STEER.

Ay, but he left the mark of 'is foot i' the flowerbed; now theer be noan o' my men, thinks I to mysen, 'ud ha' done it 'cep' it were Dan Smith, fur I cotched 'im once a-stealin' coals an' I sent fur 'im, an'

I measured his foot wi' the mark i' the bed, but it wouldn't fit-- seeams to me the mark wur maade by a Lunnun boot. (_Looks at_ EVA.) Why, now, what maakes tha sa white?

EVA.

Fright, father!

STEER.

Maake thysen easy. I'll hev the winder naailed up, and put Towser under it.

EVA. (_Clasping her hands_.) No, no, father! Towser'll tear him all to pieces.

STEER.

Let him keep awaay, then; but coom, coom! let's be gawin. They ha'

broached a barrel of aale i' the long barn, and the fiddler be theer, and the lads and la.s.ses 'ull hev a dance.

EVA. (_Aside_.) Dance! small heart have I to dance. I should seem to be dancing upon a grave.

STEER.

Wheer be Mr. Edgar? about the premises?

DOBSON.

Hallus about the premises!

STEER.

So much the better, so much the better. I likes 'im, and Eva likes 'im. Eva can do owt wi' 'im; look for 'im, Eva, and bring 'im to the barn. He 'ant naw pride in 'im, and we'll git 'im to speechify for us arter dinner.

EVA.

Yes, father! [_Exit_.

STEER.

Coom along then, all the rest o' ye! Churchwarden be a coomin, thaw me and 'im we niver 'grees about the t.i.the; and Parson mebbe, thaw he niver mended that gap i' the glebe fence as I telled 'im; and Blacksmith, thaw he niver shoes a herse to my likings; and Baaker, thaw I sticks to hoam-maade--but all on 'em welcome, all on 'em welcome; and I've hed the long barn cleared out of all the machines, and the sacks, and the taaters, and the mangles, and theer'll be room anew for all o' ye. Foller me.

ALL.

Yeas, yeas! Three cheers for Mr. Steer!

[_All exeunt except_ DOBSON _into barn_.

_Enter_ EDGAR.

DOBSON (_who is going, turns_).

Squire!--if so be you be a squire.

EDGAR.

Dobbins, I think.

DOBSON.

Dobbins, you thinks; and I thinks ye wears a Lunnun boot.

EDGAR.

Well?

DOBSON.

And I thinks I'd like to taake the measure o' your foot.

EDGAR.

Ay, if you'd like to measure your own length upon the gra.s.s.

DOBSON.

Coom, coom, that's a good un. Why, I could throw four o' ye; but I promised one of the Misses I wouldn't meddle wi' ye, and I weant.

[_Exit into barn_.

EDGAR.

Jealous of me with Eva! Is it so?

Well, tho' I grudge the pretty jewel, that I Have worn, to such a clod, yet that might be The best way out of it, if the child could keep Her counsel. I am sure I wish her happy.

But I must free myself from this entanglement.

I have all my life before me--so has she-- Give her a month or two, and her affections Will flower toward the light in some new face.

Still I am half-afraid to meet her now.

She will urge marriage on me. I hate tears.

Marriage is but an old tradition. I hate Traditions, ever since my narrow father, After my frolic with his tenant's girl, Made younger elder son, violated the whole Tradition of our land, and left his heir, Born, happily, with some sense of art, to live By brush and pencil. By and by, when Thought Comes down among the crowd, and man perceives that The lost gleam of an after-life but leaves him A beast of prey in the dark, why then the crowd May wreak my wrongs upon my wrongers. Marriage!

That fine, fat, hook-nosed uncle of mine, old Harold, Who leaves me all his land at Littlechester, He, too, would oust me from his will, if I Made such a marriage. And marriage in itself-- The storm is hard at hand will sweep away Thrones, churches, ranks, traditions, customs, marriage One of the feeblest! Then the man, the woman, Following their best affinities, will each Bid their old bond farewell with smiles, not tears; Good wishes, not reproaches; with no fear Of the world's gossiping clamour, and no need Of veiling their desires.

Conventionalism, Who shrieks by day at what she does by night, Would call this vice; but one time's vice may be The virtue of another; and Vice and Virtue Are but two masks of self; and what hereafter Shall mark out Vice from Virtue in the gulf Of never-dawning darkness?

_Enter_ EVA.

My sweet Eva, Where have you lain in ambush all the morning?

They say your sister, Dora, has return'd, And that should make you happy, if you love her!

But you look troubled.

EVA.

Oh, I love her so, I was afraid of her, and I hid myself.

We never kept a secret from each other; She would have seen at once into my trouble, And ask'd me what I could not answer. Oh, Philip, Father heard you last night. Our savage mastiff, That all but kill'd the beggar, will be placed Beneath the window, Philip.

EDGAR.

Savage, is he?

What matters? Come, give me your hand and kiss me This beautiful May-morning.

EVA.

The most beautiful May we have had for many years!

EDGAR.

And here Is the most beautiful morning of this May.

Nay, you must smile upon me! There--you make The May and morning still more beautiful, You, the most beautiful blossom of the May.

EVA.

Dear Philip, all the world is beautiful If we were happy, and could chime in with it.

EDGAR.

True; for the senses, love, are for the world; That for the senses.

EVA.