Gold and incense : a west country story . the bill-hook ; then the bending ofthe tough boughs was newto her, and the binding ofthe faggots. And underneath all wasa certain glow of gladnessthat disturbed her. Shewas so near home, and wasnow her own mistress too,82 GOLD AND INCENSE that she could not resist thetemptation of going off tolook after her poor dear,as she called her instead of hurryingback, she stayed to wraphim up, and then mustneeds bring him out alongthe lane and over the thickbed of dead leaves andthrough the rough under-growth of the coppice tosit on the first faggot
Gold and incense : a west country story . the bill-hook ; then the bending ofthe tough boughs was newto her, and the binding ofthe faggots. And underneath all wasa certain glow of gladnessthat disturbed her. Shewas so near home, and wasnow her own mistress too,82 GOLD AND INCENSE that she could not resist thetemptation of going off tolook after her poor dear,as she called her instead of hurryingback, she stayed to wraphim up, and then mustneeds bring him out alongthe lane and over the thickbed of dead leaves andthrough the rough under-growth of the coppice tosit on the first faggot thatshe had bound. And thereshe sat beside him, whilethe sun peeped in at thembetween the young leaves;and the bold robin hoppedup to look at them in won-der ; and all the birds sangto them, and the sweetbreath of things came with83 GOLD AND INCENSE its benediction. Presently,as if ashamed of herself,she hurried off to join thebusy sons. Yet before longthere was Jennifer,—thehardest-working- woman inthe parishat othertime s—creeping. 84 GOLD AND INCENSE a cheery word with herhusband, and trying toamuse him by her skill inthis craft, until her happylaughter rang out upon thesilence, and even he triedto join. In a day or two,however, both mother andsons had got into the mys-teries of the art; and wenton steadily clearing theplace, amazing themselvesand everybody else at thespeed with which the workwas done. No hour seemedtoo early to begin, and nonetoo late to leave off. Soon there arrived theman who had bought thewood and faggots, and thenDegan the further mystery ofaccounts, each faggot duly85 GOLD AND INCENSE entered and each paymentrecorded. And Jenniferspride found a new subjectin the cleverness of hersons, for the minutest mat-ters seemed to require thetwo heads to settle it. But now it was that therecame Jennifers great trou-ble. Such joy could notfail to bring with it somebitterness somewhere. Three pounds an acrewas the price to be givenfor the clearing. Andtwenty a
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