hen I took the hosses over to sell
at Beacon Hill Fair.

"That was a black day, too, for 'twas the first time Michael had to
raise the wind by selling aught of his'n. He'd got powerful thin then,
had poor master, and couldn't fill the blue waistcoat and yellow
breeches like he used to, and _they_ weren't nothing so gay by then
themselves neither.

"`Tom,' he said--that's me, you know--`take these here hosses over to
Beacon Hill, and sell 'em for as much as 'ee can get, for I want the
money.'

"`What, sell the best team, dad!' says Miss Phemie--for she was standing
by--`you'll never sell the best team with White-face and old
Strike-a-light!' And the hosses looked up, for they know'd their names
very well when she said 'em.

"`Don't 'ee take on, lass,' he said; `we'll buy 'em back again come Lady
Day.'

"And so I took 'em over, and knew very well why he wanted the money; for
Mr Martin had come back from Oxford, wi' a nice bit of debt about his
neck, and couldn't turn his hand to the farm, but went about saying he
was a Blandamer, and Fording and all the lands belonged to he by right.
'Quiries he was making, he said, and gadded about here and there,
spending a mort of time and money in making 'quiries that never came to
nothing. 'Twas a black day, that day, and a thick rain falling at
Beacon Hill, and all the turf cut up terrible. The poor beasts was wet
through, too, and couldn't look their best, because they knowed they was
going to be sold; and so the afternoon came, and never a bid for one of
'em. `Poor old master!' says I to the horses, `what'll 'ee say when we
get back again?' And yet I was glad-like to think me and they weren't
going to part.

"Well, there we was a-standing in the rain, and the farmers and the
dealers just give us a glimpse, and passed by without a word, till I see
someone come along, and that was Sophia Joliffe. She didn't look a year
older nor when I met her last, and her face was the only cheerful thing
we saw that afternoon, as fresh and jolly as ever. She wore a yellow
mackintosh with big buttons, and everybody turned to measure her up as
she passed. There was a horse-dealer walking with her, and when the
people stared, he looked at her just so proud as Michael used to look
when he drove her in to Cullerne Market. She didn't take any heed of
the hosses, but she looked hard at me, and when she was passed turned
her head to have another look, and then she come back.

"`Bain't