She was a big woman over sixty years of age, with smooth, high-coloured cheeks and thick dark hair that was still a long way from turning white. Her face said plainly that she had had a full, comfortable, healthy life, with plenty to interest her and little to fret. Her brown eyes, which had been beautiful in youth, had kept their expression of self-satisfaction wholly undisturbed. She looked, indeed, what she was, the mother of a big family, the mistress of a good-class farm, and the wife of a man whose banking-account had long since ceased to keep him awake at nights. She wore a black hat and a black plush coat, and round her shoulders was a big fur wrap. In a kid-gloved hand she carried a muff and a silver-mounted bag, and May, looking down, saw patent-toed boots showing beneath her neat, black skirt. Sarah was sure of them, too, though she could not see them. It was not with her physical eye that she looked at Eliza of Blindbeck, Simon’s brother’s wife. She, too, had paused in the doorway, looking for a place, but as soon as she saw the two in the window, she advanced at once. As she passed she spoke to several people in a noisy, hearty voice, that seemed to have a blustering quality somewhere at its back. By the time she had reached Sarah’s table and come to a stop, the man in the other room noticed that Sarah had suddenly grown small.... "Eh, now, if I haven’t been seeking you all over the shop!" Eliza exclaimed. "Will had it you wanted me most particular, so I’ve been looking out. I couldn’t find you, though, whatever I did. I never see folks so set on keeping out of the road!" Sarah still continued to look as though she had shrunk. Even her voice seemed to have grown less. It sounded far off and rather prim. "Nay, I don’t know as I did, thank ye," was all she said. "Will mun ha’ gitten hold o’ the wrong end o’ the stick." Eliza looked at her with the little smile which the sight of Sarah always brought to her lips. She pulled a chair towards her and collapsed into it without waiting to be asked. "Ay, well, that’s queer, to be sure! Will’s no more muddled than most on market-day, as a rule. I made sure you were wanting me right off the reel, from what he said." May explained nervously that she had come to Sarah’s assistance instead. Eliza always made her nervous, because she never seemed to know she was in the room. "There wasn’t that much to do," she finished hurriedly, stumbling over her words. "It’s a pity Mr. Thornthwaite set you looking her up." "Nay, I don’t know.... I’d have been glad to do anything, I’m sure!" Eliza spoke in her heartiest tones, so that everybody could hear. "Nobody can say I’m one as can’t be bothered to lend a hand. I reckon me and Will have done as much in that line as most." She looked at Sarah again, the smile growing on her lips.... "You’ll not mind me sitting down with you, I suppose?"