BOOK II

BELL HAGGARD

PART I

Midsummer morning. Ezra Barrasford sits crouched over the fire. Eliza Barrasford, looking old and worn, and as if dazed by a shock, comes from the ben, or inner room, with a piece of paper in her hand. As she sinks to a chair to recover her breath, the paper flutters to the floor, where she lets it lie, and sits staring before her.

Eliza:

So that’s the last.

Ezra:

The last? The last of what?