Mrs. Peerybingle nodded also, fifty times at leas 

really working hard while feigning to make holiday; her bountiful
provision of those standing delicacies, the Veal and
Ham Pie and the
bottles of Beer; her radiant little face arriving at the door,
and taking leave; the wonderful expression in her whole self, from her
neat foot to the crown of her head, of being a part of the
establishment--a something necessary to it, which it couldn't be
without,--all this the Fairies revelled in, and loved her for. And
once again they looked upon him all at once, appealingly,

and seemed to say, while some among them nestled in her dress
and fondled her, "Is this the wife who has betrayed your
confidence?" More than once, or twice,

or thrice, in the long thoughtful
night, they showed her
to him sitting on her favourite seat, with her bent head, her hands
clasped on her brow, her falling hair. As he had seen her last. And
when they found her thus, they neither turned nor looked upon him, but
gathered close round her, and comforted and kissed her, and pressed on
one another, to show sympathy and kindness to her, and forgot him
altogether.
Thus the night passed. The moon went down; the stars grew pale; the
cold

day broke; the sun rose. The Carrier still sat, musing, in the
chimney-corner. He had sat there,

with his head upon his hands, all night. All night the faithful
Cricket had been Chirp, Chirp, Chirping on the Hearth. All night he
had listened
to its voice. All night the Household Fairies had been busy with him.
All night she had been amiable and
blameless in the glass, except when that one shadow fell upon it. He
rose up when it was broad day, and washed and dressed himself. He
couldn't go about his customary cheerful avocations--he wanted spirit
for them--but it mattered the less that it was Tackleton's

wedding-day, and he had
arranged
to make his rounds
by proxy. He had thought to have gone merrily to church
with Dot. But such plans were at an end. It was their own wedding-day
too. Ah! how little he had looked for such a close to such a year! The
Carrier
expected that Tackleton would pay him an early visit; and he was
right. He had not walked to and fro before
his own door many minutes,
when he saw the toy merchant coming in his chaise along the road. As
the chaise drew
nearer, he perceived that Tac