
since we don't exactly know what he is, why not behave as if he might be bad,
simply for your own safety? Don't trust him, mistress; I ask you not to trust
him so.«
    »Why, pray?«
    »I like soldiers, but this one I do not like,« he said sturdily. »His
cleverness in his calling may have tempted him astray, and what is mirth to the
neighbours is ruin to the woman. When he tries to talk to 'ee again, why not
turn away with a short Good day; and when you see him coming one way, turn the
other. When he says anything laughable, fail to see the point and don't smile,
and speak of him before those who will report your talk as that fantastical man,
or that Sergeant What's-his-name. That man of a family that has come to the
dogs. Don't be unmannerly towards en, but harmless-uncivil, and so get rid of
the man.«
    No Christmas robin detained by a window-pane ever pulsed as did Bathsheba
now.
    »I say - I say again - that it doesn't become you to talk about him. Why he
should be mentioned passes me quite!« she exclaimed desperately. »I know this,
th-th-that he is a thoroughly conscientious man - blunt sometimes even to
rudeness - but always speaking his mind about you plain to your face!«
    »Oh.«
    »He is as good as anybody in this parish! He is very particular, too, about
going to church - yes, he is!«
    »I am afeard nobody ever saw him there. I never did, certainly.«
    »The reason of that is,« she said eagerly, »that he goes in privately by the
old tower door, just when the service commences, and sits at the back of the
gallery. He told me so.«
    This supreme instance of Troy's goodness fell upon Gabriel's ears like the
thirteenth stroke of a crazy clock. It was not only received with utter
incredulity as regarded itself, but threw a doubt on all the assurances that had
preceded it.
    Oak was grieved to find how entirely she trusted him. He brimmed with deep
feeling as he replied in a steady voice, the steadiness of which was spoilt by
the palpableness of his great effort to keep it so: -
    »You know, mistress, that I love you, and shall love you always. I only
mention this to bring
