The Salamanca Corpus: Yeoman Fleetwood (1900 ... - Gredos

The Salamanca Corpus: Yeoman Fleetwood (1900)
Now he was out in the cool night, with the great peaceful moon riding over his head,
and the stars twinkling in their clear radiance — the self-same stars which he and she
had looked at together yesterday.
He could draw his breath now but only in great sobs, each of which shook his mighty
frame; his steps bore him rapidly onward he scarcely knew whither, and his tumultuous
thoughts outpaced his strides.
Thus through his own familiar fields wandered this desolate man. Now he was crossing
the pasture where the young colts grazed, and at the sound of his heavy tread there was
a rapid thud of hoofs, and a string of shadowy flying forms passed and vanished in the
distance. On the other side of the hedge a slow regular munching was heard, and a
dimly-defined horned head peered at him over the gate. As Simon let himself through
there was a sudden stir among the cattle, a cessation of the placid cud chewing, as with
clumsy haste the group moved out of his way. But he paid no heed to any of them, and
walked straight ahead as though he had some definite object in view.
By-and-bye a dark mass of trees rose between him and the horizon, and he brought
himself to a standstill abruptly, for there, close to him, almost at his feet, a gleaming
expanse of water reflected the star-lit sky. That terribly alert memory of Simon's
recalled to him now with a flash that here, here in truth was the spot where Rachel had
first come into his life. It was while standing here that he had heard her childish voice
calling to him from the other bank; it was here where, after he had carried her across, he
had wrapped her in his coat and warmed
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her little frozen hands in his bosom. Oh, little hands! Surely they had not only pressed
against his breast, but gasped his very heart. Confiding baby hands which lad suffered
him to cherish them; loving, womanly lands which had caressed and clung to him;
cruel, cruel hands which had flung him back the blood-stained wedding-ring. Oh, it was
well to think of such things here, and now. Surely it was not chance which had led him
to this spot to-night. Here, where the unconscious child had forged the first link of the
chain which had bound the man's life to hers, here would he lay down that life, and