As she set her face towards the High Street again, which still seemed very far away, she sobbed with relief to see that old Mr. Goode, the carrier, had come down to the end of his garden to see what the noise meant, and that he had almost at once gone back into his house.  Of course he would come out and save her.  In the meantime she pushed on towards the houses, that because of her sickness and her fear rocked and wavered towards her flimsily like a breaking wave.  A heavy clod struck her in the back, and she shrieked silently with terror.  If they hurt her she might give birth to her baby and it would not live.  She had not had it quite seven months yet, so it would not live.  At that thought anguish pierced her like a jagged steel and she began to try to run, muttering little loving names to her adored and threatened child.  She looked towards the road to see if old Mr. Goode was coming, and was surprised to see that he was standing at the gate of the field with two other men and a boy.  And though they were all looking towards her, they made no movement to come to her help.  Perhaps they did not see what was happening to her.  It did not matter.  She would be there in a few moments.  One of the boys had found a tin can and was beating on it, and the sounds made her head feel bad.  She staggered on, looking on the ground because of the sun’s strong glare.

When she found that her feet had reached the patch of rutted ground that was around the gate, she sobbed with thankfulness.  She threw out her hands to the multitude of people who had suddenly gathered there, and cried out imploringly, for if someone would only take her to a place where she could lie down she would be all right and she would keep her child.  But none of them came to her, and her deafened ears caught a sound of roaring.  She could not see who they were and what they were doing, for all things looked as if she saw them through flowing water.  But she knew the tall figure by the gatepost must be Mr. Goode, so she stumbled to him and raised her head and tried to find his kind face.  But, like the boys, he wore a mask.  Veins that she had never noticed before stood out red on his forehead and his beard twitched, and the funny lines that darted about his eyes, which had become small and winking, made his face a palimpsest in which an affected disgust overlaid some deep enjoyment.  He did not seem to be looking at her; indeed, he averted his eyes from her, but thoughts about her made him laugh and send out a jeering cry—­wordless like the call of the boys.  She realised that he and these people whom she could not see, but who must be people who had known her all her life, had come out not to save but to see her ill-treated and to rejoice.  She stood stock-still and groaned.  Her head felt wet, and she put up her hand and found that a stone had drawn blood behind her ear.  The boys pressed close about her and beat the tin can in her ears, and one stretched out a stick and touched her, which made Mr. Goode and the unseen enemies laugh.  But at that she shrieked.  She shrieked with such terrible anger at those who insulted the mother of her child, that all their jaws fell and they shrank back and let her pass.