 section 16 of under the greenwood tree this Duprovox recording is in the public domain under the greenwood tree by Thomas Hardy part 2 chapter 8 dick meets his father for several minutes dick drove along homeward with the inner eye of reflection so anxiously set on his passages at arms with fancy that the road and scenery were as a thin mist over the real pictures of his mind was she a coquette the balance between the evidence that she did love him and that she did not was so nicely struck that his opinion had no stability she had let him put his hand upon hers she had allowed her gaze to drop plum into the depths of his his into hers three or four times her manner had been very free with regard to the basin and towel she'd appeared vexed at the mention of China on the other hand she had driven him about the house like a quiet dog or cat said China cared for her and seemed anxious that mr. Maybold should do the same thinking thus he neared the hand post at melstock cross sitting on the front board of the spring cart his legs on the outside and his whole frame jigging up and down like a candle flame to the time of smart strutting who should he see coming down the hill but his father in the light wagon quivering up and down on a smaller scale of shakes those merely caused by the stones in the road they were soon crossing each other's front way hey said the tractor to smiley way hey said dick to smart in an echo of the same voice this holder back I suppose said ruben peaceably yes said dick with such a clinching period at the end that it seemed he was never going to add another word smiley thinking this the close of the conversation prepared to move on way hey said the tractor I tell you what it is dick that they're made is taking up thy thoughts more than good for thee my sonny they're never happy now unless they're making thyself miserable about her in one way or another I don't know about that father said dick rather stupidly but I do way smiler that rock the woman is nothing else we are nowadays but getting young men and leading them astray father you just repeat what all the common world says that's all you do the world's a very sensible fella on things in general dick very sensible indeed dick looked into the distance at a vast expanse of mortgage estate I wish I was as rich as a square when he's as poor as a crow he murmured I'd soon ask fancy something I wish so too we are my heart sonny that I do well mind what beast about that's all smart moved on a step or two supposing now father way hey smart I did think a little about her and I had a chance which I hadn't don't you think she's a very good sort of of one I good she's good enough when you made up your mind to marry take the first respectable body that comes to mind she's as good as any other they be all alike in the groundwork there's only in the flourishes there's a difference she's good enough but I can't see what the nation of young fellow like you we're comfortable house and home father and mother to take care of a and who sent you to a school so good that was hardly fair to the other children should want to go hollering after a young woman for when she's quietly making a husband in her pocket and not troubled by chick near child to make a poverty strict wife and family of her and neither hat cat wiggler waistcoat to set him up with be drowned if I can see it and that's the long and the short up my sonny dick looked at smarts ears then up the hill but no reason was suggested by any object that met his gaze for about the same reason that you did father I suppose dang it my sonny you got me there said the tranter and the tranter gave vent to a grim admiration with the man of a man who was too magnanimous not to appreciate artistically a slight wrap on the knuckles even if they were his own whether or no said dick I asked her a thing going along the road come to that is it Turk won't my mother be in a taken well she's ready I don't doubt I didn't ask her anything about having me and if you'll let me speak I'll tell you what I want to know I just said did she care about me and then she said nothing for a quarter of a mile and then she said she didn't know now what I want to know is what was the meaning of that speech the latter words were spoken resolutely as if you didn't care for the ridicule of all the fathers in creation the meaning of that speech is the tranter replied deliberately that the meaning is meant to be rather hid at present well dick as an honest father to thee I don't pretend to deny what you don't know well enough that is that her father being rather better in the pocket than we I should welcome her ready enough if it must be somebody but what do you think she really did mean said the unsatisfied dick I'm a feared I am not a much accounting guessing especially as I was not there when she said it and saying that your mother was the only woman I ever came into such close quarters as that with and what did mother say to you when you asked her said dick musingly I don't see that will help me the principal is the same well I what did she say let's see I was oiling my working day boots without taking them off and with my head hanging down when she just brushed on by the garden hatch like a flittering leaf and I said says I and then but dick I'm a fear to will be no help to thee for we were such a rum couple your mother and I least ways one half was that is myself and your mother's charms was more in the manner than in the material never mind and you said and said I as I was saying and I said to her when I was oiling my working day boots with my head hanging down what had me what came next I can't quite call up at this distance a time perhaps your mother would know she's got a better memory for a little triumphs than I however the long and short of the story is that we were married somehow as I found afterwards it was on white Tuesday Mel stock club walked the same day every man two and two and a fine date was hot as fire how the sun did strike down on my back going to church I welcome mind what a bath of sweating I was in body and soul but fans will have a dick she won't walk with another chat no such good luck I don't know about that said dick whipping at smarts flank in a fanciful way which as smart knew meant nothing in connection with going on there's pass and may ball too that's all against me what about he she's never been stuffing into thy innocent heart the ease enough with her Lord the vanity and maidens no no but he called and she looked at him in such a way and at me in such a way quite different the ways were and as I was coming off there was he hanging up her birdcage oh why wouldn't the man hang up her birdcage turks sees it all what's that got to do with it dick that they beast a white-livered chap I don't say but if that beast isn't as mad as a capital face bull let me smile no more oh I and what's think now dick I don't know here's another pretty kettle of fish for the who do you think's the bitter weed in our being turned out did our party telly no why passing me bold I suppose shiner because he's in love with a young woman and they want to see her young figure sitting up at that queer instrument and her young fingers rums rum and upon the keys a sharp ado of sweet and bitter was going on in dick during this communication from his father shiners a fool no that's not it I don't believe any such thing father why shinner would never take a bold step like that unless she'd been a little made up to in a technique kindly who's to say she didn't I do more for you why father of me has she ever done more to thee no then she has done as much to he rotten now dick this is how a maid is she'll swear she's dying for thee and she is dying for thee and she will die for thee but she'll fling a look over another shoulder another young feller I'll never leave enough dying for thee just the same she's not dying for me so she didn't fling a look at him but she may be dying for him for she looked at thee I don't know what to make of it all said dick gloomily all I can make of it is the tranter said raising his whip arranging his different joints and muscles and motioning to the horse to move on that if you can't read a maid's mind by her motions nature to seem to say that ought to be a bachelor click click smiley said the tranter and the tranter moved on dick held smarts rain firmly and the whole concern of horse carton man remained rooted in the lane how long this condition would have lasted is unknown had not dick's thoughts after adding up numerous items of misery gradually wandered round to the fact that as something must be done it could not be done by staying there all night reaching home he went up to his bedroom shut the door as if he were going to be seen no more in this life and taking a sheet of paper and uncorking the ink bottle he began a letter the dignity of the writer's mind was so powerfully apparent in every line of this effusion that it obscured the logical sequence of facts and intentions to an appreciable degree and it was not at all clear to a reader whether he there and then left off loving Miss Fancy Day whether he had never loved her seriously and never meant to whether he had been dying up to the present moment and now intended to get well again or whether he had hitherto been in good health and intended to die for her forthwith he put this letter in an envelope sealed it up directed it in a stern handwriting of straight dashes easy flourishes being rigorously excluded he walked with it in his pocket down the lane in strides not an inch less than three feet long reaching her gate he put on a resolute expression then put it off again turned back home where tore up his letter and sat down that letter was all together in a wrong tone that he must own a heartless man of the world tone was what the juncture required that he rather wanted her and rather did not want her the latter for choice but that as a member of society he didn't mind making a query in jaunty terms which could only be answered in the same way did she mean anything by her bearing towards him or did she not this letter was considered so satisfactory in every way that being put into the hands of a little boy and the order given that he was to run with it to the school he was told in addition not to look behind him if dick called after him to bring him back but to run along with it just the same having taken this precaution against vacillation dick watched his messenger down the road and turned into the house whistling an air in such ghastly jerks and starts that whistling seemed to be the act the very furthest removed from that which was instinctive in such a youth the letter was left as ordered the next morning came and passed and no answer the next the next friday night came dick resolved that if no answer or sign was given by her the next day on sunday he would meet her face to face and have it all out by word of mouth dick said his father coming in from the garden at that moment in each hand a hive of bees tied in a cloth to prevent their egress i think you'd better take these two swarms of bees to mrs maybold's tomorrow instead of me and i'll go we smiler and the wagon it was a relief for mrs maybold the vicar's mother who had just taken into her head of fancy for keeping bees pleasantly disguised under the pretense of its being an economical wish to produce her own honey lived near the watering place of budmouth regis 10 miles off and the business of transporting the hive's thither would occupy the whole day and to some extent annihilate the vacant time between this evening and the coming sunday the best spring cart was washed throughout the axles oiled and the bees placed therein for the journey end of section 16 recording by rachel linton bristol uk section 17 of under the greenwood tree this libra vox recording is in the public domain under the greenwood tree by tomas hardy beginning of part the third summer chapter one driving out of budmouth an easy bend of neck and graceful set of head full and wavy bundles of dark brown hair light fall of little feet pretty devices on the skirt of the dress clear deep eyes in short a bunch of sweets it was fancy dick's heart went round to her with a rush the scene was the corner of mary street in budmouth regis near the king's statue at which point the white angle of the last house in the row cut perpendicularly an inbade and nearly motionless expanse of salt water projected from the outer ocean today lit in bright tones of green and opal dick and smart had just emerged from the street and there on the right against the brilliant sheet of liquid color stood fancy day and she turned and recognized him dick suspended his thoughts of the letter and wonder at how she came there by driving close to the chains of the esplanade incontinently displacing two chairmen who had just come to life for the summer in new clean shirts and revivified clothes and being almost displaced in turn by a rigid boy rattling along with a baker's cart and looking neither to the right nor the left he asked if she were going to melstock that night yes i'm waiting for the carrier she replied seeming to to suspend thoughts of the letter now i can drive you home nicely and you save half an hour will you come with me as fancy's power to will anything seem to have departed in some mysterious manner at that moment dick settled the matter by getting out and assisting her into the vehicle without another word the temporary flush upon her cheek changed to a lesser hue which was permanent and at length their eyes met there was present between them a certain feeling of embarrassment which arises at such moments when all the instinctive acts dictated by the position have been performed dick being engaged with the reins thought less of this awkwardness than did fancy who had nothing to do but to feel his presence and to be more and more conscious of the fact that by accepting a seat beside him in this way she succumbed to the tone of his note smart jogged along and dick jogged and the helpless fancy necessarily jogged too and she felt that she was in a measure captured and made a prisoner i'm so much obliged to you for your company miss day he observed as they drove past the two semicircular bays of the old royal hotel where his majesty king george the third had many a time attended the balls of the burgesses to miss day crediting him with the same consciousness of mastery a consciousness of which he was perfectly innocent this remark sounded like a magnanimous intention to soothe her the captive i didn't come for the pleasure of obliging you with my company she said the answer had an unexpected manner of incivility in it that must have been rather surprising to young jewey at the same time it may be observed that when a young woman returns a rude answer to a young man's civil remark her heart is in a state which argues rather hopefully for his case than otherwise there was silence between them till they had left the seafront and passed about 20 of the trees had ornamented the road leading up out of the town towards castabridge and melstock though i didn't come for that purpose either i would have done it said dick at the 21st tree now mr. jewey no flirtation because it's wrong and i don't wish it dick seated himself afresh just as he had been sitting before arranged his looks very emphatically and cleared his throat really anybody would think you had met me on business and were just going to commence said the lady intractably yes they would why you never have to be sure this was a shaky beginning he chopped round and said cheerily as a man who would resolve never to spoil his jollity by loving one of womankind well how are you getting on miss day at the present time gaily i don't doubt for a moment i am not gay dick you know that gaily doesn't mean decked in gay dresses i didn't suppose gaily was gaily dressed mighty me what a scholar you've grown lots of things have happened to you this spring i see what have you seen oh nothing i've heard i mean what have you heard the name of a pretty man with brass studs and a copper ring and a tin watch chain a little mixed up with your own that's all that's a very unkind picture of mr shinor for that's who you mean the studs are gold as you know and it's a real silver chain the ring i can't conscientiously defend and he only wore it once he might have worn it a hundred times without showing it half so much well he's nothing to me she serenely observed not any more than i am now mr jewey said fancy severely certainly he isn't any more to me than you are not so much she looked aside to consider the precise compass of that question that i can't exactly answer she replied with soft archeness as they were going rather slowly another spring cart containing a farmer farmer's wife and farmer's man jogged past them and the farmer's wife and farmer's man eyed the couple very curiously the farmer never looked up from the horse's tail why can't you answer exactly said dick quickening smart a little and jogging on just behind the farmer and farmer's wife and man as no answer came and as their eyes had nothing else to do they both contemplated the picture presented in front and noticed how the farmer's wife sat flattened between the two men who bulged over each end of the seat to give her room till they almost sat upon their respective wheels and they looked too at the farmer's wife silk mantle inflating itself between her shoulders like a balloon and sinking flat again at each jog of the horse the farmer's wife feeling their eyes sticking into her back looked over her shoulder dick dropped ten yards further behind fancy why can't you answer he repeated because how much you are to me depends upon how much i am to you said she in low tones everything said dick putting his hand towards hers and casting emphatic eyes upon the upper curve of her cheek now richard jewie no touching me i didn't say in what way you're thinking of me affected the question perhaps inversely don't you see no touching sir look goodness me don't dick the cause of her sudden start was the unpleasant appearance over dick's right shoulder of an empty timber wagon and four journeyman carpenters reclining in lazy postures inside it their eyes directed upwards at various oblique angles into the surrounding world the chief object of their existence being apparently to criticize to the very backbone and marrow every animate object that came within the compass of their vision this difficulty of dicks was overcome by trotting on till the wagon and carpenters were beginning to look rather misty by reason of a film of dust that accompanied their wagon wheels and rows around their heads like a fog say you love me fancy no dick certainly not isn't time to do that yet why fancy miss day is better at present don't mind my saying so and i ought not to have called you dick nonsense when you know that i would do anything on earth for your love why you make anyone think that loving is a thing that can be done and undone and put on and put off at a mere whim no no i don't she said gently but there are things which tell me i ought not to give way to much thinking about you even if that you want to don't you yes say you do it is best to be truthful whatever they may say about a woman's right to conceal where her love lies and pretend it doesn't exist and things like that it is not best i do know it fancy and an honest woman in that as well as in all her daily concerns shines most brightly and is thought most of in the long run well then perhaps dick i do love you a little she whisper tenderly but i wish you wouldn't say anymore now i won't say anymore now then if you don't like it dear but you do love me a little don't you now you ought not to want me to keep saying things twice i can't say anymore now and you must be content with what you have i may at any rate call you fancy there's no harm in that yes you may and you'll not call me mr. dewey anymore very well end of section 17 recording by rachel lintern bristol uk section 18 of under the greenwood tree this libra vox recording is in the public domain under the greenwood tree by thomas hardy part three chapter two further along the road dick spirits having risen in the course of these admissions of his sweetheart he now touched smart with the whip and on smart's neck not far behind his ears smart who had been lost in thought for some time never dreaming that dick could reach so far with a whip which on this particular journey had never been extended further than his flank tossed his head and scampered along with exceeding briskness which was very pleasant to the young couple behind him till turning a bend in the road they came instantly upon the farmer farmer's man and farmer's wife with the flapping mantle all jogging on just the same as ever bother those people here we are upon them again well of course they have as much right to the road as we yes but it is provoking to be overlooked so i like a road up to myself look what a lumbering affair theirs is the wheels of the farmer's cart just at that moment jogged into a depression running across the road giving the car to twist where upon all three nodded to the left and on coming out of it all three nodded to the right and went on jerking their backs in and out as usual we'll pass them when the road gets wider when an opportunity seemed to offer itself for carrying this intention into effect they heard light flying wheels behind and on their quartering their whizzed along past them a brand new gig so brightly polished at the spokes of the wheels sent forth a continual quivering light at one point in their circle and all the panels glared like mirrors in dick and fancy's eyes the driver and owner as it appeared was really a handsome man his companion was shiner both turned round as they passed dick and fancy and stared with bold admiration in her face till they were obliged to attend to the operation of passing the farmer dick glanced for an instant at fancy while she was undergoing their scrutiny then returned his driving with rather a sad countenance why are you so silent she said after a while with real concern nothing yes it is dick i couldn't help those people passing i know that you look offended with me what have i done i can't tell without offending you better out well said dick who seemed longing to tell even at the risk of offending her i was thinking how different you in love are from me in love whilst those men were staring you dismiss me from your thoughts altogether and you can't offend me further now tell all and showed upon your face a pleased sense of being attractive to him don't be silly dick you know very well i didn't dick shook his head skeptically and smiled dick i always believe flattery if possible and it was possible then now there's an open confession of weakness but i showed no consciousness of it dick perceiving by her look that she would adhere to her statement charitably forebore saying anything that could make her prevaricate the sight of shinor too had recalled another branch of the subject to his mind that which had been his greatest trouble till her company in words had obscured its probability by the way fancy do you know why our choir is to be dismissed no except that it is mr maybold's wish for me to play the organ do you know how it came to be his wish that i don't mr shinor being church warden has persuaded the vicar who however was willing enough before shinor i know is crazy to see you playing every sunday i suppose he'll turn over your music for the organ will be close to his pew but i know you never encouraged him never once said fancy emphatically and with eyes full of earnest truth i don't like him indeed and i never heard of his doing this before i've always felt that i should like to play in a church but i never wish to turn you and your choir out and i never even said that i could play till i was asked you don't think for a moment that i did surely do you i know you didn't dear or that i care the least morsel of a bit for him i know you don't the distance between budmouth and melstock was 10 or 11 miles and there being a good in the ship four miles out of budmouth with a mast and cross trees in front dick's custom in driving the there was to divide the journey into three stages by resting at this end going and coming and not troubling the budmouth stables at all whenever his visit to the town was a mere call and deposit as today fancy was ushered into a little tea room and dick went to the stables to see to the feeding of smart in face of the significant twitches of feature that were visible in the osler and laboring men idling around dick endeavored to look unconscious of the fact that there was any sentiment between him and fancy beyond a tranter's desire to carry a passenger home he presently entered the inn and opened the door of fancy's room dick do you know it has struck me that it is rather awkward my being here alone with you like this i don't think you'd better come in with me that's rather unpleasant dear yes it is and i wanted you to have some tea as well as myself too because you must be tired well let me have some with you then i was denied once before if you recollect fancy yes yes never mind and it seems unfriendly of me now but i don't know what to do it shall be as you say then dick began to retreat with a dissatisfied wrinkling of face and a farewell glance at the cozy tea tray but you don't see how it is dick when you speak like that she said with more earnestness than she'd ever shown before you do know that even if i care very much for you i must remember that i have a difficult position to maintain the vicar would not like me as his schoolmistress to indulge in a tetatet anywhere with anybody but i am not anybody exclaimed dick no no i mean with a young man and she added softly unless i were really engaged to be married to him is that all then dearest dearest why will be engaged at once to be sure we will and down i said there it is as easy as a glove ah but suppose i won't and goodness me what have i done she faulted getting very red positively it seems as if i meant you to say that let's do it i mean get engaged said dick now fancy will you be my wife do you know dick it was rather unkind of you to say what you did coming along the road she remarked as if she'd not heard the latter part of his speech though an acute observer might have noticed about her breast as the word wife fell from dick's lips a soft silent escape of breaths with very short rests between each what did i say about my trying to look attractive to those men in the gig you couldn't help looking so whether you tried or no and fancy you do care for me yes very much yes and you'll be my own wife her heart quickened adding to and withdrawing from her cheek varying tones of red to match each varying thought dick looked expectantly at the ripe tint of her delicate mouth waiting for what was coming forth yes if father will let me dick drew himself close to her compressing his lips and pouting them out as if he were about to whistle a softest melody known oh no said fancy solemnly the modest dick drew back a little dick dick kiss me and let me go instantly here's somebody coming she whispering the exclaimed half an hour afterwards dick emerged from the inn and if fancy's lips had been real cherries probably dicks would have appeared deeply stained the landlord was standing in the yard hey hey hey hey master do we ho ho he laughed letting the laughs slip out gently and by degrees that it might make little noise in its exit and smiting dick under the fifth rib at the same time this will never do upon my life master do it calling for tea for a female passenger and then going in and sitting down and having some to and biden such a fine long time but surely you know said dick with great apparent surprise yes yes ha ha smiting the landlord under the ribs in return why what yes yes ha ha you know of course yes of course but that is i don't why about between that young lady and me nodding to the window of the room that fancy occupied no not i said the innkeeper bringing his eyes into circles and you don't not a word i'll take my oath but you laughed when i laughed i that was me sympathy so did you when i laughed really you don't know goodness not knowing that i'll take my oath i don't oh yes said dick with frigid rhetoric of pitying astonishment we're engaged to be married you see and i naturally look after her of course of course i didn't know that and i hope you'll excuse any little freedom of my mr doy but it is a very odd thing i was talking to your father very intimate about family matters only last friday in the world and who should come in but keep her day and we all then fell a talk in a family matters but neither one of them said a mortal word about it knowing me too so many years and i at your father's own wedding isn't what i should have expected from an old neighbour well to tell the truth we hadn't told father the engagement at that time in fact wasn't settled ah the business was done sunday yes yes sunday's the courting day hi hi no it wasn't done sunday in particular after school hours this week well a very good time a very proper good time oh no it wasn't done then coming along the road today then i suppose not at all i wouldn't think of getting engaged in a dog cart damn me might as well have said it once the when be blowed anyhow it is a fine day and i hope next time you'll come as one fancy was duly brought out and assisted into the vehicle and the newly affianced youth and maiden passed up the steep hill to the ridgeway and vanished in the direction of malstock end of section 18 recording by rachel linton bristol uk section 19 of under the greenwood this is the provokes recording is in the public domain under the greenwood tree by tomas hardy part three chapter three a confession it was a morning of the latter summer time a morning of lingering juice when the grass is never dry in the shade fuchsias and alias were laid until 11 o'clock with small drops and dashes of water changing the colour of their sparkle at every movement of the air and elsewhere hanging on twigs like small silver fruit the threads of garden spiders appeared thick and polished in the dry and sunny places dozens of long-legged crane flies whisked off the grass at every step the passer took fancy day and her friend susan duey the trantas daughter were in such a spot as this pulling down a bow laden with early apples three months had elapsed since dick and fancy had journeyed together from budmouth and the course of their love had run on vigorously during the whole time there had been just enough difficulty attending its development and just enough finesse required in keeping it private to lend the passion and ever-increasing freshness on fancies park whilst whether from these accessories or not dick's heart had been at all times as fond as could be desired but there was a cloud on fancies horizon now she's so well off better than any of us susan duey was saying her father farms 500 acres and she might marry a doctor or curate or anything of that kind if she contrived a little i don't think dick ought to have gone to that gypsy party at all when he knew i couldn't go replied fancy uneasily he didn't know that you would not be there till it was too late to refuse the invitation said susan and what was she like tell me well she was rather pretty i must own tell straight on about her can't you come do susan how many times did you say he danced with her once twice i think you said indeed i'm sure i didn't well and he wanted to again i expect no i don't think he did she wanted to dance with him again bad enough i know everybody does with dick because he's so handsome and such a clever quarter oh i wish how did you say she wore her hair in long curls and her hair is so light and it curls without being put in paper that's how it is she's so attractive she's trying to get him away yes yes she is and through keeping this miserable school i mustn't wear my hair in curls but i will i don't care if i leave the school and go home i will wear my curls look susan do is her hair as soft and long as this fancy pulled from its coil under her hat a twine of her own hair and stretched it down her shoulder to show its length looking at susan to catch her opinion from her eyes it is about the same length as that i think said miss jewie fancy paused hopelessly i wish mine was lighter like hers she continued mournfully but hers isn't so soft is it tell me now i don't know fancy abstractedly extended her vision to survey a yellow butterfly and a red and black butterfly that were flitting along in company and then became aware that dick was advancing up the garden susan here's dick coming i suppose that's because we've been talking about him well then i should go indoors now we won't want me and susan turned practically and walked off enter the single-minded dick whose only fault at the gypsying or picnic had been that of loving fancy too exclusively and depriving himself of the innocent pleasure the gathering might have afforded him by sighing regretfully at her absence who had danced with the rival in sheer despair of ever being able to get through that stale flat an unprofitable afternoon in any other way but this she would not believe fancy had settled her plan of emotion to reproach dick oh no no i am in great trouble said she taking what was intended to be a hopelessly melancholy survey of a few small apples lying under the tree yet a critical ear might have noticed in her voice a tentative tone as to the effect of the words upon dick when she uttered them what are you in trouble about tell me of it said dick earnestly darling i will share it with you and help me no no you can't nobody can why not you don't deserve it whatever it is tell me dear oh it isn't what you think it is dreadful my own sin sin fancy as if you could sin i know it can't be tears tears said the young lady in a pretty little frenzy of sorrow i have done wrong and i don't like to tell it nobody will forgive me nobody and you above all will not i have allowed myself to to what not flirt he said controlling his emotion as if it were by a sudden pressure inward from his service and you said only the day before yesterday that you hadn't flirted in your life yes i did and that was a wicked story i have let another love me and good god well i'll forgive you yes if you couldn't help it yes i will said the now dismal dick did you encourage him oh i don't know yes no oh i think so who was it tell me mr shiner after a silence that was only disturbed by the fall of an apple a long checked sigh from dick and a sob from fancy he said with real austerity tell it all every word he looked at me and i looked at him and he said will you let me show you how to catch bullfinches down there by the stream and i i wanted to know very much i did so long to have a bullfinch i couldn't help that and i said yes and then he said come here and i went with him down to the lovely river and then he said to me look and see how i do it and then you'll know i put this bird line around this twig and then i go here he said and hide away under a bush and presently clever mr bird comes and perches upon the twig and flaps his wings and you've got him before you can say jack something oh oh i forget what jack sprat mournfully suggested dick through the cloud of his misery no not jack sprat she sobbed then to his jack robinson he said with the emphasis of a man who had resolved to discover every iota of the truth or die yes that was it and then i put my hand upon the rail of the bridge to get across and that's all well that isn't much either said dick critically and more cheerfully not that i see what business shiner has to take upon himself to teach you anything but it seems it do seem there must have been more than that to set you up in such a dreadful taking he looked into fancy's eyes misery of misery's guilt was written there still now fancy you've not told me all said dick rather sternly for a quiet young man oh don't speak so cruelly i am afraid to tell you now if you hadn't been harsh i was going to tell all now i can't come dear fancy tell come i forgive i must by heaven and earth i must whether i will or no i love you so well then when i put my hand on the bridge he touched it a scamp said dick grinding an imaginary human framed powder and then he looked at me and at last he said are you in love with dick jewy and i said perhaps i am and then he said i wish you weren't then for i want to marry you with all my soul there's a villain now want to marry you and dick quivered with the bitterness of satirical laughter then suddenly remembering that he might have reckoned without his host unless to be sure you are willing to have him perhaps you are he said with the wretched indifference of a cast away no indeed i'm not she said her sobs just beginning to take a favorable turn towards cure well then said dick coming a little to his senses you've been stretching it very much in giving such a dreadful beginning to such a mere nothing and i know what you've done it for just because of that gypsy party he turned away from her and took five paces decisively as if he were tired of an ungrateful country including herself you did it to make me jealous and i won't stand it he flung the words to her over his shoulder and then stalked on apparently very anxious to walk to the remotest of the colonies that very minute oh oh dick dick she cried trotting after him like a pet lamb and really seriously alarmed at last you'll kill me my impulses are bad miserably wicked and i can't help it forgive me dick and i love you always and those times when you look silly and don't seem quite good enough for me just the same i do dick and there is something more serious though not concerning that walk with him well what is it altering his mind about walking to the colonies in fact passing to the other extreme and standing so rooted to the road that he was apparently not even going home why this she said drying the beginning of a new flood of tears she'd been going to shed this is the serious part father has told mr shiner that he would like him for a son-in-law if he could get me that he has his right hearty consent to come courting me end of section 19 recording by rachel linton breast or uk section 20 of under the greenwood tree this libra fox recording is in the public domain under the greenwood tree by tomas hardy part three chapter four an arrangement that is serious said dick more intellectually than he'd spoken for a long time the truth was that jeffrey knew nothing about his daughters continued walks and meetings with dick when a hint that there were symptoms of an attachment between them had first reached jeffrey's ears he stated so emphatically that he must think the matter over before any such thing could be allowed that rather unwisely on dick's part whatever it might have been on the ladies the lovers were careful to be seen together no more in public and jeffrey forgetting the report did not think over the matter at all so mr shiner resumed his old position in jeffrey's brain by mere flux of time even shiner began to believe that dick existed for fancy no more though that remarkably easygoing man had taken no active steps on his own account as yet and father has not only told mr shiner that continued fancy but he has written me a letter to say that he should wish me to encourage mr shiner if it was convenient i must start off and see your father at once said dick taking two or three vehement steps to the south recollecting that mr day lived to the north and coming back again i think we had better see him together not tell him what you come for anything of the kind until he likes you and so win his brain through his heart which is always the way to manage people i mean in this way i'm going home on saturday week to help them in the honey taking you might come there to me have something to eat and drink and let him guess what your coming signifies without saying it in so many words we'll do it dearest but i shall ask him for you flat and plain not wait for his guessing and the lover then stepped close to her and attempted to give her one little kiss on the cheek his lips lighting however on the outlying tract of her back hair by reason of an impulse that had caused her to turn her head with a jerk yes and i'll put on my second best suit and a clean shirt and collar and black my boots as if it was a sunday to have a good appearance you see and that's a great deal to start with you won't wear that old waistcoat will you dick bless you know why i i didn't mean to be personal dear dick she said fearing she'd hurt his feelings it is a very nice waistcoat but what i meant was that though it is an excellent waistcoat for a settled down man it is not quite one for she waited and a blush expanded over her face and then she went on again for going courting in no i'll wear my best winter one with the leather lining that mother made it's a beautiful handsome waistcoat inside yes as ever anybody saw in fact only the other day i unbuttoned it to show a chap that very lining and he said it was the strongest handsome as lining you could wish to see on the king's waistcoat himself i don't quite know what to wear she said as if her habitual of difference alone to dress had kept back so important a subject till now why that blue frock you wore last week doesn't set well around the neck i couldn't wear that but i shan't care no you won't mind well then it's all right because you only care how you look to me do you dear i only dress for you that's certain yes but you see i couldn't appear in it again very well any strange gentleman you might meet in your journey might notice the set of it i suppose fancy men in love don't think so much about how they look to other women it is difficult to say whether a tone of playful banter or of gentle reproach prevailed in the speech well then dick she said with good humid frankness i'll own it i shouldn't like a stranger to see me dress badly even though i am in love does that nature i suppose you perfect woman yes if you lay the stress on woman she murmured looking at a group of hollyhocks in flower round which a crowd of butterflies had gathered like female idlers around a bonnet shop but about the dress why not wear the one you wore at our party that sets well but a girl of the name of bet teller who lives near our house has had one made like it only in pattern though of miserably cheap stuff and i couldn't wear it on that account dear me i'm afraid i can't go now oh yes you must i know you will said dick with dismay why not wear the one you've got on what this old one after all i think that by wearing my gray one saturday i can make the blue one do for sunday yes i will a hat or bonnet which shall it be which do i look best in well i think the bonnet is nicest more quiet and matronly what's the objection to a hat does it make me look old oh no the hat is well enough but it makes you look rather too you won't mind me saying it dear not at all for i shall wear the bonnet rather too coquettish and flirty for an engaged young woman she reflected a minute yes yes still after all the hat would do best hats are best you see yes i must wear the hat dear dickie because i ought to wear a hat you know end of section 20 recording by rachel linton bristol uk section 21 of under the greenwood tree this libra vox recording is in the public domain under the greenwood tree by thomas hardy beginning of part the fourth autumn chapter one going nothing dick dressed in his second best suit burst into fancy sitting room with a glow of pleasure on his face it was two o'clock on friday the day before her contemplated visit to her father and for some reason connected with cleaning the school the children had been given this friday afternoon for pastime in addition to the usual saturday fancy it happens just right that it's a leisure half day with you smart as lame in his near foot of four and so as i can't do anything i've made a holiday afternoon of it and i'm come for you to go nothing with me she was sitting by the parlor window with a blue frock lying across her lap and scissors in her hand go nothing yes but i'm afraid i can't go for an hour or so why not to see only spare afternoon we may both have together for weeks this dress of mine which i'm going to wear on sunday at yalbury i find it fits so badly that i must alter it a little after all i told the dressmaker to make it by a pattern i gave her at the time instead of that she did it her own way and made me look a perfect fright how long will you be he inquired looking rather disappointed not long do wait and talk to me come do dear dick sat down the talking progressed very favorably amid the snipping and sewing till about half past two at which time his conversation began to be varied by a slight tapping upon his toe with a walking stick he had cut from the hedge as he came along fancy talked and answered him but sometimes the answers were so negligently given that it was evident her thoughts lay for the greater part in her lap with the blue dress the clock struck three dick arose from his seat walked around the room with his hands behind him examining all the furniture then sounded a few notes on the harmonium then looked inside all the books he could find then smoothed fancy's head with his hand still the snipping and sewing went on the clock struck four dick fidgeted about yawned privately counted the knots in the table yawned publicly counted the flies on the ceiling yawned horribly went into the kitchen in scullery and so thoroughly studied the principle on which the pump was constructed that he could have delivered a lecture on the subject stepping back to fancy and finding still that she had not done he went into her garden and looked at her cabbages and potatoes and reminded himself that they seemed to him to wear a decidedly feminine aspect then pulled up several weeds and came in again the clock struck five and still the snipping and sewing went on dick attempted to kill a fly peeled all the rind off his walking stick then threw the stick into the scullery because it was spoiled produced hideous discords from the harmonium and accidentally overturned a vase of flowers the water from which ran in a wheel across the table and dribbled to the floor where it formed a lake the shape of which after the lapse of a few minutes he began to modify considerably with his foot and it was like a map of england and wales well dick you needn't have made quite such a mess well i mean i suppose he walked up to the blue dress and looked at it with a rigid gaze then an idea seemed to cross his brain fancy yes i thought you said you were going to wear your grey gown all day tomorrow on your trip to yalbury and in the evening too when i should be with you and ask your father for you so i am and the blue one only on sunday and the blue one sunday well dear i shan't be at yalbury sunday to see it no but i should walk to long puddle church in the afternoon with father and such lots of people would be looking at me there you know and it did set so badly around the neck i never noticed it and it's like nobody else would they might then why not wear the gray one on sunday as well as as pretty as the blue one i might make the gray one do certainly but it isn't so good it didn't cost half so much as this one and besides it would be the same i wore saturday then wear the striped one dear i might or the dark one yes i might but i want to wear a fresh one they haven't seen i see i see said dick in a voice in which the tones of love were decidedly inconvenienced by a considerable emphasis his thoughts meanwhile running as follows i the man she loves best in the world as she says and to understand that my poor half holiday is to be lost because she wants to wear on sunday again there is not the slightest necessity for wearing simply in fact to appear more striking than usual in the eyes of long puddle young men and i not there either then there are three dresses good enough for my eyes but neither is good enough for the youths of long puddle he said no not that exactly dick still you say i do want to look pretty to them there that's honest but i shall be much longer how much a quarter of an hour very well i'll come in in a quarter of an hour why go away i met as well he went out walked down the road and sat upon a gate here he meditated and meditated and the more he meditated the more decidedly did he begin to fume and the more positive was he that his time had been scandalously trifled with by miss fancy day that so far from being the simple girl who had never had a sweetheart before as she had solemnly assured him time after time she was if not a flirt a woman who had had no end of admirers a girl most certainly too anxious about her frocks a girl whose feelings though warm were not deep a girl who cared a great deal too much how she appeared in the eyes of other men what she loves best in the world he thought with an incipient spice of his father's grimness is her hair and complexion what she loves next best her gowns and hats what she loves next best myself perhaps suffering great anguish at this disloyalty in himself and harshness to his darling yet disposed to persevere in it a horribly cruel thought crossed his mind he would not call for her as he had promised at the end of quarter of an hour yes it would be a punishment she well deserved although the best part of the afternoon had been wasted he would go nothing as he had intended and go by himself he leaped over the gate and pushed up the lane for nearly two miles till a winding path called snail creep sloped up a hill and entered a hazel cops by a hole like a rabbit's burrow in he plunged vanished among the bushes and in a short time there was no sign of his existence upon earth save an occasional rustling of boughs and snapping of twigs in diverse points of graze wood never man nutted as dick nutted that afternoon he worked like a galley slave half hour after half hour passed away and still he gathered without ceasing at last when the sun had set and bunches of nuts could not be distinguished from the leaves which nourished them he shouldered his bag containing quite two pecs of the finest produce of the wood about as much use to him as two pecs of stones from the road strolled down the woodland track crossed the highway and entered the homeward lane whistling as he went probably miss fancy day never before or after stood so low in mr. dewey's opinion as on that afternoon in fact it is just possible that a few more blue dresses on the long puddle young men's account would have clarified dick's brain entirely and made him once more a free man but venus had planned other developments at any rate for the present cuckoo lane the way he pursued passed over a ridge which rose keenly against the sky about 50 yards in his van here upon the bright afterglow about the horizon was now visible an irregular shape which at first he conceived to be a bow standing a little beyond the line of its neighbors then it seemed to move and as he advanced still further there was no doubt that it was a living being sitting in the bank head bowed on hand the grassy margin entirely prevented his footsteps from being heard and it was not till he was close that the figure recognized him up its sprang and he was face to face with fancy dick dick oh is it you dick yes fancy said dick in a rather repentant tone and lowering his nuts she ran up to him flung her parasol on the grass put her little head against his breast and then there began a narrative disjointed by such hysterical weeping as was never surpassed for intensity in the whole history of love oh dick she sobbed out where have you been away from me oh i have suffered agony and thought you would never come anymore tis cruel dick no tisnt it is justice i've been walking miles and miles up and down graze we're trying to find you till i was worried and worn out and i could walk no further and had come back this far oh dick directly you were gone i thought i had offended you and i put down the dress tisnt finished now and i never will finish it and i'll wear an old one sunday yes dick i will and because i don't care what i wear when you are not by my side you think i do but i don't and i ran after you and i saw you go up snail creep and not look back once and then you plunged in and i after you but i was too far behind oh i did wish the horrid branches had been cut down so that i could see your dear shape again and then i called out to you and nobody answered and i was afraid to call very loud lest anybody else should hear me then i kept wandering and wondering about and it was dreadful misery dick and then i shut my eyes and fell to picturing you looking at some other woman very pretty and nice but with no affection or truth in her at all and then imagined you saying to yourself ah she's as good as fancy for fancy told me a story and was a flirt and cared for herself more than me so now i'll have this one for my sweet heart oh you won't will you dick for i do love you so it is scarcely necessary to add that dick renounced his freedom there and then and kissed her 10 times over and promised that no pretty woman of the kind alluded to should ever engross his thoughts in short that though he had been vexed with her all such vexation was passed and that henceforth and forever it was simply fancy or death for him and then they set about proceeding homewards very slowly on account of fancy's weariness she leaning upon his shoulder and in addition receiving support from his arm around her waist though she had sufficiently recovered from her desperate condition to sing to him why are you wandering here i pray during the latter part of their walk nor is it necessary to describe in detail how the bag of nuts was quite forgotten until three days later when it was found among the brambles and restored empty to mrs. jewey her initials being marked therein in red cotton and how she puzzled herself till her head ached upon the question of how on earth her meal bag could have got into cuckoo lane end of section 21 recording by rachel linton bristol uk section 22 of under the greenwood tree this libra vox recording is in the public domain under the greenwood tree by tomas hardy part 4 chapter 2 honey taking and afterwards saturday evening saw dick jewey journeying on foot to yalbury wood according to the arrangement with fancy the landscape being concave at the going down of the sun everything suddenly assumed a uniform robe of shade the evening advanced from sunset to dusk long before dick's arrival and his progress during the latter portion of his walk through the trees was indicated by the flutter of terrified birds that had been roosting over the path and in crossing the glades masses of hot dry air that had been formed on the hills during the day greeted his cheeks alternately with clouds of damp night air from the valleys he reached the keeper steward's house where the grass plot and the garden in front appeared light and pale against the unbroken darkness of the grove from which he had emerged and paused at the garden gate he had scarcely been there a minute when he beheld a sort of procession advancing from the door in his front it consisted first of enoch the trapper carrying a spade on his shoulder and a lantern dangling in his hand then came mrs day the light of the lantern revealing that she bore in her arms curious objects about a foot long in the form of latin crosses made of lath and brown paper dipped in brimstone called matches by b masters next came miss day with a shawl thrown over her head and behind all in the gloom mr frederick shinor dick in his consternation at finding shinor present was at a loss how to proceed and retired under a tree to collect his thoughts here i be enoch said a voice and the procession advancing father the lantern rays illuminated the figure of jeffrey awaiting their arrival beside a row of beehives in front of the path taking the spade from enoch he proceeded to dig two holes in the earth beside the hives the others standing round in a circle except mrs day who deposited her matches in the fork of an apple tree and returned to the house the party remaining were now lit up in front by the lantern in their midst their shadows radiating each way upon the garden plot like the spokes of a wheel an apparent embarrassment of fancy at the presence of shinor caused a silence in the assembly during which the preliminaries of execution were arranged the matches fixed the stake kindled the two hives placed over the two holes and the earth stopped around the edges jeffrey then stood erect and rather more to straighten his backbone after the digging they were a peculiar family said mr shinor regarding the hives reflectively jeffrey nodded those holes will be the grave of thousands said hansey i think it is rather a cruel thing to do her father shook his head no he said tapping the hives to shake the dead bees from their cells if you suffocate them this way they only die once if you fumigate them in the new way they come to life again and die of starvation so the pangs of death be twice upon them i inclined to fancy's notion said mr shinor laughing lightly the proper way to take honey so that the bees be neither starved nor murdered is a puzzling matter said the keeper steadily i should like never to take it from them said fancy but is the money said enoch musing me for without money man as a shatter the lantern light had disturbed many bees that had escaped from hives destroyed some days earlier and demoralized by affliction were now getting and living as marauders about the doors of other hives several flew around the head and neck of jeffrey then darted upon him with an irritating biz enoch threw down the lantern and ran off and pushed his head into a current bush fancy scutted up the path and mr shinor floundered away helter skelter among the cabbages jeffrey stood his ground unmoved and firm as a rock fancy was the first to return followed by enoch picking up the lantern mr shinor still remained invisible have the crater stung ye said enoch to jeffrey no not much only a little here and there he said with leisurely solemnity shaking one bee out of his shirt sleeve pulling another from among his hair and two or three more from his neck the rest looked on during this proceeding with a complacent sense of being out of it much as a european nation in a state of internal commotion is watched by its neighbors are those all of them father said fancy when jeffrey had pulled away five almost all though i feel one or two more sticking into my shoulder inside ah there's another just begun again upon my backbone you lively young mortals how did you get inside there however they can't sting me many times more poor things for they must be getting weak they might as well stay in me till bedtime now i suppose as he himself was the only person affected by this arrangement it seemed satisfactory enough and after a noise of feet kicking against cabbages in a blundering progress among them the voice of mr shinor was heard from the darkness in that direction is all quite safe again no answer being returned to this query he apparently assumed that he might venture forth and gradually drew near the lantern again the hives were now removed from their position over the holes one being handed to enock to carry indoors and one being taken by jeffrey himself bring hither the lantern fancy the spade can bide jeffrey and enock then went towards the house leaving shinor and fancy standing side by side on the garden plot allow me said shinor stooping for the lantern and seizing it at the same time with fancy i can carry it said fancy religiously repressing all inclination to trifle she had thoroughly considered that subject after the tearful explanation of the bird catching adventure to dick and had decided that it would be dishonest in her as an engaged young woman to trifle with man's eyes and hands anymore finding that shinor still retained his hold the lantern she relinquished it and he having found her retaining it also let go the lantern fell and was extinguished fancy moved on where is the path said mr shinor here said fancy your eyes will get used to the dark in a minute or two till that time will you lend me your hand fancy gave him the extreme tips of her fingers and they stepped from the plot into the path you don't accept attentions very freely it depends upon who offers them a fellow like me for instance a dead silence well what do you say missy it then depends upon how they are offered not wildly and yet not careless like not purposely and yet not by chance not too quick nor yet too slow how then said fancy coolly and practically he said how would that kind of love be taken not anxiously and yet not indifferently neither blushing nor pale nor religiously nor yet quite wickedly well how not at all jeffrey day storehouse at the back of his dwelling was hung with bunches of dried haw hound mint and sage brown paper bags of time and lavender and long ropes of clean onions on shelves were spread large red and yellow apples and choice selections of early potatoes for seed next year vulgar crowds of commoner kind lying beneath in heaps a few empty beehives were clustered around a nail in one corner under which stood two or three barrels of new cider of the first crop each bubbling and squirting forth from the yet open bung hole fancy was now kneeling beside the two inverted hives one of which rested against her lap for convenience in operating upon the contents she thrust her sleeves above her elbows and inserted her small pink hand edgewise between each white lobe of honeycomb performing the act so adroitly and gently as not to unseal a single cell then cracking the piece off at the crown of the hive by a slight backward and forward movement she lifted each portion as it was loosened into a large blue platter placed on a bench at her side bother these little mortals said jeffrey who was holding the light to her and giving his back an uneasy twist i really think i may as well go indoors and take my poor things for they won't let me alone there's two are stinging with all their might now i'm sure i wonder their strength can last so long all right friend i'll hold the candle while you're gone said mr. shiner leisurely taking the light and allowing jeffrey to depart which he did with his usual long paces he could hardly have gone round to the house door when other footsteps were heard approaching the act building the tip of a finger appeared in the hole through which the wood latch was lifted and dick duee came in having been all this time walking up and down the wood vainly waiting for shiners departure fancy looked up and welcomed him rather confusedly shiner grasped the candlestick more firmly and less doing this in silence should not imply to dick with sufficient force that he was quite at home and cool he sang invincibly king ather he had three sons father here said dick indoors i think said fancy looking pleasantly at him dicks evade the scene and did not seem inclined to hurry off just at that moment shiner went on singing the miller was drowned in his pond the weaver was hung in his yarn and the devil ran away with a little tailor and the broadcloth under his arm that's a terrible crippled rhyme if that's your rhyme said dick with a grain of superciliousness in his tone it's no use your complaining to me about the rhyme said mr. shiner you must go to the man that made it fancy by this time had acquired confidence taste a bit mr. duee she said holding up to him a small circular piece of honeycomb that had been the last in the row of layers remaining still on her knees and flinging back her head to look in his face and then i'll taste a bit too and i if you please said mr. shiner nevertheless the farmer looked superior as if he could even now hardly join the trifling from very importance of station and after receiving the honeycomb from fancy he turned it over in his hands till the cells began to be crushed and the liquid honey ran down from his fingers in a thin string suddenly a faint cry from fancy caused them to gaze at her what's the matter dear said dick it is nothing but oh a bee has stung the inside of my lip he was in one of the cells i was eating we must keep down the swelling or it may be serious said shiner stepping up and kneeling beside her let me see it no no just let me see it said dick kneeling on the other side and after some hesitation she pressed down her lip with one finger to show the place oh i hope to assume be better i don't mind a sting in ordinary places but it's so bad upon your lip she added with tears in her eyes and writhing a little from the pain shiner held the light above his head and pushed his face close to fancies as if the lip had been shown exclusively to himself upon which dick pushed closer as if shiner were not there at all it is swelling said dick to her right aspect it isn't swelling said shiner to her left aspect is it dangerous on the lip cried fancy i know it is dangerous on the tongue oh no not dangerous answered dick rather dangerous had answered shiner simultaneously i must try to bear it said fancy turning again to the hives heart's horn and oil is a good thing to put on it miss day said shiner with great concern sweet oil and heart's horn i found to be a good thing to cure sting's miss day said dick with greater concern we have some mixed indoors would you kindly run and get it for me she said now whether by inadvertence or whether by mischievous intention the individuality of the you was so carelessly denoted that both dick and shiner sprang to their feet like twin acrobats and marched abreast to the door both seized the latch and lifted it and continued marching on shoulder to shoulder in the same manner to the dwelling house not only so but entering the room they marched as before straight up to mrs day's chair letting the door in the oak partition slam so forcibly that the rows of pewter on the dresser rang like a bell mrs day fancy has stung her lip and wants you to give me the heart's horn please said mr shiner very close to mrs day's face oh mrs day fancies asked me to bring out the heart's horn please because she has stung her lip said dick a little closer to mrs day's face well men alive that's no reason why you should eat me i suppose said mrs day drawing back she searched in the corner cupboard producing the bottle and began to dust the cork the rim in every other part very carefully dick's hand and shiners hand waiting side by side which is head man said mrs day now don't come and budgeting so close again which is head man neither spoke and the bottle was inclined towards shiner shiner as a high class man would not look in the least triumphant and turned to go off with it as jeffrey came downstairs after the search in his linen for concealed bees oh that you master dewey dick assured the keeper that it was and the young man then determined upon a bold stroke for the attainment to his end forgetting that the worst of bold strokes is the disastrous consequences they involve if they fail i've come on purpose to speak to you very particular mr day he said with a crushing emphasis intended for the years of mr shiner who was vanishing around the door post at that moment well i've been forced to go upstairs and unrind myself and shake some bees out of me said jeffrey walking slowly towards the open door and standing on the threshold the young rascals got into my shirt and wouldn't be quiet know how dick followed him to the door i've come to speak a word to you he repeated looking out at the pale mist creeping up from the gloom of the valley you may perhaps guess what it is about the keeper lowered his hands into the depths of his pocket twirled his eyes balanced himself on his toes looked as perpendicularly downward as if his glance were a plumb line then horizontally collecting together the cracks that lay about his face till they were all in the neighborhood of his eyes maybe i don't know he replied dick said nothing and the stillness was disturbed only by some small bird that was being killed by an owl in the adjoining wood whose cry passed into the silence without mingling with it i've left my hat up in chamber said jeffrey wait while i step up and get him i'll be in the garden said dick he went round by a side wicket into the garden and jeffrey went upstairs it was the custom in melstock in its vicinity to discuss matters of pleasure and ordinary business inside the house and to reserve the garden for very important affairs a custom which as is supposed originated in the desirability of getting away at such times from the other members of the family when there was only one room for living in though it was now quite as frequently practiced by those who suffered from no such limitation to the size of their domiciles the headkeeper's form appeared in the dusky garden and dick walked towards him the elder paused and lent over the rail of a piggory that stood on the left of the path upon which dick did the same and they both contemplated a whitish shadowy shape that was moving about and grunting among the straw of the interior i've come to ask for fancy said dick ida's leaf you hadn't why should that be mr. day because it makes me say that you've come to ask what you've been likely to have have you come for anything else nothing then i'll just tell you as you've come on a very foolish errand do you know what her mother was no a teacher in a landed family's nursery it was foolish enough to marry the keeper of the same establishment for i was only a keeper then though now i've a dozen other irons in the fire as steward here for my lord what with the timber sails and the yearly fellings and the gravel and sand sails and one thing and tether however do you think fancy picked up her good manners the smooth turn of her tongue her musical notes in her knowledge of books in a homely hole like this no do you know where no well when i went to wandering after her mother's death she lived with her aunt who kept a boarding school till her aunt married lawyer green a man as sharp as a needle and the school was broke up did you know that then she went to the training school and that her name stood first among the queen scholars of her year i've heard so and that when she sat for her certificate as government teacher she had the highest of the first class yes well and do you know what i live in such a miserly way for when i've got enough to do without it and why i make her work as a schoolmistress instead of living here no that if a gentleman who sees her to be his equal in polish should want to marry her and she want to marry him he shan't be superior to her in pocket now do you think after this that you be good enough for her no then good night to you master dewey good night mr day modest dicks reply had faulted upon his tongue and he turned away wondering at his presumption in asking for a woman who he had seen from the beginning to be so superior to him end of section 22 recording by rachel linton bristol uk section 23 of under the greenwood tree this liberal vox recording is in the public domain under the greenwood tree by thomas hardy part 4 chapter 3 fancy in the rain the next scene is a tempestuous afternoon in the following month and fancy day is discovered walking from her father's home towards melstock a single vast gray cloud covered the country from which the small rain and mist had just begun to blow down in wavy sheets alternating thick and thin the trees of the fields and plantations writhed like miserable men as the air wound its way swiftly among them the lowest portions of their trunks that had hardly ever been known to move were visibly rocked by the fierce augusts distress in the mind by its painful unwontedness as when a strong man is seen to shed tears low hanging bows went up and down high and erect bows went to and fro the blasts being so irregular and divided into so many cross currents that neighboring branches of the same tree swept the skies in independent motions crossed each other or became entangled across the open spaces flew flocks of green and yellowish leaves which after traveling a long distance from their parent trees reached the ground and lay there with their undersides upward as the rain and wind increased and fancy's bonnet ribbons leapt more and more snappishly against her chin she paused on entering melstock lane to consider her latitude and the distance to a place of shelter the nearest house was elizabeth enderfields in higher melstock whose cottage and garden stood not far from the junction of that hamlet with the road she followed fancy hastened onward and in five minutes entered a gate which shed upon her toes a flood of water drops as she opened it come in child a voice exclaimed before fancy had knocked a promptness that would have surprised her had she not known that mrs enderfield was an exceedingly and exceptionally sharp woman in the use of her eyes and ears fancy went in and sat down elizabeth was pairing potatoes for her husband supper scrape scrape scrape then a toss and splash went a potato into a bucket of water now as fancy listlessly noted these proceedings of the dame she began to reconsider an old subject that lay uppermost in her heart since the interview between her father and dick the days had been melancholy days for her jeffrey's firm opposition to the notion of dick as a son-in-law was more than she had expected she had frequently seen her lover since that time it is true and had loved him more for the opposition than she would have otherwise dreamt of doing which was a happiness of a certain kind yet though love is thus an end in itself it must be believed to be the means to another end if it is to assume the rosy hues of an unalloyed pleasure and such a belief fancy and dick were emphatically denied just now elizabeth enderfield had a repute among women which was in its nature something between distinction and notoriety it was founded on the following items of character she was shrewd and penetrating her house stood in a lonely place she never went to church she wore a red cloak she always retained her bonnet indoors and she had a pointed chin thus far her attributes were distinctly satanic and those who looked no further called her in plain terms a witch but she was not gaunt nor ugly in the upper part of her face nor particularly strange in manner so that when her more intimate acquaintances spoke of her the term was softened and she became simply a deep body who was as long-headed as she was high it may be stated that elizabeth belonged to a class of suspects who were gradually losing their mysterious characteristics under the administration of the young vicar though during the long reign of mr grinnum the parish of melstock had proved extremely favorable to the growth of witches while fancy was revolving all this in her mind and putting it to herself whether it was worthwhile to tell her troubles to elizabeth and ask her advice in getting out of them the witch spoke you be down proper down she said suddenly dropping another potato into the bucket fancy took no notice about your young man fancy reddened elizabeth seemed to be watching her thoughts really one would almost think she must have the powers people ascribe to her father not in the humour for it hey another potato was finished and flung in ah i know about it little birds tell me things that people don't dream of my knowing fancy was desperate about dick and here was a chance oh such a wicked chance of getting help and what was goodness beside love i wish you'd tell me how to put him in the humour for it she said that i could soon do said the witch quietly really oh do anyhow i don't care so that it is done how could i do it mrs enderfield nothing so mighty wonderful in it well but how by witchery of course said elizabeth no said fancy tis i assure you didn't you ever hear i was a witch well hesitated fancy i have heard you called so and you believed it i can't say that i did exactly believe it for it is very horrible and wicked but oh how i do wish it was possible for you to be one so i am and i'll tell you how to be witch your father to let you marry dick duee will it hurt him poor thing hurt who father no the charm is worked by common sense and the spell can only be broke by your acting stupidly fancy looked rather perplexed and elizabeth went on this fear of liz whatever tis by great and small she makes pretence to common sense and that's all you must do it like this the witch laid down her knife and potato and then poured into fancy's ear a long and detailed list of directions glancing up from the corner of her eye into fancy's face with an expression of sinister humour fancy's face brightened clouded rose and sank as the narrative proceeded there said elizabeth at last stooping for the knife and another potato do that and you'll have him by long and by late my dear and do it i will said fancy she then turned her attention to the external world once more the rain continued as usual but the wind had abasted considerably during the discourse judging that it was now possible to keep an umbrella wrecked she pulled her hood again over her bonnet bade the witch goodbye and went away end of section 23 recording by rachel linter in bristol uk section 24 of under the greenwood tree this nip of ox recording is in the public domain under the greenwood tree by thomas hardy part four chapter four the spell mrs. enderfield's advice was duly followed i'd be proper sorry that your daughter isn't so well as she might be said a melstock man to jeffrey one morning but is there anything in it said jeffrey uneasily as he shifted his hat to the right i can't understand the report she didn't complain to me a bit when i saw her no appetite at all they say jeffrey crossed to melstock and called at the school that afternoon fancy welcomed him as usual and asked him to stay and take tea with her i bent much for tea this time of day he said but stayed during the meal he watched her narrowly and to his great consternation discovered the following unprecedented change in the healthy girl that she cut herself only a diaphanous slice of bread and butter and laying it on her plate past the mealtime in breaking it into pieces but eating no more than about one tenth of the slice jeffrey hoped she would say something about dick and finish up by weeping as she'd done after the decision against him a few days subsequent to the interview in the garden but nothing was said and in due time jeffrey departed again for yalbree wood tis to be hoped poor miss fancy will be able to keep on her school said jeffrey's man enoch to jeffrey the following week as they were shoveling up anthills in the wood jeffrey stuck in the shovel swept seven or eight ants from his sleeve and killed another that was prowling round his ear then looked perpendicularly into the earth as usual waiting for enoch to say more well why shouldn't she said the keeper at last the baker told me yesterday continued enoch shaking out another emet that had run merrily up his thigh that the bread you've left at that their schoolhouse this last month would starve any mouse in the three creations that towards so and afterwards i had a pint of small down at the moors there i heard more what might that have been that she used to have a pound of the best rolled butter a week regular as clockwork from dairyman vines for herself as well as just so much salted for the helping girl and the woman she calls in but now the same quantity to last her three weeks and then tis thought that she throws it away sour finished doing the emets and carry the bag home along the keeper resumed his gun tucked it under his arm and went on without whistling to the dogs who however followed with a bearing meant to imply that they did not expect any such attentions when their master was reflecting on saturday morning a note came from fancy he was not to trouble about sending her the couple of rabbits as was intended because she feared she would not want them later in the day jeffrey went to cast a bridge and called upon the butcher who served fancy with fresh meat which was put down to her father's account i've called to pay up our little bill neighbor haylock and you can give me the child's account at the same time mr haylock turned around three quarters of a circle in the midst of a heap of joints altered the expression of his face from meat to money went into a little office consisting only of a door and a window looked very vigorously into a book which possessed length but no breath and then seizing a piece of paper and scribbling there upon handed the bill probably it was the first time in the history of commercial transactions that the quality of shortness in a butcher's bill was a cause of tribulation to the debtor why this isn't all she's had in a whole month said jeffrey every muscle said the butcher now dan take that leg and shoulder to mrs whites and this 11 pound here to mr martins you've been treating her to smaller joints lately to my thinking mr day only two or three little scram rabbits this last week as i am alive i wish i had well my wife said to me dan not too much not too much on that tray at a time better go twice my wife said to me as she posted up the book she says miss day must have been affronted this summer during that hot muggy weather that spoilt so much for us for depend upon she says she's been trying john grimmett unknown to us seara kane else tis little of course at the best of times being only for one but now tis next kin to nothing i'll inquire said jeffrey despondingly he returned by way of melstock and called upon fancy in fulfillment of a promise it being saturday the children were enjoying a holiday and on entering the residence fancy was nowhere to be seen nan the charwoman was sweeping the kitchen where's my daughter said the keeper well you see she was tired with the week's teaching and this morning she said nan i shan't get up till the evening you see mr day if people don't eat they can work and as she's given up eating she must give up working have you carried up any dinner to her no she don't want any there we all know that such things don't come without good reason not that i wish to say anything about a broken heart or anything of that kind jeffrey's own heart felt inconveniently large just then he went to the staircase and ascended to his daughter's door fancy come in father to see a person in bed for many calls whatever on a fine afternoon is depressing enough and here was his only child fancy not only in bed but looking very pale jeffrey was visibly disturbed fancy i didn't expect to see the here child he said what's the matter i'm not well father how's that because i think of things what things can you have to think are so mortal much you know father you think i've been cruel to the insane that that penniless dick of thine shan't marry the i suppose no answer well you know fancy i do it for the best and he isn't good enough for the you know that well enough here he again looked at her as she lay well fancy i can't let my only child die and if you can't live without him you must hadn't i suppose oh i don't want him like that all against your will and everything's so disobedient side the invalid no no tisnt against my will my wish is now i need to see how tis hurt in need to live without him that he shall marry thee as soon as we've considered a little that's my wish flatten plain fancy they're never cry my little maid you ought to cry before no need to cry and now tis all over well how so ever try to step over and see me and mother-in-law tomorrow and hire a bit of dinner with us and dick too i dick too far as i know and when do you think you'll have considered father and he may marry me she coaxed well there say next midsummer that's not a day too long to wait on leaving the school jeffrey went to the trantas old william opened the door is your grandson dickin within william no not just now mr. day though you've been at home a good deal lately oh how's that what with one thing and what with tether he's all in a mope as might be said don't seem the feller he used to i will sit studding and thinking as if we're going to turn chapel member and then do nothing but traipse and wobble about used to be such a chatty boy too dick did and now i don't speak at all but won't you step inside ruben i'll be home soon i believe no thank you i can't stay now will you just ask dick if he'll do me the kindness to step over to yalbury tomorrow when my daughter fancy if she's well enough i don't like her to come by herself now she's not so terrible topping in health so i've heard i sure i'll tell him without fail end of section 24 recording by rachel linton bristol you