They find their own misery sufficiently exalted; but their temperament
is unable to sustain a lifelong tribulation or elevate sorrow into
tragedy. And their state is the more blessed. So Phoebe watered her
couch with tears, prayed to God to hear her solemn promises of eternal
fidelity, then slept and passed into a brief dreamland beyond sorrow's
reach.

Meantime young Blanchard took his stormy heart into a night of stars.
The moon had risen; the sky was clear; the silvery silence remained
unbroken save for the sound of the river, where it flowed under the
shadows of great trees and beneath aerial bridges and banners of the
meadow mists. Will strode through this scene, past his mother's cottage,
and up a hill behind it, into the village. His mind presented in turn a
dozen courses of action, and each was built upon the abiding foundation
of Phoebe's sure faithfulness. That she would cling to him for ever the
young man knew right well; no thought of a rival, therefore, entered
into his calculations. The sole problem was how quickest to make Mr.
Lyddon change his mind; how best to order his future that the miller
should regard him as a responsible person, and one of weight in affairs.
Not that Will held himself a slight man by any means; but he felt that
he must straightway assert his individuality and convince the world in
general and Miller Lyddon in particular of faulty judgment. He was very
angry still as he retraced the recent conversation. Then, among those
various fancies and projects in his mind, the wildest and most foolish
stood out before him as both expedient and to be desired. His purpose in
Chagford was to get advice from another man; but before he reached the
village his own mind was established.

Slated and thatched roofs glimmered under moonlight, and already the
hamlet slept. A few cats crept like shadows through the deserted