turned her eyes full upon him, and said with energy: 'Ye know nowt
at all about it;' and then added more meditatively, 'neither do
parson.'

She had been so absorbed in her thoughts for a few minutes that she had
ceased to stroke the dog, and, resenting this, it raised its silky head
from her lap and laid it upon her breast. Thus reminded, she smiled down
into the eyes of the dog and caressed it, pressing its head closer
against her bosom. The man stood a few paces away, watching these two
beautiful creatures as they sat in the hazy autumn sunlight, with their
background of weeds and moss-grown paling. He felt baffled and
perplexed, for he knew that he stood apart, excluded from their
companionship by something he could not define. So intolerable did this
feeling become that he resolved to break through it, and made a hasty
movement to sit down beside them; but, as he stepped forward, he was
suddenly aware that there was another man in the place he would have
taken, embracing and protecting the girl. He swore a loud oath, and
flung himself backwards to stand by the hedge on the opposite side of
the road, that he might the better review the situation. It was all as
it had been before--that quiet autumn landscape--only the woman appeared
much interested in his sudden movements.

'What was't ye seed; was't a snaike?' she inquired loudly, at the same
time moving her skirts to look for that dangerous reptile.

'No,' he shouted, putting his whole energy into the word.

'What was't ye seed, cutting them capers as if ye was shot, an' saying
o' words neyther fit fur heaven above nor earth beneath?'

So loudly did she ask, and so resolutely did she wait for an answer,
that he was forced into speech. 'I don't know,' he said, with another
oath, milder than the first.

'Well, sure enow,' she said, still speaking loudly, ''ere's somethin'
awful queer, ye says yer a man that's got larning more ner parson, an'
ye sees somethin', an' can't tell what ye's seed. That's twice this
short while; are ye often took bad the like o' that?'

The bold derision of this speech fell without effect upon its object,
because he perceived a gleam of mischievous intelligence in her eyes
which she had intended to conceal, but she was no adept in the art of
concealment. The conviction that the woman knew perfectly what he had
seen and did not in reality despise him for his conduct, took the sting
from her jeers but did not make his position pleasant