mail passed through at daybreak on its way to
Whitford.

CHAPTER XIII: THE VILLAGE REVEL

At dusk that same evening the two had started for the village fair.
A velveteen shooting-jacket, a pair of corduroy trousers, and a
waistcoat, furnished by Tregarva, covered with flowers of every
imaginable hue, tolerably disguised Lancelot, who was recommended by
his conductor to keep his hands in his pockets as much as possible,
lest their delicacy, which was, as it happened, not very remarkable,
might betray him. As they walked together along the plashy turnpike
road, overtaking, now and then, groups of two or three who were out
on the same errand as themselves, Lancelot could not help remarking
to the keeper how superior was the look of comfort in the boys and
young men, with their ruddy cheeks and smart dresses, to the worn
and haggard appearance of the elder men.

'Let them alone, poor fellows,' said Tregarva; 'it won't last long.
When they've got two or three children at their heels, they'll look
as thin and shabby as their own fathers.'

'They must spend a great deal of money on their clothes.'

'And on their stomachs, too, sir. They never lay by a farthing; and
I don't see how they can, when their club-money's paid, and their
insides are well filled.'

'Do you mean to say that they actually have not as much to eat after
they marry?'

'Indeed and I do, sir. They get no more wages afterwards round
here, and have four or five to clothe and feed off the same money
that used to keep one; and that sum won't take long to work out, I
think.'

'But do they not in some places pay the married men higher wages
than the unmarried?'

'That's a worse trick still, sir; for it tempts the poor thoughtless
boys to go and marry the first girl they can get hold of; and it
don't want much persuasion to make them do that at any time.'

'But why don't the clergymen teach them to put into the savings
banks?'

'One here and there, sir, says what he can, though it's of very
little use. Besides, every one is afraid of savings banks now; not
a year but one reads of some breaking and the lawyers going off with
the earnings of the poor. And if they didn't, youth's a foolish
time at best; and the carnal man will be hankering after amusement,
sir--amusement.'

'And no wonder,' said Lancelot; 'at all events, I should not think
they got much of it. But it does seem strange that no other
amuse