led
Elinor, and made her eyelids droop and her cheek light up with the
glow of pleasure. Amid all the people who would search for pennies,
or perhaps painfully and not without reluctance produce a sixpence
to reward the humble artists, there was something in the careless
familiarity and indifference which tossed a gold coin at them which was
calculated to charm the youthful observer. Elinor felt the same mixture
of pleasure and envy which had moved Alick Hudson; yet it was not envy,
for was not he her own who did this thing which she would have liked to
have done herself, overwhelming the poor tramps with delight? Elinor
knew, as Alick also did, that it would never have occurred to her to do
it. She would have been glad to be kind to the poor men, to give them a
good meal, to speak to Basset at the Bull's Head in their favour that
they might be taken in for the night and made comfortable, but to open
her purse and take a real sovereign from it, a whole potential pound,
would not have come into her head. Had such a thing been done, for
instance, by the united subscriptions of the party, in case of some
peculiarly touching situation, the illness of a wife, the loss of a
child, it would have been done solemnly, the Rector calling the men up,
making a little speech to them, telling them how all the ladies and
gentlemen had united to make up this, and how they must be careful not
to spend it unworthily. Elinor thought she could see the little scene,
and the Rector improving the occasion. Whereas Phil spun the money
through the air into the man's ready hand as if it had been a joke, a
trick of agility. Elinor saw that everybody was much impressed with the
incident, and her heart went forth upon a flood of satisfaction and
content. And it was no premeditated triumph. It was so noble, so
accidental, so entirely out of his good heart!

When he hurried her home at the end of the performance, that Mrs.
Dennistoun might not be kept waiting, the previous events of the
afternoon, and all that happened in the copse and garden, had faded out
of Elinor's mind. She forgot Stanfield and the 6th and everything about
it. Her embarrassment and trouble were gone. She went in gayly and told
her mother all about this wonderful incident. "The Rector was trying for
a sixpence. But, mamma, Phil must not be so ready with his sovereigns,
must he? We shall have nothing to live upon if he goes chucking
sovereigns at every Punch and Judy he may meet."