bad bargain with life, and I am weary of it--weary. And now you have
hindered my escape. O, why did you, Charley! What makes death painful
except the thought of others' grief?--and that is absent in my case, for
not a sigh would follow me!"

"Ah, it is trouble that has done this! I wish in my very soul that he
who brought it about might die and rot, even if 'tis transportation to
say it!"

"Charley, no more of that. What do you mean to do about this you have
seen?"

"Keep it close as night, if you promise not to think of it again."

"You need not fear. The moment has passed. I promise." She then went
away, entered the house, and lay down.

Later in the afternoon her grandfather returned. He was about to
question her categorically, but on looking at her he withheld his words.

"Yes, it is too bad to talk of," she slowly returned in answer to his
glance. "Can my old room be got ready for me tonight, Grandfather? I
shall want to occupy it again."

He did not ask what it all meant, or why she had left her husband, but
ordered the room to be prepared.

5--An Old Move Inadvertently Repeated

Charley's attentions to his former mistress were unbounded. The only
solace to his own trouble lay in his attempts to relieve hers. Hour
after hour he considered her wants; he thought of her presence there
with a sort of gratitude, and, while uttering imprecations on the cause
of her unhappiness, in some measure blessed the result. Perhaps she
would always remain there, he thought, and then he would be as happy as
he had been before. His dread was lest she should think fit to return to
Alderworth, and in that dread his eyes, with all the inquisitiveness of
affection, frequently sought her face when she was not observing him,
as he would have watched the head of a stockdove to learn if it
contemplated flight. Having once really succoured her, and possibly
preserved her from the rashest of acts, he mentally assumed in addition
a guardian's responsibility for her welfare.

For this reason he busily endeavoured to provide her with pleasant
distractions, bringing home curious objects which he found in the heath,
such as white trumpet-shaped mosses, redheaded lichens, stone arrowheads
used by the old tribes on Egdon, and faceted crystals from the hollows
of flints. These he deposited on the premises in such positions that she
should see them as if by accident.

A week passed, Eustacia never going out of the house. Then she