Gertrude hastened forward, but by the time she reached the foot of the ladder he was at the top.

She called to him loudly enough to be heard above the roar of the weir; he looked down and said, 'What d'ye want here ?' 'To speak to you a minute.' The candle-light, such as it was, fell upon her imploring, pale, upturned face, and Davies (as the hangman was called) backed down the ladder.

'I was just going to bed,' he said; '"Early to bed and early to rise," but I don't mind stopping a minute for such a one as you.

Come into house.' He reopened the door, and preceded her to the room within.
The implements of his daily work, which was that of a jobbing gardener, stood in a corner, and seeing probably that she looked rural, he said, 'If you want me to undertake country work I can't come, for I never leave Casterbridge for gentle nor simple--not I.

My real calling is officer of justice,' he added formally.
'Yes, yes! That's it.