"
But Nancy Forest had left Shenton early, as we have seen, so Fred Hurst
did not overtake her. He went all the way to Braley Brook, however, and
right up to the ruinous old farmhouse where the Forests lived, and
waited in the orchard some time, hoping that Nancy would come out to
bring in some linen which hung to bleach among the bare apple trees. He
knew that Nancy always helped her mother in the evenings. But on this
evening no errand seemed to bring her out of doors, and Fred Hurst went
away without seeing her, meaning to meet her next day.
It would have been wiser if Fred had gone boldly to the farmhouse and
asked to see Nancy; but we are none of us wise at all times, and we have
generally to pay in pain for our lack of wisdom as well as for our
actual faults, though perhaps not in the same degree.
II.
Fred Hurst's father was Nancy's father's master, as we have seen; and a
hard enough master, as Mrs. Dodd had said. John Forest and his
family--that is, his wife and Nancy--lived in the only habitable part of
what had once been a considerable farmhouse. John worked on the "land,"
took care of the horses and other live stock--there were not many--and
his wife attended to the poultry, which were numerous enough. She also
earned a little by mending the holes which the rats bit in the
corn-sacks. In harvest-time she made gentian beer for the men, and a
kind of harvest cake, originally made for a four o'clock meal, which
explains the word known as "fourses.
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