IN A HAMPSHIRE VILLAGE 167 



It was going on for two years since their loss; tlicy 

 had been long settled in the village and had g^-own used 

 to the village life: the boy was gradu.'JIy becoming more 

 reconciled to school ; her husband had a different em- 

 ployment, which suited him better than the former one, 

 and was highly regarded by his master ; then, too, they 

 had pleasant relations with their neighbours. But this 

 improvement in their condition brought them no hai>- 

 piness — they could not get over the loss of their child. 

 She, the wife, had her grief when she was alone during 

 long hours every day in the house; but when her man 

 came home in the evening she could, and did, throw 

 it off, and was always cheerful, her whole care being 

 to make him forget his sorrow. But it seemed useless; 

 he was a changed man ; all his thoughts, all his heart, 

 were with his lost child. He had always been good- 

 tempered and kind, but he had been merry too, full of 

 fun and laughter; now he was what I had seen — a very 

 quiet, still man who smiled a little at times, but who 

 appeared to have forgotten how to laugh. 



