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 lity of California 
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 rary Facility 
 
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 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 LOVE-ACRE
 
 BY MRS. HAVELOCK ELLIS 
 
 THREE MODERN SEERS 
 THE IMPERISHABLE WING 
 LOVE-ACRE 
 NEIGHBOURS ALL
 
 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 AN IDYL IN 
 
 TWO WORLDS 
 
 BY 
 
 MRS. HAVELOCK ELLIS 
 
 MITCHELL KENNERLEY 
 
 PUBLISHER, NEW YORK 
 
 MCMXIV
 
 Copyright 1914 by 
 Mitchell Kennerley
 
 DEDICATED TO 
 MARY, MY MOTHER EN LOVE-ACRE, 
 
 AND 
 
 MARGARET, "THE MOTHER " 
 AT DORINCOURT 
 
 521953 
 
 LIBRARY
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PABT PAGE 
 
 PROLOGUE 1 1 
 
 I. THE PSYCHIC 15 
 
 II. THE SHEPHERD 47 
 
 III. THE LOVER 75 
 
 IV. THE ALIEN 117 
 V. THE DREAMER 173 
 
 VI. THE OUTCAST 201 
 
 VII. THE PILGRIM 229 
 
 VIII. THE WOMAN 283 
 
 EPILOGUE 295
 
 PROLOGUE
 
 PROLOGUE 
 
 Was it a corner of paradise or a slum in 
 a place of uncelestial fire? Who can tell? 
 Who dare even guess? An observer, from 
 one of the planets, would probably only 
 have seen a strange light moving in and out 
 on a plot of ground named at random by 
 either a world's surveyor or a casual visitor 
 Love- Acre. The light appearing and dis- 
 appearing in the little plot was certainly 
 under control in the same way that our lan- 
 terns are. To an observer from a distance, 
 however, impressions may be at fault or in- 
 tuitions prove fallacies. Here and there the 
 light flickered, glimmered, and now and then 
 almost went out. Then as it reappeared it 
 seemed to dip and dodge as if the holder of 
 the lantern was undecided what to gather in 
 such a wilderness of Love. 
 
 Suddenly a spasmodic jerk of the light 
 11
 
 12 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 seemed almost to suggest a laugh. Then 
 there was the intimation of a form. A face 
 there certainly was, but one quite unlike the 
 face an earthly observer would recognize. 
 It seemed all breath, as if the wind had taken 
 shape, and the oceans had borrowed a voice 
 from the storms to enable the messenger to 
 speak to all the worlds. Why had this 
 strange gardener suddenly stooped and 
 what had he gathered? Apparently the 
 minutest atom of fluff like the clocks of a 
 dandelion with which children play in the 
 earthly fields. The face which was like the 
 wind and the sea blew and laughed as it 
 whirled the tiny seed into space. Before the 
 lantern was raised it was blown worlds away 
 from Love- Acre. Another Face, not at all 
 like the Sea and the Wind but just a Con- 
 suming Light, saw this tiny speck of a tem- 
 pestuous soul flung on the wings of our 
 world, to wither there or to blossom afresh, 
 or perhaps to become a gardener in Love- 
 Acre.
 
 PAET I. 
 THE PSYCHIC
 
 THE PSYCHIC 
 
 TOBIAS TREWIDDEN, even in petticoats, 
 was a puzzle to those around him. His 
 mother had died when he was three weeks 
 old and his father had married shortly after, 
 being one of those men unable to do without 
 the domestic orderliness of a good woman. 
 There was no question of aif ection in An- 
 drew Trewidden's second marriage. "I've 
 a cub as can hardly suck," he said, "a wife 
 scarcely cold, and a house-place in confu- 
 sion." Everyone knew he had saved money, 
 and so the matter was settled. 
 
 "I were mazed with one woman," said 
 Andrew to Jock Peters, "that's enough for 
 a life time. A sober life counts as well as 
 any other." 
 
 Children arrived annually, and by the 
 time seven had to be provided for, besides 
 
 15
 
 16 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 Tobias, Andrew's temper, which was never 
 of the best, was the terror of the whole fam- 
 ily. Tobias, as soon as he began to think 
 about things at all, found he was always in 
 the way. His father seemed only to want 
 to see him when a good thrashing made it 
 necessary. Sometimes, however, Tobias said 
 such queer things that his father forgot to 
 whip him. Andrew informed his son once 
 that he was a wooden spoon, which made the 
 boy laugh so much he could not stop even 
 when his father laid him across his knees and 
 administered the usual caning. 
 
 When Andrew cursed at him one day and 
 said no man could make a ray of sunshine 
 out of a cucumber or a silk purse out of a 
 sow's ear, Tobias nearly told him about two 
 friends of his who could do quite as clever 
 things as that. His father stared at him so 
 hard and with such a smile on one side of 
 his mouth that Tobias clapped his hands at 
 the thoughts he had in his head, and but for
 
 THE PSYCHIC 17 
 
 a good box on the ears might have let out his 
 big secret. 
 
 When his stepmother told him he was as 
 ugly as a little devil and asked him if his 
 face didn't hurt, it set him wondering as he 
 never wondered before outside his own big 
 world. Somehow, when she asked him about 
 his face and laughed, Tobias felt a pain 
 worse than the one he had once in his "lower 
 chest." Then Leah, the maid, had given him 
 elder tea and he got better, but he never told 
 her of this pain, for it seemed all over him. 
 It made him want to swim far out into the 
 sea or to dance till he was giddy. It was 
 some time before he could go to his friends 
 in the Big World, as he called it, for com- 
 fort. This world of his was so very real and 
 so very large. Sometimes, at night, when 
 in sheer terror, he crept out of bed to hide 
 in the bottom shelf of the large store cup- 
 board in the bedroom passage, in case his 
 father might find him and thrash him, he 
 found comfort and help in this world of his
 
 18 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 imagination. The cupboard to Tobias was 
 really a cave where the fairies and "tired- 
 lings" came at will. Tiredlings were little 
 people who were not wanted anywhere, and 
 fairies were tiny folk who laughed a great 
 deal about nothing and flew in circles in 
 bright colored frocks and velvet shorts. 
 The tiredlings got heaps of help from the 
 fairies, and the fairies, in their turn, used 
 the tiredlings for odd errands requiring 
 drudgery and memory. Tobias held long 
 conversations with these people whenever he 
 was locked up for having his socks over his 
 shoes or not having his curly head tidy like 
 all the other children. He loved catechising 
 these little people. They told him it was no 
 worse being shut up with his dreams than 
 being shut up in a summer-house, as they 
 were at times, with nothing to amuse them 
 but going to sleep. Tobias grew at last to 
 like being locked up in the attic, for Leah 
 used to slip up and smuggle a bit of the end 
 of her own pasty through the door or a
 
 THE PSYCHIC 19 
 
 slice of heavy cake or saffron cake for 
 "Saucy," as she nicknamed him because his 
 eyes were so bright and a smile nearly al- 
 ways hovered over what his stepmother 
 called his "mug of a mouth." His little 
 brothers and sisters were rather fond of him, 
 but as he never played top or skipping rope 
 or hop at the appointed seasons they had 
 little to do with him. 
 
 Trailing Topsy and Fan-Fan, as he 
 called the tiredlings, were much more ex- 
 citing to be with than his home people. He 
 learnt so much from them that after he went 
 to school he confided in them that he had 
 been taught "a passil of nonsense." 
 
 Fan-Fan laughed at this and just packed 
 it all up in a cobweb bag, and Trailing 
 Topsy turned it over to her great grand- 
 mother's half-nephew they called Turvey, 
 who rode with it on a broomstick to the 
 Land of Odds and Ends. Tobias longed 
 to sit at the back of the broomstick, as real 
 ladies and gentlemen did on the bicycles
 
 20 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 that passed their home, but Fan-Fan and 
 Trailing Topsy said that you had to know 
 even more than witches and grasshoppers to 
 be allowed to do that. It was not quite safe, 
 either, as all the foolishness of the world was 
 taken there. A big Hop o' My Thumb 
 creature, half fairy and half mannikin, 
 picked over the bundles, so Fan-Fan said, 
 and he was rather a cross-patch at times. 
 Turvey had evidently whispered to Fan- 
 Fan about the things he had seen once or 
 twice, but he told him on no account to tell 
 Trailing Topsy, for it might waken her up 
 for life. As lazy trailers were in great re- 
 quest at times, like mad people were in some 
 heavenly districts, this would be a dreadful 
 thing to do. All Fan-Fan confided to her, 
 for he hated her to be kept altogether in the 
 dark, was that it wasn't a fit place for ladies 
 to go to, but really not as bad as it was 
 painted. He told Tobias it was not a bit 
 like Leah's dust heap, which he had often 
 investigated when on a little quiet business
 
 THE PSYCHIC 21 
 
 of his own. He admitted, however, after 
 Tobias had inundated him with more ques- 
 tions, that it was often a shining glory of a 
 place where things that were apparently no 
 'good anywhere were turned into candles or 
 nightlights and other servicable things. 
 Tobias said he would love to see them chang- 
 ing, but Fan-Fan grew very serious at this. 
 The Great Moth covers it all, he said, and 
 under his big wings no one can see how 
 things are done. From what he could make 
 out there was a lot of pain attached to it all, 
 but as the Big Moth was evidently not a 
 fairy or a bat or a mannikin, he had learnt 
 to change things into other things millions 
 of years ago, when he was the wickedest of 
 the creepy crawlies. This all comforted 
 Tobias very much, and when his stepmother 
 told him he was worse than a useless tool 
 and dear at any price, and his father said 
 he was a thorn in his side and he wished he 
 had never been born or had died when he 
 was a baby, Tobias only smiled. He knew
 
 22 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 that if it ever came to the worst the Odds 
 and Ends Co-operative Store could alter the 
 whole of him and set him going again like 
 Nathaniel Martin's lovely big top. It was 
 just splendid to think of it all, for, from 
 what they often said at home, it didn't seem 
 any good living at all. He grew to love the 
 Big Moth the more he thought about him. 
 When he tried not to answer back or kick 
 his biggest stepbrother when he pulled his 
 hair, he felt sure the Big Moth would be 
 pleased. When he was very greedy or 
 pitied himself till he nearly cried, he thought 
 perhaps the Big Moth had had a horrible 
 tussle before he learnt how to shelter woe- 
 be-gones or make good-for-nothings spick 
 and span for ordinary wear and tear. 
 
 The boys at school told Tobias his own 
 mother was dead and buried. This puzzled 
 him very much, because he could not under- 
 stand why his father had never told him this 
 when he said he was so different to the other 
 children. He asked Leah.
 
 THE PSYCHIC 23 
 
 She only laughed and said it was not for 
 little boys to reckon up what was what, and 
 that he had better ask the fairies about his 
 mother, as she had gone to dreamland when 
 he came out of it. At last he laid the whole 
 matter before Fan-Fan, who told him that 
 his mother was a sort of caterpillar for a 
 time after she had kissed him and said good- 
 bye to him. He told Tobias that she kept 
 house for some fairies who wore primrose 
 frocks. Through these fairies she could 
 send messages sometimes to her son. This 
 so excited Tobias that when Trailing Topsy 
 said she had never been quick enough to fol- 
 low the yellow fairies, who were the swift- 
 est of them all, he wondered how she could 
 bear up under her laziness. Fan-Fan told 
 him, however, that he knew his mother quite 
 well, as his wings were very strong and he 
 had no leanings to sleepiness like Trailing 
 Topsy. His mother was the best house- 
 wife in the fairy country, he said, and she 
 had a little shop there in a beautiful garden
 
 24 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 where she dealt in dust for butterflies' wings 
 and little gossamer harpoons with which to 
 catch small flies too young to stick properly 
 in cobwebs. These midgets of flies were 
 more useful, too, alive than dead, and so 
 they were worth catching. Fan-Fan also 
 told Tobias that his mother lived in a trans- 
 parent house where she made sweet little 
 dew-drop earrings for the fairies' wedding 
 gifts. She also sent the tiny pink fairies, 
 who were too young to do anything else, to 
 drink up ugly children's tears. That was 
 why sometimes the tears of a little child went 
 away so quickly and a strong man's tears 
 only dried up in his heart, being so big and 
 heavy a fairy could not swallow them. This 
 made Tobias know his mother was always 
 thinking of him, and in a sudden burst of 
 confidence he told Fan-Fan and Trailing 
 Topsy what his stepmother had said about 
 his face. It was so funny, the way he told 
 it, that even lazy Trailing Topsy rolled 
 head over wings, for she had no heels, and
 
 THE PSYCHIC 25 
 
 Fan-Fan said that some things silly mor- 
 tals said were enough to turn even a wasp's 
 eyes inside out. When they had finished 
 laughing Tobias heard a fluttering of wings, 
 like the sound of a windmill his father had 
 driven him to see one day when he was buy- 
 ing sheep. Thousands and thousands of 
 fairies seemed to come from far off and 
 they were the color of mushrooms and dog- 
 roses, the yellow ones were just the color 
 of the primroses and daffodils in the woods 
 at Easter. All the fairies were laughing, 
 and Tobias drooped his head in shame, think- 
 ing it was at his dreadful ugliness. Sud- 
 denly they all seemed to cross radiant wings 
 with slender legs, and before Tobias could 
 say "sawdust," his favorite expression when 
 surprised, he was floating, floating he never 
 knew where. All he knew was when Fan- 
 Fan and Trailing Topsy were tickling him 
 with some Old Man's Beard and propping 
 his mouth open with a sunflower seed. 
 "It's only once in ever so long a time,"
 
 26 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 said Fan-Fan, "that mothers send all the 
 errand fairies with a message at once. It 
 is only the deep hurt of a little human child 
 that makes it worth while. Your dear face 
 hurt you so that she had you taken to her, 
 but if you had really looked at her your 
 eyes would have been no more use in your 
 face. What she whispered in your ears, 
 though, you will never be able to tell any- 
 one, not even to Trailing Topsy or to me." 
 
 Tobias felt his fat little cheeks. 
 
 "Perhaps she put me wiv' Jesus," he said, 
 "and let me play rounders with him." 
 
 Trailing Topsy flew away at this and 
 Fan-Fan cried out "Hoots and Treacle," 
 which made Tobias know he was hungry. 
 When his stepmother gave him plum jam he 
 longed for golden syrup, but he did not 
 really mind. He just said "Mammy Love," 
 which made his stepmother say, "Dratted 
 queer kid," but how could she know he 
 was talking to his own dear mother? 
 
 Nothing ever hurt quite so badly again
 
 THE PSYCHIC 27 
 
 because he had not only Trailing Topsy, 
 Fan-Fan and the Big Moth as companions, 
 to say nothing of a host of lovely colored 
 fairies, but, better than all, he had a real 
 mother of his very own, keeping a shop in 
 heaven, with such "nicies" in it that Mother 
 Carbines and her Tom-Thumbs and Pearly 
 Drops were nothing in comparison. 
 
 One day Tobias met a man very like his 
 father, but with such a ragged coat and with 
 so many holes in his boots that you could 
 hardly see the leather. He was so friendly 
 that Tobias confided in him that his own 
 mother was supposed to be dead, but that 
 she really was nothing of the kind. He 
 thought it would cheer the kind man, who 
 said his mother was dead and that he had no 
 friends. Tobias felt very happy when the 
 poor fellow told him that his own dear 
 mother with her little shop was no dream to 
 the ragged man, but that he used to know 
 her quite well, and so would Tobias please 
 give him a penny at once. Tobias said he
 
 28 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 had no penny, but he had a money box with 
 ten three-penny bits in it. Would that do? 
 It seemed very little to give to such a nice 
 man. Tobias found out later that he had 
 been "taken in," but what that exactly 
 meant he must ask Fan-Fan. Anyhow, the 
 man seemed happy, and Trailing Topsy 
 would say nothing else mattered. His sis- 
 ter Patience told his stepmother what he 
 had done, and he had to go without pudding 
 for a week. Fan-Fan said that being taken 
 in was neither here nor there, so long as he 
 didn't turn into a begging boy too. 
 
 Fear began to leave Tobias little by little. 
 Only once, when he was put to drag a big 
 roller over the orchard grass to "break him," 
 as his father declared, was he a little afraid 
 because something in his chest seemed to be 
 swelling till he felt the lump was as big as 
 himself. He thought he was fading away, 
 but he got over that. Soon after, because 
 he had cut off his eyebrows to make himself 
 more like Fan-Fan and Trailing Topsy, his
 
 THE PSYCHIC 29 
 
 father thrashed him harder than ever be- 
 fore. He would not scream, because Fan- 
 Fan said only things that would never grow 
 wings made a fuss if they were hurt. He 
 felt, however, he must do something, so he 
 bit his father's leg. He thought he should 
 grow into ice he was so terrified afterwards, 
 for Mr. Trewidden used words he gener- 
 ally only said to Tom the Carter and Fly 
 the bull-dog. Tobias ran away when he 
 heard his father swearing so loudly and 
 meant never to come back. Even the 
 thought of his mother only made him lie on 
 his face and cry like a silly girl. He did not 
 return of his own free will. Leah found 
 him in the paddock fast asleep with his head 
 against a tree stump and "a yellow light all 
 amongst his curls," she told her mistress. 
 She added "that the setting sun played on 
 him like a Bible story." He had such a 
 dazed look in his eyes that they sent for old 
 Hannah, the midwife, who ordered a purge 
 and a tumbler of salt and water.
 
 30 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 "HeVe taken a fear," she said, "and 
 seemly 'ave been beyond mortal reach." 
 
 Tobias smiled, but never told even Leah 
 what lovely dreams he had had and that he 
 had no idea where he had really been. Even 
 Fan-Fan himself said he was not sure where 
 people like Tobias went to at times. He 
 said anyone who could live in two worlds 
 was liable to go to a third, so they must 
 leave it at that. Tobias asked Trailing 
 Topsy why he need ever go to school or even 
 home again. Fan-Fan answered him, as 
 Trailing Topsy was half asleep, and whisked 
 a sort of tail he kept under one wing for 
 special occasions. 
 
 "Mannikin," he said, "some secrets never 
 leak out. Pepper put on the bill of a black- 
 bird might make him sing it out, but even 
 then they might misunderstand the lan- 
 guage. Imps and fairies never minded," 
 he added, "not a wing's flutter, where they 
 were or what became of them."
 
 THE PSYCHIC 31 
 
 "There's always the sun," yawned Trail- 
 ing Topsy, "and others do the rest." 
 
 Fan-Fan put out his tongue, which was 
 long and narrow, and glanced sideways at 
 Trailing Topsy. 
 
 "She's so very sweet asleep," he said, "and 
 a dewdrop suffices when she is awake. We 
 never fuss so long as we're together." 
 
 Tobias tried to imitate his little friends, 
 and when the school-mistress boxed his ears 
 and put him to the bottom of the class he 
 tried to forget the pain and thought of 
 fairyland. He was always very perplexed 
 at the Scripture lessons and mixed the 
 hymns up with things to do with his father 
 and the home life. He had to wear a dunce's 
 cap the whole afternoon because when he 
 was told to repeat a hymn to the minister's 
 wife, who had come into the school unex- 
 pectedly, he had shocked her so much she 
 nearly cried. Her face was burning red 
 and she wiped her eyes as if she must choke. 
 Tobias repeated the verse to Fan-Fan and
 
 32 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 Trailing Topsy, who, perched on a fuchsia 
 bough, listened intently with their heads on 
 one side and bulging eyes. Tobias repeated 
 it very softly: 
 
 "Onward, Christian soldiers, 
 Marching as to war 
 With the cross of Jesus 
 Going on before." 
 
 Fan-Fan said he thought the only thing 
 wrong with it was that it was like the rhymes 
 the teeny-weenies told the young mice for 
 practice, but Trailing Topsy said she 
 thought there was more in it than that or no 
 human would cry over it. Fan-Fan saw 
 he had not really cheered Tobias, so he made 
 up something as near it as he could, for 
 fairies like Fan-Fan and Trailing Topsy 
 are like Chinamen in the way they can imi- 
 tate. 
 
 Forward, little Brother, 
 
 Into light and flame, 
 
 Where you'll find your Mother 
 
 Just the very same.
 
 THE PSYCHIC 33 
 
 The mere mention of his mother made 
 Tobias quite happy. That afternoon the 
 school-mistress gave him another hymn to 
 master, and it was astonishing how quickly 
 he learnt it. With his hands well tucked in 
 his pockets, he repeated it with the same 
 pomposity that his father gave out family 
 prayers on Sundays. 
 
 "Gentle Jesus, meek and mild, 
 Look upon a little child. 
 Pity my simplicity. 
 Gentle Jesus, come to tea." 
 
 "Tobias Trewidden," said the teacher, 
 "are you a willin' liar or what?" Tobias 
 suddenly saw Fan-Fan outside the window 
 and without Trailing Topsy. He simply 
 answered what he heard. 
 
 "I'm Mammy's own little make-up," he 
 said. The teacher had just had a letter from 
 her sweetheart, in which he had said some 
 quite idiotic things too, so she only said,
 
 34 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 "Don't be foolish, Tobias Trewidden, and 
 learn it again." 
 
 Tobias was told marvellous things by 
 Fan-Fan and Trailing Topsy. At Sunday 
 school, because of this, he often forgot he 
 was not with his own little playmates and 
 asked the new teacher if angels laid eggs 
 like caterpillars and if they had web-feet 
 as well as wings. The day after he had 
 asked these questions the school-mistress 
 came to see Mrs. Trewidden and told her 
 she ought to see a doctor about Tobias. His 
 stepmother said she knew her stepson was 
 not "exactly," but whenever he was "fanci- 
 kel" he was always tidy and good, and that, 
 as he ate well and slept longer than the 
 other children, there could be nothing really 
 the matter with him. 
 
 "His brain is too active," said the school- 
 mistress, and Mrs. Trewidden said that it 
 was not more so than his body, which was 
 like a bit of quicksilver more than anything 
 else. When Tobias asked Fan-Fan why he
 
 THE PSYCHIC 35 
 
 had made the lady jump when he had asked 
 about the angel's feet, he did not answer for 
 a minute. Trailing Topsy opened her 
 mouth for a dewdrop, which Fan-Fan, to 
 save time, popped into it. Then Trailing 
 Topsy spoke quite quickly, before Fan-Fan 
 had time to invent an answer. He was 
 really up a bramble bush, so to speak, and 
 Trailing Topsy knew it. She loved him 
 too much to go to sleep when she could help 
 him. 
 
 "It's because she didn't know anything 
 about eggs or angels either," said Trailing 
 Topsy. "Don't you remember, Fan-Fan, 
 that you were once asked by a glow-worm 
 why I didn't shine, and you nearly broke in 
 two with rage?" She turned to Tobias. 
 "He," pointing to Fan-Fan and fluttering 
 her wings, "went quite discolored for days 
 after and only damp clover leaves on his 
 head and the scent of evening stock in the 
 moonlight revived him." 
 
 Tobias was always getting into trouble
 
 36 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 about "shedding" his clothes, as Leah put 
 it. He loved the soft warm air to kiss his 
 body and the sea to hold him fast and hug 
 him and cradle him. He persuaded his little 
 brothers to play rounders with him without 
 their clothes, and this led to punishments all 
 round. He consulted Fan-Fan as to why 
 all this was considered wicked. Fan-Fan 
 sat up like a minister and wiped his mouth. 
 
 "It's just envy," said Trailing Topsy, 
 "and no wonder." 
 
 "She's right there," said Fan-Fan. "They 
 steal fur and feathers from all our relations 
 and they get very nervous in only their own 
 skins because the fairies can see all the draw- 
 backs." 
 
 "It's the buttoning and unbuttoning 
 which is so wearisome," said Tobias. Fan- 
 Fan and Trailing Topsy buzzed joyfully. 
 
 "We're buttoned to last till we go to the 
 Odds and Ends Corner," said Trailing 
 Topsy, "when it doesn't matter a bit if they
 
 THE PSYCHIC 37 
 
 do undress us. It's not our affair then, but 
 theirs." 
 
 One day Tobias was very surprised when 
 his father took him on his knee and told him 
 his grandfather, his own mother's father, 
 was dead. 
 
 "How very jolly," said Tobias. "Did he 
 write and tell you ?" 
 
 He never could understand why his father 
 pushed him away and said, "Cold-hearted 
 little idiot." He shyly asked his stepmother 
 why his grandfather minded dying. 
 
 "He's left a lot of money behind," she 
 said. Tobias asked his little friends about 
 this, but they were half asleep, he thought, 
 for all they murmured was "foolishness." 
 Trailing Topsy opened one eye and said a 
 friend of theirs had tried to eat the tail end 
 of a rainbow and was slowly dying, but no 
 one bothered as to what she would leave be- 
 hind. Fan-Fan said it would probably be 
 a trail of glory, but Tobias found out he 
 was laughing at him. He was nearly cry-
 
 38 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 ing about it, but Fan-Fan and Trailing 
 Topsy flew on to his shoulder and whispered, 
 "Nicer than money bags, anyway." 
 
 An Inspector came to look at the school 
 one day. He called Tobias to him in his 
 private room, for the child's eager eyes and 
 gentle face had attracted him, and he found 
 that Tobias answered easily and cleverly all 
 his questions. At last the examiner asked 
 the boy if there was not something he would 
 like to know. 
 
 "Yes," said Tobias, suddenly feeling as 
 much at ease as with Fan-Fan and Trailing 
 Topsy. 
 
 "Well?" asked the Inspector. 
 
 Tobias put his chubby hand on the visitor's 
 knee. 
 
 "Can God really do everything?" 
 
 "Certainly," was the answer. 
 
 "Can He," asked Tobias, "make a stone 
 too big for Himself to lift?" 
 
 "Good God!" cried the Inspector, and 
 Tobias seemed quite satisfied. It was a
 
 THE PSYCHIC 39 
 
 shorter answer than Fan-Fan or Trailing 
 Topsy would have given, but it evidently 
 meant He could. 
 
 At last the happy day came when Tobias 
 left school and the question arose as to what 
 was to be done with him. A blacksmith was 
 out of the question, as he was not strong 
 enough. A butcher's apprenticeship was of- 
 fered. 
 
 "He's so damned fond of animals, there's 
 his chance," said his father. His step- 
 mother broke in. 
 
 "There's what belongs and what don't be- 
 long," she said. "Now Nathaniel Thomas 
 could eat a pasty without turnin' a hadr 
 while he was in the midst of skinning a bul" 
 lock, but Tobias would only retch and go 
 fainty at any portion of the trade. He 
 don't never eat lamb because he says he 
 fancies he hears the bleatin', so he'd make 
 but a poor butcher. It needs the proper 
 constitootion, same as our own children 
 have."
 
 40 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 A cousin of Mr. Trewidden, who was a 
 farmer, happened to come in one evening, 
 and incidentally said he needed a shepherd 
 boy. 
 
 "That's perhaps a better trade for the 
 youngster," said Andrew Trewidden. To- 
 bias was called in and the matter was settled 
 that night. 
 
 When Fan-Fan and Trailing Topsy were 
 told of this great event they circled w r ing 
 over wing above the head of Tobias. Trail- 
 ing Topsy soon tired, but Fan-Fan seemed 
 to go up as high as a skylark. The drawl 
 of Trailing Topsy was slower than ever as 
 she watched Fan-Fan till he was out of 
 sight. 
 
 "He's gone to where the homing pigeons 
 rise," she said. "He's a great one for soar- 
 ing. It makes me giddy so I don't go. If 
 they venture far enough up, the eyes with 
 slits can see hundreds of miles off, and they 
 often get the great secrets that way. Fan- 
 Fan has heard them from only as far as a
 
 THE PSYCHIC 41 
 
 lark rises." She turned round and round 
 on a large bed of soft green moss and went 
 to sleep. Fan-Fan suddenly dropped down 
 again. He seemed in a great flutter and 
 never even noticed Trailing Topsy, a most 
 unusual thing for him. He jumped on the 
 arm of Tobias. 
 
 "You're going nearer and nearer the 
 Great Moth," he said. "Out in the cool 
 nights and the quiet days, with the sheep 
 and lambs, the messages will be sent to you 
 from the Lullaby Shores and the Make- 
 Shift Meadows. Even birds can't make out 
 all the signs and tokens sent from there, and 
 it's appointed so, for fear they would never 
 trespass upon the earth again and bring com- 
 fort to the wingless ones who only sing in 
 their hearts. If mortals could hear some of 
 the messages they would die, like some do 
 of too much sunshine. Far away, so far that 
 the Great Moth has to travel miles and 
 miles before he can give the tiniest message, 
 there is a Wonder World called Love- Acre.
 
 42 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 The greatest secrets that are sent to us come 
 from there. Sometimes, on moonlight nights 
 or in the red sunrises, the fairies with purple 
 skirts and carrying juices squeezed from 
 fruits from over all the earth, come and sing 
 in the big mountains. In those songs are 
 some of the great mysteries of life and love. 
 They can only tell them to those who have 
 been friends with all of us and who cannot 
 speak the foolish words which hurt the 
 silence. They took you away once and they 
 never forget after that. Poor Boy, poor 
 Boy." 
 
 Tobias was very heavy-hearted. His 
 friend was talking like the Bible and the 
 school-teacher, and it made him very sad. 
 Suddenly Fan-Fan saw Trailing Topsy 
 asleep and almost chirruped at the sight. 
 
 "I've been so high," said Fan-Fan, "I've 
 got a dragon-fly's jerks. A lark gave me a 
 message and I'm overweighted with it. He 
 brought it from a Golden Eagle, who got it
 
 THE PSYCHIC 43 
 
 straight from Love- Acre. It sounds gib- 
 berish to me and no play in it anywhere." 
 Fan-Fan's eyes bulged more than ever. 
 
 "What is it?" asked Tobias anxiously. 
 
 "It's this," said Fan-Fan slowly. "Fly 
 without wings, dream without sleep and see 
 from within. It means good-bye, little 
 brother," he ended sadly, "and that is all I 
 know." 
 
 "It's terrible after all, then," said Tobias 
 slowly, "to be a shepherd."
 
 PAUT IT 
 THE SHEPHERD
 
 THE SHEPHERD 
 
 TOBIAS TREWIDDEN'S childhood had been 
 spent in fairyland, the ogres in it had been 
 the mortals who destroyed his fancies and 
 disturbed his dreams. Fan-Fan and Trail- 
 ing Topsy, his imaginary mates, seemed 
 realities and affinities, while his stepmother, 
 his father, and his little stepbrothers and 
 sisters were shades in comparison. It is 
 true that he had lived in a world of gossip, 
 but it was a gossip which had no malice in 
 it and no bitterness. His little friends were 
 Nature's god-children, and so were reverent 
 and humorous. Through them Tobias had 
 come to realize that the ants, the flies, the 
 spiders, the beetles, and especially the drag- 
 on-flies had work as great to do, and ends 
 as wonderful to serve, as his father, the min- 
 ister, or even the doctor in his little village. 
 
 47
 
 48 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 When it was decided that Tobias should 
 leave school and become a shepherd a deep 
 dreaminess took possession of him. This 
 was not because he had left school, for there 
 his fancies had been stifled, but because Fan- 
 Fan had told him that it was good-bye to 
 him and to Trailing Topsy, the two great 
 friends of his childhood. He found he had 
 literally "changed worlds," and Fan-Fan 
 must have known what this meant. To be 
 a shepherd was evidently to enter a region 
 of terrible desolation. At first it was almost 
 more than he could bear, especially when 
 things in the very image of Fan-Fan and 
 Trailing Topsy whisked by him with no 
 recognition of him. It was a new world of 
 Silence, and it terrified him more than the 
 thought of his father with the cane in his 
 hand ready to strike him. He missed the 
 laughter and the joy and the nonsense-ex- 
 planations he had received from the insect 
 world which transformed his unhappy child- 
 hood into beauty and joy. Was this being
 
 THE SHEPHERD 49 
 
 grown up, he wondered? How long it 
 seemed since he heard last about the yellow 
 fairies and the Great Moth and his real 
 mother in heaven, with her little shop there 
 full of wonders! Everything in shepherd- 
 ing seemed so very still except the sheep 
 and the magpies. He felt sure Fan-Fan 
 would have objected to their company, as he 
 did to owls and woodpeckers. "The Great 
 Moth," Fan-Fan once said to him, "puts a 
 world of nonsense into a cobweb or a nut- 
 shell. It is often to be found in the skins 
 of sheep and of some mortals, but it is 
 packed so tightly that lots of people never 
 guess it is there. There are those who can 
 chatter, and those who can sing, and others 
 well, the Silence may tell." Fan-Fan 
 never finished. Were the others here, To- 
 bias wondered, and was all this dreadful 
 ache in him their ache trying to speak, or 
 was it his fault because he could not hear? 
 He shivered with the gloom which fell upon 
 his spirits, especially at night. There seemed
 
 50 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 no play anywhere, only mystery and silence. 
 His sheep, huddled into a gray throbbing 
 mass, which gave forth plaintive cries at 
 intervals, yielded him no sense of compan- 
 ionship. The desolation was on him which 
 divides one life from another. Speech had 
 comforted him in his child life. Silence had 
 to be reckoned with in the new. The curly 
 head drooped wearily and at last dropped 
 into sleep in a perplexity which even dreams 
 could not unravel. His food was brought 
 to him once a day by the village carrier, part 
 of whose round was near the end of one of 
 the big fields Tobias had to guard. The 
 man took away one basket and put down 
 another, and rarely spoke to Tobias. The 
 Shepherd's change of linen was brought in 
 the same way, and his little hut he kept eas- 
 ily clean and sweet, to sleep in when the 
 weather was very bad. He rarely went 
 home, as it seemed only to increase his gen- 
 eral feeling of hopelessness. The voices ac- 
 centuated the terror of the silence and the
 
 THE SHEPHERD 51 
 
 silence vulgarized the voices. Tobias came 
 to the conclusion that all the evil was in him 
 and the less said or thought of it the better. 
 It was quite two months before the 
 strange sadness began to depart from the 
 heart of Tobias. He never quite knew how 
 the change came. A fear had grown upon 
 him again, the fear which Fan-Fan and 
 Trailing Topsy had once before managed 
 to send away, the fear the alien always has 
 that there is no real place in the world for 
 him. He tried to pray, but it was no use. 
 He found he could only stammer : "Mother, 
 dear, and the fairies, this is not what I want 
 and I don't know how to get it." Only the 
 round face of the moon seemed to be laugh- 
 ing at him, and the stars, in their baby way, 
 twinkled at his fears. He was seventeen 
 and should have known better, but when he 
 fell asleep big drops were in his eyes as he 
 heard the baaing of his flock before he 
 passed into dreamland. No wonder the face 
 of the moon seemed to widen into a smile
 
 52 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 as she looked down upon the little huddled 
 form of a mortal afraid of her rapture and 
 her power. The white glory touched his 
 face, and the outstretched hand, flung open 
 in despair, suddenly closed in his sleep as if 
 it had grasped a shepherd's crook. It was 
 more than this, however, that the silence of 
 sleep had brought to Tobias. When he 
 awoke a great longing was on him, the long- 
 ing to shout or sing or dance or swim. He 
 ran to the river and flung aside his few 
 clothes, and as the water folded round his 
 bare body he began to understand. He had 
 been to his mother, he felt sure, and she had 
 whispered to him and so taken some of the 
 ache from his heart. Once before she had 
 done it, and nothing else after mattered in 
 the same way, because he understood. Now 
 he became certain that the river was his 
 brother and the clouds were his sisters, and 
 the moon and the stars and the tender grass 
 and even the rocks were a part of him and 
 he of them. The silence was really only
 
 THE SHEPHERD 53 
 
 their deep voices which he was too young 
 and foolish to understand. He could scarce- 
 ly eat that day, he was so excited. The grass 
 called to him, and he lay down on it and 
 heard it speaking to itself. He felt certain 
 the trees had ears and even hushed voices, 
 and also a great patience, like the sheep with 
 their lambs. The flowers suddenly became 
 all eyes to him, and as he gazed at them he 
 understood why the scent had to come from 
 some of them or they might have died of 
 trying to speak and failing. His flock 
 seemed almost a moving mockery in front 
 of the beautiful Silence, and Tobias felt him- 
 self almost a ghost in the midst of these 
 splendid realities. As one in a wilderness, 
 and yet crying out with wonder at the joys 
 to be found there, he realized how little 
 school had taught him. Here was Dame 
 Nature, with her wide open book in her 
 hand, and he learnt happily and rapidly, 
 and his heart sang within him. He found 
 new names for everything about him, and
 
 54 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 he slowly realized that he could speak within 
 himself and get an answer back. The dif- 
 ference between that sort of talking and 
 human voices was the difference between a 
 half moon and a full moon. He began to 
 pity Fan-Fan and Trailing Topsy in case 
 they had never fallen on the great secrets. 
 Perhaps insects only knew the little secrets, 
 and the Silence held fast the bigger ones. 
 The grass revealed more to him than any- 
 thing else. Perhaps it was because he rested 
 on it so much. Its life seemed so curious. 
 It quivered cool thoughts, and yet in a way 
 it looked like little green swords of defence 
 shielding the crotchety old earth. He began 
 to understand that it carpeted the world, 
 not only to give food and rest to animals 
 and humans, but also for its own peculiar 
 joy, the joy of cradling mushrooms and 
 listening to the music made by swinging 
 harebells in a midsummer madness. It was 
 like a soft mother and father in one. It 
 understood the whole world, and so encom-
 
 55 
 
 passed it with a softness and a deliciousness 
 that later in life Tobias only found in an 
 Irish heart. 
 
 One day, when Tobias was watching the 
 swaying of the ripe corn, he clapped his 
 hands in glee. He had found out the glow- 
 ing secrets of the poppies. He suddenly 
 realized that they were a special sort of red 
 fairy sent to ease the pain in the ripening 
 corn, as it grew in dignity, in order later to 
 feed its enemies, who cut it down just when 
 it was the strongest and the happiest. The 
 red poppies were there ready to give rest 
 and then to die with their lovers. "How 
 wonderful!" cried Tobias, "to die for what 
 you love, but then " and his strong young 
 face clouded "what is love?" The magpie, 
 as it flew past him, tried to answer, but its 
 language was so strange that Tobias simply 
 laughed. He grew to love the corn and the 
 little dainty poppies, and wondered what 
 they said to one another. One night, when 
 the moon was at its full, he seemed to hear
 
 56 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 the voices of the corn and the poppies dis- 
 tinctly. It was not the wind or the mur- 
 mur of the sea, but something mysterious 
 and sweet, and yet glowing and masterful, 
 and as clear as a bell, and the timid, laugh- 
 ing voices of the poppies answered as the 
 strong wind flung them against the corn- 
 stalks. He had never heard either that rasp 
 or that sweetness in any human voice. Now 
 and again he felt sure he caught a twitter 
 among the poppies like the mother-bird in 
 her nest in the spring. 
 
 As time went on, Tobias became almost 
 a sun- worshipper, and from its first blush 
 in the morning to its rosy rest in the evening 
 he drove his sheep to where he could catch 
 its passionate breath on his limbs. It made 
 his heart swell and sink with the aching in 
 him to be like it, a light and a flame and a 
 great warmth to cheer what was cold or 
 lonely. He often held his thin body with 
 both hands, as if he must break it to find a 
 lamp inside him or at least a glow-worm.
 
 THE SHEPHERD 57 
 
 "Something burns so within me," he mut- 
 tered. "Something which can't get out of 
 me. It is caged and hurts me. I must get 
 it free." Then he would swing his shep- 
 herd's crook, and run and leap and at last 
 sink exhausted near the gorse, which was 
 never really out of blossom. He need not 
 despair, he thought, if such a lovely smell 
 could come from such a prickly, ugly bush 
 as that. It was so lovely to keep finding out 
 that everywhere there was a stand-by when 
 any horrid thing happened. The nettle, he 
 found, had always had the dock as a little 
 hospital nurse to heal the wounds of those 
 whose grasp was not tight enough to make 
 real friends with the tetchy old nettle. It 
 was all a matter of nerves, after all, and the 
 nettle's sting went the moment it was prop- 
 erly handled. Tobias took every chance to 
 hold it very firmly, as he felt sorry that it 
 could not make people see that it was their 
 fault why it stung. Timidity irritated it and 
 strength soothed it. Its friendliness, as To-
 
 58 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 bias knew, was great, or it could not take 
 the poisons out of the blood, as it did when 
 made into soup or eaten instead of cabbage. 
 He heard an old man tell his father once 
 that a month of nettle-tea had taken the 
 tantrums out of his great-aunt and made 
 her comfortable and kindly. It was such a 
 joy to Tobias to find that everything every- 
 where was really as anxious as Leah, the 
 servant at home, to be useful and helpful, 
 and he began to wonder if even the sheep 
 would mind being eaten if they understood 
 all the great secrets. Perhaps they did un- 
 derstand, and that was why some people 
 thought they did not know or suffer much 
 when they were huddled into the slaughter- 
 houses. Tobias could never sleep properly 
 or sing at home when he knew just where 
 and when these dreadful things happened. 
 Now, as a shepherd, he wondered if it might 
 be some sort of joy to give up one's life, 
 and as he wondered he came closer to his 
 flock. He gave them all names and loved
 
 THE SHEPHERD 59 
 
 each sheep or lamb for its various looks 
 and individual ways. It was astonishing 
 how different they were, and how some of 
 them had eyes which looked like blind eyes, 
 and so unable to see a snare and escape 
 from it. 
 
 Tobias found out more than cats and dogs 
 and even birds seem to know about the won- 
 ders of trailing plants and brilliant berries. 
 They seemed all to have some sort of heal- 
 ing in them for the strange disorders in the 
 world. Some evidently thought themselves 
 more beautiful than the rest, like the night- 
 shade, and were proud when men called 
 them Bella Donna, as if they were great 
 dames and fine ladies. Tobias seemed to 
 hear their secrets only in the twilight. As 
 for the honeysuckle and the foxglove, he 
 never quite understood some of the things 
 which were breathed out in a midsummer 
 dawn by them. He became as still as they 
 appeared when the tiny hints of their up- 
 ward growth flooded him. It seemed some-
 
 60 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 times that only something white, like the 
 gulls, could understand. Tobias watched, 
 one early morning, a big gull poised over a 
 dip in the brushwood where the honey- 
 suckle crept in and out among the old tree 
 stumps and boulders. The bird hid its legs 
 as it hovered and listened, as if wings alone 
 were any use in the understanding of some 
 things. When the gull had flown away with 
 a sound like happy laughter, Tobias entered 
 the little hollow over which it had hung, and 
 there he found the greenest moss he had ever 
 seen. As he bent and felt it with his lips, 
 because of its softness, the cool ferns touched 
 his cheek, teaching him the music of their 
 message to the whole world, hidden, as the 
 best of them were, in the undergrowth and 
 often in darkness. When Tobias came to 
 examine the moss more closely, he found 
 it was really like a tiny fern itself, and also 
 like the leaf of a tree, a Christmas tree. The 
 whisper he heard among the ferns was that 
 in one likeness are we all made, and it is in
 
 THE SHEPHERD 61 
 
 us all to be a shade and a coolness and a 
 great peace. Tobias looked up suddenly, 
 for it was as if someone very tender and 
 strong had said this close to his side, but no 
 one seemed near, so he lay down to watch 
 the red dawn, which is a voice and a signal 
 to any careful shepherd. It crept over the 
 sea and the earth and made everything 
 lovely and passionate. 
 
 The dewdrops in the early morning had 
 a special meaning for Tobias. They made 
 the gorse bushes into fairy castles and spider 
 webs into spangled nets. The dewdrops 
 might be mistaken for little children's tears, 
 yet he remembered that Fan-Fan said his 
 mother dealt in them for fairies' weddings. 
 He saw whole worlds sometimes in the big- 
 gest drops, and drank them when his heart 
 ached with a sweet sort of pain. There were 
 some days when he longed to leap like a 
 grasshopper or saunter like a caterpillar, or 
 drowse as a bee seemed to do when made 
 giddy with the sweetness of a wild rose.
 
 62 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 He looked at his hands and his feet in de- 
 spair and shook his curly head with rage. 
 To swim and to shout and to run was all 
 that was left for him when all his brothers 
 and sisters in the great silence could do so 
 much more. He wanted to wave to and fro 
 like the trees when the jealous wind tossed 
 them which way it would. He longed to be 
 part of the sea and to be kissed by the 
 moon and burnt by the sun and at night to 
 be a looking-glass for the stars. What se- 
 crets they could tell, and the flat big face 
 of the sea must have guessed them all or 
 how could it bear its own deep sorrow and 
 only show it by sighing and heaving in its 
 odd way? Tobias would not have really 
 loved the sea had he not watched it trying 
 to cuddle up to the sands and run back- 
 ward and forward in a playful way, as if 
 half ashamed at its great longing for a com- 
 panion in its silence. He knew it hungered, 
 as he did, for something out of reach, and
 
 THE SHEPHERD 63 
 
 his ache became one with that of the big 
 oceans of the world. 
 
 He felt he loved and was loved by all 
 about him. Even the sheep became sweet 
 and holy to him, at last, and the jerky wag- 
 ging of a lamb's tail as it sucked made him 
 understand a mother's heart, as he was be- 
 ginning to realize his own. For in Tobias 
 Trewidden was hidden, from the day he was 
 born, a threefold nature. Fate, by the aid 
 of the world of men, the Silence of Nature 
 and the cruelty of Love, would make of the 
 man, the woman and the child entombed in 
 his little sensitive body just what Destiny 
 needed to accomplish its purpose. To ful- 
 fil this purpose he had to learn the great 
 secrets. He found, for instance, that the 
 lichen on the gray Cornish walls had as great 
 an end to serve in Nature's nurseries as her 
 big oak trees or her brilliant rhododendrons 
 in her halls and drawing-rooms. An artist, 
 coming into the field one day to paint, told 
 Tobias that he got more beautiful thoughts
 
 64 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 from the little, shiny green plants notched 
 into the walls with their gray bloom than 
 from mountain peaks or blue lakes in Italy. 
 Then again he realized how dead leaves 
 made manure, and manure, in the Odds and 
 Ends dust-heap of Nature, was transformed 
 into new shapes. So manure was as beauti- 
 ful and valuable as dog-roses and daffodils, 
 which in this curious way got much of their 
 life and beauty through decay and death. 
 The flowers, to Tobias, were little evange- 
 lists of the whole of Nature. The daisies, 
 with their patient eyes, the buttercups, with 
 their satin skins, the primroses, with the 
 hoard of the winter's dreams turned into 
 wrinkled leaves and untroubled yellow faces, 
 the snowdrops in their pursed and lowly 
 purity, who acted as heralds of the spring, 
 all spoke to Tobias as to a little half-brother 
 they were just learning to love. The daffo- 
 dils made him dance as no other flower could. 
 'He tiptoed to their hidden rapture; they 
 came in such armies to disperse the last signs
 
 THE SHEPHERD 65 
 
 of winter, and the wind joined so merrily 
 in their joy and self-assurance. As for the 
 violets, especially the white ones, Tobias was 
 a shepherd to them, asleep or awake, nearly 
 all the year round. For in Cornwall sheep- 
 rearing and guarding cattle is not such ar- 
 duous work as in some parts of England. 
 The manuring and hoeing and gathering of 
 several acres of violets, which were fenced 
 off in the sheltered corners of the big fields 
 where the sheep grazed, is almost as great 
 a task as the ordinary work of a shepherd. 
 Sometimes the farmer who owned the land 
 and the sheep lent a hand himself, but To- 
 bias was glad when he had gone and he was 
 once more alone with his work and his 
 dreams. He began to feel that he had al- 
 ways lived in a world of soft sounds and 
 sweet smells. Everywhere there was a new 
 glad wonder, and nothing was more of a 
 surprise than when one morning Leah came 
 to see him in order to bring him a cake and 
 a white smock, for it was his twentieth birth-
 
 66 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 day, she said. He had grown into a man 
 without realizing it. His birthday was near 
 St. Patrick's Day, said Leah, and that meant 
 that the winter was nearly over. Not that 
 Tobias really disliked the winter. As a child 
 he had feared cold and darkness, but as a 
 shepherd he found that cold was really heat 
 turned inside out, in order that those trying 
 to escape the snow might escape their ene- 
 mies. He also realized that cold and frost 
 gave many things rest which the warmth 
 kept awake. As for the darkness, he found 
 it made a sort of light within itself, as the 
 great storms made a hush when the winds 
 were the wildest, and in this hush Nature's 
 maddest children could cradle themselves 
 into sleep. It was a little like sleep and per- 
 haps like death, a way of re-making and re- 
 touching things not yet arrived at their ful- 
 ness or their joy. 
 
 Tobias had often seen death as a shep- 
 herd, and he had grown at last not to be 
 afraid of it. At first its coldness and stiff-
 
 THE SHEPHERD 67 
 
 ness frightened him, but as ice and snow are 
 hard and cold and many other lovely things 
 stiff and still, he grew to understand Na- 
 ture's deeper sleep, and even his own heart 
 at times was cold and strange. He felt at 
 last that the body was only a mask, and the 
 spirit within just like the lamp in a light- 
 house, the only thing of any use in a storm 
 or in darkness. He grew to understand that 
 the eyes are little peep-holes of this strange 
 light inside, and he guessed that rats, sheep, 
 cats, and horses see things only according to 
 their light within, and so the eyes are shaped 
 differently, just to let the radiance be mani- 
 fested according to the spirit. He wished 
 he could see as they all saw. He envied the 
 lizard and, above all, the eagle he had heard 
 about but had never seen. He had always 
 wished he could be a Golden Eagle, and so 
 able to kiss the sun and rest on the moon 
 and fly from mountain peak to mountain 
 peak to see the cities as specks in the dis- 
 tance. The dreams of an eagle must be like
 
 68 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 the secrets in fire and in lightning. Even 
 as a little boy he had guessed some of the 
 secrets of the flames. His stepmother had 
 laughed at him when he shouted with glee 
 at the blue and golden glory in the drift- 
 wood burning in the great open fireplace in 
 the winter. He had told Fan-Fan and 
 Trailing Topsy what he saw in the flames, 
 and Fan-Fan said that the secrets of the 
 great deep were beyond knowing and that 
 even birds perhaps dare not tell them. To- 
 bias wondered what he meant, but Jack 
 Richards told him afterwards that he had 
 heard lots of funny things had been seen in 
 the flames of driftwood from old ships. 
 As a shepherd, Tobias began to understand 
 the secrets. Some of the great inner life 
 of the oceans had passed into the drift- 
 wood, and so water was turned into flame at 
 last and gave away, even to stupid mortals, 
 some of the secrets of the deep. His father 
 said it was only the brine and other things 
 that gave the blue and yellow color. It had
 
 THE SHEPHERD 69 
 
 always, however, seemed a miracle to Tobias, 
 and made him understand why Jonah could 
 live in a whale's belly or Lazarus walk out 
 of his grave-clothes as if he had only been 
 asleep. The pale purple and blue of those 
 driftwood fires with the encircling forks of 
 flaming gold had remained as lasting joys 
 in the heart of Tobias, and the trees and the 
 sea and the silence gave him the clue to it all. 
 When he became a shepherd, he saw that the 
 life of an oak began as an acorn and, after 
 many adventures in the great oceans, ended 
 in flame. Tobias after that always envied 
 the trees, as being nearer to the life of a 
 Golden Eagle than even a gull. The 
 thoughts of a mole must be wonderful too, 
 in a different way to the trees, thought 
 Tobias, and he wished he could see without 
 eyes deep into the great secrets of the soil, 
 as a mole did. 
 
 Tobias noticed that it was difficult for 
 some animals to make friends with each 
 other and that some who seemed most alike
 
 70 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 were really the furthest apart. One day he 
 saw a funny meeting. A farmer must have 
 lost his ferret. It ran up to Tobias and did 
 not seem afraid of him at all, so he fed it 
 with some bread and a little milk from his 
 can. Then it scurried away. In the morn- 
 ing Tobias was wakened by a queer sound 
 and this was so unusual that it broke into 
 his sleep. The ferret and a squirrel had met 
 and the sounds were so funny that he 
 laughed till he nearly cried. Then suddenly 
 he began to see that it was the sad and 
 terrible meeting of one so like the other that 
 they were enemies because of it. It gave him 
 a feeling of dreadful loneliness until his 
 eyes lighted on a group of jackdaws perched 
 on the backs of a herd of his sheep and 
 busily employed in plucking out the wool 
 for their nests. With sleek heads, bent side- 
 ways between each dive for the wool, they 
 reminded him of the minister at home eating 
 cake at the Sunday school tea. It took away 
 all his loneliness because he was so glad he
 
 THE SHEPHERD 71 
 
 was not there, but just a shepherd boy who 
 knew a few things he was sure neither his 
 father nor his stepmother had come across 
 even in books or in chapel. He remembered, 
 for instance, how his stepmother hated rain 
 and he had grown to love it. It was this 
 voice of the wet which, breaking in suddenly 
 on the silence, made him aware of other se- 
 crets Mother Nature kept to herself when 
 betraying others. The patter on his sailor's 
 oiled coat, yellow as a cowslip, with its black 
 collar like a ram's ears, made him understand 
 the clouds as never before. Not only were 
 they moving castles in the air, but some of 
 them were glorious heavenly yachts with 
 fantastic sails. He would lie at full length 
 sometimes, and let the anger of a thunder 
 shower vent itself upon him, and as the 
 lightning laughed and the thunder roared he 
 slept as a child sleeps in his mother's arms 
 when too many fireworks have tired him with 
 noise and color and swiftness. When he 
 awoke he always found the birds singing
 
 72 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 and Nature's gentle sigh of relief scarcely 
 breaking the silence after the storm. 
 
 How well he remembered when Fan-Fan 
 had brought him the message from the Big 
 Moth and he had thought how terrible a 
 thing it was to be a shepherd. And now he 
 smiled as he thought of it. "It would be like 
 being afraid of being a Golden Eagle," he 
 murmured, "or a Lover, for that must be the 
 greatest of all." As a flock of crows cawed 
 over his head they said, "Mad, Mad, Mad." 
 Tobias, as he fell asleep, as was his way 
 when the messages reached him, murmured, 
 "Glad, Glad, Glad," but the Moon, the 
 Stars, and the Stillness which precedes the 
 Storm kept their Secrets.
 
 PART III 
 THE LOVER
 
 THE LOVER 
 
 IT was St. Patrick's Day. The shrill 
 wind of the night had at last worn itself 
 out. There was a faint sob left, like that of 
 a child as it nestles to its mother's breast 
 with the tears wet on its cheeks. The wind 
 following the downpour had been so strong 
 that Nature's tears had been dried up in her 
 fierce mood. To-day, however, the hail and 
 the rain and the tempest had all fled before 
 her smiles and laughter, and the sun had his 
 own will with the Earth. A flood of glory 
 made her restless with her joy and the birds, 
 her little feathered handmaidens, carolled 
 out the deep hopes of the spring. Nature's 
 voice, vibrant with passionate desire, and 
 now and then shrill with foreboding, 
 echoed plaintively through the cries of the 
 four-footed beasts Tobias was shepherding 
 
 75
 
 76 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 till the day of sacrifice came. The demure 
 primroses, with their yellow eyes wide open 
 as if in wonder, had been tossed in the gale 
 as far as their short stalks would allow. The 
 recklessness into which the wind had be- 
 trayed them had flung many of the daffodils 
 into an ecstasy ending in death. The sea 
 was one dazzling breast, gently swelling 
 toward the warmth of the sun, and intoxi- 
 cated into a rippling smile by the gentle 
 touch of the west wind. The blue in the 
 sky and the blue in the sea vied with one 
 another, as if to eclipse the greenness of the 
 earth even on St. Patrick's Day. The 
 storms before and the rains after seemed of 
 no account on this day "lent," as the Cornish 
 say, as a very image of midsummer. 
 
 Tobias Trewidden, the shepherd, coming 
 out of his hut at dawn, felt, as he said to 
 himself, like a catapult. He wanted to 
 spring outward and inward at once, to 
 kneel and to soar. Between the ache of joy 
 in his heart and the strength of the muscles
 
 THE LOVER 77 
 
 in his body he stood motionless, listening to 
 the outburst around him. How he envied 
 the gulls and the rooks and more than all 
 the blackbirds. They, at least, could cry out 
 or warble or sing both their prayer and their 
 desires. The blackbird's note was so strange- 
 ly like the joy and the ache in the heart of 
 Tobias. A sudden sting and sweetness had 
 pulsed through his flesh, and a desire, strong 
 as death over the living, had taken hold of 
 his soul. He had slept dreamlessly and only 
 now, awake in the perfect dawn, did he feel 
 as in a dream. His cruel and solitary child- 
 hood, his strange and lonely youth as a 
 shepherd of flocks and flowers, had suddenly 
 merged into a young manhood which had 
 made his laugh deeper, his muscles more 
 tense, and his inner sense of a coming joy a 
 reckless peace. This jubilant madness of 
 the spring on St. Patrick's Day gave a new 
 light to his eyes and a new meaning to his 
 life. Leah, the maid-of-all work at home, 
 had years ago had an Irishman for a hus-
 
 78 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 band, and she had told Tobias on one St. 
 Patrick's Day, when she had pinned a bit of 
 shamrock in his school cap for luck, that be- 
 cause of his strange fancies she was sure 
 God had put the soul of an Irishman into the 
 body of an English boy. Perhaps it was 
 true. Tobias sat on the grass clasping his 
 knees as he thought about it all. From 
 what Leah had told him, St. Patrick was 
 not a bit like his father would be, even if, 
 later, God turned him into a saint. Perhaps 
 on a day like this, if St. Patrick was as full 
 of glee as Leah's husband had said, he could 
 come back to earth and recognize the peo- 
 ple who were a bit like him. Tobias 
 felt almost giddy with the feelings surging 
 in him. He had found out long ago that his 
 mother was his guardian angel. His whole 
 childhood was one lovely dream of her, his 
 sweet mother Mary, who had died when he 
 was born and said "puir mitherless bairn" 
 before going. Leah, who told him this, and 
 had said that as his mother was Scotch and
 
 THE LOVER 79 
 
 St. Patrick Irish it was almost a certainty 
 that she would over-persuade St. Patrick to 
 be the other guardian angel, as no woman 
 alone, even if she was an angel, could rightly 
 lead a boy in the way he ought to go. He 
 thought of them both, his mother and St. 
 Patrick, and wondered what they would like 
 him to do after sending him something so 
 very big and wonderful. For to-day was not 
 only St. Patrick's Day. It was Tobias Tre- 
 widden's birthday and love had come to him 
 on the eve of it. It surely must be love he 
 thought, or all the world would not seem so 
 different. It was glorious even to take into 
 his lungs the fresh morning air and breathe 
 it out again to the sky. There seemed no 
 past and no future, not even a to-morrow, 
 only the sun and to-day. Tobias prayed as 
 most people talk and some sing. He prayed 
 as he breathed, almost unconsciously, and al- 
 ways familiarly, as he would have spoken to 
 his mother had she lived, and as he had 
 spoken to Fan-Fan and Trailing Topsy and
 
 80 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 the other fantastic fairies of his childhood. 
 After he had seen to his flocks and his flow- 
 ers he jumped into a little hollow where the 
 moss and lichen grew among the gray old 
 stones. He came out with some "shamrock" 
 a real Irishman would have rejected, but 
 Tobias prayed as he fastened it in his cap. 
 It was the prayer of one in what Leah called 
 "deliricums," which was the equivalent of 
 the desire Tobias expressed when he wanted 
 to be a catapult; "Send her quick and then 
 stop the sun from waning till to-morrow." 
 So certain was he that his prayer would be 
 answered that by eleven he had whirled 
 through his daily work, whistling and sing- 
 ing so loudly all the time that the birds 
 seemed overborne by the human lover in 
 their midst. As he noticed them preening 
 their feathers, in between their bursts of 
 song, Tobias realized that he also must make 
 himself orderly in dress. A shepherd is one 
 thing, a lover quite another. A shepherd 
 can afford to be careless in his dress, may
 
 THE LOVER 81 
 
 even leave his curls astray as the wind or 
 sleep have tossed them, but a lover! He 
 smiled, and with three gymnastic feats he 
 had stripped and flung himself into the river. 
 The river probably realized, as the birds and 
 the sky and the sun understood too, how 
 clean, not only the heart but the body of a 
 lover must be. It was Sunday, the day for 
 "changes," as they called his underlinen at 
 home. He had one white smock in the hut 
 which he had never worn. Leah had made 
 it for him in the evenings. His stepmother 
 had laughed at it because on it Leah had 
 worked little shepherd's crooks. Now it 
 seemed a part of this vibrant day, and no 
 more ridiculous than when on Easter Sun- 
 day he had gone with his school teacher to 
 church and seen boys singing in what he at 
 first thought w r ere their shirts. Leah had 
 told him that while she was making the 
 smock she had been thinking of her husband 
 when he first wooed her, and she said that 
 there was no knowing if he could not come
 
 82 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 back some day to a "saucy" soul like Tobias 
 and teach him all the wonders wooing a maid 
 meant. 
 
 As Tobias put on his smock, a curious 
 shyness crept over him. He had suddenly 
 recalled his Love's hands. Perhaps it was 
 because she was a dressmaker that they were 
 so unlike Leah's hands, as unlike in fact as 
 a crow was from a gull. He leaned against 
 his hut and looked at his own fingers. Was 
 it possible that there should be all that dif- 
 ference between the male and the female 
 hand? He trembled at the thought of those 
 slender fingers. The mere vision of her 
 wrist and her ankles sent a message through 
 him like the wild anemones did as they hid 
 their gentleness under the stubbly gorse- 
 bushes on the wild moor. It was always in 
 April they were the most beautiful, just 
 when the fiercest gales blew. What a won- 
 derful thing, thought Tobias, it must be to 
 be either a woman or a flower, and yet he 
 would not be a woman for anything, just
 
 THE LOVER 83 
 
 because he would know all the great secrets, 
 as his mother did, and not have to hunt them 
 out and half lose them as he caught them. It 
 was the sport and the madness and the swing 
 of the chase in everything which held him, 
 and here was this lovely body and soul of 
 his sweetheart advancing towards him, and 
 yet retreating, even in his thoughts about 
 her, just when he imagined he had caught 
 her moods and understood her. He thought 
 of her slender hands and arms, and the 
 prison of her love was a lure to his soul. He 
 dwelt on her mouth and the posies of the 
 world were as weeds in comparison. She 
 had talked of her little necklace, won at a 
 village treat, and the Holy Scriptures had 
 no greater wisdom in his ears. Her voice 
 had a lilt in it which no woe that could befall 
 him would withstand, and the arc of her 
 budding breast held more hope for Tobias 
 than the rainbow after any flood. There 
 seemed to be a silence, even among the 
 birds, as the knowledge flooded him that
 
 84 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 these thoughts of his about her were only 
 the signals of the nearness and the distance 
 which one day would melt into a great be- 
 longing. For to Tobias love was just a 
 great belonging, an intimate and eternal 
 mating. Something had befallen him which 
 made no thought and no action wholly his 
 own. It belonged to her hopes and to her 
 purity, as his heart and his body were hers 
 for the mere accepting. He had only seen 
 her twice, when a kind fate had sent her for 
 violets for a big wedding in the village, and 
 again for more in the case of a child's sud- 
 den death. They had scarcely spoken, and 
 yet Tobias knew he had been re-born, for 
 now the woman's point of view must always 
 mingle w r ith his and alter it to a different 
 outcome. Her will was his law. He 
 touched the lambs with almost a woman's 
 tenderness, and approached their patient 
 mothers with a feeling of awe. The rams he 
 bustled and hurried about a bit, as a little 
 unworthy of all they produced. Perhaps,
 
 THE LOVER 85 
 
 had Tobias guessed love was on its way to 
 him, he would have run from it as he some- 
 times hid his face when lightning and thun- 
 der made him forget all but their beauty. 
 But it was too late to flee now, and his heart 
 leapt at the thought of his bondage. She 
 had promised to meet him at the wall of the 
 wood, where the blue-bells would soon be in 
 a shimmer of color, and where, even now, 
 the primroses had longer stalks and larger 
 faces than anywhere else he knew. The 
 songs of the birds were hopes in themselves. 
 He would lead her to the pond, where later 
 the water-lilies grew, and try to tell her that 
 his prayers and his songs and his laughter 
 went from his heart to hers and made a new 
 music for them both. His spirit rippled into 
 peace at the thought of her and his veins 
 seemed filled with clear spring water that 
 had once been ice and snow. And yet, when 
 he thought of her asleep, as he did before he 
 undressed, a glowing ache just to kiss her 
 hair went through him. He felt sure she
 
 86 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 plaited it, and he made up his mind that one 
 day he would venture into a shop and buy 
 some pale purple ribbon to tie up the ends. 
 She was never out of his thoughts. He en- 
 folded her as the mists enfold the earth in 
 the early days and nights of spring. She 
 possessed him as the grass grasps the earth. 
 How long it seemed to wait for her! Sup- 
 pose she had got hurt ? Suppose she were to 
 die before he saw her again? He went sud- 
 denly cold at the bare thought. Suppose she 
 could never love him? His lips, curving to 
 the thought of her beauty, smiled almost be- 
 fore such a thought was born. Of course 
 she would love him or he would die. He 
 almost felt dead as he imagined such a 
 blankness. If she did not love him now 
 neither did his mother in Love- Acre. That 
 settled the whole matter and he pushed up 
 his curls in a gesture of security. 
 
 Suddenly she was there, smiling at him, 
 and waiting for him to speak. Tobias in- 
 stinctively pinched himself, in order, first of
 
 THE LOVER 87 
 
 all, to see if he was alive, and then to enable 
 him to keep so, for a sudden f aintness came 
 over him. It was, however, only for a mo- 
 ment. Erect and strong, the tall figure of 
 the man faced his hopes made visible. He 
 clasped his hands and she heard the gesture, 
 for at the first sight of his glowing face she 
 had lowered her head. Their eyes spoke and 
 a slow smile broke over her face and showed 
 her beautiful teeth. His eyes fell on them 
 and he grew serious. 
 
 "They'm more wonderful than the white 
 horses by the lighthouse rocks," he said 
 simply. 
 
 Her smile vanished. She looked toward 
 the sea and then at him. 
 
 "How funny!" she said. 
 
 Tobias stepped closer to her and whis- 
 pered : 
 
 "Heaven itself seems nonsensical before 
 this. Even flowers be only signs." 
 
 She laughed.
 
 88 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 "You are splendid, Tobias. No other 
 boys talk like that. They only fuss round." 
 
 "By the side of you," said Tobias, "every- 
 thing seems gray, even the sun." He looked 
 up unblinkingly. "There's cowslips over 
 there on the bank. Come." He walked 
 swiftly and she followed. They sat and 
 watched the flock of sheep without speak- 
 ing. The girl took off her white cotton 
 gloves. Tobias clapped his hands. 
 
 "I knew there was something wanting," 
 he said. "To hide they be a sort of mur- 
 der." 
 
 She caught his meaning from the tender 
 glow of his face, and laid one of her hands 
 on both of his, clasped as they were. 
 
 "They please you as you please me," she 
 said. "I'm some glad." The color fled 
 from the eager face of Tobias. 
 
 "Please me!" he echoed passionately. 
 "They'm just a world somehow. They 
 touch me in my sleep and set me praying 
 when I'm awake. They'm long and cool
 
 THE LOVER 89 
 
 like wings, in a manner of speaking, and 
 yet they could hold a shepherd's heart too 
 tight for it ever to stray. It's a great be- 
 wilderment to me," he ended simply, "that 
 flesh and blood alone should be so wonder- 
 some." 
 
 The beautiful slender girl suddenly faced 
 him. 
 
 "Tobias," she said gently, "your curls 
 maze me a bit like that, so we'm both of one 
 mind." 
 
 "I've always leaned to lank hair in men," 
 said Tobias, "but it's curls forever if you've 
 leanings that way. Before they've always 
 
 minded me of the sheep's wool, but now 
 
 He did not go on. She pulled away the 
 hand he held and suddenly reached up and 
 clasped both of hers round his head. Her 
 white arms touched his face and his whole 
 body quivered in response to her touch. 
 
 "They'm like baby's faces to me," she said, 
 "and I want to cuddle them." 
 'What more she would have said was
 
 90 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 spoiled in the uttering. Tobias leaped to his 
 feet, and the girl, alarmed at her own audac- 
 ity, stood too. Her fair head was on his 
 breast before she could open her lips to 
 speak, his strong young hands touched her 
 golden hair first and then gripped her shoul- 
 ders, and with one quick movement he had 
 lifted her into and cradled her in his arms. 
 She never spoke or moved, and he just ran 
 with his slender little love toward the water- 
 lily pond muttering, "Nothin' matters but 
 this, nothin' ever can matter any more." 
 
 The delicate curves of her body spoke to 
 him, as all Nature spoke to him, of delicious- 
 ness and fragrance, and his joy made her 
 weight as that of a new-born lamb in his 
 arms. He must cherish her life as he did 
 those of the lambs, he thought, but he must 
 save her as, alas! he was powerless to do 
 with his flocks, from disaster and death. 
 He galloped at last in the mere delight of 
 moving and the girl's eyes opened softly and 
 shut again in a tremulous ecstasy. He in-
 
 THE LOVER 91 
 
 haled her breath as she tried to speak and it 
 had the scent of primroses in it. Her eye- 
 lashes rested on her white skin, like the 
 dainty fringe edging a blue veined curtain 
 which covered the way to a sanctuary. The 
 body of Tobias changed, in that swift jour- 
 ney, into a meeting place for gods. He 
 loved beyond himself, and flung a challenge 
 to Fate as he cried in his soul, "She'm more 
 than bread and water to me and even death 
 be of no account after this." 
 
 The friendly trees, as he laid his love down 
 by the water-lily pond, seemed to make a 
 cloister round the resting-place of these mor- 
 tals who, like them, were at last escaping 
 from a winter's lovelessness. 
 
 "Tobias," she said, "how wonderful strong 
 your arms are. You'm a man worth while. 
 I do dearly love you." 
 
 Tobias was very grave. 
 
 "It's overpowering me," he said. 
 
 "What?" 
 
 She spoke so sweetly and gravely, he re-
 
 92 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 mained quite still looking down upon her. 
 Her pale-purple cotton dress, with the 
 glimpse of the white petticoat underneath, 
 was all he noticed at the moment, except that 
 in carrying her he had crushed some dark 
 wall-flowers she was wearing. 
 
 "Life," answered Tobias softly and bent 
 over her to take out the dead flowers from 
 her dress. "The great secrets seem very near 
 and I'm dazed and joyful to once'st." He 
 looked at the dead flowers in his hands. 
 "They be overcome too, and no wonder, but 
 they'm dead and no use to you now. I'm 
 alive, Loveday, and your Boy. See!" He 
 knelt over her on one knee as she lay on the 
 bank of the pond. A shiver like the wind 
 makes when the sun kisses the daffodils 
 passed over her. 
 
 "It's all we was born for," said Tobias. 
 
 Her upper lip trembled as she looked into 
 his face. She could not move, and he could 
 hardly speak, but in a deep whisper he end- 
 ed: "It's a fire and ice together and a great
 
 THE LOVER 93 
 
 hush and gallop in one. It's a frenzy and 
 yet the peace of the falling snow is in it. 
 I've never been near it before. It's like a 
 voice and a light in one." 
 
 "It makes us feel gay and happy, doesn't 
 it?" she said. "You have such a way with 
 you too. I feel I shall never know what's 
 coming next, and it's just lovely, like a sur- 
 prise packet or a letter you've had no notion 
 was on its way." 
 
 "Perhaps it comes all different to girls," 
 said Tobias. "I can't reckon with it at all. 
 It's like a devastation, in a manner of speak- 
 ing, and yet a grand awakening. I feel I've 
 been mostly asleep always, and have just 
 woke up." 
 
 "You'd help to waken the dead now, To- 
 bias Boy." A little happy laugh escaped 
 her. "You'm more like a gypsy than any- 
 thing else, but I'd not have you different. 
 You'm so turbulent and masterful." 
 
 "I'm full of faults," said Tobias. 
 
 "And I'm crotchetty," said Loveday.
 
 94 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 "I'm full of moods and fancies. You'll hate 
 me one day if I show you my grainey ways." 
 
 Tobias clasped his hands behind his head. 
 
 "It would be just the same if you'd wrin- 
 kles or warts or sunburn," he said, "I'd miss 
 them if they was wanting. Clouds and rain 
 would never make me turn against the sun." 
 
 "Have you never fancied a girl, Tobias?" 
 she whispered. 
 
 He did not answer for a moment. Her 
 throat was so long and white, he was think- 
 ing that the swans in the squire's lake were 
 unshapely in comparison. It was the echo 
 of her question which at last reached him. 
 He had waited long enough to make her ex- 
 claim: "You rascal, you've kissed many 
 maidens and just forgotten." He knew she 
 could not be serious, but it gave him joy to 
 answer, though he began to wish he had 
 thousands of remembered kisses to press on 
 her lips as a testament if that was what girls 
 liked. He felt a little shamefaced as he an- 
 swered.
 
 THE LOVER 95 
 
 "I've never cast a thought toward a 
 maid," he said. "Fairies and the silent 
 things have been so near always." 
 
 She looked at him incredulously. 
 
 "Fairies," she echoed, "why they'm all 
 make-believes. Surely you've had fun?" 
 Her face was one expectant smile. "Larks, 
 I mean, nothing to matter, of course." 
 
 Tobias smiled. 
 
 "Only with Leah," he said. "We've 
 played hard at pillow fights and rounders 
 and such." 
 
 She threw back her lovely head and 
 thought for a moment before answering 
 him, "Then you're by yourself. There 
 never was anyone just like you, I expect. 
 So you were never tempted?" 
 
 "I never cast a thought before. Do girls, 
 before they mark their lad for good and 
 all?" 
 
 She laughed. "All girls be drawn to lads 
 and all of us loves to be fussed over, but 
 you have a way with you different to the
 
 96 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 rest and make me forget they others." She 
 looked at him under her eyes. "There was 
 just one I leaned to, but you've made him 
 like brass before gold, somehow." 
 
 Her simple statements had eased the ten- 
 sion of his mood. He sat close by her and 
 clasped his hands round his knees. 
 
 "We'll live on a hill-side," he said, "and 
 be happier than the swallows. We'll lie 
 under the stars and sing to the moon and 
 then sleep till the dawn." 
 
 She laughed merrily. 
 
 "That's many baking and washing days 
 off," she said. 
 
 "We'll always be thinking of it to make 
 its wonder understandable," he said. "Every 
 day and night will bring it nearer." 
 
 She edged closer to him. 
 
 "Tobias, isn't it well I'm a dressmaker be- 
 cause I can make my wedding clothes, free 
 of expense." 
 
 "Wedding clothes?" he echoed. "I never
 
 THE LOVER 97 
 
 thought of they. Why ! We're wedded al- 
 ready, you know, if we love one another." 
 
 She nestled up to him. 
 
 "Only in a manner of speaking," she said. 
 "But girls like all the fuss, you know, and 
 the ring to show the other girls and oh ! all 
 sorts!" 
 
 Her head was on one side, and a lurking 
 tremble of vanity was in the happy twitch- 
 ing of her mouth. 
 
 Tobias closed in on her mood. 
 
 "And ear-rings and beautiful shoes with 
 buckles, like they have in the pictures of Cin- 
 derella, and silk stockings, and laces and 
 brooches and best kid gloves," he murmured. 
 
 "Yes, yes," she panted eagerly. "Oh! 
 how they'll all envy me. And you'll always 
 love me, Tobias, and be proud of me?" 
 
 For answer he leaned over and his curly 
 head lay on her breast. He was too near 
 the eternal mysteries to speak, and she ruf- 
 fled up his curls about his neck as he held 
 her close. It seemed to him that he might
 
 98 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 easily die of the surging glory of the peace 
 within him. At last he spoke. 
 
 "Even a mother in Love- Acre might be 
 envious of this 'ere." 
 
 "Love- Acre?" she asked. "Wherever is 
 that? I've never heard of it." 
 
 Tobias suddenly raised his head. Every- 
 thing in him was surging to one desire and 
 in the fulfilment of it he answered her ques- 
 tion. He gently folded her in his arms and 
 looked a moment at the soft parted lips. 
 His manhood and her womanhood met sud- 
 denly and passionately on them and the 
 breath of love swept them into one. A fierce 
 gust of wind and a driving hail shower were 
 both unheeded. The sun had come again 
 before four eyes had opened upon the secrets 
 two mouths had revealed. The intimate 
 sweetness had flung them into a world where 
 touch alone can speak. Tobias, aching with 
 rapture, laughed the lover's low laugh of 
 joy. He caught her long white hands and 
 kissed them so madly she sobbed and crooned
 
 THE LOVER 99 
 
 as a child does when it is pleased. Then, 
 emboldened through her delicious passivity 
 and her tremulous smiles, he held back her 
 head and kissed her throat and chin, and 
 closed her eyes with his lips to have his will 
 with her eyelids. The fragrance of her hair, 
 as he sought it with hands and mouth, turned 
 him suddenly lonely and sad at his limita- 
 tions. His hands were only the ministering 
 angels for his whole body as they swept over 
 her in a sort of prayer. The fierce longing 
 broke at last into bald words. 
 
 "Seemly I want to hurt you because I love 
 you." 
 
 "Hurt hurt, Tobias lad," she said 
 breathlessly. "It's just heaven." 
 
 His kisses smote her like hail in the spring, 
 and she knew they would make the flowers 
 of her summer. Tobias suddenly pulled off 
 the little shoes. 
 
 "But for they, you couldn't stand up- 
 right," he cried as he covered her feet with 
 kisses. At last he lay back on the grass by
 
 100 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 her, a strange light in his eyes. Some inner 
 knowledge of him held her. She whispered 
 gently: 
 
 "Tobias, do all men folks love their women 
 like this?" 
 
 "I don't know," he said. "I've never 
 asked. I've never known nothin,' seemly, 
 till to-day. You'm just everything and the 
 close meanin' of everythin'. There'd be no 
 world for me now without you. It's just 
 light or darkness, and no betwixt or between 
 for ever more." 
 
 She glanced under her eyes at him. 
 
 "A woman would never be a trailer to 
 you, Tobias," she said. "A man mostly leads 
 and let's a woman drag after." 
 
 Tobias pointed to the setting sun. "It's 
 not that as you'd ever be," he said, "but just 
 the risin' one as gladdens the world." 
 
 "Girls say men be allus saucy and mazy 
 afore marriage and gluttons and drivers 
 after," said Loveday. "Perhaps you'd have
 
 THE LOVER 101 
 
 no taste even for kisses, once you got me 
 tight." 
 
 Tobias looked at her almost calmly. 
 
 "To bed and board with thee, sweetheart, 
 would surely be a daily surprise. I'd never 
 overtake you in meanings, I'm thinking, for 
 every minute you'm almost a new girl in 
 wonder, and how could that stop if you was 
 my wife and we'd little ones?" 
 
 She reddened, and he drew her to him, a 
 subtle tenderness in his face. "You see, it's 
 with minding sheep and lambs that makes 
 me so f orthy," he said. "It's all so grand to 
 tend and minister to them, and I'm one with 
 them all in that too. It's what belonging 
 means, just everything. I'd sooner have a 
 little lad of my own than be a lord." 
 
 "And I'd sooner bear your children, Boy, 
 than be the squire's lady." 
 
 She spoke shyly out of his mood and out 
 of her own revelation of herself. 
 
 He held her for a moment in his arms. 
 
 "We'll love everything," he said, "and be
 
 102 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 wonderful happy. Here's a ring," he went 
 on. "The hours crawled so this morning 
 that I picked daisies and made this." He 
 drew something from his smock pocket and 
 opened a tiny match box. 
 
 Her eyes fell. 
 
 "Daisies," she said sadly. 
 
 "Just to begin with," he said, "and thread- 
 ed as close as a mat." He slipped it on her 
 wedding finger. "Just fits. See how I 
 
 knew." 
 
 She tried to please him but her voice be- 
 trayed her. 
 
 "Isn't it an ill omen to change rings, even 
 a make-believe one?" 
 
 He snapped his fingers. 
 
 "Loveday, my jewel girl, I'd risk all of 
 they things. It's a parcel of fool's palaver, 
 all the talk of spells and such like. Our 
 kisses could drive any disaster away, I'm 
 thinking." 
 
 "I love diamonds," she said, "and rubies 
 next."
 
 THE LOVER 103 
 
 "They don't grow on eighteen shillings a 
 week," he said gaily. 
 
 "Ohl" said Loveday, "I thought you had 
 much more. We can't furnish on that." 
 
 "Then we must live on the grass in a 
 hut," he said smiling. 
 
 Her lips puckered. 
 
 "No girls ever begin like that. They'd 
 all scorn us. I like them to envy me." 
 
 He twisted the daisy ring round on her 
 finger. 
 
 "Who be they?" he said. "It's all in our 
 hearts, and furniture is no real stand-by. 
 Outsiders don't count either." 
 
 "Father and mother wouldn't hear of it," 
 she said slowly. "I've a bottom drawer to 
 fill with things for a home, and presents be a 
 big part of a wedding. Those and the 
 cake." 
 
 "You shall have them," said Tobias. 
 "Even birds deck themselves out for their 
 pairing. I'll get thee all thee dost need in 
 time. You wait and see."
 
 104 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 "Then you will have to leave the shepherd- 
 ing," she said. "It's a lean trade for profit." 
 
 "Leave the shepherding," he cried. "I 
 should feel like a man without a skin. It's 
 part and parcel now of all my make-up." 
 
 A hard look flitted over her face. 
 
 "I thought you loved me better than all 
 the world?" she queried. 
 
 "Of men and women," he said gravely. 
 "But the life of a shepherd is scarcely a 
 man's own, either to leave or to keep." 
 
 She laughed merrily. 
 
 "Oh! Tobias! what a funny thing to say! 
 It sounds like the proverbs." 
 
 "It is true," said Tobias. 
 
 "If you love me you'll give it up and be 
 a head grocer," she said. "And from that a 
 wholesale merchant. I'd be- some proud of 
 you then." 
 
 A foreboding held him, and perhaps the 
 thought of Mr. Carbines, the local village 
 dealer, awed him.
 
 THE LOVER 105 
 
 "I'd have to grow portly and smile to 
 oblige," said Tobias. 
 
 The sun was kissing the sea good-night, 
 and Loveday leaped to her feet. 
 
 "It must be quite late," she said, "and 
 there will be a fuss at home. Oh! Tobias! 
 It's been so nice and I do love you so. 
 When shall I see you again? Fancy! It 
 seems quite horrid to go." 
 
 "To-night," said Tobias eagerly, "and 
 even that seems too far off to reckon with. 
 I can get away an hour to run in and kiss 
 you again and then back to the flocks. I 
 can leap like a goat and so need waste no 
 time." 
 
 She held out her hands to him coquettishly. 
 
 "Some day you'll have no flocks," she 
 cried joyfully, "only me." 
 
 He knelt on the grass and clasped his 
 arms round her waist. 
 
 "Only you," he murmured, "and then you 
 too will have a shepherd." 
 
 "Oh! I feel so gay, Tobias, and so wholly
 
 106 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 yours," she rippled. "It's just fine." She 
 drew his head close against her body and ran 
 her fingers through his curls. "Never let 
 the barber damage them, my Shepherd Boy, 
 and" her eyes contracted slightly "never 
 let another woman touch them." 
 
 "Not till I reach Love- Acre," said Tobias. 
 
 "You're always thinking of that outland- 
 ish spot," said Loveday. "Who lives there?" 
 
 "My mother," answered Tobias simply. 
 
 "Your mother," she repeated absentlyj. 
 "How queer! And who else?" 
 
 "Lovers, I imagine," said Tobias, "but I 
 know very little about it except in dreams." 
 
 "Dreams," she echoed. "Then it's no real 
 place at all? It's like the fairies and all that 
 tosh." 
 
 Tobias did not answer. How could he? 
 What was reality? What were dreams? 
 
 "I don't exactly know in the face of your 
 kisses," he said at last. "They be the only 
 sure things for us both, it seems. And yet 
 Love- Acre and the fairies be quite real to
 
 THE LOVER 107 
 
 me. Love- Acre began by being a fanciful 
 place to me as a youngster, but as a Shep- 
 herd it's become more like a home. Perhaps 
 our little ones will come from there, who 
 can tell?" 
 
 Loveday gazed at him with open eyes and 
 mouth. 
 
 "Tobias, if you wasn't a darling you'd be 
 a sawney," she said, "but you makes non- 
 sense sound like sense. That's a sillier story 
 than the parsley beds and the big stork." 
 
 "I've never heard of they," said Tobias, 
 "but I know my mother is in Love- Acre by 
 all the signs." 
 
 "What signs?" she asked. 
 
 Could he tell her those innermost secrets 
 of his, those long talks with Fan-Fan and 
 Trailing Topsy and the greater things whis- 
 pered to him in the Silence? And yet she 
 was his and he was hers and the barriers were 
 all down as far as he could tell. What held 
 him silent? Only a curious twist about her 
 mouth which was half a smile and half a
 
 108 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 sneer. It was, he felt, as if she had held out 
 a little cup for him to fill, and having a 
 large pitcher of clear water in his hand, it 
 would grieve her that the cup could not hold 
 or her thirst require what he had brought 
 from his well for her. 
 
 He did not answer. He kissed her mouth 
 into sweetness and her eyes into gladness. 
 Then he walked with her to the end of the 
 field and in the awed mood which makes 
 every parting between lovers the shadow of 
 death, he retraced his steps toward his hut. 
 He was surprised to find a man there. 
 
 "What ho?" cried the stranger. 
 
 Tobias greeted him curtly. If some casual 
 acquaintance had met Moses coming from 
 the Mount, just at the moment when he had 
 been obliged to put a veil upon his face, for 
 fear his inner joy should slay the outsider, 
 he would probably have answered as sharply 
 as Tobias. 
 
 "I'd best drive they sheep to the slaughter 
 house to-night," said the stranger.
 
 THE LOVER 109 
 
 "It's the Sabbath," said Tobias. 
 
 "All the quieter on the roads," said the 
 butcher; "they'll have time to calm down. It 
 makes the flesh better if they'm not too flus- 
 tered." 
 
 "Not to-night," said Tobias. "It's un- 
 thinkable." 
 
 The butcher looked at the shepherd curi- 
 ously. Then he grinned. 
 
 "Had a drop, shepherd?" he hazarded. 
 
 Tobias looked full at the slaughterer. To 
 the butcher his eyes seemed glazed. 
 
 "Yes," said Tobias. It was the easiest 
 thing to say and not a lie, except to the 
 butcher. Dewdrops could intoxicate as 
 much as beer, if the drinker was a white 
 violet under April leaves. And if the 
 "drop" was the bliss of his love's lips, why 
 worry to deny anything to the grinning man 
 before him? 
 
 "Thought so," said the stranger. "Beast- 
 ly work shepherding?" 
 
 "What of butchering?" asked Tobias.
 
 110 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 "How you do it unless you be gone in liquor 
 is always a wonderment to me." 
 
 "Butchering be not slow a bit," said the 
 man. "It's full of dare-devilry excitement, 
 and as good sport as hunting if the beasts be 
 frightened or gamesome." 
 
 "It's devil's pastime," said Tobias and 
 the butcher laughed. 
 
 He handed Tobias a paper. On it was 
 written: "Twenty sheep and ten lambs 
 marked S." and signed by his master. 
 
 "I'll bring them to you at dawn," said 
 Tobias. 
 
 "Why dawn? Why not now?" asked the 
 butcher. 
 
 "I've a fancy," said the shepherd. "Give 
 them another night in the open." 
 
 "Look!" said the man, "I'm taking my 
 girl to Poltreath Fair to-morrow, and I want 
 the job over and a wash and a change by 
 twelve. Time they're slaughtered and 
 skinned and dressed, it'll take till eleven." 
 
 Tobias was very pale.
 
 THE LOVER 111 
 
 "It's just murder," he muttered. 
 
 "Don't take it neat next time, shepherd," 
 laughed the butcher. "Your head be too 
 young to stand it." 
 
 Tobias looked full at the other man. 
 
 "That's how I always take it," he said, 
 "neat, and it burns like fire." 
 
 The butcher filled his pipe, while Tobias 
 went towards his flock and called the twenty 
 by name and picked out ten lambs. He was 
 very white and the butcher grew grave at 
 last. 
 
 "You've got a chill over that drink of 
 yours," he said. "Your eyes are feverish 
 and you're as white as death. Help me drive 
 them to the field with the dog. It'll warm 
 you up," he added kindly. 
 
 Tobias drove the little chosen herd to the 
 road and fled back to his hut. 
 
 "How can I touch her to-night with that 
 sin on my hands?" he cried. "They trust me 
 and love me. I've sent them to their death, 
 and yet what can I do? They're as believ-
 
 112 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 ing as she is, and as innocent." He hung his 
 head. "It's a dreadful thing to be a shep- 
 herd, as she says, and a glorious thing to be a 
 lover." 
 
 Out of her presence the common events in 
 his work bewildered and depressed him. He 
 felt only half alive without her. He could 
 neither eat nor sleep till he had seen her 
 again. It was almost as if he had given her 
 over to destruction, so great was the strain 
 on his soul as he sent his four-footed friends 
 to the slaughter. Even the sight and sound 
 and touch of Loveday, in the few hurried 
 moments he saw her, only partially soothed 
 him. She noticed how pale he was, but he 
 would not depress her, so only said that he 
 always slept all tiredness away. He nearly 
 added that he was sure he got a new life in 
 his sleep, in Love- Acre, but he just stopped 
 in time. 
 
 Loveday was going to chapel with a girl 
 friend who was to be married at Easter. 
 
 "Her man be a bitter rind to swallow,"
 
 THE LOVER 113 
 
 said Loveday, "and mine be the pick of the 
 world." 
 
 Tobias went slowly back to his hut by the 
 light of the stars. He fell asleep pondering, 
 first on love and then on death, and in his 
 dreams they became one.
 
 PAET IV 
 THE ALIEN
 
 THE ALIEN 
 
 MATTHEW TREWIDDEN always rose at five 
 in the morning, as he declared that "wet or 
 dry, sick or well, I've got to work to fill 
 young mouths." When night came he made 
 a rule of having bread and milk at half past 
 eight, and then went straight to bed. This 
 had the same effect on his family circle that 
 children generally have on their parents 
 when their heads are safely on their pillows 
 and there are a few hours free from noise. 
 The neighbors knew that nine o'clock or 
 thereabouts was the best time to catch Mrs. 
 Trewidden for a friendly gossip, and no 
 man, hoping to supersede Leah's Irish hus- 
 band, ventured into the wooing lists till after 
 that time. It grew into a custom that neigh- 
 bors dropped in while Mrs. Trewidden and 
 Leah did the family mending. Many lives 
 117
 
 118 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 were spiritually lost and few saved at these 
 times. The great subject at the moment was 
 Tobias and his sudden declaration that he 
 could no longer be a shepherd. He had been 
 home a week already, and his father was 
 very angry that he had given up one job be- 
 fore finding another. Leah's companion, 
 Phillipa Trewhella, who had lately married 
 a German servant belonging to a county 
 family near, and Wilmot Harry, the district 
 nurse, had dropped in rather late. Leah was 
 ironing and Mrs. Trewidden knitting. 
 
 "I can't sit and do nothing," said Mrs. 
 Trewidden. "My fingers itch to sew or knit. 
 Now Leah there can often doze over the fire, 
 just twiddling her thumbs, but I can't. It's 
 having a family, I suppose. It makes one 
 feel it a sin to be idle a minute." 
 
 "Having a family modifies natures," ob- 
 served Wilmot Harry, "but there's restless 
 mothers same as there's peaceful maidens." 
 
 "I wonder what sort of wife and mother 
 Loveday Cocking will make?" Phillipa
 
 THE ALIEN 119 
 
 Trewhella spoke thoughtfully. "She'm in 
 some rush of pride over Tobias. To hear 
 her talk there's been but one shapely lad 
 born in this world and she've got him." 
 
 Leah held the iron she had just taken 
 from the stove close to her cheek. 
 
 "She's not far wrong," she said. "HeVe 
 sprung up like a tree and he's full of a fine 
 sap and joy fulness." 
 
 "Leah allus leans to Tobias," said Mrs. 
 Trewidden. "My children be toad-stumps 
 by the side of he." 
 
 Leah bent over her ironing. She suddenly 
 turned to her friend. 
 
 "You know why, don't you, Phillipa 
 Jane?" 
 
 "Not exactly," was the answer. 
 
 "I've always a dream child in my head," 
 said Leah. "It's an Irish one, of course, but 
 I feel it is like Tobias. He often says 
 things I've made up in my heart that my 
 little one, if I'd had one, would have said to 
 me. If Tobias went wrong, in a manner of
 
 120 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 speaking, I feel I should grasp at once why 
 he was led into misdoing." 
 
 "He's more likely to go mad," said his 
 stepmother. "He's never been exactly all 
 his life and I believe he fairly tries to be 
 unlike my boys. He's fantastical and unbe- 
 knowns." 
 
 "He can't help it," said Leah. "He sees." 
 
 "Sees what?" asked Wilmot. 
 
 "Pixies," said Leah, "and such." 
 
 "Bosh!" said Mrs. Trewidden. 
 
 "Them as hears and sees be in a fair way 
 to take the short cut to the asylum, so I 
 understand. I've heard neighbors say that 
 Tobias have got an evil spirit. I know one 
 boy as he've ill-whisht with them strange 
 eyes of his. They fair gives you the creeps 
 at times," ended Wilmot. 
 
 "Evil spirits indeed!" cried Leah, as she 
 tossed her sprinkled clothes from the wash 
 basket on to the table. "Look at him! The 
 dear ! What comfort would evil spirits have 
 inside a man like that? I reckon they'd soon
 
 THE ALIEN 121 
 
 have a fit of homesickness and go back to 
 the devil with a dreary account of their trip. 
 As for being ill- whisht! Them eyes of his 
 makes folk confused, I grant you, but most- 
 ly over their own misfits in thoughts and 
 deeds. He'm as tender as a woman over 
 misfortune." 
 
 "He'm a saint," according to you," said 
 Mrs. Trewidden. 
 
 "No," said Leah gently. "He'm a forth- 
 right human creature and neither saint nor 
 devil. He do never lie nor bear a grudge." 
 
 Wilmot laughed. 
 
 "Maybe that's witchcraft in itself," she 
 said. "Daily life needs grease, like cart- 
 wheels, and a little deception be no worse 
 than a bit of gossip at times. It makes 
 things quiet and easy." 
 
 "What of his temper?" sneered Mrs. Tre- 
 widden. "As a kid he was some masterful. 
 Even with his father he was furious at times 
 and he bit his father's leg once and flew at 
 my throat."
 
 122 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 Leah's face darkened and the other women 
 gasped. 
 
 "Be fair," said Leah, "for he'm not here 
 to explain. His father was seemly thrashing 
 all the life from him when he bit as rats in a 
 trap bite, and you missis, begging your par- 
 don of course, told him his mother had 
 spawned a devil's imp in her own likeness. 
 He've allus loved his mother though he never 
 saw her." 
 
 Leah hung a flannel shirt on the horse 
 before the fire. 
 
 "He tormented me into it with his cold- 
 ness and his g'eat wide open saucer eyes," 
 said Mrs. Trewidden. 
 
 "Thanks be," said Leah, "that his pluck 
 have saved him from a winding sheet. He 
 was never spared no rod that could flay, I 
 can testify, having often gone between it 
 and him and had black wheals on my flesh 
 in his place. My child should never have 
 been caned. The wonder is Tobias is not a 
 devil."
 
 THE ALIEN 123 
 
 "Your child be a dream one, remember, 
 Leah Martin," said Mrs. Trewidden. "Real 
 children wants hiding same as dogs and 
 horses." 
 
 "Even that's a frustration mostly," said 
 Leah. "Sugar and coaxin' be cheaper and 
 more profitable." 
 
 "Loveday will take a deal of doing for," 
 said Phillipa. "Men wanders in some ways, 
 once matrimony be a fixture." 
 
 Mrs. Trewidden laughed. 
 
 "Have you found that out already?" 
 asked Wilmot. "Lor! it's early days to 
 know that you've tied a knot with your 
 mouth you can't ever undo with your teeth." 
 
 "Six months can seem a life-time if you're 
 full of either happiness or misery," said 
 Phillipa. "I'm all right. Bill be first class 
 if I get his meals to time and if I brush his 
 Sunday suit when he's ready to put it on, and 
 if I keep the house-place clean and fitty." 
 
 "Where is he now?" asked Mrs. Trewid- 
 den.
 
 124 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 "At the 'Lamb and Flag,' " said Phillipa. 
 "Him and Albert Tremayne have a bet on 
 over something and Bill keeps laughing to 
 himself over it and won't tell me, till it be 
 lost or won. It's over a woman I can tell, 
 though it's generally over horses. A lot of 
 the chaps are going to see it through, so I 
 shan't hurry home. I met Loveday, by the 
 bye, as I came in. Tobias, she says, had 
 asked her to pop in here and wait for him. 
 Him and Albert seemed to be quite pals. I 
 met them talking just before." 
 
 "Goodness," said Wilmot, "that's queer. 
 I always thought Bert, was a bit soft on 
 Loveday himself." 
 
 "He's never spoke out, I believe," said 
 Mrs. Trewidden. "He's a cautious fellow, 
 is Albert, and a bit saving. A wife be a 
 consideration to men of his make and not to 
 be undertaken without the certainty of a 
 nest-egg from the family." 
 
 "Perhaps he'll only fancy a woman when 
 it's too late," said Phillipa. "Bill never got
 
 THE ALIEN 125 
 
 really took up with me till Jack Sandow 
 came round sparking. Then he seemed to 
 see blood. I hates scenes," she ended with 
 a nervous laugh, "and so I just married 
 him." 
 
 "Females must be a great bewilderment 
 to males," said Leah, poking her finger 
 through a big hole in Mr. Trewidden's sock. 
 
 "Matthew says most of us wants putting 
 into a washing tray to be swimmed till we'm 
 meek and lowly," observed Mrs. Trewidden. 
 
 "Some of us wants seasoning, like wood," 
 said Phillipa. "I believe I'm that sort. But 
 men allus be in a fluster, and just takes us 
 or leaves us as if we was all of one make." 
 
 "There be as much variation in females as 
 in flowers, in a manner of speaking," said 
 Leah. 
 
 Wilmot was thinking and had not heard 
 her friend's conclusion. 
 
 "Some women wants leaving entirely in 
 peace," she said. "It's enough occupation 
 for me at any rate to watch the pairing and
 
 126 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 the doldrums of them as hungers after hap- 
 piness, without joining in at all. I never 
 feel a bit slighted, but glad I'm cut out for 
 an old maid." 
 
 "Tobias don't seem to dread no doldrums," 
 said Leah. "I went a bit faintey when I 
 looked upon him after he'd given up shep- 
 herding. He seemed all wrapped in glory, 
 like a thing. He seems to look on Loveday 
 as more than mortal." 
 
 "That's a sure sign she'll never be a help- 
 mate," said Mrs. Trewidden. "No female 
 can be expected to live up to the eager hopes 
 in Tobias' eyes. He'm daft with love and 
 longing, and that's cured easier than he 
 thinks." 
 
 The three women laughed loudly, but 
 Leah sighed. 
 
 "In some it's never cured," she said. 
 
 "Then Death must surely take him," said 
 Phillipa, "or the mad-house. Love like that 
 be a frenzy and not a real stand-by."
 
 THE ALIEN 127 
 
 "And a terrible nuisance in family life," 
 said Wilmot. 
 
 "It makes me shiver even while I'm iron- 
 ing," said Leah, "just to think of him. 
 He'm so reckless and yet so humble, so glow- 
 ing and yet so terrible sombre at times. A 
 woman will play on him like the wind on a 
 harp." 
 
 "Thanks be if a female conquers once in a 
 way," said Mrs. Trewidden. "Men mostly 
 gets the upper hand, and though women 
 kicks in their hearts they wear the appear- 
 ance of a spaniel on the chain." 
 
 "Tobias 'ave won my respect more than 
 I should have thought," said Phillipa. 
 "When I met him just now I chaffed him 
 over leaving shepherding before he'd fixed 
 in with another job. 'I have got one,' he 
 made answer, 'just got it now as under- 
 manager at Charles' farm.' He've to deliver 
 produce, keep the accounts and see the place 
 is at all times secure. He'm young for the 
 post."
 
 128 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 Mrs. Trewidden laid down her knitting 
 and put the kettle on the fire. 
 
 "Matthew will be some glad," she said. 
 "Tobias be so strange that it looked as if no 
 job would come along. That's a fine one, 
 sure enough. Did he mention the wages?" 
 
 "Thirty bob a week and over-time," said 
 Phillipa. "You bet he'll do plenty of over- 
 time to get married as soon as possible. 
 Lor! who's knocking? Come in, do." 
 
 It was Loveday. She stepped into the 
 kitchen and peeped about as she advanced 
 toward Mrs. Trewidden. They all came 
 forward, looking at her in the way women 
 eye a newly engaged friend or a bride. 
 
 "Tobias bade me come," she said. "HeVe 
 news, I believe." 
 
 "We won't spoil his fun by telling you," 
 said Wilmot. "He'll be saucier than ever 
 now and maybe more in love too, if that be 
 possible." 
 
 Loveday smiled the radiant smile of the
 
 THE ALIEN 129 
 
 woman who alone knows what the outside 
 world cannot even guess. 
 
 "Maybe," said Loveday. 
 
 "When's the wedding?" asked Phillipa. 
 
 Loveday glanced out of the window as 
 she answered carelessly. "Nearly a year. 
 We've fixed the seventeenth of March." 
 
 "Silly !" said Mrs. Trewidden. "The gales 
 be worst then, and the weather be chill for 
 moving furniture and settling in." 
 
 "It's primrose time," said Loveday and 
 
 St. " She blushed as Leah turned to 
 
 gaze at her. 
 
 "Blessed children of love," murmured 
 Leah, "and may St. Patrick bless you both." 
 
 "We shall be able to save by then and 
 have a real nice villa," said Loveday, "and a 
 fine house warming too." 
 
 "Tobias be coming on, sure enough," said 
 Mrs. Trewidden. "Love have pushed him 
 forward even to getting a new suit and a 
 bowler hat." 
 
 "He'll be a bit masterful," said Phillipa.
 
 130 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 "Look out, Loveday. It would be like light- 
 ing a fire with a big chimney draught to 
 make him real angry or jealous. One of you 
 would likely die of it. With all his dreamy 
 ways he've a terrible lot of spirit." 
 
 Loveday leaned back in the rocking-chair. 
 It suited her lithe young figure. The little 
 feet in the buckled shoes swung to and fro. 
 
 "I can't fancy him in real rages," said 
 Loveday, "and as for jealousy!" Memories 
 of her shepherd boy flooded her. "I wonder 
 if that could ever be?" 
 
 "Jealousy only comes to them as 'ave no 
 real hold," said Leah, "and be but a devil's 
 hammer to break a chain as be weak. 
 Tobias will hold till death and believe no 
 evil." 
 
 "Them be just the ones as be always 
 fooled," said Mrs. Trewidden. "The sur- 
 prises fall on them as be cock-sure. What 
 do you say, Loveday?" 
 
 "We'm both sure," she answered softly. 
 "We'm both of one mind. I couldn't give a
 
 THE ALIEN 181 
 
 thought to another while he be as he is. 
 Tobias and me just suits." 
 
 The door opened and her lover came in. 
 His glance was on Loveday almost before 
 he had shut the door. He saw no one else 
 and put his hand on her shoulder. 
 
 "I've got a job," he said, "a real good one. 
 Next March seems hundreds of years to 
 wait. A real life-time." 
 
 Mrs. Trewidden laughed. 
 
 "We'm all here, Tobias," she said. 
 
 He turned from Loveday. 
 
 "Evening all," he said. "The sky be full 
 of promise for to-morrow." 
 
 "Why, it's May-day of course," cried 
 Phillipa turning to Mrs. Trewidden. "We 
 mustn't forget the cream. The first of May 
 without your lovely cream would be like 
 chapel without an organ. The poorest runs 
 to a quarter on that day." 
 
 Tobias turned to Loveday. 
 
 "You and me will go to the Green and 
 dance round the pole," he said. His eyes
 
 182 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 gleamed so brightly they reminded Leah of 
 a fire on a frosty night. "It's the beginning 
 of summer and the lilac be in bloom al- 
 ready." 
 
 "Do you miss the shepherding?" asked 
 Wilmot. 
 
 Tobias laughed softly. 
 
 "I miss nothing," he answered. "It all 
 seems of a piece somehow. I don't think I'd 
 care what I worked at so long as it wasn't 
 the butchering or a hangman's job. Where 
 be the youngsters?" 
 
 "Gone to the choir to practise the sing- 
 ing," said Mrs. Trewidden. "They'm get- 
 ting ready for to-morrow night." 
 
 "We'll sing ourselves hungry," said To- 
 bias, "and dance ourselves thirsty and 
 
 He looked at Loveday and smiled, "Come, 
 let's be moving. I've promised to go to the 
 'Lamb and Flag' at nine, so we've only just 
 time for a walk first and I'll see you home 
 on my way." 
 
 The lovers shook hands and went out.
 
 THE ALIEN 133 
 
 Tobias threw his cap in the air and whistled 
 when they got into the lane. 
 
 "I must kiss you right away or I'll drop 
 dead," said Tobias. "I began to wish they 
 lot asleep. They seemed like blinking owls 
 by the side of thee and me." Joy and laugh- 
 ter rang in his voice. "I've been like one 
 famine-struck," he went on, "and the sight 
 of you and your buckled shoes and new hat 
 sent me into a fervor of spirit unmanage- 
 able before company." 
 
 Loveday had no time to answer. Her 
 mouth was closed as she was clasped to his 
 breast. As he released her she said shyly: 
 
 "Tobias Boy, my face seems sore all over 
 and I feel weak with thy strength, some- 
 how." 
 
 He caught at her shoulders and held her 
 fast. 
 
 "Think, Loveday," he cried, "I've got 
 steady work, so there's only a wait while we 
 get all ready and a daily wonder of meet- 
 ing, and then you always. My heart be in
 
 134 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 a maze of joy. It's throbbing all through 
 me, the thought that you are my wife." 
 
 She put her hand on his arm as he let her 
 go. 
 
 "That's unlucky," she said. "You mustn't 
 call me that till we'm wed. It spells disaster. 
 I'm only your sweetheart yet. Isn't that 
 enough?" 
 
 Tobias looked down upon her uplifted, 
 questioning eyes as the moon lit up their 
 faces. 
 
 "Let disaster come," he cried. "I'm 
 strong enough to fell it and whoever brings 
 it. Enough to be your sweetheart only I 
 No! Wife, wife, wife," he cried. 
 
 Loveday clung to him and she was trem- 
 bling at the passion in her lover. 
 
 "Tobias," she said solemnly "The Al- 
 mighty can smite down a man's pride and 
 it's a fearsome thing to boast in His face. 
 It's courtin' tribulation to dare Him to send 
 it." 
 
 "He'm love," said Tobias simply. "He do
 
 THE ALIEN 135 
 
 surely know the signs and can make allow- 
 ance for great love and joy?" 
 
 "He'm jealous," said Loveday in a whis- 
 per. "The Bible says so." 
 
 "I don't wonder," said Tobias softly. 
 "HeVe perhaps not calculated the full won- 
 der of what he've suif ered to wander to the 
 earth. There can't be another like my girl 
 in the making, even in heaven." 
 
 Loveday stood still and looked at her lover 
 with a slight frown on her face. 
 
 "Boy," she said, "folks say you are not 
 like other chaps. It's these queer things you 
 say makes them jeer. They think you're 
 godless and full of whimsies and strange 
 imaginings. It'll only be because you've got 
 this splendid job as will pacify my people, I 
 can tell you." 
 
 "For why?" asked Tobias indifferently. 
 
 "They've heard foolish tales about you 
 and they keep questioning me and I don't 
 know how to answer."
 
 136 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 "Well," laughed Tobias, "what do they 
 say?" 
 
 "That you are not exactly," she answered 
 slowly, "and that you once bit your own 
 father and flew at your stepmother and 
 
 and " she hesitated, "that you talked to 
 
 yourself and to insects when you was a 
 youngster and was always falling asleep 
 when other people kept wide awake." 
 
 Tobias still laughed. 
 
 "All of it was because I was put to and 
 lonely," he said. "My heart was in a con- 
 tinual longing and ache and bitterness. I'd 
 never even dreamt of you, you see, so how 
 could it be prevented? Without you, even 
 now, I should be driven to tantrums and 
 dreams again, I reckon." 
 
 "There!" she cried. "You're not even 
 sorry." She looked at him unsmilingly and 
 with a little touch of fear in her eyes. 
 
 Tobias was almost walking on tip-toe with 
 the joy in his heart. He bent his head to- 
 wards her as she murmured:
 
 THE ALIEN 137 
 
 "Perhaps you'd torture me? How can I 
 be sure?" 
 
 He laughed as he caught her chin and 
 tilted up her sweet face. 
 
 "We'd torture one another, in that case," 
 he said, "for what was woe to you would 
 be death to me." 
 
 She looked at him for a moment as if he 
 were a stranger. 
 
 "There's a bit of me terribly afraid," she 
 said. 
 
 "If you loved me as I love you, Loveday, 
 there'd be no room for such a foolish thing,'* 
 said Tobias. 
 
 "I do love you," she said simply, "that's 
 why I'm afraid." 
 
 "And I love you," he said slowly, "and 
 that's why I'm not." 
 
 "It may not last," she said. "They'll give 
 us no peace. I'm not one for beating back 
 trouble. I likes things smooth and peace- 
 able." 
 
 "Loveday, my sweetheart," said Tobias,
 
 138 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 "it's all in we and not in they. They've 
 no more power than beetles if we believe in 
 one another. It's to us, not to them. Have 
 you doubt of me?" 
 
 "Have you of me?" She asked the ques- 
 tion to get time to think. 
 
 "None," he said. "Even you couldn't 
 alter some things. It's fixed same as the sun 
 or the moon or the big hills. And you?" 
 
 He held both of her hands, the cool hands 
 which had first set his heart on fire. 
 
 "Seemly, men knows and girls only won- 
 der," she said. "You lead always, Tobias 
 Boy, and I'll follow." 
 
 "That's it," he cried, "just as girls, seem- 
 ly, likes being loved and men just longs only 
 to love. It's likely all in a wonderful piece 
 and past finding out." 
 
 They walked on and Tobias held one of 
 her hands against his heart. 
 
 "What did you do, Tobias," Loveday 
 murmured, "after you left me on St. Pat- 
 rick's Day?"
 
 THE ALIEN 139 
 
 He threw back his head and smiled hap- 
 
 "Slept," he answered, "like a dormouse, 
 all cuddled up in joy, girl." 
 
 Loveday's eyes contracted. 
 
 "Would you ever tell me a lie, Tobias?" 
 
 "Are these riddles?" asked Tobias. "Lie 
 to you? I love you!" he answered simply. 
 How she liked to play with him! It was 
 even joy to answer all this make-believe. 
 "You'm joking, Loveday." 
 
 "No, I'm not. Sam Bryant said you were 
 drunk that night and that you could hardly 
 stand or see. Father heard what he said 
 and begged me not to marry you." 
 
 Still Tobias smiled. 
 
 "What did you say, sweetheart?" He put 
 her hand against his cheek and then kissed 
 it. 
 
 "That you was a total abstainer. You 
 are, aren't you, Tobias?" 
 
 Her voice was low and troubled.
 
 140 
 
 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 "Not likely," said Tobias. "There's no 
 need." 
 
 "Oh !" said Loveday slowly. "It's all true, 
 then, what they do say?" 
 
 She gazed at him. Had he not heard or 
 why was he smiling? A fear shot through 
 her. 
 
 "What did they say?" Tohias asked. He 
 was thinking of his gallop with her to the 
 water-lily pond. 
 
 "That you'm a drunkard and and oh! 
 it frightens me." 
 
 "Come closer," he said tenderly, "and let 
 me comfort you. It's all foolish chatter." 
 
 "I'm just near home," said Loveday. "I 
 must go in or they'll wonder. I've got to 
 see little Annie Curnow to-night. Father 
 be taking me, so as to help carry some broth 
 and a blanket and a big chair, as she's dying, 
 they think." 
 
 Tobias lifted Loveday suddenly in his 
 arms when they got to the dark little lane 
 leading to her house.
 
 THE ALIEN 141 
 
 "It belongs," he said, "same as the kissing. 
 I'd like to smother you in love and hide you 
 from the gaze of all mankind somehow. 
 Just you and me away from the noise and 
 the glare and the silly talk, and only our 
 love for company. They can manifest and 
 speak then." 
 
 "They," she echoed. 
 
 "The fairies and the spirits of the woods, 
 to say nothing of the sea and the stars," he 
 said tenderly. "It's them things that counts 
 and not foolish gossip." 
 
 "How very odd," said Loveday. "It's all 
 unbeknowns and a bit silly to me. Give me 
 neighbors and houses, and a fair name." 
 
 "Folks dim the glory to me," said To- 
 bias. "But you'm joy and wonder to me 
 and nothing else counts. It's just every- 
 thing to be alive and well and hearty, and 
 in love with the most precious girl in the 
 whole world. Do you know, Loveday, every- 
 thing I do or say has a bit of you in it? If 
 I skipped my job or answered back sharp or
 
 142 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 thought ugly and spiteful things, I'd feel 
 I'd slapped your face, in a manner of speak- 
 ing." 
 
 She clung to him. 
 
 "It's when you're like this I loves you, 
 Boy, but I never could face talk." 
 
 "To Jerusalem with that!" said Tobias. 
 "It seems like bothering over what worms 
 or scorpions do. Let 'em crawl and bite. 
 It's their nature, but it's nothing to do with 
 we. We're nearer flying, you and me, with 
 all this love atween us. We'm fathoms deep 
 in beauty, and gossip be nothin' but ugli- 
 ness." 
 
 "I feel a bit easier when you talk like 
 this," she added; "but when I hears the 
 others it makes me tired and fearsome. I 
 began to think they're wiser than I am, and 
 I must attend and follow what they say." 
 
 "They'm blind, that's all," said Tobias. 
 "They'm like a sheep with one eye looking 
 toward a flock it wants to follow. It runs 
 astray and into mischief."
 
 THE ALIEN 143 
 
 "That's what they think of you," said 
 Loveday, "and father be very tender over 
 me, being his only girl, you see." 
 
 "Tender over you!" echoed Tobias. "Who 
 could help it? I would save you from any 
 disaster." 
 
 "I know you would," she said gently. She 
 looked up at him gravely. "But why did 
 Sam Bryant say you drank? He said you 
 told him so yourself and he's seen you tipsy." 
 
 There was a long pause as Tobias looked 
 down into the beautiful face. She shivered. 
 
 "I could never love you if you drank," 
 she said. 
 
 "Nor I you," he answered gently. "I 
 mean I'd keep off till I was cured." 
 
 "Why did he say it?" she insisted. She 
 suddenly lowered her head. "He said you 
 were drunk on St. Patrick's night. How 
 could he know it even if it was true?" 
 
 "He'm a drunkard himself and lies in his 
 cups," said Tobias slowly. "He knows it's 
 a lie, and you " He was smiling at her
 
 144 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 again. The memory of St. Patrick's night 
 had suffused him. He lifted her again in 
 his arms and kissed her passionately. 
 
 "Put me down, Boy," she gasped. "I 
 must go in. They are waiting." 
 
 She was agitated and some foreboding 
 in him answered to her mood. 
 
 "Loveday, dearest," he said, "I'll meet you 
 later." 
 
 "Are you sure?" she asked. "Why do you 
 go to the Lamb and Flag to-night? Don't 
 go. I ask it. Stay away, for my sake." 
 
 "It's a great nuisance," he said, "but you 
 see I've promised." 
 
 She had vanished before he could say 
 more, and he saw the light in her little home 
 as she opened the door. He walked down 
 the lane with a very solemn face. 
 
 "Love be the most fearsome of all things," 
 he muttered. "Shepherding be a pastime by 
 the side of it." 
 
 By the time Tobias had arrived at the 
 Lamb and Flag he was himself again, and
 
 THE ALIEN 145 
 
 he whistled as he entered the square stone 
 building with the light behind its red blinds, 
 giving a welcome which many good house- 
 wives declared was more suitable to a home 
 than a tavern. The inn was noted for its 
 remarkable roof. The thatch had borne the 
 gusts of many winters, and the common 
 house leek flourished about the eaves and on 
 the thatch. Many of the little cottages had 
 begged a bit of this "welcome home husband 
 be you ever so drunk," which was the local 
 name for the plant, to put on their own walls 
 or roofs for luck. 
 
 The first person Tobias saw as he entered 
 the little parlor was Sam Bryant. He was 
 laughing at something Bill Trewhella had 
 just said. The sight of Sam recalled sud- 
 denly to Tobias the whole incident of St. 
 Patrick's night when the butcher had come 
 for a flock of sheep. How could Sam know 
 that it was love and not beer which had in- 
 toxicated him then? What a fool he was 
 not to have remembered and explained to
 
 146 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 Loveday. He saw it all now and spoke cor- 
 dially to Sam, after greeting Albert Tre- 
 mayne and several others lounging in the 
 settles on both sides of the open fireplace. 
 
 "Good evening, mate," he said cheerily to 
 Sam. "How's things?" 
 
 "Slow and sure," answered Sam. "How's 
 yourself?" 
 
 "Fine," said Tobias as he squared his 
 shoulders and sat down. 
 
 "Have a glass?" asked Albert Tremayne. 
 
 Tobias shook his head. 
 
 "Just a toothful to keep us company?" 
 said Bill. 
 
 Tobias smiled. 
 
 "Not a leak," said Tobias. "I'm not a bit 
 thirsty yet." 
 
 "Come, shepherd," said Sam. "It's for 
 luck and will bring you a job." 
 
 "I've got it," said Tobias. He told his 
 good news. 
 
 Albert Tremayne scowled. He pulled 
 surlily at his pipe.
 
 THE ALIEN 147 
 
 "What's this nonsense about Loveday 
 Cocking?" asked Albert. "Town's talk 
 only, of course?" 
 
 Tobias laughed happily and shook his 
 head. 
 
 "Be you really plighted?" asked Bill. 
 
 The pressure of Loveday's lips seemed 
 still on his as Tobias framed a proper an- 
 swer. 
 
 "By all the signs," he said. 
 
 Albert's gaze slowly wandered from the 
 feet of Tobias to his curly head. 
 
 "You've filched she," said Albert. "A 
 measly trick in any chap." He turned and 
 looked at Bill. 
 
 "Snapped her, sure enough, right out of 
 Albert's mouth," said Bill. 
 
 Albert Tremayne stood up, and with 
 thumbs in his waistcoat he faced Tobias. 
 The whole room seemed interested and the 
 clatter of mugs ceased. 
 
 "Don't be fools," said Tobias. "She never 
 belonged to no man at all."
 
 148 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 Sam laughed a coarse laugh. 
 
 "How the devil do you know that, young- 
 ster?" 
 
 Tobias quietly crossed his legs and folded 
 his arms. 
 
 "I've her word," he said. 
 
 The three men laughed loudly. 
 
 "While you've been shepherding she've 
 been grazing, lad," said Sam. "You don't 
 know the ways of maidens out at grass, 
 seemly." 
 
 "It's a silly joke," said Tobias, "just to 
 pass the time. It's a passil of foolishness, 
 seems to me, to talk like this 'ere anyway." 
 
 "Don't you believe it?" asked Albert. He 
 came closer to Tobias and the men grinned 
 in anticipation of a row. 
 
 "No, I don't," said Tobias, smiling. "I'm 
 not such a ninny." 
 
 Bill got up too and leaned against the 
 mantelpiece as he faced Tremayne and 
 looked down on Tobias. 
 
 "Do you fancy," he asked slowly, "that
 
 THE ALIEN 149 
 
 women tells greenhorns what man they've 
 kissed and cuddled?" 
 
 Sam spat into the little tin spitoon as he 
 spoke thoughtfully. "Their craft be allus 
 to hold up a clean slate for fools to write 
 on, eh, mates?" He turned to Albert and 
 Bill. "Every man reckons on that, don't 
 he?" 
 
 Albert was gazing steadily at Tobias. He 
 suddenly called for the landlord. When he 
 came he pointed to Tobias and Bill and Sam. 
 
 "Four half and half," he said. When the 
 glasses were on the little table Albert looked 
 full in the face of Tobias. 
 
 "I'll pledge you on your bargain," he 
 muttered. 
 
 Tobias waved his hand. "Let someone 
 else drink the stuff," he said. "It's not my 
 liquor." 
 
 "Dill water perhaps," sneered Albert. 
 
 There was a loud laugh from the end of 
 the room. 
 
 Albert turned and winked at the men.
 
 150 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 "Tobias Trewidden," he said roughly, "if 
 you be a man at all I'll challenge you to 
 drink Loveday Cooking's health in this 'ere 
 if you believe her innocent. If not, well, 
 we shall all know what's the matter." 
 
 "There's no need to drink," said Tobias, 
 frowning; "I'll not sully her name with such 
 stuff." 
 
 "He knows she's a flighty one," said Bill. 
 He sat down near Tobias. 
 
 "Superfine youngster," said Sam. 
 "Come, shepherd. It's no use putting on 
 too much swank. I've seen you reeling tipsy, 
 mind." 
 
 "Nonsense," laughed Tobias. "You knew 
 that was a joke. I've never drunk anything 
 stronger than well water in my life." 
 
 Albert doubled up with laughter and held 
 his sides. 
 
 "My God!" he cried. "And you dare to 
 make love to a buxom woman like Loveday. 
 If your kisses be on that soft sawney line 
 she'll " He stopped and looked round
 
 THE ALIEN 151 
 
 as the men nudged each other and grinned. 
 
 "She'll just pass 'em on," said Bill, "that's 
 all. Women likes 'em hot and strong, shep- 
 herd, whatever they may say." 
 
 Tobias had grown very white. He looked 
 stubbornly round the room. "Seemly you 
 know nothing," he said sternly, "neither 
 about women nor mating nor yet kisses. 
 Women be bad and good, surely, same as 
 
 men, and as for kisses " He stopped 
 
 and a stern light leapt into his eyes as he 
 heard them jeering. 
 
 "Tell us what wisdom you've picked up 
 over they, shepherd," said Sam kindly. 
 "We're all men here and won't peach." 
 
 Tobias colored to the roots of his hair. 
 
 "Let's drop it," he said. 
 
 Albert Tremayne drew his chair nearer 
 to Tobias. 
 
 "You ought to be bound up in velvet and 
 put along with the family Bible," he said. 
 "Men's talk over women be like drink and 
 swearing. It's only a drivelling sawney who
 
 152 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 can't or won't tell his ventures with girls. 
 You needn't mention names. We'll guess 
 those." 
 
 "It's beastly," said Tobias, "and no real 
 man would do it." 
 
 Albert bit his lip. 
 
 "Look here," he said. "If you are such 
 a fine rooster, mate, drink that there. I chal- 
 lenge you from man to man. It's to her 
 health, mind, and if you daren't do it I'll see 
 she knows of it this very night." 
 
 "She'd commend me," said Tobias. "She 
 hates drink and them as takes it." 
 
 "That's all you know," said Albert. "I 
 happen to know better." 
 
 "I've proof," said Tobias. 
 
 "Women be very foxey, mind," said Bill. 
 "Often what they desires they condemns 
 most and pretends to despise, just to see if 
 their sweethearts be as masterful and strong- 
 headed as they hopes." 
 
 "It's the weak-headed what drinks," said 
 Tobias, "and the long-winded as boasts."
 
 THE ALIEN 153 
 
 "Damn you, Tobias!" cried Albert hoarse- 
 ly. "We want none of your Sunday school 
 jargon here. Drink to Loveday." 
 
 All the men in the room gathered round 
 Tobias and Albert. 
 
 "I'll drink in ginger beer," said Tobias. 
 
 "You won't," said Albert. "That's ill- 
 whist. You'll drink to her proper or not at 
 all." He turned to the men with his glass 
 in his hand. "Here's to her joy and health 
 and marriage to a seemly man," he cried. 
 They all clinked glasses. 
 
 Tobias suddenly sprang to his feet. 
 
 "Here's to her, then Loveday, my future 
 wife. Let's drink to her, body and soul." 
 He drained the glass. 
 
 Albert stared at him with his glass only 
 begun. 
 
 "My gosh!" cried Sam. "The woman 
 won't whine for an owner. He'll hold her 
 beyond stealing, sure enough." 
 
 "The devil!" cried Albert. "You'm an 
 old hand, after all."
 
 154 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 "You've lost your wager, Albert," cried 
 Bill. 
 
 "Your what?" asked Tobias. 
 
 The three men stared blankly at one an- 
 other and the group in the back of the room 
 whispered together. 
 
 "We'd a bit of a bet on the female con- 
 stitution," said Sam sheepishly. "Bert there 
 said you knew no more than a maiden about 
 women folk, and I said you could outstrip 
 we in knowledge." 
 
 "It was nothing of the kind," said Al- 
 bert. "What I mean I may as well say. 
 I'm playing with cards on the table now. 
 That girl Loveday have got to retrace her 
 steps a bit, that's all. She'm mine and I 
 mean to have her. You're a paltry thief. 
 If you've any doubts go and ask her." 
 
 A whirling sensation was mounting to the 
 brain of Tobias. He saw Albert's flaming 
 face close to his as he stammered out. 
 
 "I'd scorn to ask her such a shameful
 
 THE ALIEN 155 
 
 thing. It's not in nature she can belong to 
 both of us." 
 
 Albert grinned. 
 
 "Well, that's a point gained anyway," he 
 retorted. "No, she cannot marry us both, 
 young cuckoo. Who be she foxing, do you 
 think?"' 
 
 "No one," said Tobias. "She'm comely in 
 soul and body and her word be her bond. 
 She'm mine and so cannot be thine." 
 
 "Leave him be, Albert," said Bill sudden- 
 ly. "It's a bit of a shame, after all. He'm a 
 suckling and pitiable." 
 
 "Pitiable!" cried Tobias. "Who be piti- 
 able? You're all clean daft. What do you 
 mean at all?" 
 
 "Look 'ere, Trewidden," said Albert. 
 "Listen to me. This is getting beyond a 
 joke. When two men be bent on getting 
 the same woman, one of 'em have got to take 
 a back seat. I'm in the front row for the 
 moving picture. See?"
 
 156 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 "I'm in the picture, in a manner of speak- 
 ing," said Tobias. 
 
 "Clear out of it, then, if you wants to keep 
 alive," cried Albert. "The woman's bespoke. 
 She've got to marry me and we'll have the 
 banns put up before you've taken your first 
 month's wages. I'm a chap to my word." 
 
 "And I don't belong to bow to frustra- 
 tion," said Tobias. "The maid be vowed to 
 me and so be pledged beyond recall." 
 
 "I've seen Albert and Loveday dlinking 
 afore now," said Bill. 
 
 The landlord came in and filled the empty 
 glasses at a sign from Sam. 
 
 "Takin' arms bean't nothin'," said Tobias. 
 
 "And I heard a smacking of lips once," 
 said Sam as he wiped his mouth, after emp- 
 tying his glass at one draught. 
 
 Tobias looked hard at Sam. He spoke 
 bitterly. 
 
 "By the time youVe got out of this room, 
 mate, you'll likely have heard more than 
 that. This filthy, fiery stuff be enough to
 
 THE ALIEN 157 
 
 make you see and hear any disaster. I guess 
 you'll both see and hear double before 
 dawn." 
 
 "Fiery stuff! Beer!" cried Albert. 
 "Have a gin and bitters for coolness, do." 
 
 "It's the first and last of its sort I'll ever 
 reckon with," said Tobias. "I feel as sick 
 as a dog and must be going." 
 
 "Going where?" asked Albert. 
 
 "To meet Loveday," Tobias answered. 
 "I'm late now." 
 
 "He've lost !" It was echoed through the 
 room. The landlord had just come in with 
 more beer and the four men stood close to 
 Tobias, who suddenly sat down with his hand 
 to his head as they closed round him. 
 
 "You'll not meet her," said Albert sav- 
 agely. "I'll go instead." 
 
 "Instead of me," cried Tobias. "No, 
 thank you. I'm off to once'st." 
 
 Albert lurched towards him. 
 
 "Take that," he said, "and that for the 
 measly thief you are." He hit Tobias across
 
 158 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 the face and the second blow sent him 
 sprawling, because of its unexpectedness, on 
 to the sandy floor. His head caught the tin 
 spittoon and the force of the fall brought 
 blood running down his face. He leaped to 
 his feet and rushed at Albert, who stood 
 doubled up with laughter. His hands were 
 in his trousers pockets. 
 
 As Tobias rose and advanced toward his 
 foe Albert shouted at him: 
 
 "She've mocked at you, fool, and wants 
 to be free of her bargain in crazy shep- 
 herds. She says you boasted you'd separate 
 her and me, and she've the kisses of two 
 savors on her lips, mind." 
 
 Tobias flung his long arms in the air as 
 he came toward Albert. With two crashing 
 blows he felled his foe. With a roar like a 
 bull, Albert sprang to his feet and the two 
 men were locked in one another's arms. 
 There was absolute stillness in the room, ex- 
 cept for the thudding blows and the quick 
 breathing of the two fighters. It was a
 
 THE ALIEN 159 
 
 savage struggle, but Tobias won, and with 
 bowed head fled from the inn. He wiped 
 the wet red stream from his face, but his 
 hair was matted with it and he felt giddy and 
 shameful. Scarcely knowing what he was 
 doing, he walked to the little invalid's home, 
 where Loveday had told him she would be. 
 As he stood under the big lamp over the 
 door, Loveday and her father stepped out. 
 They saw Tobias at once. Loveday screamed 
 and her father stepped forward. 
 
 "Whatever is this?" he cried. "What in 
 the name of heaven has happened?" 
 
 "I've had a fall," said Tobias. 
 
 "Ohl" cried Loveday. "Bring him in, 
 father. He's bleeding." 
 
 "No," whispered Mr. Cocking. "We can't 
 go in. It will frighten the girl. Come on 
 home. How did it happen? You look fit 
 to faint." 
 
 "An accident," said Tobias. 
 
 "An accident in 'The Lamb and Flag,' 
 gasped Loveday. Her voice was hard.
 
 160 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 "Yes," said Tobias. 
 
 "Was it your fault?" asked Mr. Cocking. 
 
 "Yes," said Tobias. 
 
 There was silence as they slowly walked 
 toward the next lamp-post. There they 
 faced two men, Albert Tremayne and Sam 
 Bryant. Albert's face was already swollen 
 and his eyes had the expression of a fighting 
 tom-cat. 
 
 "He," pointing a finger at Tobias, "have 
 tried to murder me." He pointed to his face. 
 "He'm not safe abroad." 
 
 Loveday looked from her lover to Albert 
 and then at her father. Her face was white 
 and scared. 
 
 "You've lied, Trewidden," said Mr. 
 Cocking. "It evidently was no accident." 
 
 "In a manner of speaking it was," safd 
 Tobias, "and in another way it was not." 
 He had turned away from Loveday as he 
 spoke and the light from the lamp fell on his 
 matted hair. 
 
 "Oh!" cried Loveday. "How horrible he
 
 THE ALIEN 161 
 
 looks." Then turning to him, she said: 
 "Doesn't your face hurt you?" 
 
 Something woke in him, and a great an- 
 guish, like a gray mist, enveloped him. 
 
 "It all hurts," he said brokenly. "Where 
 shall I go, what shall I do?" 
 
 A burst of laughter broke from Albert 
 Tremayne. 
 
 "Tell the cry-baby, Loveday," he said. 
 "Where shall he go, what shall he do?" he 
 mimicked. 
 
 Fear was in Loveday's eyes. She looked 
 up at her lover. He looked down on his 
 love. It seemed that Death held him by the 
 throat. He could not speak. In her alone 
 was the rescue. 
 
 "Smell his breath," cried Albert. "Ask 
 Sam there. He saw it all." 
 
 "Oh!" murmured Loveday. "Yes Sam 
 
 " she said. "You see, I don't know 
 
 much about " 
 
 The despair in her lover's eyes stopped
 
 162 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 her and she shrank from Tobias toward her 
 father. 
 
 "He's waiting to know where he shall go," 
 sneered Albert. 
 
 "To hell as far as I am concerned," said 
 Mr. Cocking. "Answer him quickly, Love- 
 day, and let us go ! Don't get too close. He 
 certainly smells of drink." 
 
 The lamplight showed the pale face of 
 Tobias and his arms were outstretched. The 
 grotesque figure, with the hair matted witK 
 blood, standing against the lamp-post, 
 seemed in the dim light a sort of crazy image 
 of Christ. Tobias stood motionless a mo- 
 ment. 
 
 "Go where you like. How should I 
 know?" The words rang clearly and cruelly, 
 and Tobias dropped as the dead drop. 
 
 "Here, Tremayne," said Mr. Cocking. 
 'This is no sight for a woman. Take Love- 
 day home for me, there's a good chap, and 
 Sam and me will carry this shaver to bed.
 
 THE ALIEN 163 
 
 He'm not as seasoned in drink as I was led 
 to believe, so there's hope for the girl yet." 
 
 Loveday, with bent head, took Albert Tre- 
 mayne's arm, and Mr. Cocking raised To- 
 bias from the ground. Sam ran after Al- 
 bert and whispered: 
 
 "My Gosh, you've won, Bert. It was 
 nearly lost. We was all in a stew, for we'd 
 bet hard on you winning back the girl to- 
 night. Real sport, old man, and no one 
 really hurt." He dashed back to help Mr. 
 Cocking, and said in a friendly voice : 
 
 "Tobias be'ant half a bad youngster. We 
 all badgered him a bit, and he'd only a glass, 
 after all. He showed fine fight." 
 
 "We'll get him to bed and let it pass," 
 said Mr. Cocking. "Youngsters will be 
 youngsters, and he'll be as right as rain by 
 morning." 
 
 The two men carried their apparently life- 
 less burden to the house and tapped gently 
 at the kitchen door. Leah opened it with 
 her finger on her lip.
 
 164 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 "They'm all in bed," she whispered. "I 
 stayed up for Tobias." She started back 
 as the men silently brought in the shepherd. 
 
 "Oh! sakes," she cried. "He'm dead!" 
 
 "No, not at all," said Mr. Cocking kind- 
 ly. "He've had a drop too much, and have 
 been fighting." ' 
 
 Leah looked eagerly at Tobias. 
 
 "That's the unlikeliest thing that could 
 be," she said. "He could never compass sin 
 and shame like this 'ere. Something must 
 have driven him silly crazy with woe." 
 
 Sam smiled. 
 
 "I've seen him ordinary tipsy afore," he 
 said, "even while tending his flock, but never 
 as far gone as this." 
 
 Leah bent forward towards Sam. 
 
 "He's seemingly light-headed at times," 
 she said, "and full of fancies. He's been 
 overdone some way, I'm sure. See! there's 
 blood." 
 
 "He fought hard," said Mr. Cocking, 
 "and won, I believe."
 
 THE ALIEN 165 
 
 "He's some sorry sight for a victor," said 
 Sam, "and he'd best just sleep it off till the 
 morning." 
 
 "He has an unbeknowns look," said Leah. 
 "He've once or twice seemly passed beyond 
 reach. Perhaps he's that way now. He's 
 not like the others, you know." 
 
 Mr. Cocking bent over Tobias as he lay 
 on the hearth rug. 
 
 "He do look a bit queer," he said. "Per- 
 haps we'd better send the doctor along as we 
 goes home, just to ease your mind." 
 
 The two men carried Tobias gently to 
 Leah's little room. They came down in a 
 few minutes and tiptoed to the door. 
 
 "He'm more like a child as have played 
 and fought beyond his strength," Mr. Cock- 
 ing murmured. "He'm scarcely fit for the 
 natural strife of daily life." 
 
 "He've the spirit of a lion," said Leah, 
 "but he was only a seven months' little one 
 and perhaps somethin' was left out as most 
 of we do belong to have, and somethin' else
 
 166 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 put in, as I, for one, should pray to be de- 
 livered from." 
 
 "Same here," said Sam. "Give me steady 
 nerves and a work-a-day brain-piece." 
 
 "And me a man of that make for my 
 daughter," said Mr. Cocking emphatically, 
 "and not a crazy, dreaming chap, all nerves 
 and moods." 
 
 When they had gone Leah crept upstairs 
 and put a shaded lamp near Tobias. She 
 then brought a basin with some soft water 
 and a rag and wiped away the blood and dirt 
 from his face. He scarcely breathed and his 
 lips were purple. She heard a footstep and 
 went down. It was old Dr. Rosewarne. 
 
 "Tobias ill, I hear?" he queried. 
 
 "He's very strange," she answered. 
 
 "Drinking and fighting, they say. Odd 
 thing," said the doctor. 
 
 Leah nodded. 
 
 "Not a bit like him," said Dr. Rosewarne. 
 "The cub has always interested me. It's a 
 case of prenatal congestion. His mother had
 
 THE ALIEN 167 
 
 a blow and was a little paralyzed you 
 know." 
 
 "Yes," said Leah. "A window cord 
 broke and fell on her head." 
 
 The doctor whistled. 
 
 "It's sometimes just those things that al- 
 ter nations. Madmen and psychics, Na- 
 poleons and Wainwrights, are produced with 
 less than that. Cerebral " 
 
 "Oh! lor'!" cried Leah. "Don't say he's 
 that too, whatever it is. Why, he'll never 
 recover." 
 
 "Oh! it all sounds worse than it is," said 
 the doctor, smiling. "We must give names 
 to these things, though we know little 
 enough about them. All that matters really 
 is that people like Tobias need delicate 
 handling or they become dangers. It's the 
 difference betwen a Shetland pony and a 
 racer. This lad, I confess, is beyond me. I 
 can't always cure him by purges and tonics. 
 He baffles me. Let me see him." 
 
 Leah led the way upstairs and closed the
 
 168 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 door softly when they were inside the room. 
 The doctor felt his pulse, lifted his eyelids 
 and probed under the curls where the blood 
 showed. He was silent some time and then 
 beckoned Leah out of the room. When they 
 were in the kitchen he pointed to the stove. 
 
 "A hot water-bottle to his feet, no noise, 
 watch him most of the night, and when he 
 wakens treat the whole affair as if it had 
 never happened. Much depends on this. 
 Probably he may waken a different man. 
 Till now he has been a child and a dreamer. 
 Some shock has done this." 
 
 Leah was crying gently. 
 
 "He's had no shock," she whimpered. 
 "He'm in love and crazy happy. It can't 
 be." 
 
 The old doctor put his hand on Leah's 
 shoulder. 
 
 "Now you give me a clue," he said. "It 
 is just love that builds or breaks a nature 
 like that."
 
 THE ALIEN 169 
 
 "Surely there's a betwixt and between," 
 said Leah feebly. 
 
 "Not to creatures of Tobias' make," he 
 answered. "Is the woman any good?" 
 
 Leah looked hard at the doctor. 
 
 "I'm no judge of females," she said. "I 
 don't cotton to them. She be perfect in the 
 eyes of Tobias. That's all I know." 
 
 "Lucky dog and poor devil," said the doc- 
 tor. "I've no drug to cure that. Nature 
 must help him or kill him. Rest, warmth and 
 your care. That is all that can be done. 
 I'll come in to-morrow. No drink and no 
 fighting can beat love for disaster," he mut- 
 tered to himself as he went out. 
 
 "Or for glory," added Leah. "Tobias 
 will make that manifest." 
 
 "If he lives," said the doctor. "Most of 
 them die and have grand tombstones erected 
 by the women who kill them."
 
 PART V 
 THE DREAMER
 
 THE DREAMER 
 
 IT was a wonderful place, and Tobias 
 Trewidden, even as a shepherd, had never 
 seen anything so lovely. It was an exquisite 
 garden and a divine wildernes in one. Noth- 
 ing seemed in order and yet all was orderli- 
 ness. The scents and sounds around him 
 were like dreams and music, and the flutter 
 of winged and chirruping things made To- 
 bias begin to hum the soft lullabys Leah had 
 taught him when he was a child. These were 
 answered at once by invisible playmates, and 
 a vibrant whirr, like the soft melodies from 
 harps and guitars, filled the air. 
 
 "I feel washed inside and out," murmured 
 Tobias, "and my mother seems very near." 
 
 She was near, just as near as his thoughts 
 of her. Tobias had not noticed a trans- 
 parent house among a tall avenue of trees. 
 173
 
 174 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 Evidently she lived in that. A line of odor- 
 ous shrubs leading to it seemed alight with 
 tiny crystal lamps of every color. The glass 
 door of the house was wide open and a figure 
 stood within. It beckoned to Tobias and 
 he ran quicker than a shepherd runs to his 
 flock. 
 
 "Mary, my mother," he cried. 
 
 "Tobias, my beloved son," she answered. 
 With one impulse they knelt together and 
 clasped hands. Then she cradled his curly 
 head upon her breast. 
 
 "At last," she whispered. 
 
 "Mammy," he cried, for he had forgotten 
 he was a man. He had missed her so long 
 that he went back to the time he needed her 
 most and had called for her in vain. He 
 suddenly raised his head and looked into 
 her wonderful face. She had such large 
 eyes that Tobias knew, without being told, 
 that they could see far beyond mortal 
 vision. 
 
 "My child," she whispered softly, "this is
 
 THE DREAMER 175 
 
 a great gift to us and a big price must be 
 paid for it." 
 
 Tobias laughed joyfully. 
 
 "We'll pay," he said. "I knew I'd see you 
 one day because of all the messages, and 
 
 here you are in " He hesitated. He was 
 
 going to add, "flesh and blood," but some- 
 thing stopped him. He held her robe and 
 sighed. "It's just heaven," he said. 
 
 "My only begotten son," she answered, 
 "and so my love pierced all the veils. You 
 knew and know." 
 
 "Mother," he said, "it's a g'eat loveli- 
 ness, isn't it? The loneliness don't count 
 now. If I'd only known I'd have had pa- 
 tience." 
 
 "It is why it is permitted," she said. "I 
 have had little peace because of your pain. 
 I've longed to change the mountain peaks 
 into valleys in the map of your life and the 
 wilderness into a garden. I've ached to 
 bring softness where roughness alone would 
 avail. My prayers and my work here have
 
 176 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 prevailed at last and my arms enfold you." 
 
 "Where are we?" asked Tobias. 
 
 "In Love-Acre," Mary answered, "and 
 the laws here must be fulfilled to the last let- 
 ter. Even in the World- Acre they are not 
 so hard if disobedience comes from not 
 rightly knowing. Here we know." 
 
 "Love- Acre!" cried Tobias. "Why, this 
 is the land of all my dreams!" 
 
 "It is the Acre where the Great Meanings 
 begin to show," she said. 
 
 "How?" cried Tobias. 
 
 "Have patience, little son," Mary an- 
 swered as she rose to her feet. "Hold me 
 close, for the time is short and I have much 
 I want to say." She led him to the trans- 
 parent house. 
 
 "Why!" he cried, "here is the shop. See! 
 the dewdrops hanging in the window and 
 the gossamer threads and the lovely wings I" 
 He ran from place to place and in a boy's 
 ecstacy flung himself against her robe. She 
 led him beyond the shop into a large en-
 
 THE DREAMER 177 
 
 closure and they lay together on a thick yel- 
 low carpet of pollen dust which covered the 
 entire floor. 
 
 "I'm so full of fervor and joy," said To- 
 bias. "I want to die so that I can breathe 
 easy, seems to me." 
 
 "You have first to live," said Mary the 
 mother, "and to die in living. Remember, 
 child, that to love is to die continually, but 
 to die for what you love is the only life. I 
 want you to have patience and never forget 
 that." 
 
 "Patience," said Tobias, "is only for 
 sheep and women. I'm a man." 
 
 His mother ran her hands through his 
 curls. 
 
 "When a man learns as you must learn 
 he needs more than the patience of women 
 and sheep," she said. "He must learn to 
 have the patience of the gods, for they know 
 only love." 
 
 "The gods!" cried Tobias. "There's only 
 one God,"
 
 178 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 "Who has many sons and daughters who 
 die the death," said Mary, and Tobias won- 
 dered at the radiance in her face. "The an- 
 nunciations are beyond reckoning, but the 
 still-births frustrate the great Will." She 
 put her hand across the puzzled brow of her 
 son. 
 
 "Is this a school?" asked Tobias. "Are 
 the teachers afraid and the scholars dull, or 
 what is the matter? The shop is so very 
 pretty, and the flowers and you are all I 
 knew you were in my dreams." 
 
 "The biggest lessons are taught here to 
 the simple, and the greatest chances of re- 
 nunciation are offered to the weak," said the 
 mother. "The pure in heart suffer most and 
 the best beloved often seem to die of 
 drought." 
 
 Tobias drew closer and held his mother's 
 spotless robe. 
 
 "How very horrid!" said Tobias, "I'll es- 
 cape all that and be happy." Mary bent 
 down and kissed the feet of her son.
 
 THE DREAMER 179 
 
 "Only if you fail," she cried. 
 
 "Fail where, how? Oh, it's very puz- 
 zling," said Tobias. 
 
 "The Gardener will tell you better than 
 I," she said. "It is a great favor that I may 
 see you for this moment to tell you that my 
 watchword to you is Patience. I dare say 
 no more. Patience is the mother's watch- 
 word to her child." 
 
 The transparent house was suddenly suf- 
 fused by a light as from a rising sun. A 
 sound was heard like a thousand belled caril- 
 lon and the body of Tobias grew charged 
 with a current which lifted him from the 
 ground and floated him down the avenue 
 toward what seemed to be a big sun. He had 
 lost his mother, but this Light flooded him 
 so completely that prayer just then became 
 like the cry of a dreamer and his mother 
 seemed a ghost. From the Light came a 
 Voice, and in the sound of it the sorrows of 
 the whole world were lost. Tobias tried to 
 remember all the things which mattered
 
 180 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 most to him, but this Light absorbed them 
 and the Voice drowned them. 
 
 "I am an Elder Brother," said the Voice. 
 "I am one of the Gardeners in Love- Acre. 
 Like you, I have been a traveller and have 
 sinned and sown and reaped in the World- 
 Acre and again in Love- Acre, for there is 
 little difference here and there. You have 
 loved and suffered and so have unknow- 
 ingly been trained as a Gardener too. The 
 law is, love and suffer till you die the death, 
 and through your living death you will see 
 the beginning of Eternal love and life." 
 
 An exaltation was upon the soul of Tobias 
 and a great understanding of the Light and 
 the Voice. 
 
 "I've no tools," said Tobias softly, "and 
 I know nothing." 
 
 The Light burst into red flame and back 
 again to a whiteness which almost blinded 
 him. 
 
 "The tools are human hearts and needs," 
 said the Voice. "To know you know noth-
 
 THE DREAMER 181 
 
 ing is the only beginning of wisdom. The 
 real teacher is always the humblest pupil." 
 
 "How very strange," said Tobias. "Is 
 Love- Acre a school after all?" 
 
 "It is one of the seeding-grounds of the 
 Greater Worlds," said the Voice. "It has 
 need of gardeners, for it is full of weeds. 
 Many of the seeds brought from the World- 
 Acre prove to be weeds." 
 
 "I'm used to weeding," said Tobias. 
 
 The Light flashed into purple and white 
 as Tobias thought of his acre of purple and 
 white violets. 
 
 "Some weeds here excel some flowers in 
 the World- Acre," said the Voice, "but here 
 you can tell at once which must be saved 
 for the greater blossoming. Come!" The 
 Light flashed down the long avenue, and To- 
 bias found himself near a large water-lily 
 pond and a memory stirred him. 
 
 "They'm wonderful," he said. "Not a 
 pin's space between their white faces." 
 
 The Light grew suddenly murky and
 
 182 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 brown, and Tobias felt he only understood 
 through the Voice. 
 
 "From sin and sorrow, to use your foolish 
 earth words," said the Voice, "do such white 
 things grow. Their long slimy roots are in 
 a mud such as no earthly gardener woul3 
 dare to use even for manure. In Love- Acre 
 the very dirt is the promise of these lovely 
 flowers." 
 
 The Light flashed a silver brilliance on the 
 pond. 
 
 "How can we know these things if we are 
 not gardeners?" asked Tobias. 
 
 "Everyone has to become a gardener in 
 time," said the Voice. "The first lesson a 
 gardener must learn is to reject nothing and 
 see the hidden beauty in every living thing. 
 The Mother and the Poet are idealists be- 
 cause they see, not because they are blind. 
 Love sees very clearly always. Till the Har- 
 vest no one can tell what is worthy or un- 
 worthy. Here the jealous, the glutton, the 
 adulterer, the gossip, the self-righteous, the
 
 THE DREAMER 183 
 
 murderer, and the miser are seen, not as 
 the ugly stalk in the slime, but as the lily 
 which has been forced out of corruption 
 into beauty. The flower is the reality and 
 the mud and slimy stalk are only means to 
 the floating purity and peace and beauty. 
 Good gardeners know this and have pa- 
 tience." 
 
 "Patience!" cried Tobias. "That is my 
 mother's watchword. Is that a tool?" 
 
 The Light flashed into orange as it glowed 
 over the earth and then gleamed into yellow 
 on a long bank of wild flowers. 
 
 "Every joyous and beautiful thought in 
 the World- Acre produces a flower here, and 
 every jealous and selfish thought a weed," 
 said the Voice. "The gardeners have to be 
 very busy. Sometimes they have no rest and 
 nearly faint." 
 
 "There are more weeds than flowers on 
 this bank," said Tobias. 
 
 "Many are called but few follow. You 
 must follow," said the Voice.
 
 184 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 "Where?" asked Tobias tremblingly. 
 
 "To loss and shame and failure and 
 death," said the Voice. "To understand 
 these things is to begin to love. To fail is 
 to learn, to stumble is to see, and to die is to 
 live." 
 
 The Light broke into a million rays and 
 Tobias covered his face. He felt he must 
 be quite blind. He heard the Voice almost 
 in darkness. 
 
 "To have seen this Light and heard my 
 Voice, the Voice of one once crying in the 
 wilderness of failure, despair, and shame, is 
 to be called to the work of a Gardener. No 
 one can really ever hurt you but yourself 
 now, but the price for this vision must be 
 paid in loneliness and shame. The Vision 
 and the Knowledge bring more and not less 
 suffering. Gardening gives understanding, 
 nevertheless, to those who see and hear, and 
 this makes all things bearable. One who 
 has seen and heard is no longer only a 
 learner, but a teacher, even in his failures.
 
 THE DREAMER 185 
 
 No Gardener made worthy to touch flowers 
 condemns or destroys anything, but uses all 
 things for the Great End." 
 
 "Great End!" echoed Tobias. He could 
 scarcely hear his own voice. 
 
 "The Great End of Joy," said the Voice. 
 "In the World- Acre you use Joy too little. 
 It is a tool of great value. The drought 
 here is often caused by the lack of vivid and 
 entrancing joy in the World- Acre as tor- 
 rents of rain, destroying many flowers, are 
 caused by the stupid excess of folly mortals 
 call pleasure. Rapture and joy are the 
 voices of the soul, even more than pain, but 
 pain is the outer court leading to joy. The 
 utter joy fulness of men and women, grow- 
 ing toward perfection in the World- Acre, 
 uproots weeds here as a wind cleanses the air 
 of poisons." 
 
 Suddenly Tobias felt he was the only dark 
 spot anywhere, though he was bathed out- 
 wardly in golden light. The Voice became 
 deep and more vibrant.
 
 186 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 "The voices of joy make the worlds," said 
 the Voice, "and the great conquests are the 
 Lights. Love is the Breath. Become a 
 deep Breath, and teach the World- Acre the 
 greater Love which can share and dare not 
 spare." 
 
 Tobias knelt on the golden-colored 
 ground, and the prayer of an humble Gar- 
 dener filled the air. 
 
 "Give me the understanding heart and the 
 healing hands," he cried. "Use me as thy 
 tool and spare no plough on thy furrows. 
 Prune me to the uttermost and make thy 
 wild vine into a wine for the thirst of men." 
 
 Tobias felt Mary his mother close to him, 
 as if she had folded his hands in prayer, as 
 he had seen Leah do to his stepbrothers and 
 sisters. He had repeated something out of 
 his mother's heart and stood up smiling. 
 
 Strange galaxies of sunbeams of every 
 color were in the air, and soft elfin whispers 
 and fairy bells, with a sound of happy laugh- 
 ter, was the Amen to his prayer. A great
 
 THE DREAMER 187 
 
 peace fell upon Tobias, the peace which 
 passes all the knowledge in the World- Acre. 
 
 "This is not exchangeable for a diamond 
 
 crown or even " He did not finish. The 
 
 Voice thundered and the lightning played 
 around Tobias. A great calm followed and 
 a little ruby-colored light was all that was 
 left. It lit up a long, sweet-scented bank of 
 flowers. 
 
 "Apparently there is not a single weed left 
 here," said Tobias, pointing to a bank of 
 what seemed to be Lad's Love and Lassie's 
 Delight. The Light shone in a fairy blue 
 and white. 
 
 "The plants here are full of promise," 
 said the Voice. "The Gardeners can rest 
 often who take care of this plot, for some of 
 the loveliest thought-seeds from the World- 
 Acre produce these. Rapture and Joy are 
 hidden in their petals." The Mothers take 
 care of this plot and can dream and rest 
 more than the others." 
 
 The Light suddenly flashed dark red as
 
 188 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 it hung over a morass where Love lies bleed- 
 ing and Love in a Mist seemed scorched 
 with too much heat. 
 
 "These often die before they fully flower," 
 said the Voice. "Passion, the great forging 
 power of human life, often dries up before 
 its flowers blossom or its fruit ripens." 
 
 The Light flashed into the shape of a cross 
 of amber and lit up some purple and white 
 tendrils climbing round what seemed waxen 
 or marble pillars. The Voice was tender and 
 low. 
 
 "These are the crucified loves who save 
 others though they cannot save themselves. 
 These are they who, in spite of tempests, 
 show nails and cross as signs." 
 
 "How strange," said Tobias. "It's like 
 conjuring, in a manner of speaking." 
 
 "It is the sweetest of all miracles," said 
 the Voice. "To save through losing and to 
 grow beautiful through sorrow. Remember 
 that always, little brother. No one can be a 
 good Gardener who does not understand and
 
 THE DREAMER 189 
 
 follow these things. The tools are of no use 
 except in the hands of those who know the 
 big secrets of the soil and the souls of the 
 flowers. The wages of great love are often 
 loss and death, but these are only names to 
 those who can prune and weed and who un- 
 derstand fully the difference between seed- 
 time and harvest. The real Gardener knows 
 there is no loss anywhere, only growth and 
 change and sometimes delay in blossoming." 
 
 The Light flickered and seemed almost 
 lost for a moment, but at last feebly showed 
 long lines of weeping willows. 
 
 "These are shading those who are resting 
 till the anguished cries at their transplanting 
 cease in the World-Acre," said the Voice. 
 "They cannot grow fully till the weeping 
 ceases." The Voice almost became a sigh as 
 it went on. "It is the Gardener's blight and 
 delays many beautiful fruits from ripening 
 as well as trees and flowers. The wild cries 
 in the World- Acre over those whose work 
 is now in Love- Acre sweep like a cruel wind
 
 190 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 and hinder growth. No Joy is more lovely 
 to a trained Gardener here than that over 
 the travellers safely crossing from Acre to 
 Acre and so learning perfection. It brings 
 softness and peace and a great unfolding, 
 as the sun on a half -opened rose. The grief 
 of one mourning without hope blasts the 
 young plant and hinders growth in both 
 
 acres." 
 
 "Is no one really ever dead, then?" asked 
 Tobias. 
 
 "Not to a real Gardener," said the Voice. 
 The Light grew incandescent and still. 
 "Sleep and death are twins, like Life and 
 Love. Death is only a replanting from gar- 
 den to garden." 
 
 "Wherever is the Devil?" suddenly cried 
 Tobias. 
 
 The Light flamed downward and upward 
 and sideways and the Voice had in it a sound 
 of laughter. 
 
 "Only in the hearts of those who fear," it 
 said. "No true Gardener knows fear, be-
 
 THE DREAMER 191 
 
 cause Love and Beauty destroy it as Light 
 destroys Darkness. Half the sins and sor- 
 rows of the World- Acre would shrivel into 
 nothingness or expand into Beauty but for 
 Fear." 
 
 "I am often afraid," said Tobias, "so I 
 shall be but a poor Gardener." 
 
 "Courage is a habit," said the Voice, "an 
 hourly and daily habit. Those who learn it 
 never crawl or sacrifice or reject or condemn. 
 They glow and give and laugh and cast aside 
 the old with the same reverence that they ac- 
 cept the new. It is a foolish Gardener who 
 despises the fallen leaves which have left him 
 the flower or who gathers the full flower 
 before it has turned into fruit. The gibes 
 of men or the witcheries of women are all in 
 order to the Gardener, who accepts sun- 
 shine and frost as he accepts summer and 
 winter. To dig and weed and hoe beyond 
 the rules of the gardening books, however 
 old, and to be joyful and hopeful in all 
 seasons is the work of a real Gardener. Re-
 
 192 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 member your Vision and never forget that 
 Freedom and Love are the keys of the Great 
 Mansions which lie far beyond the World- 
 Acres and the Love- Acres. 
 
 "Is there more than one Love- Acre then?'* 
 asked Tobias. 
 
 The Light broke into a million stars. 
 
 "No Gardener's wisdom can compass it," 
 said the Voice. "You are a beginner. Your 
 will remains free. You are called, but need 
 not follow. No vision alters that. The 
 Light you have seen may only scorch you, 
 the Voice only molest you. It is all in you. 
 Beauty calls and you can betray her. She 
 beckons and you can follow. Have patience 
 and never fail her." 
 
 "It seems unforgettable," said Tobias 
 softly. 
 
 "So seems Love to the Lover," said the 
 Voice. "Memory only really begins in 
 Love- Acre when Beauty buds and the Gar- 
 deners are ready."
 
 THE DREAMER 193 
 
 "Loveday!" cried Tobias, and a fierce 
 light burnt into his eyes. 
 
 "She's not here," said a gentle voice, and 
 Tobias looked into the anxious face of Leah. 
 
 "My poor Tobias," said Leah. 
 
 Tobias sat upright and rubbed his eyes. 
 He laughed joyously. 
 
 "Poor!" he cried. "My blessed Life! 
 Rich as two lords and twice blessed! I 
 could fly with the wonders of the Vision." 
 
 Leah wrung her hands and burst into 
 tears. 
 
 "What are you crying for?" asked To- 
 bias. "All the secrets of the gardener and 
 the voices and the lights be upon me. I'm 
 some happy and blest." 
 
 "Oh! the doctor," she muttered. "He'm 
 right. It's a changeling." 
 
 "Yes," said Tobias. "How did you 
 know? I've seen and I've heard and I'm in 
 a maze of joy." 
 
 He told her his dream. He told it so 
 rapidly and happily she caught the infection
 
 194 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 of his joy and held his hands over what he 
 called "the unspeakable glory." 
 
 "Everything beside it be a dream," he 
 said, "or a fairy-tale. That's a mountain of 
 truth and seems beyond even a mother's 
 love." 
 
 "Tobias," said Leah gently, "what of 
 Loveday? Did the dream-folk say nothing 
 of she?" 
 
 His face became serious. 
 
 "How very strange," he said. "She was 
 never forthcoming in words or in flame pic- 
 tures either, or," he hesitated, "in my 
 thoughts." 
 
 "An instrument only," muttered Leah. 
 "A tool, sure enough." 
 
 "A what?" cried Tobias. "The tools 
 aren't women. You'm a foolish maid, 
 Leah." 
 
 "They know, I reckon, and we can but 
 trust," said Leah. 
 
 "I must see Loveday at once," said To- 
 bias, "and tell her." He looked round the
 
 THE DREAMER 195 
 
 room. "Why am I here?" he said. "What's 
 the matter?" 
 
 Leah looked into the eager face. Tobias 
 had evidently no recollection of the previous 
 night's disaster. 
 
 "You fell asleep downstairs and we 
 couldn't waken you, so we carried you here 
 and undressed you, as the others had gone 
 to bed and I'd ironing to do and stayed up." 
 
 He drew his hand across his forehead. 
 
 "Where was I last night?" he asked. 
 
 "With Loveday," said Leah. 
 
 A smile broke over the face of Tobias. 
 
 "To be sure. No wonder I had such a 
 lovely dream," he said. "Surely this is my 
 first day at the dairy." 
 
 "It's only six yet, Tobias," said Leah. 
 "Try to sleep till seven." 
 
 "Sleep!" he cried. "I've slept all I can, 
 and I feel like a g'eat man of muscle and 
 nerve, and as if I could lift a world on my 
 shoulders." 
 
 "A day in bed would do you good," she
 
 196 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 said. "You was fainting with tiredness last 
 night." 
 
 He suddenly hit the bedclothes. 
 
 "Gracious," he cried, "wasn't it last night 
 that I was in a maze of rage with Bert Tre- 
 mayne?" He laughed. "A pack of fool- 
 ishness," he went on. "What was it all 
 about? The dream have drowned it, I 
 reckon." 
 
 Leah came close to the bed and looked at 
 Tobias. 
 
 "Let me send word you'll go to work to- 
 morrow and just lie there for the day," she 
 said. "It's better so." 
 
 "What should a man in love and in work 
 do lying here dreaming," he cried. "I never 
 felt better in my life. I feel as if I'd been 
 swimming in in " 
 
 Leah sighed as she finished his sentence 
 for him: "Heavenly waters, I suppose. May 
 it bring no disaster," she said. 
 
 "By all the signs disaster be like the devil," 
 said Tobias cheerily, "only in we."
 
 THE DREAMER 197 
 
 "Devils and disasters can torment and 
 destroy," said Leah. 
 
 Tobias jumped out of bed and pulled 
 aside the little curtains. The room was 
 flooded with the red rays of a lovely May 
 morning. 
 
 "They can't destroy Light," said Tobias, 
 "nor yet a Voice."
 
 PART VI 
 THE OUTCAST
 
 THE OUTCAST 
 
 IT was the evening of Tobias Trewid- 
 den's wedding day. It might have been the 
 evening of his funeral, to judge by the faces 
 of the little group assembled in the Trewid- 
 dens' kitchen. It was half -past nine, but 
 Matthew Trewidden was still up. He sat 
 with folded arms near the fireplace, and 
 Mrs. Trewidden, opposite, looked at him. 
 Leah was moving to and fro, clearing away 
 what she called the remnants. 
 
 "He's a damned outcast," said Matthew, 
 "and thank God he's left my house-place 
 and the village for good, let us hope. They 
 could never have faced the music here." 
 
 "Husht!" said Mrs. Trewidden. "He's 
 your son after all." 
 
 Matthew Trewidden stared at his wife. 
 
 "Be thankful he ain't yours too, but a dead 
 201
 
 202 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 woman's brat as she can never weep over. 
 Poor Mary deserved a better son than To- 
 bias." 
 
 His face softened as he went on. "It's no 
 man's part to sing up the first wife's praises, 
 but Mary were the peacemaker of this vil- 
 lage. Not a row or a sore heart or a twisty- 
 crosty bit of confusion anywhere but she 
 would be called to put it right, and with a 
 flick and a smile enemies was friends and the 
 crooked was put straight." 
 
 "Pity but what she'd lived," said Mrs. 
 Trewidden curtly. 
 
 "Don't be frosty, Jane Maria," said Mr. 
 Trewidden. "She'd her points and you've 
 yours. Seven cubs like Tobias would have 
 turned me from she in time, I reckon, as our 
 healthy little crew have made me cosset thee." 
 
 Mrs. Trewidden folded her hands and 
 twiddled her thumbs in supreme content. 
 
 Leah came over to the stove and poked 
 the fire. 
 
 "Though it's July there's a big wind up
 
 THE OUTCAST 203 
 
 and a moaning in the air," she said. "The 
 weather be hardening, I fancy." 
 
 "I'm in a boil of perspiration," said Mat- 
 thew Trewidden. "It was a wet day with a 
 new moon on Sunday, and that allus means a 
 rainy month. It's been one of ill omen so 
 far, anyway. I thought that young cub 
 Tobias was going to settle down in a reason- 
 able manner after all." 
 
 "It's beyond my understanding," said 
 Leah sadly. "It's going to break my heart 
 in the end." 
 
 "Bosh!" said Mr. Trewidden. "Hearts 
 don't break." 
 
 "They bulges a bit after each blow," said 
 Mrs. Trewidden. "Tobias must 'ave been 
 took with a sudden qualm and frenzy," she 
 went on. "Anything might befall a topsy- 
 turvey nature like his be." 
 
 "Begetting a child and murdering it, and 
 then jumping to marry the mother to save 
 his skin and forgetting the woman he was 
 plighted to is more than a qualm or even a
 
 204 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 frenzy," said Mr. Trewidden. "It's just 
 wickedness, and even Leah can't deny it." 
 
 "He've allus been a bit queer," said Mrs. 
 Trewidden kindly. "Seven months' chil- 
 dren arn't never the same as others, I've 
 heard. It's allus a toss which they belongs 
 to have, extra good luck or awful disaster." 
 
 "Why the devil didn't he die? He's been 
 always a thorn in our flesh, and now he's a 
 scourge, in a manner of speaking, as well," 
 said Mr. Trewidden. 
 
 "He'm so very lovable," almost whispered 
 Leah. "To me he's been allus a little child 
 with the ghosts of a man and a woman try- 
 ing to work through him." 
 
 "Rats!" said Mr. Trewidden. "What fan- 
 tastical nonsense! What he've done now be 
 no childishness, anyway. You surely don't 
 uphold it?" 
 
 "No," said Leah, who was crying softly 
 into her apron. "It's as clear as daylight, I 
 know, but something must have dazed him 
 the night he was brought in f ainty and ill."
 
 THE OUTCAST 205 
 
 "Iss, very likely," sneered Mr. Trewid- 
 den. "But he'd been dazed afore that, ac- 
 cording to the age of the child." 
 
 Leah blushed. 
 
 "Oh!" she cried, "I could have sworn he 
 was as guileless as a girl and too full of 
 dreams for such poor doings as that." 
 
 Mrs. Trewidden looked at her husband 
 and laughed. 
 
 "It's the unlikeliest as falls the lowest 
 when they do go down," she said. "Them 
 blue eyes, like saucers, looked as if they'd de- 
 ceive no one, but apparently they was just 
 aids to corruption. Poor Lovedayl" 
 
 Leah shuddered. 
 
 "She might surely have saved him," she 
 said. "He loved her and she him. It's a 
 great mystery." 
 
 "Saved him?" cried Mr. Trewidden. 
 "She'd have to have started at birth, then. 
 I think she's behaved fine. She went before 
 the magistrates and answered like a good 
 one. I thought once at the sight of Tobias
 
 206 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 she was going to faint, but she pulled her- 
 self well together." 
 
 "She'd never have faced the talk anyway," 
 said Mrs. Trewidden, "but he gave her no 
 chance about that, thanks be, when he con- 
 fessed." 
 
 "He saved his skin," said Mr. Trewidden, 
 "but through it she've been delivered from a 
 poor marriage. There could be no outlook 
 more beastly than to be wedded to a dreamy 
 coward like Tobias." 
 
 Leah put down a saucepan she was carry- 
 ing. 
 
 "Look!" she said. "All my hopes and 
 longings be gone in, but I don't believe he's 
 quite as bad as you do say." 
 
 Mrs. Trewidden bent forward. 
 
 "If he'd been your own child, Leah, and 
 not a dream child, would you have spoken 
 to him again?" 
 
 Leah put her face in her hands. 
 
 "I don't know," she cried. "No one, I 
 should think, could refuse the child of their
 
 THE OUTCAST 207 
 
 body, and yet oh!" she went on stammer- 
 ingly, "I should have prayed continually to 
 God to take him and cleanse him from his 
 great transgressions." 
 
 "Sakes !" said Mrs. Trewidden. "To look 
 at him you'd think that was a hopeless task. 
 He's some hardened." 
 
 "That's what surprised me so," said Leah. 
 "He wasn't contrite a bit and never seemed 
 to fret over Loveday. That's why I'm sure 
 he be not exactly. I tried to get him to talk, 
 but he always turned me off with a smile 
 and his eyes shone more than ever, but 
 seemly he never whistled and sang as he be- 
 longed." 
 
 "You've half a leaning to him yet, 
 Leah," said Mrs. Trewidden. 
 
 "No," said Leah. "I've only the love and 
 liking of what I thought he was, just as I 
 have for the dream-child. There's no excuse, 
 I know, and all the evil and ruin be before 
 me as plain as that." She pointed to the
 
 '208 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 open window where the wind was driving 
 the jasmine against the panes. 
 
 "He was always an alien," said Matthew 
 Trewidden, "and now he be a fair outcast. 
 The neighbors all shun him, and no won- 
 der." 
 
 "He might have swung," said Mrs. Tre- 
 widden, "or been transported." 
 
 "And I always thought of him as a leader 
 of men," said Leah. 
 
 "He was just fitted to be a leader of 
 sheep," said Mr. Trewidden bitterly, "but 
 Loveday frustrated his calling. What a 
 calf of a lover he must have made." He 
 winked at his wife. "Spoon-meat sort of 
 stuff he'd likely say to her. He'd no real 
 manliness in his make-up. Why, he believed 
 in fairies till he was a shepherd, and I've 
 seen him handle flowers like a girl, many 
 a time." 
 
 "He thought they had souls," said Leah 
 softly.
 
 THE OUTCAST 209 
 
 The man and woman bent forward 
 simultaneously and laughed loudly. 
 
 "It do fairly cheer me up to hear such 
 blither," said Mr. Trewidden, "because it 
 makes me know how right we all are in think- 
 ing him a bit daft. We'll hear more of his 
 doings yet, I fancy, but thank God he's in 
 harness at last, of sorts, for marriage be 
 mostly either heaven or hell." 
 
 "Or purgatory," said Leah. 
 
 "What's the difference between hell and 
 purgatory?" asked Mrs. Trewidden, smiling. 
 
 "One you can get out of and one you 
 can't," said Leah. 
 
 "Marriage be no purgatory, then," said 
 Mr. Trewidden. "It's a cage mostly, if not 
 a prison, and it's a clever bird what can fly 
 out of it." He beckoned Leah to his side 
 and spoke more genially. "Here, Leah! 
 There are times when the only thing to do 
 is to drink yourself a bit soft. When your 
 eldest son escapes the rope and is the by- 
 word of the village, it's not the time to be
 
 210 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 too fanciful. Missis, you and me will have 
 a fine stoop of what the uplongs call white 
 satin. It'll mind us of our wedding night." 
 He laughed coarsely. 
 
 "We generally keep it for funerals," said 
 Mrs. Trewidden, "but I must say I'd dearly 
 like a noggin." 
 
 "Leah shall have her fancy drink if she'll 
 go and fetch the lot," said Mr. Trewidden. 
 
 "I allus leans to stone ginger with just a 
 leak of gin in it," said Leah. 
 
 "Good!" said Mr. Trewidden. "Here's 
 the needful." 
 
 He slapped his hands on his knees as Leah 
 went out. 
 
 "Bring a bottle of good Plymouth. It'll 
 keep," he. said, smiling at his wife. "We'll 
 just drink ourselves warm and cozie and go 
 to bed and forget the young varmint as if 
 he'd never existed. I mean to do a bit of 
 a deal with old Cocking over poor Loveday. 
 The girl 'ave had a nasty time, but a lucky 
 miss. I shall put a little sum I'd saved for
 
 THE OUTCAST 211 
 
 the lad into the savings bank for Loveday. 
 Perhaps the chaps won't fight shy of her if 
 it gets wind she've a bit put aside, not only 
 for a rainy day, but for a wedding outfit." 
 
 "It do put a mark on a girl, a thing like 
 this 'ere," said Mrs. Trewidden. 
 
 "Not such a slur as marrying a fool," her 
 husband answered. 
 
 Leah put on her hat and shawl and went 
 to the "Lamb and Flag." 
 
 When she had gone Mrs. Trewidden went 
 upstairs. 
 
 "I'll tidy myself a bit," she said, "and 
 we'll make a night of it after all." 
 
 Matthew Trewidden stood up, and as he 
 did so he heard a knock at the door. He 
 opened it and Dr. Rosewarne walked in. 
 
 "Evening, Trewidden," he said. "I hope 
 I don't intrude?" 
 
 "Not a bit, sir. Glad to see you." 
 
 "I expect you're not feeling quite as gay 
 as the little event of to-day generally finds 
 people," said the kindly old man.
 
 212 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 "You're right, sir. We've just been talk- 
 ing it over." 
 
 The doctor sat down. 
 
 "Trewidden," he said, "there's more than 
 meets the eye in this. It must have been an 
 old love affair. Mr. Carbines has just been 
 with me, and he says he remembers lots of 
 little things while Mathilda was in his ser- 
 vice. He says that even when Tobias 
 was shepherding he used to run in at times 
 and that he've often caught the two 
 talking." 
 
 "The devil they did," said Mr. Trewidden. 
 "Young rip 1" 
 
 "He's a God-fearing kindly man is Car- 
 bines," said the doctor. 
 
 "Never heard any other," said Trewidden, 
 "and she be noted for keeping her servants a 
 long time. She said to my missis once, 'I go 
 on the plan of a whip in one hand and a 
 sugar stick in the other, and, moreover, when 
 a servant breaks things and lies I gives her 
 a holiday, as it's the drudgery telling at
 
 THE OUTCAST 213 
 
 last.' This is the first mishap in servant 
 girls she's had." 
 
 "It has upset her very much," said the doc- 
 tor, "and in fact the whole affair has un- 
 nerved them both. I've just been to see 
 them, and he surprised me with a very gen- 
 erous offer." 
 
 Matthew Trewidden looked at the doctor. 
 
 "He's a misard in his way," he said. 
 "He've an end to serve if he's generous." 
 
 "No," said the doctor, "not a bit of it. 
 It's sheer good nature. You see, they've no 
 children, and Mathilda Jones, as you know, 
 is an orphan. They blame themselves that 
 this tragedy ever happened, and Mrs. Car- 
 bines said she ought never to have left her 
 alone to take care of the shop or let her out 
 in the evenings." 
 
 "She's a comely girl," said Mr. Trewid- 
 den, "but seemly aged terrible lately." 
 
 "Well, the long and the short of it is," 
 said the doctor, "Mr. Carbines is coming 
 here to-night to consult you as to the best
 
 214, LOVE-ACRE . 
 
 way to settle a little nest egg on the poor 
 girl. He doesn't feel it wise to hand it over 
 to Tobias, but he wants to place a matter 
 of fifty pounds in the bank for the girl her- 
 self, in case Tobias turns out a poor lot." 
 
 Mr. Trewidden laughed. 
 
 "He can bet his top hat on that," he said. 
 "I call it grand of him. I've often made a 
 joke of his constant chapel-going and 
 thought it was mainly done for custom, but 
 I see it's a bit of the real article. Tobias 
 'ave nothin' but what he earns, except twenty 
 pounds his mother had laid by, and I kept it 
 for the cub till now. He's got that to-day 
 with a silver tea-pot. His stepmother and 
 Leah between them have bought them a few 
 sticks of furniture and got some house-linen 
 at the sales." 
 
 A sharp knock at the door was answered 
 by Trewidden, and Mr. Carbines came in. 
 The sight of him made Matthew Trewid- 
 den pull down his waistcoat and glance at 
 his rather muddy boots. Mr. Carbines was
 
 THE OUTCAST 215 
 
 immaculate. His shirt front shone as well 
 as his round red cheeks. A benevolent smile 
 beamed all over his face. He shook hands 
 with Matthew Trewidden and nodded at the 
 doctor. 
 
 "I've told Mr. Trewidden," said the doc- 
 tor. 
 
 "Very kind, I'm sure," said Matthew. 
 "More than the young rascals deserve." 
 
 "If we all only got what we deserve," said 
 Mr. Carbines devoutly, "things might be 
 very horrid for many. We don't always reap 
 what we sow." 
 
 "It depends on what we know of farm- 
 ing, I reckon," said Matthew. 
 
 Mrs. Trewidden came downstairs and 
 looked surprised as she greeted her two 
 guests. 
 
 "Mathilda and Tobias 'ave fairly fell on 
 their feet," explained Mr. Trewidden. 
 "Here's Mr. Carbines offering fifty pounds 
 to settle on Mathilda."
 
 216 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 Mrs. Trewidden looked sharply at the 
 grocer. 
 
 "That's a queer punishment for a maid as 
 have gone astray," she said. "An invitation, 
 I call it, to others to follow." 
 
 The doctor spread out his hands protest- 
 ingly. 
 
 "No, no, Mrs. Trewidden. A kind heart 
 and a childless home, isn't it?" He turned 
 to Mr. Carbines. 
 
 "Exactly," said the grocer. "In fact/* 
 with an air of patronage, "had the young 
 shaver not have come by such an untimely 
 end I believe my wife would have wanted 
 to adopt it, but you see we had no suspicion. 
 That is the queer part of it all. Mathilda 
 was as cunning about that as she was be- 
 fore the magistrates about giving the name 
 of the father of her child." 
 
 "If I'd been Mathilda," said Mrs. 
 Trewidden, "I would have had his name 
 broadcast over the whole village long 
 ago."
 
 THE OUTCAST 217 
 
 Mr. Carbines stared at his shiny boot toes 
 as he said generously: 
 
 "Tobias owned up bravely, I thought. He 
 almost won my respect the way he faced his 
 wrong-doing." 
 
 "Just a brazen devil," said Mr. Trewid- 
 den. "It's a pretty perilous place for any 
 man to be in when the girl he's appeared 
 mazy over is on one side of him, and the 
 mother of his murdered child be on the other, 
 and both women facing each other like cats 
 at bay." 
 
 Mr. Carbines shivered. 
 
 "It's a terrible situation," he said, "and a 
 Christian can but pity." 
 
 Mr. Trewidden stared at Mr. Carbines. 
 
 "The magistrates and the police don't cot- 
 ton to such feelings at times like that," he 
 said, "thanks be. Christianity, if that's what 
 you mean, have got to be suited to the occa- 
 sion. Tobias be a fair outcast at last and 
 serve him right." 
 
 "An outcast!" cried Mr. Carbines.
 
 218 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 "Yes," said Mr. Trewidden, as the door 
 opened and Leah came in. "We shall never 
 willingly look on his face again. We 
 thought he was only a bit mazy as a child, 
 but he seemed mad at times as a boy, and 
 now the slur on the family name is almost 
 more than we can bear." 
 
 Leah had curtsied to the two men and 
 walked over to the cupboard with the bottle. 
 The doctor remembered his last conversation 
 with Leah, and said gently, as she turned 
 towards him. 
 
 "Did you ever see any real signs of odd- 
 ness in the boy?" 
 
 "Or forthiness with females?" asked Mr. 
 Trewidden. 
 
 "I've never seen him with any girl but 
 Loveday," said Leah, "and if love be an 
 oddness he was odd enough. Nothing else. 
 His baby fancies kept him quiet as a child's 
 sucker does other children, and he was kind- 
 ly to everything living." 
 
 The old doctor looked keenly at Leah.
 
 THE OUTCAST 219 
 
 "Do you believe the child was his?" 
 
 Mr. Carbines almost laughed. 
 
 "Whose could it be if not?" he said. "And 
 why should Tobias confess if there was a 
 doubt?" 
 
 Mr. Trewidden dismissed the matter with 
 a wave of his hand and Mrs. Trewidden 
 sighed plaintively. 
 
 "There ain't a doubt," said Leah slowly. 
 "Who loves him now loves him in the face 
 of his sin and shame." 
 
 "It is a little in that spirit," said Mr. Car- 
 bines gently, "that I've come here to-night. 
 Let anyone of us imagine ourselves in Tre- 
 widden's place. The mere thought is de- 
 pressing. He must be almost too miserable 
 to live, even if he loves the girl he has mar- 
 ried." He sighed deeply. "He's not un- 
 happy?" 
 
 "No," said Leah. "That's the strange 
 part in it all. That is what makes me know 
 his brain-piece be a bit wanting. He don't 
 look cowed a bit. He put Mathilda's wrap
 
 220 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 on her as if she was snow and would melt, 
 and there was no side glances at neighbors 
 nor nothing. It was just as if he'd done 
 his simple duty to all and everyone." 
 
 "What does Loveday say?" asked Mr. 
 Carbines. 
 
 "She'm relieved, I think. She told father 
 she'd allus been a bit scared of him in her 
 heart, though she thought she cared." 
 
 "She's a level-headed woman, be Love- 
 day," said Mrs. Trewidden, "and no whim- 
 sies and crotchets. Tobias would have driven 
 her bitter in time, though." 
 
 "And she him," said Leah. "He'll allus 
 be a man to himself, and an orderly life be a 
 sort of nutshell to him. He can't rightly 
 move in it. She's a woman as would frus- 
 trate him for having a dog, if a crumble got 
 on the floor through it, and he's one as seeks 
 freedom like a gull the sky." 
 
 "If a man once puts his soul into the hands 
 of his wife, freedom is only a name," said 
 the doctor.
 
 THE OUTCAST 221 
 
 "Tobias would 'ave had to shelter his soul 
 in Loveday's hands," said Leah, "and 
 I'm not sure he won't do that even out of 
 them." 
 
 "Will you kindly tell Mathilda that we 
 will put the fifty pounds in the savings bank 
 for her?" asked Mr. Carbines. "When we 
 hear we'll send her the notes in a registered 
 envelope and she can do as she likes about 
 telling Tobias." 
 
 "Why don't you write to her yourself, 
 Mr. Carbines?" said Mrs. Trewidden. 
 "She'd dearly like to have a letter from you, 
 I'm sure." 
 
 Mr. Carbines put his finger inside his shirt 
 collar. It seemed a little tight, for his face 
 was flushed. 
 
 "I want to spare her," he said. "She must 
 feel it all a disgrace, and I don't want to 
 rub it in." 
 
 "You'm a real gentleman," said Mrs. Tre- 
 widden. 
 
 The doctor was speculating in his usual
 
 222 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 way on men and things. He looked at him 
 searchingly, hut said in a level tone : 
 
 "You're evidently a father at heart, Mr. 
 Carbines." 
 
 Mr. Carbines coughed, smiled, and bowed, 
 and the two men went out together. 
 
 "Now I call that a stepping in of Provi- 
 dence itself," said Mrs. Trewidden. 
 
 "My gosh!" said Mr. Trewidden. "How 
 mistaken I've been in Carbines! Where's 
 the gin, Leah! Don't be sparey. We'll 
 never have a doldrum wedding again." 
 
 He took the bottle Leah gave him, poured 
 a generous helping into each glass and filled 
 the two up with hot water. Leah had hers 
 with her ginger beer. The three sat sip- 
 ping silently before the fire. 
 
 "God bless 'em," said Leah suddenly. 
 
 There was a long silence. 
 
 "When we've drunk that bottle, and we'll 
 have a try afore we goes up to bed," said 
 Matthew Trewidden, "Missis and me may 
 say the same. Now I just feel like cursing
 
 THE OUTCAST 223 
 
 Tobias for bringing shame on our heads. 
 He poured out more of the colorless fluid 
 and drank it nearly neat, but filled up Mrs. 
 Trewidden's glass with water. 
 
 "I'm feeling a sort of mother to them al- 
 ready," mumbled Mrs. Trewidden. "This 
 'ere spirit takes the snarls right out of my 
 system." 
 
 "The first time as I took gin," said Mr. 
 Trewidden meditatively, "was the night of 
 my first wedding. I've favored whiskey 
 since." 
 
 "I'm going to bed," said Leah, "and I'll 
 just pray for them." 
 
 The man and wife laughed hilariously. 
 
 "You'll have to do it for we too," said 
 Mrs. Trewidden. "My head be reel- 
 ing." 
 
 "I'm ready to comfort you, Mother," said 
 her husband thickly. "I ain't felt so jolly 
 since I heard the blasted news." 
 
 Leah's cheeks were flushed and her eyes 
 flashing.
 
 224 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 "The dream," she said, "was just a passil 
 of nonsense." 
 
 "The dream 1" Mrs. Trewidden cried. 
 "Why, you ain't slept yet, Leah. Off with 
 you to once'st. Leave Master and me 
 alone." 
 
 The girl went out and they heard her 
 stumbling up the stairs. 
 
 "My God! Missis! It's on stuff like this 
 that a man sees clear clear as a pike-staff." 
 
 "What do you see?" asked Mrs. Trewid- 
 den. 
 
 "What I don't mean to tell no woman," 
 he said, "even in my cups. I can lay a man- 
 snare if I've even a mind to. But it's half 
 a riddle to me yet. Tobias be Mary's son, 
 after all, and maybe he's got a bit of her 
 nature in him. He's got none of mine, but 
 that's no matter, as things have fallen out. 
 I'd have liked my eldest-born to have been 
 head and shoulders above other men, but we 
 can't pick and choose." He lolled over to 
 the chair where his wife sat and grinned at
 
 THE OUTCAST 225 
 
 her. "Give us a kiss, old dear. Perhaps 
 it'll take the flavor of this day's job out of 
 my teeth." He held up her head and kissed 
 her, almost falling over her as he did so. 
 
 "Matthew!" Mrs. Trewidden slobbered, 
 "you be fairly drunk." 
 
 "Come up and kiss me sober," leered her 
 husband. "I'm as fit as a fiddle, after all, 
 on my eldest son's wedding-night." 
 
 They rolled upstairs, and Leah, on her 
 knees as she heard the bedroom door bang, 
 sobbed out, "St. Patrick, St. Patrick, what 
 can it all mean?"
 
 PART VII 
 THE PILGRIM
 
 THE PILGRIM 
 
 TOBIAS TREWIDDEN was dying. The 
 young Irish doctor, who had just bought 
 the practice in Venvin village, heard of him 
 for the first time from a carrier who had 
 brought him a stock of bottles and a note 
 from the invalid asking him to come and 
 see him as soon as possible. 
 
 "They say he do look like a living corpse," 
 said the carrier. 
 
 "Has he no relations?" asked Dr. Bligh. 
 
 The carrier laughed as he rolled his to- 
 bacco in his palms. 
 
 "He don't belong to we at all," he said, 
 "though his misdoings hang fast around his 
 neck, even here as well as thirty mile off." 
 
 "No friends," muttered the doctor. "Does 
 he live alone?" 
 
 "Except for cats and such," said the man. 
 229
 
 230 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 "He's all to himself and has the look of 
 one lost to the world. You see," he went 
 on in a half whisper, "he's like a man ill 
 whisht, sure enough. A power of evil fol- 
 lows wherever his shadow do fall. Everyone 
 be scared of he." 
 
 "But if he's ill and dying someone must 
 surely see to him," said Dr. Bligh. 
 
 The carrier shielded his pipe with one 
 hand as he lighted it. 
 
 "No neighbor for miles round would come 
 nigh him living or dying," he said, "for fear 
 of hell letting loose more than could be cap- 
 tured again. He'm ready made for the 
 place, having tried to send two there already. 
 He only needs a push and he'll be home. 
 You won't risk going, will you, doctor?" 
 
 "Of course I shall go to him at once," said 
 Dr. Bligh. "I expect it's all superstition!" 
 
 The carrier jumped on to his wagon and 
 took the reins in his hands. 
 
 "Not at all," he said. "We Cornish know 
 the difference between that and this. The
 
 THE PILGRIM 231 
 
 screams of his wife afore the poor thing died 
 and the murder of his child, to say nothing 
 of other horrible things rightly put to his 
 account, ain't no superstitions but evil deeds. 
 He'm a mortal pestilence, in a manner of 
 speaking." 
 
 "Where does he live?" asked the doctor as 
 the man prepared to go. 
 
 "On the moors beyond the Giant's Crag," 
 answered the carrier. "He be far from 
 human habitation and makes use of spells 
 and such. Tom Andrew saw him once 
 praying by the Eagle's nest, unobserved, as 
 he thought, and he was waving his arms like 
 a scarecrow, at least that's what Tom 
 thought, but it might have been his shadow 
 on the white wall close by, as Tom's lantern 
 shed its light on the wizard. Anyway, I'll 
 own I'm scared of him, and I'd sooner carry 
 goods for a twelve-month for nothing than 
 minister to he for diamond studs and a for- 
 tune." 
 
 Ernest Bligh was interested. His medi-
 
 232 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 cal career, short as it had been, had proved 
 to him that the complexities of human na- 
 ture defied the hard and fast dictates of 
 either science or religion. He had formed a 
 habit of believing no evil report or repeating 
 it. 
 
 That same afternoon he cycled over to 
 Tobias Trewidden's little cottage and 
 knocked at the door. As there was no an- 
 swer he lifted the latch. A tall, thin man 
 was fast asleep in a chair with his head on 
 his folded arms which were spread out on 
 the big wooden table. A small black cat 
 was asleep across his neck. Dr. Bligh shut 
 the door softly and looked round the room. 
 It was very bare and by the open fireless 
 grate were empty hampers. He had no time 
 to examine further for suddenly Tobias 
 Trewidden raised his head and the cat arched 
 herself and sprang to the ground. 
 
 "Good-morning," said Dr. Bligh, "y u 
 sent for me to-day." 
 
 Tobias Trewidden stood up and the quick
 
 THE PILGRIM 233 
 
 eyes of Ernest Bligh saw that the man was 
 doomed. The body was almost fleshless and 
 the clear blue eyes had sunk far into the 
 head. He held out a bony hand to the doc- 
 tor. 
 
 "Thank you, sir," said Tobias. 
 
 "I came as soon as possible after you 
 wrote," said the doctor, as Tobias pointed 
 to a chair. 
 
 "You're welcome, I'm sure," said Tobias. 
 "The rages of coughing be most beyond 
 bearing at times. The earthly tabernacle be 
 breaking up fast." 
 
 The cat jumped on the doctor's knees, 
 doubled up her front paws, and gazed into 
 the empty grate. Tobias smiled. 
 
 "They'm forthy," he said. "They fear no 
 one. Kindness be all they've reckoned with 
 for generations. I've trained them in the 
 ways of the spirit." 
 
 "Good gracious !" said Dr. Bligh critically 
 eyeing Tobias. His short sojourn in the 
 West had taught him already that mysticism
 
 234 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 was compatible with common sense and su- 
 perstition worth serious study, in order to 
 find its substratum of scientific truth. When, 
 however, Tobias Trewidden began to talk 
 about his cat as if it were a mortal possessing 
 a soul, he began to observe him more keenly. 
 Perhaps, after all, the enemies of this in- 
 valid were right. Poisons in the blood made 
 fantastic havoc in a sensitive brain, and the 
 eyes showed that this man was not of the 
 average type. It might be a case worth 
 noting. As he stroked the cat on his knees 
 he said thoughtfully: 
 
 "Human beings are in the rough as yet, but 
 even then there's a great gap between them 
 and the dumb beasts. You can't prove to 
 me, for instance, that the kindness of a dog 
 could be so trained that he'd spare a rat." 
 
 "Iss! I can!" cried Tobias. "I've taught 
 a terrier-pup to play with rats so that when 
 he grew up he'd not kill them, and many a 
 friendship I've watched as close as a dog 
 and a cat can have at times. It 'ave occu-
 
 THE PILGRIM 235 
 
 pied me for years watching and tending ani- 
 mals, for they've been my only companions 
 for a long time. I've put down in a book 
 there," pointing to a shelf where a few odd 
 things were lying, "what I've come across in 
 the way of friendliness between they as be 
 reckoned enemies. It 'ave occupied me most 
 of my time these last three years, but lately 
 I've put them to sleep, for fear later they 
 ever fell into human hands." 
 
 Dr. Bligh instinctively glanced at the 
 long, tapering fingers of the cat's owner as 
 he stroked her head. Tobias caught the 
 look. 
 
 "Mine be mostly claws now," he said, smil- 
 ing, "and so be safer, in a manner of speak- 
 ing. Animals be real gentry with their 
 immortal souls unhurt," he added thought- 
 fully. 
 
 Dr. Bligh looked into the mystical eyes 
 of the man standing near him. Serenity and 
 control were written on the firm, big mouth 
 and unwrinkled forehead. His slight stoop
 
 236 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 was the only sign of age and that was more 
 from weakness than anything else. 
 
 "Is this cat all you have left?" asked the 
 doctor, for want of something to say. For 
 answer Tobias pointed to a little white box 
 lined with soft wool. The doctor pointed 
 an interrogative finger at the cat's back 
 which was towards him, as it sat on his knees 
 and then he glanced towards the box. 
 
 "Iss!" answered Tobias. "I can't risk it 
 no longer. If I pass and she be left to 
 human society, may be a bull-terrier would 
 finish she, or someone might mix her up with 
 what they think of me and act according 
 to." He coughed and put his hand to his 
 left side. 
 
 "Good heavens!" said Dr. Bligh, "have 
 you no one you can trust to kill a cat?" 
 
 "Not in a seemly way," said Tobias. "A 
 cat be like a witch and knows some of the 
 secrets. Fur be no barrier to me, and the 
 silence have been a voice within me for many 
 years. I see as she sees, and even the ad-
 
 THE PILGRIM 237 
 
 ders have made the Bible more of an open 
 book to me than before. It was through the 
 Scriptures that I charmed them into safety 
 and friendliness." 
 
 "What was the charm?" asked Dr. Bligh 
 smiling, as he put his fingers on the man's 
 wrist. 
 
 Tobias grew very grave as he said solemn- 
 
 iy- 
 
 "Some charms would be broken by tell- 
 ing. If I told you, unless you too was one 
 with us in understanding of the great se- 
 crets, the next snake as I got would sting 
 me and rightly, for some things be unfor- 
 givable, even with reptiles." 
 
 Dr. Bligh scarcely heard the last sentence. 
 With a set professional face he took his 
 fingers from his patient's wrist, and undid 
 the button of the flannel shirt as the man 
 stroked his cat. 
 
 "I'm scarcely good enough for burial," 
 said Tobias smiling. "It's a cage of bones 
 I've been for long enough now."
 
 238 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 "How many years has this been going 
 on?" asked the doctor. 
 
 "A matter of eight," he said. 
 
 Tobias looked calmly into the doctor's 
 eyes as he asked, "How long now?" 
 
 For a moment the two gazed eye to eye. 
 There was hesitation in the medical man's 
 glance, and expectancy in the look Tobias 
 fixed upon the grave face before him. Dr. 
 Bligh's habit with his patients held him 
 silent and perplexed, but the longing in the 
 keen blue eyes made him blurt out suddenly: 
 
 "Not many days." 
 
 "Thanks be," said Tobias gently. "I've 
 not sought it nor yet hurried it, but if the 
 appointed hour be near, it's a real savor to 
 my spirit." 
 
 Dr. Bligh stood up and pushed Tobias 
 into a low chair. He took out his stetho- 
 scope and put it inside the open shirt. 
 
 "Ninety-nine," said Tobias smiling. "I 
 learnt that at the hospital years ago." 
 
 "Thank you," said Dr. Bligh, after he had
 
 THE PILGRIM 239 
 
 finished his examination. "You must go to 
 bed at once and be nursed." The cat was 
 lying full length on the arm of Tobias and 
 licking his bony hand. 
 
 "They've all done that since they was but 
 youngsters," said Tobias smiling at the cat, 
 "and it's a comfortable and kindly practice. 
 They've allus licked my curls too, but there's 
 so little of they left she prefers my hand. 
 Cats be so soft and grateful." 
 
 "Shall I destroy her for you?" asked Dr. 
 Bligh kindly, "or will you give her to me 
 when when " 
 
 "Thank you, sir," said Tobias. "You 
 mean well, I'm sure, but it's best as I puts 
 she to sleep, as Nature, by and bye will put 
 me. She'd find me wanting, and maybe not 
 understand, and if I'm a bit lonesome at the 
 end it will only be what belongs and what 
 I'm used to." He pointed to the empty 
 baskets and cages as he went on: 
 
 "Them captives I've had in there be re- 
 leased afore me, for the same reason as I'm
 
 240 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 going to put the cat to rest. Adders and 
 toads and rats and all them things I used 
 to reckon only as vermin, but they've minis- 
 tered greatly to my faith. They'm com- 
 radely when you understand their ways, and 
 full of dignity and a great courage. It's 
 become a habit to me to try and live as they 
 live and to die as they belong to die, like 
 children falling into a beautiful sleep. 
 They'm likely here for a purpose, and it 
 seemly gets frustrated by them as be full 
 of lustful pride, because they can chatter 
 and don't wear neither fur nor feathers." 
 
 Dr. Bligh turned toward the door. 
 
 "You must not talk. See ! How it brings 
 on the cough. Have you taken any physic 
 for it?" 
 
 Tobias smiled. 
 
 "Physic to my mind," he said, "be a passil 
 of nonsense. I follows the example of my 
 cat, and as she eats grass if she be sick I 
 eats green stuff and plenty of onions. I 
 reckon a man's thoughts be his best physic
 
 THE PILGRIM 241 
 
 and when he comes to die his gut will tell 
 what manner of life he's led better than any- 
 thing else. My beasts have taught me that 
 too. The mothers head the class as they 
 give most of theirselves away." 
 
 "I will call again to-morrow," said Dr. 
 Bligh laughing, "and you shall tell me more 
 of your fancies." 
 
 "Thank you kindly, sir. What do I owe 
 you?" 
 
 "Nothing yet," said the doctor. "So far 
 it's I who owe you for quite a pleasant hour." 
 
 Dr. Bligh rode direct to the Vicarage, 
 hidden among lovely trees in a large old 
 garden. 
 
 "Passon be out but missis be in," said the 
 old cook-general who answered the door. 
 
 "I want to see her, please," said Dr. Bligh. 
 
 "Surely!" said Wilmot. "Come forward. 
 No one real bad, I hope?" added the woman 
 as she looked inquisitively at the doctor. 
 When they were inside the library Dr. Bligh 
 suddenly turned to the servant.
 
 242 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 "Do you happen to know a man callecf 
 Tobias Trewidden ?" he asked. 
 
 "Lordy! Lordy!" cried Wilmot. "Do 
 you mean the Wizard?" 
 
 "Why such a title?" asked the doctor 
 laughing. 
 
 Wilmot's face was solemn. "His house 
 reeks with witch-craft," she said. "They do 
 say that the Devil himself 'ave been seen 
 peering out of his chimney more nor once." 
 
 "He's ill," said Dr. Bligh, "in fact he's 
 dying. Someone must nurse him at once. 
 
 Wilmot tossed her head. 
 
 "Let 'en rot," she said. "It's tit for tat 
 at last, anyway." 
 
 With this cryptic sentence she left the 
 room to find her mistress. Mrs. Hewett 
 came in and greeted the new doctor with a 
 smile. 
 
 "I've just been hearing your praises 
 sung," she said. "Old Nancy Nanoledra 
 declares you've cut a bit out of her head- 
 piece and altered her brains so that she can
 
 THE PILGRIM 243 
 
 add up and write a long letter to her son in 
 America." 
 
 Dr. Bligh laughed. 
 
 "If I live here long enough I shall have to 
 open my own headpiece," he said, "in order 
 to make room for all the wisdom I pick up 
 as I go along. I've come to-day to ask you 
 if you know anything of a man called To- 
 bias Trewidden?" 
 
 Mrs. Hewett sat down and so did her 
 visitor. 
 
 "That man," said the clergyman's wife, 
 "is the problem of this village. My husband 
 says it is a clear case of possession and he 
 forbids me to go near him." 
 
 "Possession!" echoed Dr. Bligh. "Auto- 
 intoxication is the modern name for that sort 
 of thing." He smiled. "Are we never to 
 get out of the devil's clutches?" 
 
 "Not while he can take hold of men like 
 Tobias Trewidden," said Mrs. Hewett seri- 
 ously. "He's a warning to us all." 
 
 "To me he seems the most harmless con-
 
 244 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 sumptive I've ever treated," said Dr. Bligh. 
 "He interests me enormously. A little re- 
 ligiously touched, I grant you, but that 
 often goes with the disease. He's near the 
 end, anyway, very near, and I don't think 
 it possible he can live more than a few 
 hours." 
 
 "Well, it will be a great danger gone," 
 said Mrs. Hewett, "but he may live on. 
 Nothing, they say, is impossible to Tobias 
 Trewidden. It almost seems as if evil-do- 
 ing, as well as good works, could produce 
 miracles." 
 
 "What on earth has the man done," asked 
 Dr. Bligh, "that people seem so against 
 him?" 
 
 "Everything," said Mrs. Hewett, "accord- 
 ing to report. It appears he was always un- 
 like anyone else from a small boy. He's a 
 desperate character." 
 
 "Name the worst crime he's committed," 
 said the doctor smiling. "I'll promise not to
 
 THE PILGRIM 245 
 
 jump out of my chair. To me he seems so 
 very harmless." 
 
 It was some time before Mrs. Hewett 
 spoke. She wiped her thin lips once or twice 
 with her handkerchief, took off her ruby 
 ring, and put it on again. 
 
 "They say he practises black magic, for 
 one thing," she said at last. She spoke in 
 a half whisper, looking towards the door. 
 "Incantations and horrible things he does, 
 they say, though I must confess I don't 
 understand what it all means, but I know it 
 is against the Bible teaching and very dan- 
 gerous." 
 
 "Is that all?" asked the doctor. 
 
 "No," said Mrs. Hewett. "He is sup- 
 posed to have killed his own child and there 
 have been dreadful rumors about a woman 
 he lived with who was apparently tortured 
 to death. None of us know the real truth, 
 as he's never confided in anyone, but the 
 evidence is all against him." 
 
 "But the law," gasped the doctor. "Sure-
 
 246 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 ly no one can do such things with impunity, 
 even here. I feel convinced it's a great deal 
 scandal, owing to the lack in this village of 
 adequate dramatic entertainment." 
 
 Mrs. Hewett stared fixedly at the doctor, 
 who was smiling. 
 
 "Where there's " 
 
 "Excuse me," interrupted Dr. Bligh, "in 
 my limited experience I've more often than 
 not seen flame without any smoke, and if I 
 can trust my intuitions at all I believe this 
 is a case in point. However, at this moment 
 the man's sins are not the urgent matter. 
 He is dying, and I want a nurse for him at 
 once. Can you tell me where I can get 
 one?" 
 
 Mrs. Hewett wrinkled her brows. She 
 was distinctly annoyed. 
 
 "This is a Christian village," she said 
 severely. 
 
 "So I understand," answered Dr. Bligh 
 blandly. "That is why I am making my re- 
 quest."
 
 THE PILGRIM 247 
 
 "You won't find a God-fearing man or 
 woman in it to stay alone a whole night with 
 Tobias Trewidden," she said. 
 
 "Good God!" cried Dr. Bligh. "Not 
 one?" 
 
 "Well, perhaps one," said Mrs. Hewett 
 suddenly. "There's Biddy Beaver, the net- 
 mender. She's very deaf and it might have 
 heen too tedious a job for the neighbors to 
 have told her all that is said about Tobias 
 Trewidden. Deaf people escape many 
 things, and she's a kindly creature. I will 
 write down her address but she lives beyond 
 the cemetery." 
 
 Dr. Bligh took the piece of paper, 
 thanked Mrs. Hewett and went away. He 
 did not go direct to Biddy. Instead he went 
 to a widow he had treated free of charge 
 for a serious tumor, and whose gratitude 
 had been expressed many times by saying 
 that if she could not pay him in hake she 
 would in herring. "Now;" he said to him- 
 self, "I'll claim the herring."
 
 248 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 Widow Rasselas was washing. As the 
 doctor entered the back gate her elbows, in 
 the "wash-tray," were covered with soap- 
 suds. She wiped her arms and led the way 
 into her cottage. 
 
 "It's lonesome sometimes, Doctor," she 
 said, "and I washes just for washin's sake 
 to keep me company." 
 
 "I've got a cure for loneliness," said Dr. 
 Bligh. "I've a patient sick, dying in fact. 
 Will you nurse him for me?" 
 
 "Iss!" said Widow Rasselas. "I dearly 
 love the sick and feeble." 
 
 "It's Tobias Trewidden," he said. 
 
 "He?" she shrieked in a high interroga- 
 tive. "My blessed Father in Heaven!" 
 
 "Are you afraid of death?" asked the doc- 
 tor. 
 
 "Death!" she echoed. "Not me! I'm 
 more used to corpses, in a manner of speak- 
 ing, than gentry, but I'd never venture near 
 he." 
 
 "I should have thought a good mother like
 
 THE PILGRIM 249 
 
 you could venture anywhere," said Dr. 
 Bligh. "To my mind he's a tender-hearted 
 man." 
 
 "He've been a woman-tamer so I've 
 heard," said Widow Rasselas, with wide 
 open eyes, "and he be as bitter as lemon- 
 rind over all of we. My man, afore he died, 
 said as only men among themselves could 
 reckon up what a passil of women he must 
 have ruined when he was young and afore 
 he came to live here, or the talk would never 
 be so fierce against him." 
 
 "He's dying," said Dr. Bligh. 
 
 "Well," said Widow Rasselas solemnly, 
 "he can't never go to heaven, thanks be." 
 
 "Why not?" asked Dr. Bligh. 
 
 "Heaven," said the widow emphatically, 
 "be a prepared place for prepared people. 
 Tobias Trewidden will surely be in hell and 
 safe from all of we and we from him." 
 
 Dr. Bligh looked into the woman's face. 
 
 "He's there now," he said, "here, in this 
 godly village."
 
 250 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 "Serve him right if he is," said Widow 
 Rasselas. "It's his own fault," she snapped. 
 "According to hearsay no decent body can 
 tell up his wicked actions. It's them tales as 
 'ave scared even youngsters away from his 
 cottage." 
 
 "Rubbish!" said Dr. Bligh. "The man's 
 face gives the lie to all these idiotic tales." 
 
 "Thanks be," said Widow Rasselas, "I've 
 never looked upon his countenance but once, 
 and then not to know exactly whether he 
 was pock-marked or had a beard." She 
 tapped her forehead suddenly as she went 
 on. "Yes, come to think of it though, he 
 had a beard when he first come here to live. 
 My Annie Lizzie, what be buried these five 
 years now, made her father laugh some 
 hearty when he was lying in bed ill with the 
 miner's complaint. 'There's a man come to 
 live in Dickie Gibbart's cottage that have 
 got fur all over his face,' she said." 
 
 Widow Rasselas came closer to the doctor 
 and ended in a whisper, "I'd not be fright-
 
 THE PILGRIM 251 
 
 ened but what he's got the cloven foot, too, 
 and the stump of a tail. Sin be forgivable, 
 but witch-craft 'ave always to be shunned 
 the same as poison." 
 
 Dr. Bligh put his hand on the door-latch 
 as he prepared to go. 
 
 "How many chapels," he asked, "are there 
 in this village?" 
 
 "Three," answered Widow Rasselas, "so 
 we know of the doctrine." 
 
 "Good-bye," said the doctor. "I'm going 
 home without either herring or hake. I 
 came to ask you for the one you promised 
 long ago and you've refused it." 
 
 Widow Rasselas laughed happily. 
 
 "Why you never reminded me," she said. 
 "But as it happens I've a bit of newly caught 
 hake in the larder, so please accept of it." 
 
 With self satisfaction written all over her 
 sunburnt face she brought a small parcel 
 from the scullery and put it in the basket 
 which was tied on to the doctor's bicycle. 
 As he rode away he called out gaily. "If it
 
 252 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 makes me sick, Mrs. Rasselas, I won't put it 
 down to witch-craft anyway." 
 
 She shook her head drearily as she went 
 back to her cottage. 
 
 "You can't touch dung and remain un- 
 defiled," she murmured as she went into her 
 cottage again. She was sure she had come 
 across that in the Scriptures. 
 
 Dr. Bligh made his way to Biddy Beaver's 
 cottage. She was mending a big pilchard 
 net outside her door. The doctor made signs 
 to her and she got up and curtsied. She 
 handed him paper and a pencil. He saw 
 hope for his cause in her kindly, wrinkled 
 face with the clear brown eyes, which seemed 
 to be always listening for what the ears could 
 not catch. He wrote down what he wanted, 
 and watched her reading it. She shook her 
 head. 
 
 "He 'ave the evil eye they do say," she 
 said. "Bein' unable to hear I'd be afraid. 
 Though wanting money badly, I won't un- 
 dertake the job."
 
 THE PILGRIM 253 
 
 "Three shillings a day," wrote Dr. Bligh. 
 
 She read the paper, smiled, licked her lips 
 slowly and then said eagerly. 
 
 "For double I'll favor you." 
 
 "To-night," he wrote, "at seven, I'll be 
 there and write down all you have to do. It's 
 very simple, and if he can't talk, so much the 
 better, as he is very weak." 
 
 Biddy nodded her head and he left the 
 cottage. 
 
 Dr. Bligh happened to have an unusually 
 busy day. Tired out, about six o'clock, he 
 entered Tobias Trewidden's door. 
 
 "To bed at once," he said, as he realized 
 what his patient had been doing. The box 
 with the wool inside had gone and a spade 
 was lying on the floor. 
 
 "I never thought I could care so much, 
 knowing what I know," said Tobias. "She 
 licked my hand to the last. I put her to 
 sleep same as the doctor put me when I'd 
 the head-fever. I'd kept the stuff in case 
 I'd ever need to stop the violent pain again.
 
 254 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 She'm comfortable now." The man's eyes 
 were alight with passionate eagerness. 
 "There's no one else to care, and it'll be a 
 birthday for she as well as me. No one won't 
 be able to maul she when I'm gone." 
 
 "You really must go to bed," said Dr. 
 Bligh almost sternly. 
 
 Suddenly a thought struck him. "You 
 must have some nourishment at once. You 
 can scarcely stand," he said. Tobias stag- 
 gered to a cupboard and took out a large 
 jug and drew a saucepan from a shelf near. 
 He lighted a small oil-stove and put the 
 broth on the flame. 
 
 "The leeks are all cooked," he said, "and 
 it will soon be ready. I've made use of them 
 for gargles and supper and general main- 
 tenance for weeks, with a crust of bread 
 and some milk." . 
 
 "Have you no money?" asked Dr. Bligh. 
 
 The dignified simplicity of the man made 
 the doctor sorry he had spoken. 
 
 "No, none," said Tobias. "The garden
 
 THE PILGRIM 255 
 
 suffices, as there I've all I need. I've never 
 craved nothin' for a long time. A few pen- 
 nies put by have given the cat and me milk 
 and the last went yesterday." He poured 
 out the strong-smelling broth into a basin 
 as the doctor pointed to the staircase. 
 
 "While this is cooling," he said, "slip into 
 bed. I've brought you a draught and we'll 
 have you rubbed by someone soon." In less 
 than ten minutes Dr. Bligh went upstairs. 
 
 "Sir," said Tobias, "it's a sweet savor to 
 me that you ain't afraid of me and will min- 
 ister to me like this 'ere." 
 
 There was a knock at the door. 
 
 "That's Biddy Beaver come to sit up with 
 you all night," said Dr. Bligh. 
 
 Tobias leaned forward suddenly. 
 
 "A woman," he cried. "In God's name 
 what next?" 
 
 Dr. Bligh went downstairs. It was not 
 Biddy. As he opened the door a small boy 
 handed him a piece of paper. On it was 
 written: "A little thing would soon capsize
 
 256 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 Biddy, the money would be ill got. No." 
 The boy touched his cap and ran off. Dr. 
 Bligh hesitated before going upstairs. Then 
 he sprang up like a boy. 
 
 "I didn't like the look of that nurse," he 
 said smiling, "so she's packed off. I'm go- 
 ing home to do some dispensing and I'll re- 
 turn till the morning. Sleep till I come." 
 
 Tobias felt over the bed-clothes and then 
 lay back. 
 
 "The cat was allus a stand-by at twilight," 
 he said. "She'm well on the journey by now 
 and knows the great secrets. Death have al- 
 lus seemed to me to be more wondrous than 
 all other things put together." 
 
 He coughed, and Dr. Bligh held out his 
 hand. Tobias took it and said in a hoarse 
 whisper: "You might be one of they dumb 
 lot, you're so understanding and kind, sir, 
 but maybe you've not heard the talk." 
 
 "Damn talk," said Dr. Bligh. 
 
 Tobias laughed. 
 
 "No swear words can kill it," he said, "for
 
 THE PILGRIM 257 
 
 it's from Genesis to Revelations for disaster. 
 I'm careless of it now, but then you see I'm 
 dying at last. I'd dearly love to know 
 you're a match for it, sir." 
 
 "Take this," said Dr. Bligh, handing To- 
 bias a cachet, "and sleep till I come back. 
 I'll leave the door on the latch. No one will 
 disturb you?" 
 
 Tobias smiled. 
 
 "It's as still as a grave here," he said, 
 "and so very beautiful. Thank you kind- 
 ly, sir." 
 
 The moon was rising and one star was in 
 the sky as her sentinel. The big fuchsia tree 
 in the little garden did service as a yew-tree 
 over the newly turned patch where Tobias 
 had buried his cat. The fuchsia flower-bells 
 swayed in the southwest wind. Dr. Bligh 
 stopped a moment to listen to the distant 
 lapping of the waves on the seashore. It 
 was early September and the sky was a soft 
 purple and gold. 
 
 When he returned he found Tobias Tre-
 
 258 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 widden asleep. He put his fingers gently 
 on the man's pulse and smiled. If Tobias 
 looked upon Death as his birthday, it was 
 close at hand. The man stirred, turned 
 round his head, and smiled at his new friend. 
 
 "That was balm to my spirit," said To- 
 bias, "and the sign was in the dream." 
 
 "What sign?" asked Dr. Bligh, again 
 feeling his pulse. 
 
 "The sign of a new daybreak," he said, 
 "and of spirits made manifest. The lights 
 were so wonderful." Perspiration had 
 broken out on his face and a sudden radiance 
 lighted the whole countenance. "Nothin* 
 matters now," he went on. "It's just a great 
 understanding and a loveliness." 
 
 Dr. Bligh poured out some liquid food 
 and handed it to Tobias. 
 
 "You've had a rough time," he said. "No 
 wonder you don't dread the end." 
 
 Tobias laughed softly. 
 
 "What sweetmeats be to children," he said, 
 "and kisses to maidens, Death be to me."
 
 THE PILGRIM 259 
 
 "What began aU this?" asked Dr. Bligh, 
 pointing to his patient's chest. 
 
 "Worritin', I reckon, before I'd learnt 
 how to make use of the ways of the spirit," 
 said Tobias. "It sent me into a sleepless 
 decline, wrestlin' with more than principali- 
 ties and powers. I'd had my vision, sure 
 enough, but somehow, like a mist at sea, all 
 was hidden from my eyes in misfortune." 
 
 "Don't talk if it tires you," said Dr. Bligh, 
 opening the shirt front, as Tobias was 
 breathing heavily. 
 
 The patient leaned on his elbow. 
 
 "It's an easement," he said. "I miss they 
 dumb lot. I'd often talk to them of things 
 they understand without speech. They 
 seemed to know all, without condemnation." 
 
 "Was it a woman?" asked Dr. Bligh. 
 
 "Seemly a passil of them," said Tobias, 
 "and battalions of folk seemed to be whis- 
 perin' and interferin' too." 
 
 The doctor eyed Tobias a little severely. 
 
 "We all pay for our wild oats," he said.
 
 260 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 "I suppose they had something to go on? 
 People generally have." 
 
 Tobias coughed till he could scarcely 
 speak, and then went on slowly. "It fairly 
 chokes me with the laughableness of that 
 there," he said. "Excuse me, sir." 
 
 Dr. Bligh was curious and very puzzled. 
 
 "I'm in my thirty-one," said Tobias, "and 
 when I were twenty I was as gay as a robin 
 on the bough. I began as a shepherd-boy, 
 and it was then I learnt some of the great 
 secrets. I went afterward as a milkman and 
 manager to a cousin as was a farmer, and 
 it was on the very first day of my work 
 there that disaster overcame me. I was in 
 love and I'd a beautiful girl all my own." 
 He looked keenly at the doctor. "If I eases 
 my chest of all this you won't mouth it in 
 the place, sir, will you, even when I'm dead 
 and buried? The truth would maze 'em 
 worse than the lies they've built up." 
 
 "Not a word to a soul," said Dr. Bligh. 
 "It may help you to to "
 
 THE PILGRIM 261 
 
 "Pass," said Tobias gently. "So it may. 
 I've carried it close for eleven years, and 
 they've built a mountain of lies on what they 
 neither knew nor could understand if they 
 did know." He tried to sit up, but had to 
 lie back again. 
 
 "If you've anything on your mind or re- 
 morse about something," said the doctor, 
 "don't hesitate to confess. I'm quite safe 
 and have heard too many strange things 
 in my life to be either shocked or 
 shaken." 
 
 After another fit of coughing Tobias went 
 on. 
 
 "There's nothin' in that line," he said. "I 
 can face the Light and the Voice, as a child 
 its mother. The only remorse I have is, 
 perhaps, that I've made too much use of the 
 Gospels, and so got more kicks than thanks 
 for following the things I fell across in my 
 dreams. A minister once said in our chapel 
 that it don't do to make use of Christ's words 
 as he meant them, but according to."
 
 262 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 "I've only known one Christian in my 
 life," said Dr. Bligh, "and he died of it." 
 
 "I daresay," said Tobias gently. "The 
 human heart in me 'ave often quailed before 
 the outbreaks as 'ave come upon me by livin' 
 the word and not only listenin' to the doc- 
 trine." 
 
 "It's the big man who willingly dies for 
 the truth," said Dr. Bligh. "The little ones, 
 at the worst, can but stone him to death." 
 
 "When I was shepherding," said Tobias, 
 "everything seemed such wonder and glory 
 that no disaster seemed possible. The lambs 
 and the clouds and the hills fell in line with 
 the Scriptures and my thoughts. When a 
 maid gave me her heart it was just the 
 same. It was compassed in what I'd learnt 
 at night from the moon and the stars and 
 the great silence. Even when the first dis- 
 aster fell, it was like the sleet and the thun- 
 der and a power of things, apparently harm- 
 ful, I'd grown to see the meanin' of in win- 
 ter and spring."
 
 THE PILGRIM 263 
 
 "Hush!" said Dr. Bligh, as he slipped 
 away a pillow and laid Tobias flat on his 
 mattress. "Wait a moment." 
 
 Tobias took a few deep breaths and mum- 
 bled out : 
 
 "I've learnt some of the secrets, though. 
 Nothing can take them from my heart, and 
 they pan out wonderful near to what no- 
 body 'ave ever taught me but the dumb 
 beasts and the flowers. A dream altered 
 everything when I was twenty, and nothin' 
 but dying will bring the fulfilment." 
 
 "You never married then?" asked Dr. 
 Bligh. 
 
 Tobias smoothed the sheet with his thin 
 hand. 
 
 "Only in a manner of speaking," said 
 Tobias. 
 
 Dr. Bligh stroked his mustache to hide a 
 smile. 
 
 "You are credited with a great knowledge 
 of women," he said. 
 
 "You see," said Tobias, "it was a slip and
 
 264 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 miss job altogether. We was plighted on 
 St. Patrick's day, but before the next one 
 came round ruin was on us. Perhaps it 'ave 
 all been for the best. I can never feel cer- 
 tain. When I was shepherding, it was the 
 darkest nights when the stars shone bright- 
 est, but the sunshine always held my spirit 
 at its liveliest." 
 
 Dr. Bligh wiped the tired face as Tobias 
 went on slowly and with more difficulty. 
 
 "Love 'ave never been a pastime with me," 
 he said, "but a world of meanin', same as 
 the Gospel itself. The maid I never married 
 is the one woman I've cared about and she 
 be still the woman of my dreams. She was 
 best off to be rid of me. No one saw that 
 clearer than Tobias Trewidden. Besides, 
 what else was she to do ? The thought of her 
 sweet manners often came over me like 
 a flood when I was alone with the dumb 
 ones. She was a maze of wonder and 
 beauty." 
 
 Tobias tried to get up, and the doctor
 
 THE PILGRIM 265 
 
 propped him in a sitting position to ease the 
 coughing. 
 
 "She left you?" queried Dr. Bligh. 
 
 "They all did," said Tobias simply. 
 "There was nothing else to do, seemly. I 
 nearly left myself, in a manner of speaking, 
 same as mad folks do. I don't fancy I'd 
 quite reckoned with the make of the world 
 nor of them in it. I'd lived so much in 
 fancies and make-believe." 
 
 "What puUed you out?" asked Dr. Bligh. 
 
 "A baby," said Tobias. 
 
 "Good heavens!" cried Dr. Bligh. "They 
 are right, then? Are you a father?" 
 
 "Only in a manner of speaking," said To- 
 bias. "It was like everything else about me, 
 a half and half and betwixt and between 
 sort of thing. The baby was a dead one, 
 you see. All the tribulations and trials over 
 it 'ave alms made me feel a bit as if it was 
 my own. That, and having its mother to 
 tend same as a child." 
 
 Dr. Bligh moistened the dry and purple
 
 266 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 lips. "It may hurt you too much to go on/* 
 he said. 
 
 "Oh ! I feel I'd like you to know, sir. It's 
 just fine having this handshake before I goes 
 round land. You see, sir, how could anyone 
 do anything else but shun me? It's no blame 
 to them as can't see in the darkness like a 
 cat. Even if I could have tried to make it 
 clear, words confuse some things, and only 
 muddle matters more. It would have meant 
 telling my dreams and the great watchword 
 too." 
 
 "Try and tell me," said Dr. Bligh. "I've 
 an Irish brain, you know, and it gets hold 
 quickly." He spoke flippantly to pull him- 
 self together, for the skeleton form and face 
 of Tobias were moving him strangely. 
 
 Tobias leaned over toward the doctor. 
 
 "I was delivering milk for the first time 
 and on the first morning after I'd got my 
 job," said Tobias, "when a neighbor, Mrs. 
 Carbines, the grocer's wife, ran out in a ter- 
 rible fluster and begged me to stay in the
 
 THE PILGRIM 267 
 
 house while she ran to a neighbor to fetch 
 the doctor. I never gave it a thought, but 
 just tied the pony to the gate and went into 
 the kitchen. I'd no sooner stepped in than 
 I heard the maid-servant, Mathilda, call me 
 from upstairs. 'Tobias,' she said, 'be that 
 you?' I wondered how she knew, but it ap- 
 pears it had got about that I'd a job and 
 would soon be married, for luck was coming 
 in on every hand. She begged me for the 
 love of God to go up to her. Her voice was 
 pitiful and I could hear she was some fright- 
 ened and in pain. I never thought no more 
 about it but ran up to where she was in bed. 
 She was white as white and held out her 
 hands. I can see her now." 
 
 There was a pause. Presently Tobias 
 went on slowly and quietly, but stopped now 
 and then for breath. 
 
 " 'Tobias,' said the maid to me, 'don't say 
 me nay. Go to that box and take out a par- 
 cel you'll find there and bury it or drown it 
 'afore nigh time. It's my dead little baby/
 
 268 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 I thought I should have dropped as she said 
 it. 'Have patience,' she screamed, 'or I'm a 
 ruined woman.' I trembled like a willow in 
 the wind. 'Have patience,' she cried again, 
 'or they'll hang me.' My dream of the night 
 before was close on my spirit, and, like one 
 in a trance, I opened the box. Before I 
 knew where I was the poor little dead worm 
 was in my cart and Mrs. Carbines back in 
 the cottage. As I drove off I saw the doc- 
 tor tearing along with a very serious face. 
 I seemed to be no good at my work all the 
 morning. I gave the customers wrong meas- 
 ure and change and entered things forth and 
 back, for the thought of the little baby con- 
 fused my mind. I touched the parcel again 
 and again, but I'd no stomach to open it." 
 
 The doctor handed Tobias a cup of hot 
 milk he had brought in a thermos flask. 
 
 "The police should have dealt with it," he 
 said. 
 
 "So they did later," said Tobias. "That 
 night I tried to bury the parcel in the gar-
 
 THE PILGRIM 269 
 
 den when it was dark, but I smelt a neigh- 
 bor's tobacco smoke over the wall and felt 
 he could somehow know what I was doing. 
 I began to wish I'd refused the maid and 
 then I knew it was all meant. You see," 
 said Tobias softly, "patience was my moth- 
 er's watchword to me. At last I thought of 
 the mare as drawed the milk cart, and, with- 
 out asking permission, I jumped on her and 
 galloped to Tommy's Pond, which lies dark 
 and low among a lot of tall trees, not far 
 from the main road. I threw the parcel into 
 the water at last. I heard a great splash at 
 the same time and a dog was after it. I 
 jumped in, scarcely knowing if I was in my 
 reasonable senses. Sandy, the ratting ter- 
 rier, had followed me. I fought him in the 
 water, but it was no use. He swam to shore 
 with the thing in his mouth and I after him. 
 The moon had got up by then and we were 
 met by two constables on the bank. It 
 appears they'd been on the look-out all 
 day."
 
 270 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 "What an infernal mix up," said Dr. 
 Bligh. "Surely you were able to prove your 
 innocence?" 
 
 Tobias coughed and laughed. 
 
 "Seemly, that's the last thing as anybody 
 who be in the right can do," he said. "It's 
 what folks makes up their minds you are, or 
 what they thinks you've done, and not what 
 you really are, what makes or mars you, 
 seemly. They told me my best plan was to 
 be silent. It appears they fathered the child 
 on me, and the girl wouldn't deny it, as the 
 real father was a chapel-goer and a married 
 man with an honest name to support." To- 
 bias clasped his hands together. "If I was a 
 'vengeful sort of chap I'd feel forced to 
 have a word yet with that man. He'm go- 
 ing to his grave in honor and I'm dying in 
 shame. If I'd known at the time that he 
 was the coward who gave the fifty pounds 
 to us when we was married, I'd have sent it 
 back with a very unchristian speech along 
 with it. But I never knew for years."
 
 THE PILGRIM 271 
 
 "What happened," asked Dr. Bligh, 
 "when the police opened the parcel?" 
 
 "There was nothin' but talk and fuss for 
 days," went on Tobias. "All the neighbors 
 believed I'd murdered it, and I only escaped 
 because the doctor said the little lungs of 
 the baby had never worked and that it was 
 born dead. They'd have brought it in as 
 manslaughter and that saved me from more 
 than the rope, for I'd rather have died right 
 away than have been shut out from the sun 
 and the fields, even for a term. The minis- 
 ter and the clergyman and the magistrates 
 talked it over, it seems, and they said if 
 I'd marry the girl and make her honest 
 they'd just dismiss me with a warning. I 
 said I was bespoke to another girl. This 
 dragged her dear name in and she were 
 fetched." 
 
 Tobias lay back exhausted and murmured : 
 "That were the real crucifixion, sir, and it 
 eats in me still like rust." 
 
 "Wait a bit," said Dr. Bligh. "Hearing
 
 272 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 this takes it out of me even. To have en- 
 dured it must have been hell." 
 
 Tobias went on in a thick whisper. 
 
 "If I could have spared her I'd have sold 
 my soul to the devil, but somehow they got 
 me by the throat, in a manner of speaking, 
 when they wanted me to leave she and take 
 another. When I could bring myself to 
 look upon she I saw she was scared and tor- 
 mented, like a rabbit with the dogs right on 
 it. When they asked her if she was my 
 sweetheart she looked fit to drop." 
 
 "She said yes, I hope," said Dr. Bligh. 
 "The worst woman comes out true blue at 
 these times." 
 
 Tobias had a f ar-a-way look in his eyes. 
 
 "I'm sure, had it been at all possible, she 
 would have done all a girl can do, but you 
 see I gave her no chance. My heart seemed 
 tied with red-hot bands in my chest. It came 
 over me like a dream how the neighbors 
 would buffet and torment her. She could 
 never have no pride in me again. I was to
 
 THE PILGRIM 273 
 
 be a byword and it would be shameful to be 
 seen with me, much less to marry me." 
 
 "She failed you!" cried the doctor. "My 
 God! she was no Irish woman." 
 
 Tobias smiled. 
 
 "All women be like ewes in a storm," he 
 said, "and rush to any shelter if the gale be 
 too fierce. Afore she'd time to answer, I 
 called out what came into my head like a 
 swear word. 'I'm willin' to marry the 
 mother of the child.' After I'd said it I 
 could have eat my tongue out." 
 
 "So I should think," said Dr. Bligh. 
 "What on earth made you do it if the child 
 was not yours?" 
 
 Tobias spoke very slowly. 
 
 "It was just seein' my sweetheart's eyes 
 full of terror and hatred," he said. "As she 
 looked upon me, I knew it was the call the 
 call in which 'Patience' was the watchword. 
 It flooded me all of a sudden and the balm 
 of the Holy Spirit fell on me and I knew 
 I had given she the fullest of love's tokens."
 
 274 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 "The love of a lifetime in a moment of 
 madness," said Dr. Bligh. 
 
 "Not madness," said Tobias. "I had died 
 that she could live, that was all," he went 
 on simply. "Even if she never knew the 
 truth, something of the meanin' of the great 
 love we'd spoken of in the shepherding days 
 would lighten her heart. She'd surely guess 
 some day what my gift was, and so love 
 me still. I never saw her no more after that. 
 They carried her away, for she fainted with 
 terror and sorrow." 
 
 Dr. Bligh blew his nose as he said almost 
 gaily: 
 
 "You're a sporting chap, Trewidden. So 
 you married?" 
 
 "Iss!" said Tobias wearily, "but it were 
 never nothin' but tending my lawful wife 
 night and day. Her nerves were destroyed, 
 they said, and she'd never be no use no more. 
 She upbraided me for my part in all the 
 mishap and talked continual of the dead 
 baby. She told the neighbors I beat her and
 
 THE PILGRIM 275 
 
 kept her short of victuals." Tobias smiled. 
 "That was the bit of real truth in the maze 
 of talk over me. It was hard work at last 
 to make even cinder tea or buy skim milk 
 for bread and sops. I lost one job after 
 another through the rumors which followed 
 us. My father cast me off, and anyway I 
 could never have stayed in the village where 
 Loveday lived. At last I came here because 
 the doctor said the sea salt swould cure my 
 wife, and I happened, through saving a dog 
 one day, to fall in with a vet at Pinover who 
 boarded out some cats and dogs with us 
 when his place was overcrowded. Their 
 cries were often put down by the neighbors 
 to me beating my wife. Bit by bit the whole 
 story of my shame got out, with more tacked 
 on to it, and a nest of adders would have had 
 more reasonable chance than we had of a 
 peaceful life. Mathilda died at last of a 
 long-named pain in her head and her death 
 was unholy and tempestuous. I've no call
 
 276 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 for remorse, sir, for I tended she as if she'd 
 been the other woman." 
 
 "Since then," said Dr. Bligh, "you and 
 the animals have heen the best of friends?" 
 
 A light broke over the dying man's face. 
 
 "They and the holy spirits," he said. 
 "When the world have been most darkened 
 for me, strange lights came as if from the 
 stars and the moon and the rainbows. The 
 travellers on the road, too, have told me 
 their sorrows and we've comforted one an- 
 other." 
 
 "I thought it was so desolate here?" said 
 Dr. Bligh. 
 
 "They've been sent," said Tobias simply. 
 "I never refused anyone, and a tramp or a 
 tempest-driven soul have come toward my 
 little cottage without fear. There've been 
 wondrous days and lovely nights. It's been 
 a great homesickness, that is all." 
 
 Dr. Bligh bent over the dying man and 
 stroked his brow. 
 
 "You'll be at peace soon now, Tobias Tre-
 
 THE PILGRIM 277 
 
 widden," he said. "Give me that woman's 
 name and address and let me tell her the 
 truth at last." 
 
 Tobias tried to raise himself, but fell back 
 gasping. 
 
 "The truth is surely in her heart," he mut- 
 tered, "and will keep till the Judgment Day. 
 The lies as 'ave festered in them as be my 
 natural enemies don't count, but she loved 
 me, and love can't harbor no lies." The 
 voice grew fainter and Dr. Bligh bent close 
 to the man's lips in order to hear. 
 
 "It might wound her to reckon with it 
 now or to know what it have spelt to me. 
 She were wonderful tender, you see, and so 
 very winsome." 
 
 Dr. Bligh bit his lips. 
 
 "It must have been a living death," he 
 said. 
 
 "Not with love to support me," said To- 
 bias, "and I did love she so very true. 'You 
 love me for myself,' she said once, and that's 
 how Fan-Fan loved Trailing Topsy. Don't
 
 278 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 fret she. She've been married these ten 
 years and more and has four children." Dr. 
 Bligh felt the man's pulse and whispered. 
 
 "Trewidden, leave me free about this mat- 
 ter. Just say I may tell her. I'll find her 
 all right. Just nod your head if you can't 
 speak." 
 
 A faint smile accompanied the whispered 
 answer. 
 
 "Sir, I do trust you as if you was four- 
 footed." The eyes closed and only a faint 
 breathing was heard. Suddenly a little 
 sound of soft laughter came from the 
 parched lips of Tobias. 
 
 "Why arn't you in white? Why in blue?" 
 he murmured. 
 
 "Delirious, thank God," muttered the doc- 
 tor. 
 
 The distant bark of a dog was the only 
 sound as Tobias Trewidden passed into a 
 rigid peace. 
 
 Dr. Bligh opened the window wide and 
 waited a moment. A robin and a thrush
 
 THE PILGRIM 279 
 
 hopped on the bushes close by. The robin 
 suddenly sang, and as the doctor stepped 
 back into the room a smile had settled upon 
 the dead face of Tobias Trewidden.
 
 PAET VIII 
 THE WOMAN
 
 THE WOMAN 
 
 A FEW days after Tobias Trewidden's 
 death, Dr. Bligh, partly from curiosity and 
 partly from a desire to do justice to the dead, 
 went to the address he had got from the 
 father of Tobias. He had made it his care 
 to tell him of his son's death, but gave no 
 details and did not stay to discuss the matter. 
 He hurried to the house of Tobias Trewid- 
 den's old love. He found a row of villas in 
 the street where the "Laurels" was situated. 
 A few straggling chrysanthemums did duty 
 for laurels, and two terra-cotta dogs, with 
 mouths wide open and lolling tongues, 
 guarded the grained door on which the doc- 
 tor knocked. It was opened by a dowdy 
 maid-servant with loose red hair and a cap 
 supported chiefly by her left ear. 
 
 "Is your mistress at home?" asked Dr. 
 Bligh. 
 
 283
 
 284 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 "Yes," said the girl, "step inside." 
 
 Dr. Bligh was ushered into a little parlor 
 and there left for some time. He heard 
 voices upstairs and much shuffling of feet. 
 The ships of blown glass on the mantel- 
 piece, the stuffed birds under a case and a 
 stuffed squirrel on a stand were the largest 
 ornaments in a room crammed with knick- 
 knacks of every sort and kind. A small 
 harmonium, whose top was covered with pho- 
 tographs of men and women smiling in stiff 
 clothes, stood in the corner. 
 
 The door suddenly opened and the woman 
 of Tobias Trewidden's dreams entered. She 
 was full-busted and with a double, if not 
 treble, chin. Her self-satisfied eyes looked a 
 little puzzled as she came forward towards 
 her visitor. 
 
 "Forgive my intrusion," said Dr. Bligh. 
 "I'm a doctor. Dr. Bligh, of Venvin. A 
 week ago I was at the death-bed of Tobias 
 Trewidden." He paused. The woman be- 
 fore him put a plump hand to her forehead.
 
 THE WOMAN 285 
 
 He noticed how deeply the wedding-ring 
 was embedded in her flesh. 
 
 "I thought you would care to know his 
 end," said Dr. Bligh. 
 
 A giggle was the answer. 
 
 "This is the Laurels," she said, "and I am 
 Mrs. Albert Tremayne." 
 
 Dr. Bligh coughed. 
 
 "I know," he said. "Once, I believe, you 
 were to have married Tobias Trewidden." 
 
 She paled and her plump hands clasped 
 each other in agitation. 
 
 "I'd fair forgotten who he was for the 
 moment," she said anxiously. She looked 
 nervously toward the door. "Bert, that's my 
 husband, you know, can't bear any of that 
 mentioned. You may not have heard that 
 there was a dreadful scandal. Bert says To- 
 bias was a blackguard from birth and don't 
 even allow me to speak of him. That's 
 wiry," she spoke apologetically, "I didn't 
 fall on the name at once. We just put him 
 aside, in a manner of speaking, when he
 
 286 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 married that girl as was as bad as himself." 
 
 "Has it ever struck you," asked Dr. Bligh, 
 "that he was faithful in spirit to you all 
 these years and innocent of the crimes laid 
 to his charge?" 
 
 The woman laughed. 
 
 "Go on," she said familiarly, "that was all 
 proved, and, even if it wasn't, it was a poor 
 job anyway. He was a wastrel." 
 
 "Was he?" asked Dr. Bligh. "I wish 
 you'd seen him die." 
 
 She shuddered. 
 
 "I'm some thankful he's really dead, for 
 in the back of my mind I dreaded some out- 
 burst or other. He and Bert had a bad 
 fight once, and Bert said he wished he could 
 have a second." 
 
 "What makes you think him a wastrel?" 
 asked Dr. Bligh. 
 
 "Well, you see, when Ma and me come to 
 look well into things we found he'd saved 
 nothing at all. He was a man to scatter, not 
 to save."
 
 THE WOMAN 287 
 
 The doctor smiled. 
 
 "He died without a single farthing in the 
 world," he said, "and had scarcely a pillow 
 for his head." 
 
 "More fool he," said Mrs. Tremayne. "A 
 poor life it must have been for his wife. 
 He'd allus have been a worrit with his silly 
 fancies." 
 
 "His dreams seemed to have turned into 
 peace at last," said the doctor. "He had 
 lived so long alone he was never alone." 
 
 "Well, that's as funny as his clap-trap 
 talk," she said. "Ma have said to me many 
 a time, 'It's just been God's Providence, 
 Loveday, my handsome, that you've married 
 a man as can drive a hard bargain and one 
 who doesn't grumble at his victuals.' Mrs. 
 Tremayne tossed her head and smiled as she 
 went on, "Bert be some dapper chap, I can 
 tell you, and the four children takes after 
 him." 
 
 Her face beamed with pride.
 
 288 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 "Tobias Trewidden had also children of 
 sorts," said the Irishman. 
 
 "There now. Well, I never. I heard he'd 
 none. We've four. Bert 'ave saved a pile 
 already for them when they grows up, be- 
 sides bein' insured in four clubs. He can 
 wear a gold watch-chain with the best and 
 he's a grand scholar d too." 
 
 "Listen," said Dr. Bligh, leaning forward 
 and looking keenly at Mrs. Tremayne. "To- 
 bias Trewidden was a finer scholar than your 
 husband." 
 
 Mrs. Tremayne laughed. 
 
 "How can you know that?" Then, with 
 a sudden fear in her face, she cried, "You 
 ain't met Bert afore seein' me, have you? 
 Nothin' would rile him like being minded of 
 Tobias. They was rivals, you see, though 
 if I'd known Bert was really after me I'd 
 never have given a thought to Tobias, but 
 he never let on till the night the two of them 
 had knocked each other about." 
 
 "No, I've never seen your husband," said
 
 THE WOMAN 289 
 
 Dr. Bligh, "but I know that their colleges 
 have not been the same, so the scholarship 
 differs." He smiled. 
 
 Mrs. Tremayne wrinkled her brows. 
 
 "Bert ain't never been to no college," she 
 said, "but we means to put Alf to a grand 
 school and then after that to college and 
 make a gentleman of him anyway. He'll 
 help the others and the girls must marry 
 swells." 
 
 "Tobias Trewidden's scholarship was 
 greater than can be got even at Oxford or 
 Cambridge," said Dr. Bligh. 
 
 "Goodness !" she said reflectively, "as far as 
 I can remember he never even wrote me a sin- 
 gle proper love letter. Bert began his, I own, 
 with ruled lines, but he ended like a gentle- 
 man born afore we was married and never 
 made use of crosses for kisses at all. Tobias 
 was dust and ashes by the side of Bert." 
 
 Dr. Bligh got up to go. 
 
 "It was flame all flame, when I knew: 
 him," he said.
 
 290 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 "I don't understand," said Mrs. Tre- 
 mayne. "Had he gone into a new line of 
 business or what?" 
 
 "Quite a new line, I fancy, but one that 
 he must have inclined towards from a 
 youngster." 
 
 "Whatever was it?" asked Mrs. Tre- 
 mayne. "Fireworks or the electric light 
 business, perhaps? Bert says electric light 
 'ave a lot of money in it." 
 
 "This work had no money in it," said Dr. 
 Bligh, "and I've not met anyone yet who 
 would care to carry it on. It kills worse 
 than dynamite." 
 
 "Lor'!" said Mrs. Tremayne, "just like 
 him, and yet he told me once he'd rather be 
 a gardener than anything." 
 
 "Perhaps he is, who knows?" said Dr. 
 Bligh, smiling. "I never thought of that." 
 
 "Is?" asked Mrs. Tremayne. "I thought 
 you said he was dead?" 
 
 "What is death?" said Dr. Bligh. "As a 
 medical man I've never been able to tell
 
 THE WOMAN 291 
 
 where life really ends or death begins, and 
 Tobias Trewidden has made me more bewil- 
 dered than ever." 
 
 He raised his hat as he left the little gar- 
 den. 
 
 Mrs. Tremayne called her servant hur- 
 riedly into the parlor and the two peered 
 behind the long muslin curtains. "Sarah," 
 said Mrs. Tremayne, "you see that gentle- 
 man?" 
 
 "Yes, m'am," said the servant. 
 
 "That's seemly a madman, like one I knew 
 years ago. Don't for goodness sake tell 
 master he've been here. He'd be some 
 angry, for I'd have to tell him all he said." 
 
 "What shall I say if he do come again?" 
 asked the girl. 
 
 "Oh! anything," said Mrs. Albert Tre- 
 mayne. "Say I'm dead and buried, if you 
 like." 
 
 It might have been the truth, judging 
 from the horrified look on the face of the 
 untidy little drudge.
 
 EPILOGUE
 
 EPILOGUE 
 
 There was a great rejoicing in Love- 
 Acre. A Gardener had brought a tiny seed 
 developed in a human heart from a bit of 
 fluff like the children blow into the air in 
 the green meadows on sunny days. Blown 
 from Love- Acre to the World- Acre, a seed 
 had grown from this bit of fluff. But it 
 remained only a seed. It did not germinate. 
 The Gardener's sojourn in the World- Acre 
 had seemed very long to him and his tiny 
 gift to the Gardeners in the great flower 
 world of Love- Acre appeared of no ac- 
 count. It was all he had, however, and he 
 laid it down shyly in a bed of nettles. He 
 was so weary he fell asleep after he had 
 planted it. When he awoke the seed had 
 burst into small but lovely flowers in the con- 
 genial soil. The flowers had a strange vital- 
 295
 
 296 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 ity and an unusual power. They killed all 
 weeds through their sweetness as they grew. 
 The Gardeners delayed naming the flower 
 until they had watched it more closely. It 
 developed more unusual characteristics day 
 by day. The blossoms could withstand any 
 drought or any heat, and they made a soft 
 lilting music with their petals as they opened 
 to the Light. This sound vibrated the ether 
 so strangely that one day it was taken up 
 by invisible players and dissolved into a 
 chorus so glorious that a thousand violins in 
 the World- Acre would have been like a boy's 
 penny whistle in comparison. The Garden- 
 ers all assembled when this happened and 
 the Lights from many worlds flashed upon 
 them. A Voice seemed to answer the Silence 
 of the Lights as they lit up the places which 
 once were desolate and which now were cov- 
 ered by the new blossoms. 
 
 "We will blow back" said the Voice, "in 
 thousands, the seeds of this tiny flower to 
 the World-Acre and it shall bloom there as
 
 EPILOGUE 297 
 
 here, making the unclean clean and the ugly 
 places beautiful" 
 
 All the harps in the World- Acre seemed 
 to have joined the violins, thought the little 
 Gardener who had brought the seed and 
 who was sitting humbly before the Voice 
 and the Lights. The music was more than 
 any mortal could have heard and lived, and 
 the Lights would have blinded one accus- 
 tomed to seeing with only human eyes. 
 Again rose the Voice, the Voice of a Head 
 Gardener in Love- Acre, once known in the 
 World-Acre as Emanuel: 
 
 "The Seed of the Greater Love holds the 
 Flower of Joy and Joy shall be its name. 
 The Fruit of Joy will help to nourish all the 
 Worlds. As the Seed could not germinate 
 in the World- Acre, the Fruit may ripen best 
 in other Worlds than ours. How can we 
 tell? But we must prepare the Seeds and 
 cultivate the Flowers for the Great Harvest 
 of Fruit, whether it be here or there" 
 
 As the Lights vanished and the Voice
 
 298 LOVE-ACRE 
 
 ceased the new Gardener sank once more 
 into sleep. The journey had been long and 
 the home-coming too beautiful to be borne 
 without a little rest. The after-glow of the 
 Lights illuminated what might have been, 
 in the World- Acre, a woman's form, robed 
 in a pale blue gown. She was kneeling by 
 the side of the sleeping Gardener, with her 
 face turned towards an emerald green Light 
 which had suddenly appeared in her trans- 
 parent house.
 
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