TOWN DAISIES.
CHAPTER I.
A LONELY LIFE.
R. VALENTINE SHIPTON was one of the wealthiest farmers in Dilbury; and yet every one pitied him. He did not ask them to do so, but they could not help it, he seemed so lonely and forlorn in the world. Nobody loved him, unless it might be the big cat which slept by his fireside; and even she did not care very much about him, so that she was left undisturbed in the possession of her own corner. Every day Mr. Shipton walked out and took a survey of his premises, gave directions to his men, and then returned to his large, old-fashioned, dreary-looking parlour, and smoked his pipe over the fire in the winter, or in his front porch in summer. Every Sunday he took down his best hat from its peg, and his large red Prayer Book from the shelf, and walked to the village church; but he never spoke to any one either going or returning, and even the little children shrunk away from him as he passed them.
No one ever came across the threshold of Dilbury Farm, except the tenants to pay their rent to him, or his men to receive their wages; and Mr. Shipton never went away except to the neighbouring fairs, and then he always returned in the evening, looking more moody than ever.