ou were made man and wife in Pedlinge church, as I saw with
my own eyes, and I'll never believe as what was done then can be undone
just by having some stuff written in the papers."

"It's a lawyer's business," said Arthur.

"I can't see that," said Joanna--"a parson married you, so reckon a
parson must unmarry you."

"He wouldn't do it. It's a lawyer's job."

"I'd thank my looker if he went about undoing my carter's work. Those
lawyers want to put their heads in everywhere. And as for Ellen, all I
can say is, it's just like her wanting the Ten Commandments altered to
suit her convenience. Reckon they ain't refined and high-class enough
for her. But she may ask for a divorce till she's black in the face--she
shan't get it."

So Ellen had to remain--very much against the grain, for she was
fundamentally respectable--a breaker of the law. She wrote once or twice
more on the subject, appealing to Arthur, since Joanna's reply had shown
her exactly how much quarter she could expect. But Arthur was not to be
won, for apart from Joanna's domination, and his own unsophisticated
beliefs in the permanence of marriage, his suspicions were roused by the
Old Squire's silence on the matter. At no point did he join his appeals
and arguments with Ellen's, though he had been ready enough to write to
excuse and explain.... No, Arthur felt that love and wisdom lay not in
sanctifying Ellen in her new ways with the blessing of the law, but in
leaving the old open for her to come back to when the new should perhaps
grow hard. "That chap 'ull get shut of her--I don't trust him--and then
she'll want to come back to me or Jo."

So he wrote with boring reiteration of his willingness to receive her
home again as soon as she chose to return, and assured her that he and
Joanna had still managed to keep the secret of her departure, so that
she need not fear scornful tongues. They had given the Marsh to
understand that no settlement having been arrived at, Ellen had
accompanied Mrs. Williams to the South of France, hoping that things
would have improved on her return. This would account for the foreign
post-marks, and both he and Joanna were more proud of their cunning than
was quite warrantable from its results.

Sec.29

That winter brought Great Ansdore at last into the market. It would have
come in before had not Joanna so rashly bragged of her intention to buy
it. As it was--"I guess I'll get a bit more out of the old gal by
holdi