Plymouth if she walked them long enough. Afterwards he had a feeling
that he had acted without charity, so he went to chapel and repented,
and was forgiven in the usual way. Still he decided he could have
nothing more to do with Thomasine. His conscience would not permit it.
His thorn in the flesh was Annie, but he let her rave, thinking she
would be less dangerous while she barked. The little matter which
detained him at the Barton was a mercenary one. He could not leave the
furniture for strangers to seize or Annie to profit by. His beasts he
had sold already to two different persons, which was not a dishonest
act, but merely good business; it was for the two men to settle the
question of ownership when they came together. The furniture was not
worth much, but he could not leave the place without getting value for
it. So he sent for a dealer from Tavistock to come and make him an
offer, taking precautions to get Annie out of the way during the time of
his visit; but she heard of it, and instinct told her the truth again.
One morning a letter came, Annie saw the name on the flap of the
envelope, and knew that it was from the dealer. Probably he had bought
what few chattels she possessed and had brought with her when she came
to live with Pendoggat. She was silent all the morning; it was a dark
day, there had been no sun for some time, and a spell of frost had set
in; it was black above and white below, a black unbroken sky and a white
sheet of frost. She shivered as she crept about the kitchen, listening
for the movements of the master. He did not speak to her; when she
passed he put his head lower than ever.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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