He drank in the heat and stuffiness of the little room as a man might drink water in a desert, not knowing when the next well should be. He loved it, even to the smoke-stains on the sagging rafters, to the faint smell of onions that pervaded it all.
"Yes, my lord," replied the yeoman, with a humble reverence.
ONE:"Do not look on me so wildly, Margaret," said he; "these bruises are nothing. Aye, even that," as she was examining, with the apprehensions of a tender wife, the black and almost shapeless appearance of his right hand and arm; "even that would be as well as ever in less than a monthbut it is their triumph and their treachery I feel: it is this that gnaws my very souland all because I thought myself too wise to take a woman's counsel,and in the very prison, too, where they thrust my poor mother! I have not tasted meat or drink since I entered. There stand the water and the breadthough the burning in my throat almost drives me mad: not a drop will I taste, though the leech told me to drink as much as I couldnor a morsel will I eat."They both stooped and eyed him critically.
ONE:Reuben had not hitherto had much truck with politics. He had played the part of a convinced and conscientious Tory, both at home and in the public-house; and every evening his daughter Tilly had read him the paper, as Naomi had used to do. But he had never done more at an election than record his vote, he had never openly identified himself with the political[Pg 174] life of the district. Now it struck him that if he took a prominent part in this election it would do much to show his indifference to the recent catastrophe, besides giving him a certain standing as a politician, and thus bestowing glory and dignity on Odiam.
TWO:"Read me some of it.""Oughtn't it to stand a bit longer?"
TWO:Besides, Reuben had now a respectable herd of cattlenot quite so numerous or valuable as the earlier lot which had been sacrificed, but none the less respectable, and bringing him in good returns. He had made some sound profit out of his service-bull, and his sheep were paying better than they had paid for years. He no longer "kept" other people's cattle. Odiam, whether in stock or cash, was now inviolate.
THREE:It was instantly opened; and the galleyman, with his saturated garments, and his long black hair hanging dripping over his shoulders, entered the cottage."Master Tyler," said Wells, springing up to the chief, "they are boarding a prize yonder;" and he pointed to the half-concealed door.
