denly something fell on my head; and at first I was
afraid to look, especially as it weighed heavily. But hearing no
breakage of ware, and only the other scold laughing heartily, I turned
me about and espied a book, which one had cast at the other, hoping to
break her window. So I took the book, and tendered it at the door of the
house from which it had fallen; but the watchman came along just then,
and the man at the door declared that it never came from their house,
and begged me to say no more. This I promised readily, never wishing to
make mischief; and I said, "Good sir, now take the book; I will go on
to my business." But he answered that he would do no such thing; for
the book alone, being hurled so hard, would convict his people of a lewd
assault; and he begged me, if I would do a good turn, to put the book
under my coat and go. And so I did: in part at least. For I did not put
the book under my coat, but went along with it openly, looking for any
to challenge it. Now this book, so acquired, has been not only the
joy of my younger days, and main delight of my manhood, but also the
comfort, and even the hope, of my now declining years. In a word, it is
next to my Bible to me, and written in equal English; and if you espy
any goodness whatever in my own loose style of writing, you must not
thank me, John Ridd, for it, but the writer who holds the champion's
belt in wit, as I once did in wrestling.

[Illustration: 411.jpg Something fell on my head]

Now, as nothing very long abides, it cannot be expected that a woman's
anger should last very long, if she be at all of the proper sort. And
my mother, being one of the very best, could not long retain her wrath
against the Squire Faggus especially when she came to reflect, upon
Annie's suggestion, how natural, and one might say, how inevitable
it was that a young man fond of adventure and change and winning good
profits by jeopardy, should not settle down without some regrets to a
fixed abode and a life of sameness, however safe and respectable.
And even as Annie put the case, Tom deserved the greater credit for
vanquishing so nobly these yearnings of his nature; and it seemed very
hard to upbraid him, considering how good his motives were; neither
could Annie understand how mother could reconcile it with her knowledge
of the Bible, and the one sheep that was lost, and the hundredth piece
of silver, and the man that went down to Jericho.

Whether Annie's logic was go