Sparsit's eyes in the gloom, as she
stopped and listened.
Low voices close at hand. His voice and hers. The appointment was
a device to keep the brother away! There they were yonder, by the
felled tree.
Bending low among the dewy grass, Mrs. Sparsit advanced closer to
them. She drew herself up, and stood behind a tree, like Robinson
Crusoe in his ambuscade against the savages; so near to them that
at a spring, and that no great one, she could have touched them
both. He was there secretly, and had not shown himself at the
house. He had come on horseback, and must have passed through the
neighbouring fields; for his horse was tied to the meadow side of
the fence, within a few paces.
'My dearest love,' said he, 'what could I do? Knowing you were
alone, was it possible that I could stay away?'
'You may hang your head, to make yourself the more attractive; I
don't know what they see in you when you hold it up,' thought Mrs.
Sparsit; 'but you little think, my dearest love, whose eyes are on
you!'
That she hung her head, was certain.
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