THE WRITINGS OF MRS HUMPHRY WARD FENWICK'S CAREER AND THE STORY OF BESSIE COSTRELL [Illustration: [[Latin inscription: TOVT BIEN OV BIEN]]] BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY MDCCCCX COPYRIGHT, 1895, 1905, 1906, BY MRS. HUMPHRY WARD COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY THE STORY OF BESSIE COSTRELL SCENE I It was an August evening, still and cloudy after a day unusually chilly for the time of year. Now, about sunset, the temperature was warmer than it had been in the morning, and the departing sun was forcing its way through the clouds, breaking up their level masses into delicate latticework of golds and greys. The last radiant light was on the wheat-fields under the hill, and on the long chalk hill itself. Against that glowing background lay the village, already engulfed by the advancing shadow. All the nearer trees, which the daylight had mingled in one green monotony, stood out sharp and distinct, each in its own plane, against the hill. Each natural object seemed to gain a new accent, a more individual beauty, from the vanishing and yet lingering sunlight.