This etext was transcribed by Les Bowler FIANDER’S WIDOW A Novel * * * * * BY M. E. FRANCIS (MRS. FRANCIS BLUNDELL) Author of “Pastorals of Dorset,” “The Duenna of a Genius,” etc., etc. * * * * * LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 91 AND 93 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK LONDON AND BOMBAY 1901 * * * * * _Copyright_, _1901_, BY LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. _All rights reserved_ * * * * * UNIVERSITY PRESS • JOHN WILSON AND SON • CAMBRIDGE, U. S. A. * * * * * _I dedicate this Rural Romance_ _to_ _MY KIND HOSTESSES OF TENANTREES_ _True Daughters of_ “_Dorset Dear_,” _Under whose auspices I first became acquainted_ _with the peculiarities of its dialect and_ _the humours of its people_ CONTENTS _PROLOGUE_ Page THE BRIDE 1 _PART I_ THE SLEEPING BEAUTY 27 _PART II_ THE PRINCE 185 PROLOGUE THE BRIDE A man of reverend age, But stout and hale . . . WORDSWORTH. A wife’s be the cheapest ov hands. WILLIAM BARNES. THE sale was over: live stock, implements, corn and hay, turnips and potatoes, even apples, had duly been entered to their various buyers; and now such smaller articles as milk-pails, cheese-tubs, cream-tins, weights and scales, and other items of a dairy-farmer’s gear were passing under the hammer. The auction had been well attended, for it had been known beforehand that things would go cheap, and though the melancholy circumstances under which the sale took place called forth many expressions of regret and compassion, they in no way lessened the general eagerness to secure good bargains.