Classics</span></div> - <div class='c000'>With Introductions, Notes, and Vocabularies. <em>18mo. 1s. and 1s. 6d.</em></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c017'><span class='sc'>A. M. M. Stedman</span>, M.A. <em>1s. 6d.</em></p> -<p class='c017'>EASY SELECTIONS FROM CAESAR—THE HELVETIAN -WAR. Edited by <span class='sc'>A. M. M. Stedman</span>, M.A. <em>1s.</em></p> -<p class='c017'>EASY SELECTIONS FROM LIVY—THE KINGS OF -ROME. Edited by <span class='sc'>A. M. M. Stedman</span>, M.A. <em>1s. 6d.</em></p> -<p class='c017'>EASY SELECTIONS FROM HERODOTUS—THE PERSIAN -WARS. Edited by <span class='sc'>A. G. Liddell</span>, M.A. <em>1s. 6d.</em></p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<p class='c030'><a id='endnote'></a></p> -<div class='tnotes'> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c032'> - <div><span class='large'>Transcriber’s Note</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c030'>The few errors deemed most likely to be the printer’s have been -corrected, and are noted here. The minor errors in the section -of advertisments have been corrected with no further notice.</p> - -<p class='c030'>The references are to the page and line in the original. -The following issues should be noted, along with the resolutions.</p> - -<table class='table2' summary=''> -<colgroup> -<col width='12%' /> -<col width='69%' /> -<col width='18%' /> -</colgroup> - <tr> - <td class='c008'><a id='c_13.19'></a><a href='#corr13.19'>13.19</a></td> - <td class='c008'>but I’m up again in a jiff[e]y.</td> - <td class='c040'>Removed.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'><a id='c_29.22'></a><a href='#corr29.22'>29.22</a></td> - <td class='c008'>[“]By the wall where the cedar is</td> - <td class='c040'>Added.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'><a id='c_71.9'></a><a href='#corr71.9'>71.9</a></td> - <td class='c008'>and no mistake[.]</td> - <td class='c040'>Added.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'><a id='c_119.10'></a><a href='#corr119.10'>119.10</a></td> - <td class='c008'>I will [l]ook> up cockfighting</td> - <td class='c040'>Inserted.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'><a id='c_77.26'></a><a href='#corr77.26'>77.26</a></td> - <td class='c008'>[‘/“]No, I cannot.</td> - <td class='c040'>Replaced.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'><a id='c_78.8'></a><a href='#corr78.8'>78.8</a></td> - <td class='c008'>the withered heads of daffodil[l]</td> - <td class='c040'>Removed.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'><a id='c_130.17'></a><a href='#corr130.17'>130.17</a></td> - <td class='c008'>after the man had gone his way[,/.]</td> - <td class='c040'>Replaced.</td> - </tr> -</table> - -</div> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Kitty Alone (Volume 2 of 3), by S. 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