and sailed for furrin' parts, an' didn' show his face in England till
th' ould man, his father, was took wi' a seizure an' went dead, bein'
palsied down half his face, but workin' away to the end at the most
lift-your-hair wickedness wi' the sound side of his mouth.

"Then the new Earl turned up an' settled at Castle Cannick. He was a
wifeless man, an', by the look o't, had given up all wish to coax the
female eye: for he dressed no better'n a jockey, an' all his
diversion was to ride in to Tregarrick Market o' Saturdays, an' hang
round the doorway o' the Pack-Horse Inn, by A. Walters, and glower at
the men an' women passin' up and down the Fore Street, an' stand
drinkin' brandy an' water while the horse-jockeys there my-lord'ed
'en. Two an' twenty glasses, they say, was his quantum' between noon
an' nine o'clock; an' then he'd climb into saddle an' ride home to
his jewelled four-poster, cursin' an' mutterin', but sittin' his mare
like a man of iron.

"But one o' these fine market-days he did a thing that filled the
mouths o' the country-side.

"He was loafin' by the Pack-Horse door, just as usual, at two
o'clock, rappin' the head o' his crop on the side o' his ridin'
boots, drawin' his brows down an' lookin' out curses from under 'em
across the street to the saddler's opposite, when two drover-chaps
came up the pavement wi' a woman atween 'em.

"The woman--or maid, to call her by her proper title--was a
dark-browed slut, wi' eyes like sloes, an' hair dragged over her face
till she looked like an owl in an ivy-bush. As for the gown o' her,
'twas no better'n a sack tied round the middle, wi' a brave piece