Harvest

had all the inconveniences of age; but it was more spacious than the modern cottage often is, since it and its neighbou

ich for all their drawbacks were much in demand in the village, and conferred a certain distinction on their occupants. Mrs. Halsey's living room possessed a Tudor ma

strange periodic swellings and subsidences, all of which were endlessly interesting to its possessor. Mrs. Halsey, indeed, called the abscess "she," wrapped it lovingly in red flannel, describing the evening dressing of it as "putting her to bed," and talked of "her" qualities and oddities as though, in the phrase

ed smoking round the fire, she settled herself with her knitting by the table and the lamp, throwing in every now and then a muttered and generally sarcastic comment, of which her husba

y's benefit. He was conscious that each time he repeated them, they sounded more incredible. He didn't wa

h spread gradually over his ugly but honest face, and remained there. In face of it, Halsey's speech became more and more laconic, till at last he shut hi

what you saw, Mr. Halsey

miling, in spite of a

own that road? Well,

down that road-it's a

ort his friend Halsey, as far as he could, against a sceptical stranger. "An' it's been seen twice on that road alre

seemed to him a curiously dim and feeble folk. He could hardly prevent himself from talking to them as though they were chi

murderer's grandson had no use at all for the supposed ghost-story. He tore it ruthlessly to pieces. In the first place, Halsey described the man seen on the grass-road as tall and lanky. But according to his grandfather's account, the murdered gamekeeper, on the contrary, wa

nd where did he go? Halsey went right round the farm. The hill just there is as bare as my hand. He must ha' seen the ma

t be. As to the man-why Millsborough, and Ipscombe too, had been full of outlandish East Enders, flying from the raids, Poles and Russians, and such like-t

de of the blood. Didn't he know the old story of how Watso

But where are you going to get blood without a b

t in a hopeless confusion of ideas, and Bet

n the night of the murder; and on reaching the spot where Watson had breathed his last, the apparition, whatever it was, had vanished. Perplexity, superstition, and common sense fought each other. Halsey who knew much of his Bible by heart was inwardly comparing texts. "A

ranked indeed as the chief sensation of the day. To be able to listen to the story of a murder told by the grandson of the murderer, to whom the criminal himself had confessed it, and tha

cially at the more gruesome points of the tale. The light sparkled on the young Canadian's belt, the Maple Leaf in the khaki hat which lay across his knees, on the badge of the Forestry Corps on his shoulder. The old English cottage, with its Tudor brick-work, and its overhanging beams, the old English labourers with the stains of English soil upon them, made the setting; and in the midst, sat the "new m

th the last breath of his grandfather; till Mrs. Halsey s

nd telling on you

when it's sixty years ago. They've lo

d in inarticulate protest

to be tellin' that ta

hanged at the name. He

s Henderson? Do you kno

hers s

r on a farm down Devonshire way. And befor

ever in

we in this country didn't know what harvest meant. 'Why, I've helped to reap a field-in Canada,' she ses, 'fower miles square

he carpet. "And she's not marrie

thers, looking at him in

ce-about two-and-a-half year ago-at a place thirty mile

efore," said Betts positively;

non-committal voice, looking

her-in these parts?

I must have been mistaken-that's all. I t

ever

y, looking round at Mrs. Halsey, with an air of ast

n't be

y n

with sudden emphasis. "You've told us a good tale, I'll grant ye. But yer might as well be pullin' the old feller 'issel

to take his departure. Halsey's face cleared. He turned to look at his wife, and she winked in return. And when t

soomhow. It's 'igh ti

sion. He had had to reconstruct all his ideas of the woman he loved. Instead of the proud and virginal creature he had imagined himself to be wooing, amid the beautiful setting of her harvest fields, he had to think of her as a woman dimmed and besmirched by an unhappy marriage with a bad ma

case the first-fruits had been wasted on a marriage, of which the ugly and inevitable incidents haunted Ellesborough's imagination. One moment he shrank from the thought of them; the next

awaited it. As to his own people, they were dear, good

a light from one of the windows of the farm shone out, as though beckoning him to her. Suddenly from the mouth

meeting! But Ra

ch he had come to like Janet Leighton. So unselfish, so full of thought for others, so modest for herself! There couldn'

d him, each with a young man, two members, in fact, of his own Corps, John Dempsey and another. They explained that they were off to a Red Cross C

ust drawn down the blinds and closed the curtains of the window looking on the farm-yard. But his arrival had interrupted her before she

, provocative note. Ellesborough had never seen her so adorable, so desirable. But her self-command dictated his. He took the seat to which she pointed him; while she herself brought a chair to the other side of the fire, putting on another log with a steady hand, a

a sign o

on the wall behind her) and his missionary journeys through the prairie settlements in the early days of Alberta; how, when he was old and weary, he would sometimes take her, his latest child, a small girl of ten or

. I was to have my board and a dress allowance, if I would help her in the house. My brother's an awfully good sort-but I couldn't get on with his wife. I just couldn't! I expect it was my fault, just as much as hers. It was something we couldn't help. Very soon I hated the sight of her, and she ne

ed her brown eyes, and look

Mother was a Christian. I don't suppose I am. I don't know what I am. I just had to live my own

ed. Her eyes were ve

o her, put out a strong ha

man Delane-came

most gentleness, try

drawing he

We danced together almost all the evening. Then he found out where I lived, and used to be always coming to see me. My brother never liked him. He said to me often, 'Why do you encourage that unprincipled cad? I'm certain there's a screw loose about him!' And I wasn't in love with Roger-n

ourse

a little under the

ys evaded everything. He talked a great deal about this rich sister, and she did send him a wedding pres

he fire-a grey, pale woman, from whom l

I was left to manage for myself. Then when baby was three months old, she caught whooping-cough, and had bronchitis on the top. I had a few pounds of my own, and I gave them to Roger to go in to Winnipeg and bring out a doctor and medicines. He drank all the money on the way-that I found out afterwards-he was a week away instead of two days-and the baby died. When he came back he told me a lie about having been ill. But I never lived with him-as a wife-after that. Then, of course, he hated me, and one night he nearly killed me. Next morning he apologized-said that he loved me passionately-and that kind of stuff-

me-because my mother's brother, who was a manufacturer in Bradford, wrote to ask me. But when I arrived he was dead, and he had left me three thousand pounds. Then I went to Swanley and got trained for farm-work. And I found Janet Leighton, and we made friends. And I love farm-work-and I love Janet-and t

n another voice-hesit

ng somebody-injuring somebody. I can't help it! I didn't mean to dece

ly. Her eyes were full of tea

rse-I saw-you seemed to be getting to care for me. I told Janet when we set up work together that I wasn't a bad woman.

m!-I've told him! If he doesn't understand, it's not my fault. I can always say, 'I did tell you-about Roger-and the res

emotion-nostril and lip-and eye. Then she found herself in his arms-with no power to resist or free hers

to you-for all you've suffered.

er also. She thought, "Now I shall be happy!-and I shall mak

him. And it had swept away at the same time all the doubts and hesitations of his inner mind. She had told her story, it seemed to him, with complete frankness, and a humility which appealed to all that was chivalrous and generous in a strong man. He was ready now to m

llen back in her chair-pale and shaken, but dressed, for his eyes, in a l

ing in Calgary, where he was living-with the Italian girl. But after that we never heard any more of him-except that I had a little pencil note-unsigned, undated, delivered by hand-just before the tria

gged his shoulder

hope you soon put th

ittle restle

tell you once, didn't I, that-

smiling. "Don't have any more f

her again so excited and pale. Was she really afraid of the villain she had escaped from? The dear, foolish woman! T

day by day. Austria was on the point of surrender-the German landslide might come at any moment-then peace!-incredible word. Ellesborough would hardly now get to France. They might be able to marry soon-within a few weeks. As to the farm, he asked her, laughing, whether she would take him in as a junior partner for a tim

her s

nada?

ts back to the old unhappy times. But she soon recovered

ly. "She'll have to get used to Christian names. H

shall wait-till

her ear, as her soft, curly

ouldn't! Well, I must be going, o

you hu

an hour late, anyway. I

to-mo

ntent. Then she suddenly drew

o-you will always!-wh

voice. He answered it by a passionate caress, which s

ingly. "I'd like to be a few min

ng that the fire was low, and remembering the chill of her hands in his, he looke

ainst the glass. But he distinctly saw as he turned a man's face pressed against the glass-a strained, sallow, face, framed in straggling black hair, a face

cked the exclamation on his lips. And before he could move again, the face had disappeared. The old holly bush growing against the farm wall, from which the apparition seemed t

rew down the blind, and pulled the curtains

hat?" she said

voices were approaching-Janet talking to the girls. Rachel looked up, assenting. The colour had rushed back to her face. Ellesborough

sitting-room door behind him, and went