her eyes to him with the hopeless defiance of the s gaze before its its neck whip me crush me you need not mind those people the i shall not cry out once victim always victim � that s the law o no no he said i can make full allowance for this yet you most forget one thing that i would have married you if you had not put it out of my power to do so did i not ask you to be my wife � hey answer me you did and you cannot be but remember one thing his voice hardened as his temper got the better of him with the recollection of his sincerity in asking her and her present ingratitude and he stepped across to her side and held her by the shoulders so that she shook under his grasp remember my lady i was your master once i will be master again k you are any man s wife you are mine the now began to stir below so much for our quarrel he said letting her go now i shall leave you and shall come again for your answer during the afternoon you don t know me yet but i you she had not spoken again remaining as if d retreated over the and descended the ladder while the workers below rose and stretched their arms and shook down the beer they had drunk then the machine started and amid the renewed rustle of the straw resumed her position by the drum as one in a dream after in endless succession by in the afternoon the farmer made it known that the was to be finished that night since there was a moon by which they could see to and the man with the engine was engaged for another farm on the morrow hence the and humming and rustling proceeded with even less than usual it was not till about three o clock that raised her eyes and gave a glance round she felt but little surprise at seeing that d had come back and was standing under the hedge by the gate he had seen her lift her eyes and waved to her while he blew her a kiss it meant that their quarrel was over looked down again and carefully from gazing in that direction thus the afternoon dragged on the wheat shrank lower and the straw grew higher and the were away at six o dock the wheat was about shoulder high from the ground but the remaining untouched seemed countless still notwithstanding tiie enormous numbers that had hem down by the fed by the man and through whose two young hands the greater part of them had passed and the immense of straw where in the morning there had been nothing appeared as cl the same red from the west sky a shine � all that wild march could afford in the way of sunset � had burst forth after the cloudy day the tired and faces of the by the convert them with a light as also the flapping garments of the women whidi to them like flames a panting ache ran through the the man who fed was weary and could see that the red of his neck was with dirt and she still stood at her post her flushed and face with the com dust and her white bonnet by it she was the only woman whose place was upon the machine so as to be shaken bodily by its spinning and the of the now separated her from and and prevented their changing duties with her as they had done the incessant quivering in which every fibre of her frame had thrown her into a reverie in which her arms worked on of her consciousness she hardly knew where she was and did not hear tell her from below that her hair was tumbling down by degrees the among them b to grow and eyed whenever lifted her head she beheld always the great straw with the men in shirt sleeves upon it against the grey north sky in front of it the long red like a jacob s ladder on which a per p stream of straw ascended a yellow river running up hill and out on the top of the she knew that d was still on the scene observing her from some point or other though she could not say where there was an excuse for his remaining for the drew near its final a little was always done and men with the sometimes dropped in for that performance � sporting characters of all descriptions with and with sticks and stones but there was another hour s work before the of live rats at the base of the would be by op the d reached and as the evening light in the direction of the giant s hill by s dissolved away the white fa moon of the season arose from the horizon that lay towards abbey and on the other side for the last hour or two had uneasy about whom she could not get near enough to speak to� the other women having kept up their strength by drinking and having done without it through dread owing to its results at her home in childhood but still kept going if she could not fill her part she would have to leave and this which she would have regarded with and even with relief a month or two had become a terror since d had begun to round her the and had now worked the so low that people on the ground could talk to them to s farmer came up on the machine to her and said that if she desired to join her friend he did not wish her to keep on any longer and would send somebody else to take her place the friend was d she knew 