rs. Ray read it very slowly and demurred over it at
sundry places. She especially demurred at that word about the omen,
and even declared that it ought to be expunged. But Rachel was very
stern and held her ground. She had put into the letter, she said, all
that she had been bidden to say. Such a word from herself to one who
had been so dear to her must be allowed to her.

The letter was not altered and was taken away by the postman that
evening.

CHAPTER VI.

MRS. RAY GOES TO EXETER, AND MEETS A FRIEND.

Six weeks passed over them at Bragg's End, and nothing was heard of
Luke Rowan. Rachel's letter, a copy of which was given in our last
chapter, was duly sent away by the postman, but no answer to it came
to Bragg's End. It must, however, be acknowledged that it not only
required no answer, but that it even refused to be answered. Rachel
had told her lover that he was not to correspond with her, and that
she certainly would not write to him again. Having so said, she had
no right to expect an answer; and she protested over and over again
that she did expect none. But still she would watch, as she thought
unseen, for the postman's coming; and her heart would sink within her
as the man would pass the gate without calling. "He has taken me at
my word," she said to herself very bitterly. "I deserve nothing else
from him; but--but--but--" In those days she was ever silent and
stern. She did all that her mother bade her, but she did little or
nothing from love. There were no more banquets, with clotted cream
brought over from Mrs. Sturt's. She would speak a word or two now and
then to Mrs. Sturt, who understood the whole case perfectly; but such
words were spoken on chance occasions, for Rachel now never went over
to the farm. Farmer Sturt's assistance had been offered to her; but
what could the farmer do for her in such trouble as hers?

During the whole of these six weeks she did her household duties;
but gradually she became slower in them and still more slow, and
her mother knew that her disappointment was becoming the source of
permanent misery. Rachel never said that she was ill; nor, indeed,
of any special malady did she show signs: but gradually she became
thin and wan, her cheeks assumed a haggard look, and that aspect of
the brow which her mother feared had become habitual to her. Mrs.
Ray observed her closely in all that she did. She knew well of those
watchings for the postman. She was always thinkin