ove, whose preciousness in his eyes was increasing in geometrical
progression with each new incident that reminded him of their hopeless
division. Brimming with the subtilized misery that he was capable of
feeling, he followed the opposite way towards the inn.

About the same moment that Wildeve stepped into the highway Venn also
had reached it at a point a hundred yards further on; and he, hearing
the same wheels, likewise waited till the carriage should come up.
When he saw who sat therein he seemed to be disappointed. Reflecting
a minute or two, during which interval the carriage rolled on, he
crossed the road, and took a short cut through the furze and heath to
a point where the turnpike-road bent round in ascending a hill. He
was now again in front of the carriage, which presently came up at a
walking pace. Venn stepped forward and showed himself.

Eustacia started when the lamp shone upon him, and Clym's arm was
involuntarily withdrawn from her waist. He said, "What, Diggory? You
are having a lonely walk."

"Yes--I beg your pardon for stopping you," said Venn. "But I am
waiting about for Mrs. Wildeve: I have something to give her from Mrs.
Yeobright. Can you tell me if she's gone home from the party yet?"

"No. But she will be leaving soon. You may possibly meet her at the
corner."

Venn made a farewell obeisance, and walked back to his former
position, where the by-road from Mistover joined the highway. Here
he remained fixed for nearly half an hour, and then another pair
of lights came down the hill. It was the old-fashioned wheeled
nondescript belonging to the captain, and Thomasin sat in it alone,
driven by Charley.

The reddleman came up as they slowly turned the corner. "I beg pardon
for stopping you, Mrs. Wildeve," he said. "But I have something to
give you privately from Mrs. Yeobright." He handed a small parcel; it
consisted of the hundred guineas he had just won, roughly twisted up
in a piece of paper.

Thomasin recovered from her surprise, and took the packet. "That's
all, ma'am--I wish you good night," he said, and vanished from her
view.

Thus Venn, in his anxiety to rectify matters, had placed in Thomasin's
hands not only the fifty guineas which rightly belonged to her, but
also the fifty intended for her cousin Clym. His mistake had been
based upon Wildeve's words at the opening of the game, when he
indignantly denied that the guinea was not his own. It had not been
comprehended by the re