The Untilled Field

by George Moore

THE UNTILLED FIELD

by

George Moore

CONTENTS

I.	[IN THE CLAY]
II.	[SOME PARISHIONERS]
III.	[THE EXILE]
IV.	[HOME SICKNESS]
V.	[A LETTER TO ROME]
VI.	[JULIA CAHILL'S CURSE]
VII.	[A PLAYHOUSE IN THE WASTE]
VIII.	[THE WEDDING-GOWN]
IX.	[THE CLERK'S QUEST]
X.	["ALMS-GIVING"]
XI.	[SO ON HE FARES]
XII.	[THE WILD GOOSE]
XIII.	[THE WAY BACK]

CHAPTER I

IN THE CLAY

It was a beautiful summer morning, and Rodney was out of his bed at six o'clock. He usually went for a walk before going to his studio, and this morning his walk had been a very pleasant one, for yesterday's work had gone well with him. But as he turned into the mews in which his studio was situated he saw the woman whom he employed to light his fire standing in the middle of the roadway. He had never seen her standing in the middle of the roadway before and his doors wide open, and he instantly divined a misfortune, and thought of the Virgin and Child he had just finished. There was nothing else in his studio that he, cared much about. A few busts, done long ago, and a few sketches; no work of importance, nothing that he cared about or that could not be replaced if it were broken.

He hastened his steps and he would have run if he had not been ashamed to betray his fears to the char-woman.