168 WHEAT AND WOMAN 



packed the butter, made my own toilette, and the 

 time limit for Hardwick's half- hour, for digestion, 

 had expired twice over. I called, but there was no 

 answer, no sign of a buggy. I went to the stable to 

 see if Nancy was harnessed, and tumbled over 

 Hardwick sleeping sweetly. It was a hot day and 

 a pardonable offence, but there had fallen from 

 his mouth a half-consumed cigarette, still alight, 

 within a yard of Nancy's bedding. I said all that 

 flashed in my mind at the moment, which is seldom 

 wise on any occasion. Hardwick made use of the 

 opportunity to inform me that certain men in the 

 neighbourhood were coming to him daily to beg 

 for his service, and that the lowest offer he had 

 received was fifteen dollars a month, and that as 

 others seemed to think so much better of his 

 qualifications than I did, he thought he had better 

 go at the end of the month. 



I instantly agreed, and not altogether in the heat 

 of the moment. I knew that he was good enough 

 to be much better, and under no circumstances 

 would I have consented to bar the way to his advance. 

 Some days after, when we had agreed to forget the 

 word, and honour in deed the fact that I considered 

 smoking in stables a criminal offence utterly un- 

 worthy of a sportsman, he asked my advice as to 

 which of his offers he should select. I could have 

 cried : " Iscariot ! " at more than one name on 

 the list of his would-be employers, but I revenged 

 myself on them all by advising him to go over and 

 hire on with Guy Mazey. I told him he would 

 get there the lowest salary, the hardest work, the 

 biggest family, unending chores, an endless procession 

 of toil actually bridging dawn and darkness, and a 



