with reflecting that, since Adam's trouble,
Lisbeth had been very timid about speaking to him on matters of feeling, and
that she would hardly dare to approach this tenderest of all subjects. Even if
she did, he hoped Adam would not take much notice of what she said.
    Seth was right in believing that Lisbeth would be held in restraint by
timidity; and during the next three days, the intervals in which she had an
opportunity of speaking to Adam were too rare and short to cause her any strong
temptation. But in her long solitary hours she brooded over her regretful
thoughts about Dinah, till they had grown very near that point of unmanageable
strength when thoughts are apt to take wing out of their secret nest in a
startling manner. And on Sunday morning, when Seth went away to chapel at
Treddleston, the dangerous opportunity came.
    Sunday morning was the happiest time in all the week to Lisbeth; for as
there was no service at Hayslope church till the afternoon, Adam was always at
home, doing nothing but reading, an occupation in which she could venture to
interrupt him. Moreover, she had always a better dinner than usual to prepare
for her sons - very frequently for Adam and herself alone, Seth being often away
the entire day; and the smell of the roast-meat before the clear fire in the
clean kitchen, the clock ticking in a peaceful Sunday manner, her darling Adam
seated near her in his best clothes, doing nothing very important, so that she
could go and stroke her hand across his hair if she liked, and see him look up
at her and smile, while Gyp, rather jealous, poked his muzzle up between them, -
all these things made poor Lisbeth's earthly paradise.
    The book Adam most often read on a Sunday morning was his large pictured
Bible, and this morning it lay open before him on the round white deal table in
the kitchen; for he sat there in spite of the fire, because he knew his mother
liked to have him with her, and it was the only day in the week when he could
indulge her in that way. You would have liked to see Adam reading his Bible: he
never opened it on a week-day, and so he came to it as a holiday book, serving
him for history, biography, and poetry. He held one hand thrust between his
waistcoat buttons, and the other ready to turn the pages; and in the course of
the morning you would have seen many changes in his face. Sometimes his lips
moved in semi-articulation - it was