y were standing about, Beth not
knowing what to do next, and Sammy waiting for her to suggest
something; and in the meantime the night became colder and the
darkness more intense.

"I think I'd better take you home," Beth said at last. "Here, give me
your hand."

She dragged him out of the garden in her impetuous way, and they
scampered off together to Orchard Row, and when they reached the
Lees' house they were so warmed and cheered by the exercise that they
parted from each other in high good-humour.

"I'll come again," said Sammy.

"Do!" said Beth, giving him a great push that sent him sprawling up
the passage. This was the kind of attention he understood, so he went
to bed satisfied.

There was only one great interest in life for the people at
Rainharbour. Their religion gave them but cold comfort; their labour
was arduous and paid them poorly; they had no books, no intellectual
pursuits, no games to take them out of themselves, nothing to expand
their hearts as a community. There were the races, the fair, and the
hirings for excitement, but of pleasure such as satisfies because it
is soul-sustaining and continuous enough to be part of their lives,
they knew nothing. The upper classes were idle, self-satisfied,
selfish, and sensual; the lower were industrious enough, but ignorant,
superstitious, and depressed. The gentry gave themselves airs of
superiority, really as if their characters were as good as their
manners; but they did not impose upon the people, who despised them
for their veneer. Each class displayed its contempt for the other
openly when it could safely do so, but was ready to cringe when it
suited its own convenience, the workers for employment, and the gentry
for political purposes. But human beings are too dependent on each
other for such differences to exist without detriment to the whole
community. Society must cohere if it is to prosper; individuals help
themselves most, in the long run, when they consider each other's
interests. At Rainharbour nothing was done to promote general good
fellowship; the kind of Christianity that was preached there made no
mention of the matter, and society was disintegrated, and would have
gone to pieces altogether but for the one great interest in life--the
great primitive interest which consists in the attraction of sex to
sex. The subject of sweethearts was always in the air. The minds of
boys and girls, youths and maidens, men and women were all full of i