r the work-people, should be made to pass through his hands. By these
means, and by the combination of other favourable circumstances, which
he foresaw, he did not doubt that he could not only escape from present
embarrassments, but recover much of what he had been obliged to
sacrifice.

It is possible that he was quite mistaken in all this, but he believed
it all, and no wonder that his indignation grew and strengthened as he
thought of Mr Fleming.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

JACOB'S EXPERIENCE.

Jacob spoke wonderfully little of all this, considering how much it was
in his mind. He sometimes spoke to his wife, but even to her he said
nothing of the losses that had fallen upon him, or of the fears that
were weighing him down; but he did allow the bitterness which was
gathering in his heart toward old Mr Fleming to overflow, once in a
while, in her hearing. He knew it was not a wise thing to do, for she
could only listen and add a word or two, which did no good, but harm.
She dropped bitter words to other people too, nay, poured them forth to
Elizabeth, and to Clifton when he came home, and to Miss Betsey, even,
when a rare opportunity occurred.

It did not matter much as far as they were concerned, for they knew the
value of her words, and did not repeat them; but she uttered them to
other people as well, and they were repeated, as all village talk is
repeated, and commented upon, and exaggerated, and no one did more
toward the stirring up of strife, and the making of two parties in
Gershom, than did Mrs Jacob. She did her husband no good, but she did
him less harm than she might have done had she been a woman of a higher
and stronger nature. He did not have perfect confidence in her sense
and judgment, and was apt to hesitate rather than yield to her
suggestions even when he would have liked to do so. But her intense
interest and sympathy were very grateful to him, and all the more that
he neither asked nor expected sympathy from any one else.

He often longed to ask it; there were several men in Gershom with whom
he would have liked to discuss his grievances, but he hardly dared to
enter upon the subject, lest in confessing how great a matter a six
months' delay was to him, he should betray how serious his losses had
been. He did not intend to make his wife aware of his embarrassments,
but she could not fail to see that all his anxiety could not spring from
doubts as to the company or indignation toward Mr F