old Tomkins, who has been past his work these ten years, and if ever
I hear of seditious or prelatical doings in yonder gulley again, off
you go."

He rode off, leaving Steadfast with temper more determined, but mind
not more at ease. The appointment of a woodward was bad news, for
the copsewood and the game had been left to their fate for the last
few years, and what were the rights of the landlord over them Stead
did not know, so that there might be many causes of trouble,
especially if the said woodward considered him a person to be
specially watched. Indeed, the existence of such a person would make
a renewal of what Mr. Elmwood called the prelatist assembly
impossible, and with a good deal of sorrow he announced the fact on
the next market day to Mrs. Lightfoot. He could not see Dr. Eales,
but when next he came in, she gave him a paper on which was simply
marked "Ps. xxxvii, 7." He looked out the reference and found "Hold
thee still in the Lord and abide patiently upon Him." Stead hoped
that Patience and the rest would never know what an offer had been
made to him, but Master Brown, who had recommended him, and who did
not at all like the prospect of a strange woodward, came to
expostulate with him for throwing away such a chance for a mere whim,
telling Patience she was a sensible wench and ought to persuade her
brother to see what was for his own good and the good of all, holding
up himself as an example.

"I never missed my church and had the parson's good word all along,
and yet you see I am ready to put up with this good man without
setting myself up to know more than my elders and betters! Eh! Hast
not a word to say for thyself? Then I'll tell the squire, who is a
good and friendly gentleman to all the old servants, that you have