,
arm-in-arm; followed by Roaring Billy, who was to give the bride away,
with his lady beside him. Behind these came two or three more couples,
and last of all, toiling along by herself, an old woman, bent nearly
double; it was Madge's mother. With laugh and light jest they pushed on
merrily over the stiles and through the brown autumn grass, covered with
a lacework of cobwebs. The ceremony passed off well enough, except that
Billy, as best-man, made the old arches of the church echo again with
his response.

Absalom had taken a cottage of Farmer Humphreys. "I'd 'ave sooner had
'un of anybody else," said he, "but thur war nur anuther to be had, and
it bean't such a bad 'un nither, only Measter Humphreys be hardish in
the mouth." By the which he meant that Humphreys had the reputation of
being rather harsh in his dealings with his workpeople. The cottage
itself, however, was pleasant enough to look upon, half thatched and
half slated, with a narrow strip of flower-garden in front full of
hollyhocks, sun-flowers, and wall-flowers, enclosed in a high
elder-hedge. Besides which, the occupier had a prescriptive right, by
custom, to a patch of potato ground in the allotments about a mile up
the road. And half-a-dozen damson-trees overshadowed the back of the
cottage, their branches coquetting with the roof when the wind blew.

Here the bridal party made a hearty dinner, and grew jolly and genial
afterwards over several gallons of beer ordered from the "Good Woman"
inn: a sign which represented a woman minus a head, and therefore
silent. It was the end of the harvest, and Absalom had plenty of money
in his pocket: a week's holiday was therefore indispensable. The
imbibing so much beer left a taste in the mouth next morning: this must
be washed away by a visit to the barrel. Then there was a stroll to the
top of a high hill in the neighbourhood, and as it was very hot, the
party was obliged to "wet their whistles" and "wash the dust out of
their throats" at every sign on the road, there and back; always backed
up with a second glass for the "good of the house." The week wore on,
and by Saturday Absalom had thoroughly emancipated himself from the
traces of control. Saturday evening brought a company together at the
"Good Woman," whom it behoved him to treat. Gallon after gallon was
disposed of; Absalom, as the hero of the evening, rising higher and
higher in his own estimation with every glass. At length a rude jest led
to a b