The settingsetsun was glowingglowon the strange lady , over the garden-fence , and she came walkingwalkup to the door with a fell rigidity of figure and composure of countenance that could have belonged to nobody else .
The gentleman from South Carolina , walkingwalkdown the street , glanced about him with an eager looklook, in which curiosity and affection were mingled with a touch of bitterness .
CHAPTER I THE CONSUL ’S YARN A week had passed since the funeralfuneralof my poor boy Harry , and one evening I was in my room walkingwalkup and down and thinkingthink, when there was a ringringat the outer door .
But some thoughtfull persons , who had seenseehim walkingwalkacross one of his fields on a certain December morning -- sunny and exceedingly mild -- might have regarded Gabriel Oak in other aspects than these .
Casually glancingglanceover the hedge , Oak sawseecomingcomedown the incline before him an ornamental spring waggon , painted yellow and gaily marked , drawndrawby two horses , a waggoner walkingwalkalongside bearingbeara whip perpendicularly .
Presently a small boy came walkingwalkalong the path -- an urchin of nine or ten .
Phase the First : The Maiden I On an evening in the latter part of May a middle-aged man was walkingwalkhomeward from Shaston to the village of Marlott , in the adjoining Vale of Blakemore , or Blackmoor .
CHAPTER I THE STRANGE MAN 'S ARRIVALarrivalThe stranger camecomeearly in February , one wintry day , through a biting windwindand a driving snowsnow, the last snowfallsnowfallof the year , over the down , walkingwalkfrom Bramblehurst railway station , and carrying a little black portmanteau in his thickly gloved hand .