out behind dingy windows--and, wondrous sight on a
mid-December day--the white peacock, tempted by the calm air, was
taking a walk in the wintry garden. Pauline summoned up her courage to
enter the house and was rewarded by the hysterical delight of Angeel,
brought up to admire and adore this haughty relation, who was soon
dispensing her small bounties in order to make the visit as short as
possible.

CHAPTER XXVII

THE CARPET-BAG

"... this solitude
That seems by nature framed to be the seat
And very bosom of pure innocence."

The squarish spot of scarlet observed by Crabbe at the farther end of
the bridge was the unaesthetic carpet-bag brought by Ringfield with him
from the West; a field of glaring Turkey red, in design depicting a
kind of colossal sunflower with a green heart instead of a black one.
So contemptuous had always been the attitude of the guide towards his
clerical rival that he had quite forgotten this bag although it was so
conspicuous; such bags, moreover, were quite common at the time, and
these facts rendered him unsuspicious. Therefore, as he neared the
fall and looked along the bridge and still observed that flaming spot
of vivid colour, it was natural that, in place of going to his work as
he had told Miss Clairville he intended to do, he should turn off in
the opposite direction and leisurely walk forth to examine the
phenomenon.

The bridge was knee-deep in unbroken snow, for no vehicle had crossed
since the late storm, and there had been no service at Poussette's
church. Crabbe walked on, not without some difficulty, lifting his
feet higher and higher as he neared the centre of the structure.
Underneath roared and tumbled the savage fall, although just above the
bridge on his right hand the river was partly frozen, and large cakes
of ice, loosened by the milder weather, were going over the first of
the brown ledges with a rapid, rocking plunge. Each side of the bridge
was a network of icy spars, dazzling in the sunshine, now becoming much
brighter, and Crabbe, turning to look on the wonderful scene around and
beneath him, had forgotten his ultimate goal--the alluring
carpet-bag--when a singular thing occurred. His right foot, as he put
it down through the snow went through the snow and went beyond it; he
felt the unexpected depth before he realized what had happened, that
there was at this point a hole in the planks forming the footway and
that probably from t