‘Why, I danced and laughed only yesterday!’ she went on to herself. ‘To think that I was such a fool!’
‘’Tis because we be on a blighted star, and not a sound one, isn’t it, Tess?’ murmured Abraham through his tears.
In stagnant blankness they waited through an interval which seemed endless. At length a sound, and an approaching object, proved to them that the driver of the mail-cart had been as good as his word. A farmer’s man from near Stourcastle came up, leading a strong cob. He was harnessed to the waggon of beehives in the place of Prince, and the load taken on towards Casterbridge.
The evening of the same day saw the empty waggon reach again the spot of the accident. Prince had lain there in the ditch since the morning; but the place of the blood-pool was still visible in the middle of the road, though scratched and scraped over by passing vehicles. All that was left of Prince was now hoisted into the waggon he had formerly hauled, and with his hoofs in the air, and his shoes shining in the setting sunlight, he retraced the dozen miles to Marlott.
58
