140 ^he 1. rotter. 



man that I was afraid of looking in the face j but as for that woman, 

 I could not stand her eye full upon me for half a minute if you'd 

 make me champion of England." 



Sam was a little worried by these remarks at first, but her unlibrm 

 kind and affectionate manner towards him soon put him right 3 and 

 when blunt, honest farmer Jones met him for the first time after 

 his marriage, driving his new wife round to show her the parish, 

 and shook his hand, with "Well, Sam, my boy, you've done the 

 best thing now you ever did in your life," his face beamed with 

 inward satisfaction, and he looked down upon the beautiful creature 

 that sat by his side as a kind of protector, and felt that, if only she 

 was true to him, he could well afford to make any sacrifice for her 

 sake. He never cared when, by chance, he heard of any of the 

 spiteful reports which were spread round the neighbourhood 

 respecting her. However they might sneer at her, however they 

 might scandalize her out of hearing, no one in the neighbourhood 

 could help allowing that she seemed born for the station which she 

 filled j and as Sam proudly walked by her side for the first time 

 through the little market-town near him, all agreed that it would 

 be hard to find so handsome a couple, pick the whole county 

 through J and bold indeed must have been the man who would 

 have dared to breatlie a word of scandal against her fair fame in the 

 hearing of the stalwart protector who now walked by her side. 



Things soon began to wear an altered aspect at the Grange, and 

 the simple villagers one and all agreed that, if there was an angel on 

 earth, it was the Squire's lady. It is true that, except the good 

 clergyman's wife (who had read and appreciated her character from 

 the first) and some of the neighbouring farmers' wives, sdie had but 

 few female friends 3 still she was never dull or lonely. Her whole 

 time when her husband was at home was occupied in amusing him, 

 and when he was absent the cares of the poor villagers were her 

 sole conce.'ij. So matters went on for a few years, and Sam's wife 

 was a happy woman. She gloried as she marked the change for 

 the better, for she well knew it was owing to herself. But darker 

 days were in store for her. Whether Sam began to tire of the 



