on to abuse their husbands, and then they turn round on one
and praise 'em as if they wanted to sell 'em. But father 'll be waiting for me;
we must turn now.«
    The large gig with the steady old grey was at the front door, and Mr.
Lammeter was already on the stone steps, passing the time in recalling to
Godfrey what very fine points Speckle had when his master used to ride him.
    »I always would have a good horse, you know,« said the old gentleman, not
liking that spirited time to be quite effaced from the memory of his juniors.
    »Mind you bring Nancy to the Warrens before the week's out, Mr. Cass,« was
Priscilla's parting injunction, as she took the reins, and shook them gently, by
way of friendly incitement to Speckle.
    »I shall just take a turn to the fields against the Stone-pits, Nancy, and
look at the draining,« said Godfrey.
    »You'll be in again by tea-time, dear?«
    »O yes, I shall be back in an hour.«
    It was Godfrey's custom on a Sunday afternoon to do a little contemplative
farming in a leisurely walk. Nancy seldom accompanied him; for the women of her
generation - unless, like Priscilla, they took to outdoor management - were not
given to much walking beyond their own house and garden, finding sufficient
exercise in domestic duties. So, when Priscilla was not with her, she usually
sat with Mant's Bible before her, and after following the text with her eyes for
a little while, she would gradually permit them to wander as her thoughts had
already insisted on wandering.
    But Nancy's Sunday thoughts were rarely quite out of keeping with the devout
and reverential intention implied by the book spread open before her. She was
not theologically instructed enough to discern very clearly the relation between
the sacred documents of the past which she opened without method, and her own
obscure, simple life; but the spirit of rectitude, and the sense of
responsibility for the effect of her conduct on others, which were strong
elements in Nancy's character, had made it a habit with her to scrutinise her
past feelings and actions with self-questioning solicitude. Her mind not being
courted by a great variety of subjects, she filled the vacant moments by living
inwardly, again and again, through all her remembered experience, especially
through the fifteen years of her married time, in which her life and its
significance had been doubled. She recalled