midday
His heart was full of a strange , rugged exaltation . He felt with a swelling pride that God had entrusted to him this great charge -- to tend her ; to make up to her , tenfold , for all that loving care , which , in her childhood , she had never known . And together with a stubborn confidence in himself , there welled up within him a great pity for her -- a tender pity , that , chastening with his passion , made her seem to him , as he brooded over that lonely childhood of hers , the more distinctly beautiful , the more profoundly precious . He pictured to himself , tremulously , almost incredulously , their married life -- in the winter , his return home at nightfall to find her awaiting him with a glad , trustful smile ; their evenings , passed together , sitting in silent happiness over the smouldering logs ; or , in summer-time , the midday rest in the hay-fields when , wearing perhaps a large-brimmed hat fastened with a red ribbon , beneath her chin , he would catch sight of her , carrying his dinner , coming across the upland . She had not been brought up to be a farmer 's wife : she was but a child still , as the old parson had said . She should not have to work as other men 's wives worked : she should dress like a lady , and on Sundays , in church , wear fine bonnets , and remain , as she had always been , the belle of all the parish . And , meanwhile , he would farm as he had never farmed before , watching his opportunities , driving cunning bargains , spending nothing on himself , hoarding every penny that she might have what she wanted ... .