One night early in October he was taking her home. They had crossed Boarzell, and were walking through the lanes that tangle the valley north of Udimore. She walked with her arm conventionally resting on his, her profile demure in the starlight. He felt tired, not in his body, but in his mindsomehow life seemed very aimless and gloomy; he despised himself because he craved for her arms, for her light thoughtless sympathy.These things, however, gave little concern to the worthy who commanded the Kentish division. Tyler, though an excellent blacksmith, possessed few of the qualities requisite for forming a good general. Provided there was no very sensible diminution in the number of his followers, he cared not a straw for the score or two who, after quarrelling, or perhaps fighting, withdrew in such disgust that they vowed rather to pay the full tax for ever than submit to the insolence of the rebels. One man could fight as well as another, reasoned he; and, provided he was obeyed, what mattered it by whom. Dick went and Tom cameit was sure to be all one in the end.He was just going to turn back into the room, his limbs aching pleasantly for the sheets, when he noticed a faint glow in the sky to southward. At first he thought it was a shred of sunset still burning, then realised it was too far south for Junealso it seemed to flicker in the wind. Then suddenly it spread itself into a fan, and cast up a shower of sparks.
TWO:"Stouter, and darker. What black brows he has, Mus' Piper!""Can't I induce you to spare them? There are only too few of those ancient landmarks left in Sussex."
THREE:"They say as he's got the purtiest farm in Sussexhe's done w?onders fur Odiam, surelye.""You can quite easy, surelye. M?aster's going to Cranbrook Fair, and w?an't be home till l?ate. It's the last night, remember."
TWO:Now, when she heard of his catastrophe, she wondered if he would come back. Did men come back?and if they did, was she the type of woman they came back to? Perhaps she was too quick, too antagonistic. She told herself miserably that a softer woman could have saved Reuben, and yet, paradoxically, a softer woman would not have wished to do so.
TWO:Often in the evenings, when the exhausting work of the day was done, he would wander out on the Moor, seeking as usual rest on the field of his labours. The tuft of firs would grow black and featureless against the dimming sky, and stars would hang pale lamps above the fog, which smoked round Boarzell, veiling the fields, till it seemed as if he stood alone on some desert island, in the midst of a shoreless sea. All sounds would be muffled, lights and shadows would blur, and he would be alone with the fir-clump and the stars and the strong smells of his land."But, take care," said Margaret, "that you say not whom it is for."
"Come, my lads, we'll pull down their hemmed fences!"The treasurer turned pale, and hung his head.In the market-place, where the hustings stood, a dense throng was packing itself, jostling and shoving, andReuben saw to his dismay as he drove up to the London Tradershowing strong Radical tendencies. Several Conservative banners waved from the windows of the public-house"MacDonald the Farmer's Friend""MacDonald and Protection""Wheat at seventy shillings a quarter""Ratepayers! beware of Radical pickpockets." These had all been prepared at the beginning of the contest. The Radical banners bore but one device"The Scott's Float Toll-gate." It waved everywhere, and any other banner which appeared in the streets was immediately seized and broken, the bearer being made to suffer so horribly for his convictions, that soon nobody could be found to carry one.
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THREE:
THREE:She coloured, and began to stutter something."Yeswudin reason, of course."
