CHAPTER III.
THE MASTER OF ASKE.
"A child of our grandmother Eve, a female; or, for thy more sweet understanding, a woman."
"A woman moved is like a fountain troubled,
Muddy, ill-seeming, thick, bereft of beauty."
"Down on your knees,
And thank Heaven, fasting, for a good man's love."
The moral atmosphere, like the physical one, becomes impregnated with certain aromas; absent people rule over us, get hold of us by the forces of antipathy or attraction. As Burley left the mill he was conscious of being under a dominion of this kind. His daughter had taken possession of him. She compelled him to leave his business and his bargains, she called him to her by an attraction which he did not understand, but yet felt compelled to obey.
It was a lovely afternoon, and he had a ride of six miles, a distance not worth naming in connection with the animal he was behind, one
