‘What is the matter, minister?  Has anything gone wrong?’

He started as if from a dream.  Phillis hung her head, and caught her breath in terror at the answer she feared.  But he, looking round with a sweeping glance, turned his broad, wise face up to his anxious wife, and forced a smile, and took her hand in a reassuring manner.

’I am blaming myself, dear.  I have been overcome with anger this afternoon.  I scarcely knew what I was doing, but I turned away Timothy Cooper.  He has killed the Ribstone pippin at the corner of the orchard; gone and piled the quicklime for the mortar for the new stable wall against the trunk of the tree—­stupid fellow! killed the tree outright—­and it loaded with apples!’

‘And Ribstone pippins are so scarce,’ said sympathetic cousin Holman.

’Ay!  But Timothy is but a half-wit; and he has a wife and children.  He had often put me to it sore, with his slothful ways, but I had laid it before the Lord, and striven to bear with him.  But I will not stand it any longer, it’s past my patience.  And he has notice to find another place.  Wife, we won’t talk more about it.’  He took her hand gently off his shoulder, touched it with his lips; but relapsed into a silence as profound, if not quite so morose in appearance, as before.  I could not tell why, but this bit of talk between her father and mother seemed to take all the factitious spirits out of Phillis.  She did not speak now, but looked out of the open casement at the calm large moon, slowly moving through the twilight sky.  Once I thought her eyes were filling with tears; but, if so, she shook them off, and arose with alacrity when her mother, tired and dispirited, proposed to go to bed immediately after prayers.  We all said good-night in our separate ways to the minister, who still sate at the table with the great Bible open before him, not much looking up at any of our salutations, but returning them kindly.  But when I, last of all, was on the point of leaving the room, he said, still scarcely looking up,—­

’Paul, you will oblige me by staying here a few minutes.  I would fain have some talk with you.’

I knew what was coming, all in a moment.  I carefully shut—­to the door, put out my candle, and sate down to my fate.  He seemed to find some difficulty in beginning, for, if I had not heard that he wanted to speak to me, I should never have guessed it, he seemed so much absorbed in reading a chapter to the end.  Suddenly he lifted his head up and said,—­

’It is about that friend of yours, Holdsworth!  Paul, have you any reason for thinking he has played tricks upon Phillis?’ I saw that his eyes were blazing with such a fire of anger at the bare idea, that I lost all my presence of mind, and only repeated,—­

‘Played tricks on Phillis!’

’Ay! you know what I mean:  made love to her, courted her, made her think that he loved her, and then gone away and left her.  Put it as you will, only give me an answer of some kind or another—­a true answer, I mean—­and don’t repeat my words, Paul.’