had been uttered by her stepfather; unless,
indeed, they might have been spoken to one of the yellow-gaitered
farmers near them. Yet Lucetta seemed silent, and then all thought of
the incident was dissipated by the humming of a song, which sounded
as though from the interior of the machine. Henchard had by this time
vanished into the market-house, and both the women glanced towards the
corn-drill. They could see behind it the bent back of a man who was
pushing his head into the internal works to master their simple secrets.
The hummed song went on--

"'Tw--s on a s--m--r aftern--n,
A wee be--re the s--n w--nt d--n,
When Kitty wi' a braw n--w g--wn
C--me ow're the h--lls to Gowrie."

Elizabeth-Jane had apprehended the singer in a moment, and looked guilty
of she did not know what. Lucetta next recognized him, and more
mistress of herself said archly, "The 'Lass of Gowrie' from inside of a
seed-drill--what a phenomenon!"

Satisfied at last with his investigation the young man stood upright,
and met their eyes across the summit.

"We are looking at the wonderful new drill," Miss Templeman said. "But
practically it is a stupid thing--is it not?" she added, on the strength
of Henchard's information.

"Stupid? O no!" said Farfrae gravely. "It will revolutionize sowing
heerabout! No more sowers flinging their seed about broadcast, so that
some falls by the wayside and some among thorns, and all that.
Each grain will go straight to its intended place, and nowhere else
whatever!"

"Then the romance of the sower is gone for good," observed
Elizabeth-Jane, who felt herself at one with Farfrae in Bible-reading
at least. "'He that observeth the wind shall not sow,' so the Preacher
said; but his words will not be to the point any more. How things
change!"

"Ay; ay....It must be so!" Donald admitted, his gaze fixing itself on a
blank point far away. "But the machines are already very common in the
East and North of England," he added apologetically.

Lucetta seemed to be outside this train of sentiment, her acquaintance
with the Scriptures being somewhat limited. "Is the machine yours?" she
asked of Farfrae.

"O no, madam," said he, becoming embarrassed and deferential at the
sound of her voice, though with Elizabeth Jane he was quite at his ease.
"No, no--I merely recommended that it should be got."

In the silence which followed Farfrae appeared only conscious of her;
to have passed from perception