“Ah, my dear sir, you began with being very near-sighted, and those near-sighted eyes always wear the best.  I want very strong spectacles to read with, but then I think my eyes get better and better for things at a distance.  I suppose if I could live another fifty years, I should be blind to everything that wasn’t out of other people’s sight, like a man who stands in a well and sees nothing but the stars.”

“See,” said Arthur, “the old women are ready to set out on their race now.  Which do you bet on, Gawaine?”

“The long-legged one, unless they’re going to have several heats, and then the little wiry one may win.”

“There are the Poysers, Mother, not far off on the right hand,” said Miss Irwine.  “Mrs. Poyser is looking at you.  Do take notice of her.”

“To be sure I will,” said the old lady, giving a gracious bow to Mrs. Poyser.  “A woman who sends me such excellent cream-cheese is not to be neglected.  Bless me!  What a fat child that is she is holding on her knee!  But who is that pretty girl with dark eyes?”

“That is Hetty Sorrel,” said Miss Lydia Donnithorne, “Martin Poyser’s niece—­a very likely young person, and well-looking too.  My maid has taught her fine needlework, and she has mended some lace of mine very respectably indeed—­very respectably.”

“Why, she has lived with the Poysers six or seven years, Mother; you must have seen her,” said Miss Irwine.

“No, I’ve never seen her, child—­at least not as she is now,” said Mrs. Irwine, continuing to look at Hetty.  “Well-looking, indeed!  She’s a perfect beauty!  I’ve never seen anything so pretty since my young days.  What a pity such beauty as that should be thrown away among the farmers, when it’s wanted so terribly among the good families without fortune!  I daresay, now, she’ll marry a man who would have thought her just as pretty if she had had round eyes and red hair.”

Arthur dared not turn his eyes towards Hetty while Mrs. Irwine was speaking of her.  He feigned not to hear, and to be occupied with something on the opposite side.  But he saw her plainly enough without looking; saw her in heightened beauty, because he heard her beauty praised—­for other men’s opinion, you know, was like a native climate to Arthur’s feelings:  it was the air on which they thrived the best, and grew strong.  Yes!  She was enough to turn any man’s head:  any man in his place would have done and felt the same.  And to give her up after all, as he was determined to do, would be an act that he should always look back upon with pride.

“No, Mother,” and Mr. Irwine, replying to her last words; “I can’t agree with you there.  The common people are not quite so stupid as you imagine.  The commonest man, who has his ounce of sense and feeling, is conscious of the difference between a lovely, delicate woman and a coarse one.  Even a dog feels a difference in their presence.  The man may be no better able than the dog to explain the influence the more refined beauty has on him, but he feels it.”