ing to _me_!'

To do the fiddler justice he had not at first thought greatly of, or
spoken much to, this girl of impressionable mould. But he had soon found
out her secret, and could not resist a little by-play with her too easily
hurt heart, as an interlude between his more serious performances at
Moreford. The two became well acquainted, though only by stealth, hardly
a soul in Stickleford except her sister, and her lover Ned Hipcroft,
being aware of the attachment. Her father disapproved of her coldness to
Ned; her sister, too, hoped she might get over this nervous passion for a
man of whom so little was known. The ultimate result was that Car'line's
manly and simple wooer Edward found his suit becoming practically
hopeless. He was a respectable mechanic, in a far sounder position than
Mop the nominal horse-doctor; but when, before leaving her, Ned put his
flat and final question, would she marry him, then and there, now or
never, it was with little expectation of obtaining more than the negative
she gave him. Though her father supported him and her sister supported
him, he could not play the fiddle so as to draw your soul out of your
body like a spider's thread, as Mop did, till you felt as limp as withy-
wind and yearned for something to cling to. Indeed, Hipcroft had not the
slightest ear for music; could not sing two notes in tune, much less play
them.

The No he had expected and got from her, in spite of a preliminary
encouragement, gave Ned a new start in life. It had been uttered in such
a tone of sad entreaty that he resolved to persecute her no more; she
should not even be distressed by a sight of his form in the distant
perspective of the street and lane. He left the place, and his natural
course was to London.

The railway to South Wessex was in process of construction, but it was
not as yet opened for traffic; and Hipcroft reached the capital by a six
days' trudge on foot, as many a better man had done before him. He was
one of the last of the artisan class who used that now extinct method of
travel to the great centres of labour, so customary then from time
immemorial.

In London he lived and worked regularly at his trade. More fortunate
than many, his disinterested willingness recommended him from the first.
During the ensuing four years he was never out of employment. He neither
advanced nor receded in the modern sense; he improved as a workman, but
he did not shift one jot in social po