"The pond was not very deep; but still, if he had not had such good eyes, the child would have perished--miserably suffocated in the foot or so of sticky mud at the bottom. Old Swaffer walked out slowly into the field, waited till the plough came over to his side, had a good look at him, and with-out saying a word went back to the house. But from that time they laid out his meals on the kitch-en table; and at first, Miss Swaffer, all in black and with an inscrutable face, would come and stand in the doorway of the living-room to see him make a big sign of the cross before he fell to. I believe that from that day, too, Swaffer began to pay him reg-ular wages.
"I can't follow step by step his development.
He cut his hair short, was seen in the village and along the road going to and fro to his work like any other man. Children ceased to shout after him.