Page:Paul Clifford Vol 3.djvu/192

184 —rude—introductionless—a bad house—an unpainted railing—and a beautiful wife! Nevertheless, though Welford was not engaged, he was, as we have said, watched. On their first arrival, which was in summer, the young pair were often seen walking together in the fields or groves which surrounded their home. Sometimes they walked affectionately together, and it was observed with what care Welford adjusted his wife's cloak or shawl around her slender shape, as the cool of the evening increased. But often his arm was withdrawn, he lingered behind—and they continued their walk, or returned homeward, in silence and apart. By degrees, whispers circulated throughout the town, that the new married couple lived by no means happily. The men laid the fault on the stern-looking husband; the women, on the minx of a wife. However, the solitary servant whom they kept declared, that though Mr. Welford did sometimes frown, and Mrs. Welford did sometimes weep, they were extremely attached to each other, and only quarrelled through love. The maid had had four lovers herself, and was possibly experienced in