at possible flight of hers, and it was to her cotton working
gowns that she had paid most attention: looking forward to begin a harder
life in some stranger's service--ready to endure anything rather than to
marry Stephen Whitelaw. And of late the conviction had grown upon her
that her father was very much in earnest, and that before long it would
be a question whether she should obey him, or be turned out of doors. She
had seen his dealings with other people, and she knew him to be a
passionate determined man, hard as iron in his anger.

"I won't give him the trouble to turn me out of doors," Ellen said to
herself. "When I know his mind, and that there's no hope of turning him,
I'll get away quietly, and find some new home. He has no real power over
me, and I have but to earn my own living to be independent of him. And I
don't suppose Frank will think any the worse of me for having been a
servant," thought the girl, with something like a sob. It seemed hard
that she must needs sink lower in her lover's eyes, when she was so far
beneath him already; he a lawyer's son, a gentleman by education, and she
an untaught country girl.

CHAPTER XXXII.

THE PADLOCKED DOOR AT WYNCOMB.

The countenance of the new year was harsh, rugged, and gloomy--as of a
stony-hearted, strong-minded new year, that had no idea of making his
wintry aspect pleasant, or brightening the gloom of his infancy with any
deceptive gleams of January sunshine. A bitter north wind made a dreary
howling among the leafless trees, and swept across the broad bare fields
with merciless force--a bleak cruel new-year's-day, on which to go out
a-pleasuring; but it was more in harmony with Ellen Carley's thoughts
than brighter weather could have been; and she went to and fro about her
morning's work, up and down cold windy passages, and in and out of the
frozen dairy, unmoved by the bitter wind which swept the crisp waves of
dark brown hair from her low brows, and tinged the tip of her impertinent
little nose with a faint wintry bloom.

The bailiff was in very high spirits this first morning of the new
year--almost uproarious spirits indeed, which vented themselves in
snatches of boisterous song, as he bustled backwards and forwards from
house to stables, dressed in his best blue coat and bright buttons and a
capacious buff waistcoat; with his ponderous nether limbs clothed in
knee-cords, and boots with vinegar tops; looking altogether the typical
British