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His
Christian
name
was
Gabriel
,
and
on
working
days
he
was
a
young
man
of
sound
judgment
,
easy
motions
,
proper
dress
,
and
general
good
character
.
On
Sundays
he
was
a
man
of
misty
views
,
rather
given
to
postponing
,
and
hampered
by
his
best
clothes
and
umbrella
:
upon
the
whole
,
one
who
felt
himself
to
occupy
morally
that
vast
middle
space
of
Laodicean
neutrality
which
lay
between
the
Communion
people
of
the
parish
and
the
drunken
section
,
—
that
is
,
he
went
to
church
,
but
yawned
privately
by
the
time
the
congregation
reached
the
Nicene
creed
,
and
thought
of
what
there
would
be
for
dinner
when
he
meant
to
be
listening
to
the
sermon
.
Or
,
to
state
his
character
as
it
stood
in
the
scale
of
public
opinion
,
when
his
friends
and
critics
were
in
tantrums
,
he
was
considered
rather
a
bad
man
;
when
they
were
pleased
,
he
was
rather
a
good
man
;
when
they
were
neither
,
he
was
a
man
whose
moral
colour
was
a
kind
of
pepper
-
and
-
salt
mixture
.
Since
he
lived
six
times
as
many
working
-
days
as
Sundays
,
Oak
’
s
appearance
in
his
old
clothes
was
most
peculiarly
his
own
—
the
mental
picture
formed
by
his
neighbours
in
imagining
him
being
always
dressed
in
that
way
.
He
wore
a
low
-
crowned
felt
hat
,
spread
out
at
the
base
by
tight
jamming
upon
the
head
for
security
in
high
winds
,
and
a
coat
like
Dr
.
Johnson
’
s
;
his
lower
extremities
being
encased
in
ordinary
leather
leggings
and
boots
emphatically
large
,
affording
to
each
foot
a
roomy
apartment
so
constructed
that
any
wearer
might
stand
in
a
river
all
day
long
and
know
nothing
of
damp
—
their
maker
being
a
conscientious
man
who
endeavoured
to
compensate
for
any
weakness
in
his
cut
by
unstinted
dimension
and
solidity
.
Mr
.
Oak
carried
about
him
,
by
way
of
watch
,
what
may
be
called
a
small
silver
clock
;
in
other
words
,
it
was
a
watch
as
to
shape
and
intention
,
and
a
small
clock
as
to
size
.
This
instrument
being
several
years
older
than
Oak
’
s
grandfather
,
had
the
peculiarity
of
going
either
too
fast
or
not
at
all
.
The
smaller
of
its
hands
,
too
,
occasionally
slipped
round
on
the
pivot
,
and
thus
,
though
the
minutes
were
told
with
precision
,
nobody
could
be
quite
certain
of
the
hour
they
belonged
to
.
The
stopping
peculiarity
of
his
watch
Oak
remedied
by
thumps
and
shakes
,
and
he
escaped
any
evil
consequences
from
the
other
two
defects
by
constant
comparisons
with
and
observations
of
the
sun
and
stars
,
and
by
pressing
his
face
close
to
the
glass
of
his
neighbours
’
windows
,
till
he
could
discern
the
hour
marked
by
the
green
-
faced
timekeepers
within
.
It
may
be
mentioned
that
Oak
’
s
fob
being
difficult
of
access
,
by
reason
of
its
somewhat
high
situation
in
the
waistband
of
his
trousers
(
which
also
lay
at
a
remote
height
under
his
waistcoat
)
,
the
watch
was
as
a
necessity
pulled
out
by
throwing
the
body
to
one
side
,
compressing
the
mouth
and
face
to
a
mere
mass
of
ruddy
flesh
on
account
of
the
exertion
required
,
and
drawing
up
the
watch
by
its
chain
,
like
a
bucket
from
a
well
.
But
some
thoughtful
persons
,
who
had
seen
him
walking
across
one
of
his
fields
on
a
certain
December
morning
—
sunny
and
exceedingly
mild
—
might
have
regarded
Gabriel
Oak
in
other
aspects
than
these
.
In
his
face
one
might
notice
that
many
of
the
hues
and
curves
of
youth
had
tarried
on
to
manhood
:
there
even
remained
in
his
remoter
crannies
some
relics
of
the
boy
.
His
height
and
breadth
would
have
been
sufficient
to
make
his
presence
imposing
,
had
they
been
exhibited
with
due
consideration
.
But
there
is
a
way
some
men
have
,
rural
and
urban
alike
,
for
which
the
mind
is
more
responsible
than
flesh
and
sinew
:
it
is
a
way
of
curtailing
their
dimensions
by
their
manner
of
showing
them
.
And
from
a
quiet
modesty
that
would
have
become
a
vestal
,
which
seemed
continually
to
impress
upon
him
that
he
had
no
great
claim
on
the
world
’
s
room
,
Oak
walked
unassumingly
and
with
a
faintly
perceptible
bend
,
yet
distinct
from
a
bowing
of
the
shoulders
.
This
may
be
said
to
be
a
defect
in
an
individual
if
he
depends
for
his
valuation
more
upon
his
appearance
than
upon
his
capacity
to
wear
well
,
which
Oak
did
not
.
He
had
just
reached
the
time
of
life
at
which
"
young
"
is
ceasing
to
be
the
prefix
of
"
man
"
in
speaking
of
one
.
He
was
at
the
brightest
period
of
masculine
growth
,
for
his
intellect
and
his
emotions
were
clearly
separated
:
he
had
passed
the
time
during
which
the
influence
of
youth
indiscriminately
mingles
them
in
the
character
of
impulse
,
and
he
had
not
yet
arrived
at
the
stage
wherein
they
become
united
again
,
in
the
character
of
prejudice
,
by
the
influence
of
a
wife
and
family
.
In
short
,
he
was
twenty
-
eight
,
and
a
bachelor
.
The
field
he
was
in
this
morning
sloped
to
a
ridge
called
Norcombe
Hill
.
Through
a
spur
of
this
hill
ran
the
highway
between
Emminster
and
Chalk
-
Newton
.
Casually
glancing
over
the
hedge
,
Oak
saw
coming
down
the
incline
before
him
an
ornamental
spring
waggon
,
painted
yellow
and
gaily
marked
,
drawn
by
two
horses
,
a
waggoner
walking
alongside
bearing
a
whip
perpendicularly
.
The
waggon
was
laden
with
household
goods
and
window
plants
,
and
on
the
apex
of
the
whole
sat
a
woman
,
young
and
attractive
.
Gabriel
had
not
beheld
the
sight
for
more
than
half
a
minute
,
when
the
vehicle
was
brought
to
a
standstill
just
beneath
his
eyes
.
"
The
tailboard
of
the
waggon
is
gone
,
Miss
,
"
said
the
waggoner
.
"
Then
I
heard
it
fall
,
"
said
the
girl
,
in
a
soft
,
though
not
particularly
low
voice
.
"
I
heard
a
noise
I
could
not
account
for
when
we
were
coming
up
the
hill
.
"
