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 the yard to order his trap to be got ready. He was going to Sicaster, and had parcels to bring back which he could not well carry in the saddle. Then he made himself smart and drove away. In the village he stopped at the gate of the cottage where Elisabeth lived. She caught sight of him through the window and came down the path to him. He bent down and looked earnestly at her. Elisabeth blushed as she met his ardent gaze.

"You are going into Sicaster?" she said.

"Yes, Elisabeth. There are two or three things I have to get, and there's my wedding finery to try on for the last time. Yours, I expect, is all ready?"

"Yes," she said, laughing. "I think it is."

Then they were silent, Hepworth watching the girl's face, and she looking away from him along the road. As he watched her he could not help contrasting the Elisabeth that he now saw with the Elisabeth of the statute hiring fair. That was a sad-faced Elisabeth, a woman losing her youth and good looks under a