THE MARY WEBB RESOURCE PACK FOR SCHOOLS

Gone To Earth Study Notes
(Please remember Copyright exists on the following text)
by Gladys Mary Coles

Mary Webb's second novel. Gone to Earth, was first
published in 1917 during the darkest days of the First
World War (1914-18). She was writing this book at the
time of the Battle of the Somme (1916) and after, when
many thousands of young men were being slaughtered
at the Western Front. These horrific events made a deep
impression on Mary Webb whose three brothers were at
the Front. Her novel reflects and expresses the tragic spirit
of those years, even though there is no direct mention
of war in this rural story set in the South Shropshire hills.

It is a cry and protest against the cruelty of mankind.

Plot Synopsis

This is the poignant story of a country girl. Hazel Woodus.
a half-gipsy, who is closer to nature than to man. It is
set in the early twentieth century (Edwardian period),
in the remote border hills in and around the Stiperstones.
Hazel is at one with all creatures of the wild, especially
Foxy, her pet cub, and like these creatures is destined to
be hunted. She is eighteen and lives with her father Abel
at the Callow, in a cottage little more than a hovel.
Two men intrude themselves into her simple life. First,
she meets Jack Reddin of Undern Hall, an arrogant,
fox-hunting squire, who wants her to live with him.
She is attracted to Reddin but fears him, partly because
she believes implicitly in the local legend of the Black
Huntsman and the death-pack: Reddin, with his love
of the hunt and hounds, is linked in her mind with the
death-pack. Hazel runs away from Reddin who is now
obsessed with her and desperate to find her.

At this point she meets Edward Marston, a gentle.
young Non-conformist Minister, whose chapel and

adjoining house are at God's Little Mountain, about
five miles from the Callow. Edward, too, is captivated
by Hazel, as much by her innocence and vulnerability
as by her beauty. He proposes marriage in order to
protect her, although his widowed mother, who lives
with him, fears that this is a mis-match and a mistake.
Reddin, having been unsuccessful in finding Hazel,
sees her unexpectedly at the flower-show and tries to
detach her from Edward, offering to marry her. She
rejects Reddin, though she is drawn to him, and marries
Edward in the chapel, with Foxy as her bridesmaid.

Hazel is enjoying her new home and Edward's protection
of herself and Foxy, but Reddin has continued to stalk
her (even on her wedding day). He watches her movements
from the shade of a yew tree opposite the parsonage,
eventually coming into the chapel and the parsonage
(where he kisses her). Reddin rides up when she is
mushrooming, asking her to meet him the following
Sunday at Hunter's Spinney. Hazel consults her mother's
book of charms and spells to find out whether she should
meet Reddin. Ironically, the 'charms' seal her fate as she
interprets them as signs that she must go to Reddin.
At Hunters Spinney he seduces her, then takes her on
his horse to Undem.

At first Hazel finds Reddin magnetic and enjoys being
mistress of Undem, though with the disapproval ofVessons,
Reddin's servant. Edward is devastated and searches for
his wife without success, until Vessons reveals that she
is at Undern. When Edward arrives at Undern he and
Reddin fight; Edward loses the fight but wins Hazel back,
Vessons taking them home in the trap. Mrs Marsion makes
it clear that Hazel is no longer welcome; six weeks later

Hazel returns to Reddin for the second time, not knowing
that she is pregnant with his child. Hazel is appalled by
the revelations of Sally Haggard about Reddin, and knows
now that she is bearing his child. Angry and revolted by
his callousness and cruelty to defenceless creatures, she is
longing increasingly for Edward and Foxy. On the night
of a great storm she leaves Reddin. Edward again
accepts Hazel back, but Mrs Marston is deeply upset
and quarrels with him. Two days later Mrs Marston
packs her luggage and goes.

Edward, on hearing from Hazel that she is pregnant
with Reddin ,s child, realises that he has been cheated,
robbed; he loses his belief in God. He and Haze! are
going to leave the Mountain and he is giving up the
Ministry. On the morning of the hunt he is being
chastised by men of his congregation when Foxy slips
out onto the hillside. The hounds scent her and the hunt
sweeps over God's Little Mountain. Although Reddin
tries to save them. Hazel and Foxy die, falling down
a steep quarry to escape the jaws of the hounds.
The hunting cry 'Gone to earth!' rings out across
God's Little Mountain.

Characters

Major Characters
Hazel Woodus

An innocent child of the countryside. Hazel is a protector
of small creatures, those wounded and defenceless, such as
her pet fox-cub Foxy, a blind bird, her one-eyed cat
and old rabbit. She 'identified herself with Foxy',
and physically she is fox-like with her long. auburn
hair and tawny eyes: both are motherless. Hazel's mother.
Maray. a Welsh gipsy, having died when she was fourteen.
leaving her only an old manuscript book of spells,
charms and other gipsy lore. Hazel is spontaneous,
unsophisticated and naive; she believes passionately
in the truth of superstitions, local legends and folklore -
these are her religion and she is moulded by them.
A lover of the wild, 'her ways were graceful and covert
as a wild creature's'. She wants only to be left alone,
but her loveliness attracts the two men who are pillars
of society - the Squire and the Minister. Hazel's harmony
with nature, 'a mystical exaltation', is disrupted when
Reddin awakens her sexuality, Marston her spiritual
self. She is divided, swinging between her opposing
desires and the two men. Reddin becomes her lover,
but it is Marston whom she marries - he truly loves and
cares for her, but does not consummate the marriage.
Her character develops as the novel progresses and at
last she realises the depth other love for Edward,
tragically too late. Hazel's fate is sealed when Foxy
is pursued by the hunt.

Jack Reddin

Squire-farmer Jack Reddin of Undern Hall is an arrogant
but attractive forty-year old bachelor. His head is 'well
shaped', he has a 'rather heavy face' and 'hard blue eyes'.
He is the last in a long line of ancestors owning the Hall,
a mournful, haunted place, and is typical of his class:
'Fox-hunting, horse-breeding and kennel lore were his
vocation.' He lives alone with his servant, Vessons,
and is master of his world until he meets Hazel Woodus
whom he desires to make his own. Hazel allures but
eludes him - she is an elusive prey (part of the attraction
she has for him) and he hunts her down, finally making
her yield to his wishes. Reddin wants to keep Hazel at
Undern, and scorns 'the parson' (Edward Marston).
When Hazel returns to him the second time. he becomes
insolent and reveals his brutality, alienating her when
he burns her bees, tortures a hedgehog, kills rabbits.
and not Hazel when she is seduced; he is also courageous,
fighting Reddin, standing up to the 'six righteous men' of
his congregation, defending Hazel to the utmost, deciding
to give up his Ministry and move. Although hurt and
defeated, he still hopes for a normal life with Hazel one
day and is taking the first steps towards constructing
this when tragedy overtakes them.

Minor Characters
Abel Woodus

Hazel's father, an eccentric bee-keeper, coffin-maker
and harpist, is self-absorbed. For Abel, 'all his means
of liveli-hood were joys', but he has 'dark places in
his soul', loving his art - his 'music' - above all else.
He plays the harp at local Eisteddfods and festivals,
and it was at such a gathering at God's Little Mountain
that he met his wife Maray. Abel is not a good father,
and he wants Hazel and her troublesome fox-cub, off
his hands. He makes her swear an oath 'to marry the
first 'as comes'. So it is that she agrees to marry
Edward Marston. Abel also accidentally plays his part
in sending Hazel to her doom, for when he is returning
from a festival, he passes near where Hazel is listening
for 'the fairy playing', the 'charm' which will tell her
to meet Reddin. Abel is resting and playing his harp -
the 'fairy-harper' she hears is her own father.

Andrew Vessons

Jack Reddin's cynical servant is a confirmed bachelor in
his sixties, a crochety woman-hater. He is knowing of eye
as a blackbird' and has 'the poison of asps on his tongue'.
Undern is his home; here, over twenty years, he has been
clipping a yew tree into the shape of a swan. Vessons fears
that if Hazel becomes mistress of Undem, she will supplant
him. Hence he helps her to escape, and later when Reddin
brings her back to Undem. Vessons informs Edward. He also
brings Sally Haggard (and her children by Reddin) to meet
Hazel, in order to disgrace his master in Hazel's eyes.

Mrs Marston

The mother of Edward Marslon, she is described by Hazel
as 'the old sleepy lady', although she can be sharp-tongued
when things displease her. She likes everything to be 'nice
and pleasant', hence is shocked when her son wants to marry
Hazel, a 'heathen'. She is class-conscious, ruled by convention
and is absurdly matriarchal. She tries to accept the wild,
uncultured Hazel as her daughter-in-law for Edward's
sake, but is quick to turn against her. Shocked when Edward
brings Hazel back from Undern, Mrs Marston is unkind:
her 'velvet slaps' push Hazel to the brink and are partly
responsible for her return to Undem. When Hazel comes
back from Undem the second time, Mrs Marslon cannot
accept her; she quarrels bitterly with Edward and leaves
two days later. Yet at times she is a comic figure,

vividly depicted. Much of the humour which lightens
this tragic story derives from the portrayal of Mrs Marston.

The Miss Clombers

These two upper-class sisters live near Reddin at Woltbatch Hall
and attend the same church. They each have designs to marry
Reddin. The younger Miss Clomber, Amelia, is part of
the hunt. She warns Hazel that Reddin is 'not a good man.'

Aunt Prowde and Cousin Albert
Hazel's aunt lives in Silverton with her son Albert, who
works in a margarine shop. Aunt Prowde is possessive
of her son and resents his admiration for Hazel; she sets
Hazel on the path to her doom when she refuses to let
her stay overnight. Hazel has to walk home in the
dark, as a result of which she encounters Jack Reddin.

Sally Haggard

Sally is a local woman of 'harsh beauty', 'heavy-browed.
big-boned'. She is the mother of five children by Reddin,
who pays for her to live in 'the cottage in the hollow'.
Reddin wants her 'to move on' because he now prefers
Hazel and wants to marry her. It is Sally who makes
Hazel realise that she is pregnant. She comes to Undern
to talk to Hazel and warn her against Reddin.

Martha

The Marston's general servant lives in a nearby cottage
and comes in 'by the day'. Martha is unmarried, and
likes to crochet, making hems for wedding garments.

She too plays a part in setting Hazel on the final chain
of events leading to her death, as she tells Hazel about
Sally Haggard and Reddin. This helps to drive Hazel
back to Undern.

Mr James

The corpulent deacon of the chapel at God's Little
Mountain is Edward's 'principal parishioner'. He hands
out the prizes at the flower show, taking most of them
himself and is present at Hazel and Edward's wedding when
he objects to Foxy being bridesmaid. Sanctimonious and
sour, he is the spokesman of the 'six righteous men',
ordering Edward to put the sinner Hazel in a 'reformatory'.

Themes

The inhumanity of man; the barbarity of the civilised,
of which the hunt is a manifestation.

The powerful hold of superstition and local folklore,
influencing behaviour, as illustrated in the sad story of
Hazel Woodus, a simple country girl.

The struggle between good and evil forces.


Superstitions, Folklore and Legend
In Gone to Earth, Mary Webb weaves superstitions,
folklore and legends into her narrative very skilfully.
Mary Webb was herself a folklorist and her knowledge
of Shropshire and Welsh Border legends and lore was
extensive. She made a careful selection, using those
best suited to project her themes.

The Black Huntsman and the Death Pack: 'stealthy
and untiring, following forever the trail of the defenceless'.
Based on the Shropshire folk-tale of Wild Edric and
his phantom dogs with fiery eyes, said to haunt the
Stiperstones at night and before national disasters such
as war, this legend is symbolic of universal cruelty and
death, the slaughter of the weak and defenceless.

The manuscript book of spells, charms and other gipsy
lore: This book which Hazel inherits from her gipsy mother,
is consulted when she is trying to decide whether or not
to meet Reddin in Hunter's Spinney. Hazel tries out three
of the 'charms'. Ironically there is a natural explanation
for each of them but Hazel believes they are magical,
supernatural signs. ^The signs say go. I mun go.'

The legend of the Lady of Undern Coppy
Hazel fears she will meet the same fate as this 'Lady',
a girl of nineteen who has died *in the full of life'.

Hazel is utterly convinced of the truth of these legends
and superstitions, and she feels her own fate is bound up
with them - this conviction helps to bring about her death.



Text Commentary

Chapter One

Early Spring at the Callow, 'a spinney of silver birches
and larches that topped a round hill.' Hazel Woodus
whistles for her pel-cub Foxy to come from the wood.
They are stained red by the sunset. Two small sentient
things'. They enter the cottage 'little larger than a good
pigsty'. Abel is playing his harp. Hazel gives Foxy supper
and cooks for herself and her father. She rips her old dress
accidentally, and it is decided that she should go to town
the following morning to buy a new dress and some wreath
frames for Abel, who makes coffins.

22

Hazel fears for the safety of Foxy. who barks in the night.
Hazel goes outside, comforting her and bringing her
indoors. She thinks about Foxy's mother, carried off
by the 'Black Meet the death pack of local legend.
and connects this with the death of her own mother:
'she identified herself with Foxy, and so with all things
hunted and snared and destroyed'.



Chapter Two

Abel is making a hive when Hazel sets out to town, a walk
of some thirty miles there and back. She buys her dress
of peacock-blue and wears it, going to her Aunt Prowde's
house in time for lunch. Her cousin Albert is there during
his lunch hour and shows his admiration for Hazels
he wants to take her out to a magic lantern show that
evening and urges his mother to put her up overnight.
But possessive Aunt Prowde is unnerved by Albert's warmth
of feeling for Hazel, and does not offer her a bed. causing
her to leave late in the afternoon with snow threatening.

Out from the town and through the country lanes Hazel
walks as night falls. She carries the wreath frames which
are causing discomfort; hearing a rabbit in a trap, she
releases it, staining her new dress with its blood. Snow
is thickening, and weary Hazel is despairing when a
lift is offered by Squire Reddin in his trap. He kisses
her and takes her to his ancestral home, Undern Hall;
here they are met by Reddin's sardonic servant Andrew
Vessons, 'knowing of eye as a blackbird, straw in
mouth, the poison of asps on his tongue.'

Chapter Three

Undern Hall, with its grounds and pool, 'faced the north
sullenly'. It is 'a place of which the influence and magic
were not good', haunted, 'mournful with old pain'.

Like his ancestors. Reddin is a fox-hunting man who
'lived hard'. He is vied for by the Miss Clombers of


Wolfbatch, neither of whom he is attracted to, preferring
Sally Haggard, a woman he visits in a nearby cottage.

Vessons, a batchelor, has deep ties with Undem and likes
working for Reddin. A strong personality, he is never-
theless under the spell of the house. He has been clipping
a yew tree into the shape of a swan, a work of twenty
years, in which he takes great pride.

Chapter Four

At first Hazel is impressed by the scale and splendour
of Undern, not noticing the dust and neglect. She dislikes
Reddin's attitude to fox-hunting and snares but accepts
his invitation to choose a gown from the old chest, changing
out of her wet dress into a green silk gown adorned with
yellow roses. Hazel overhears an argument between Reddin
and Vessons, in which Vessons asserts he won't put up
with a 'missus' at Undern. Snow is falling heavily but she
determines to return home; she changes back into her
own dress. She reaches the door where Reddin sees her.

Chapter Five

Reddin stops Hazel and tempts her back to stay overnight.
She again changes into the silk gown, not knowing Reddin
is watching her;, she says a little prayer for herself and Foxy
at the open window, heard by Reddin who thinks of her
as a 'strange creature he has caught'. Vessons burns the
supper and Reddin is furious; he makes a cold supper for
himself and Hazel, after which he shows his true intentions
and attempts to kiss her. She runs off, trying to escape and
calling to Vessons to help her. The servant gives her his
room (filled with white mice in cages), for the night.

Chapter Six

Thick snow shrouds Undern and the surrounding
countryside. It is early morning and while Reddin is
still asleep, Vessons drives Hazel home in the trap.
He tells her he will never let Reddin know where she
lives (Vessons is determined that there will not be
'a wanan at Undern'). Reddin begins his search for Hazel.
enquiring first at the Hunters' Arms. but Vessons has been
there before him and he returns to Undern downcast.

Chapter Seven

On her return to the Callow, Hazel finds Abel very angry
with Foxy who has stolen one of his chickens. Abel threatens
to drown Foxy if she does it again. Hazel is in tears, fearing
that Foxy will get at the chickens again: ' You'm made to be
a fox: and when \ou'm busy' being a fox they say \ou'm
a sinner.'

Abel makes Hazel swear an oath 'to marry the first as
comes.' Hazel does this because marriage would enable
her and Foxy to get away from the Callow.

She hears from her father that they will be going to God's
Little Mountain in three weeks time, Abel to play the harp
accompanied by Hazel singing. The minister there is
'a great one for the music'.

Hazel watches her father making a coffin; she has a new
awareness of death, and as she makes funeral wreaths for
Abel, she thinks wistfully of Reddin, Undern and the green
silk gown. Two days later they take the coffin to the house
of the dead man, after which Abel goes for 'a drop at the
public'; they are sitting there by the fire when Reddin rides
up, seeking Hazel. He gives the wrong information to
the publican, that her father 'plays the fiddle', and is
disappointed to hear that there is no fiddler with a daughter
in the nearby district. That night Hazel experiences
'frightened dreams'.

Abel and Hazel practise hard for their performance at
God's Little Mountain. They set out early and stop in
the woods to rest; Hazel dances among the trees, and
seems to be 'an incarnation of the secret woods'.
She protests to her father that she is not 'an 'ooman
growd!'... 7 dunna want to be, and ! won't never be.'
This is ominous in its portending of her fate; at the
quarry on 'the Mountain' Abel points out the place
where a cow fell down hundreds of feet to its death.
Hazel shudders, having a premonition of her own death
there. She is distraught with wild pity, thinking of the
cow's death and that of other helpless, suffering creatures.

Chapter Eight

At God's Little Mountain, Hazel sings 'Harps in Heaven',
enchanting the Minister. Edward Marston. He is captivated
by Hazel's unusual beauty, her 'crude sweetness',
her voice with its 'sad cadence', her untamed spirit
and closeness to wild innocent creatures of the forest -
'Hazel expressed things that she knew nothing of,
as a blackbird does'.

Edward invites Hazel to tea the following week. after she
finishes bark-stripping at Hunter's Spinney. Mrs Marston
is disturbed by his interest in a girl so obviously unsuitable
('She is not of your class, Edward'); she fears that the
friendship will do Edward 'harm with the congregation'.

Chapter Nine

Hazel is working at bark-stripping at Hunter's Spinney
where, according to legend, the Black Huntsman 'stalled
his steed and the death pack, coming to its precincts, ceased
into the hill.' As it is not yet twilight. Hazel is not afraid.
Edward comes to meet her and sees her as 'the spirit of
beauty''. She tells him of her oath 'to marry the first as
comes'. Edward is already hoping she will agree to marry
him. They go to his house for tea with Mrs Marston.

The 'old sleepy lady' (as Hazel calls Mrs Marston),
is asleep in front of the fire; she looks comical, her
spectacles having 'crept up and round her head'.
Over tea Mrs Marston asks Hazel questions, such as
how many brothers and sisters she has. Hazel replies
that Foxy and 'all animals be my brothers and sisters'.
This leads to a tense moment between Hazel and the
old lady, who states that 'animals have no souls'.
Hazel fiercely maintains that they have, telling Mrs
Marston: 'if they hanna, you hanna!'

Hazel goes on to recount to an enrapt Edward and his
increasingly shocked mother 'the queer things doing
in Hunter s Spinney', especially on Midsummers Night,
including The Black Huntsman galloping with the
death-pack, the lady of Undern Coppy and other
strange phenomena which she insists are 'the bloody
truth'.' Edward tries to steer the conversation to safer
topics such as cake-making.

Walking Hazel home, and during a restless night following,
Edward is planning how he could 'keep and defend' Hazel,
and he determines to ask her to marry him; he will allow
her to 'live her own life' and, he thinks, she could be
'my mother's daughter and my little sister for as long
as she likes'. As her husband he will 'ask nothing of
her - not for years'.

Chapter Ten

At the Callow, Hazel is in the garden dancing while Abel
plays the harp. Edward watches her in the evening light
before entering the garden. He is disturbed by the dirty
hovel, Abel's roughness and Hazel's untidiness, but this
does not deter him from his purpose. He asks Hazel to
marry him. Unknown to them Reddin is at that moment
hunting for Hazel, riding up the steep road by the Callow.

Hazel accepts Edward's offer and he promises her a
room of her own 'papered with buttercups and daisies'.
Edward tells Abel he wants to marry her, and Abel.
an insulting, uncaring father, tells Edward to 'take her'
also asking whether he will also take Foxy or should he
drown her. Edward agrees to accept Foxy and Hazel's
other pets - the blind bird, one-eyed cat and old rabbit -
though he is worried about his mother's reaction. Hazel
introduces him to Foxy who bares her teeth.

On his way home, Edward is stopped by Reddin who
asks whether he knows of 'a fiddler' in his parish with
a 'pretty daughter'. Edward says no, not connecting
this with Hazel and her father.

While Hazel is pleased that her pets will be safe with
Edward, in her heart she is not ready to be tied to any

man. She wants neither Edward nor Reddin - her passion
is 'for freedom, for the wood-track, for green places...'

Chapter Eleven

Edward tells his mother he is engaged to Hazel and is to
be married the following month. Mrs Marston protests
in vain, asking him to wait a year, but the next morning
she comes round to the idea that it would be pleasant to
have a wedding. She also thinks that Hazel could be tamed
and would be preferable to 'a managing daughter-in-law'.

Mrs Marston begins to make wedding plans, including the
purchase of clothes for Hazel in town. Edward arranges for
them to be picked by the traction engine which goes by
two or three times a week and takes passengers to Silverton.
They go on the day before the flower-show at Evenwood.
The wedding is to take place on the day after the show.

On the way down the steep, zig-zagging road from God's
Little Mountain, Hazel is again fearful when she sees the
sides of the quarry. At the bottom of the hill they wait in
the May heat for the traction engine. It arrives, pulling
the trailer in which Mrs Marston and Hazel are transported
to town.

Chapter Twelve

Hazel is delighted by the journey through country lanes
to Silverton. In the town Mrs Marston lingers before
shop windows displaying paintings of religious scenes.
Hazel does not understand them, knowing little of
Christianity. She is repelled by a vivid picture of the
Crucifixion, and protests against the cruelty and torture.
When Mrs Marston explains that the man is 'Jesus Christ
dying for us' Hazel is horrified, protesting: 'There
shall none die along of me, much less be tormented.'

As they are having a cup of tea. Hazel presses her point,
asking Mrs Marston what she would say if Edward died
for her. She thinks of Foxy, her own dearest: ''If Foxy
died along of me, I'd die too. I couldna do aught else'.

They return home at seven o'clock laden with parcels.
Hazel is radiant, opening her parcels and looking forward
to sleeping overnight at Edward's. She flushes, thinking
of Reddin, but hopes that 'Him above' will protect her.
Mrs Marston warns Edward that Hazel is 'not a Christian'.

Hazel enjoys her bedroom and the bed with its 'cool
clean sheets' and she falls asleep happy. Edward stays
up, too happy to go to bed: he prays for Hazel.

Chapter Thirteen

The day of the flower-show and Mrs Marston's prize
exhibits - her jams - are packed, to be taken there by
Edward and Hazel. Hazel sees Mrs Marston's store-room,


filled with canisters, glass jars, barrels of home-made
wine, hams and herbs hanging from the ceiling - and the
wedding cake. Mrs Marston will spend the day icing it.

Mr James, Edward's principal parishioner, deacon of
the chapel, and chief judge at the show, drives Edward
and Hazel in his trap. After the judging of the produce,
which includes Abel's honey and Vessons' cheeses,
Hazel and her father perform. Edward then takes Hazel
into 'the shilling lent' for tea. She wants to see the end
of the horse-race and leans over the rail, not knowing
that Reddin is in the race and leading. On seeing her he
pulls up his horse; now at last he has found her. Hazel
tells him she is to be married the next day to the minister.
Reddin is upset and pleads with her to meet him later.

Chapter Fourteen

The prizes are presented by the younger Miss Clomber.
Hazel decides to spend this last night before her wedding
with her father instead of at God's Little Mountain.
Edward thinks that she is being a sweet daughter.
But Hazel is drawn towards Reddin. When Edward leaves
before 'the dancing'. Hazel waits for Reddin outside the
lent and is accosted by Miss Clomber, who warns her
against him. The dancing begins. Reddin finds Hazel,
tells her he is in love with her, and kisses her passionately.
They go into the tent and dance together. Reddin ''angry'
and enthralled' with Hazel, asks her to marry him.
When Hazel refuses him, he puts pressure on Abel,
who also refuses to let 'the minister' down, in spite of
a tempting offer of £50. Hazel tells Reddin he has the
blood of little foxes on him.

Later, on his way home to Undern, Reddin stops by
the parsonage, leaning on the wall for a long time in
the cold May night, and finally.in his despair, hurling
a rock through the kitchen window. Mrs Marston
interprets it as sign from God on Edward's wedding
morning, foretokening disaster.

Chapter Fifteen

On the wedding morning, Edward goes into the room
he has prepared for Hazel, knowing that he will not
enter it once they are married unless she asks him in.
He kneels by the bed and rests his head on the pillow
in a torment, torn between his conflicting physical
passion for Hazel and his respect for her innocence,
youth and vulnerability. His mind wavers one way and
the other as he pictures Hazel in the bedroom, but he is
determined not to break his resolve to honour her as his
little sister. He does not understand that this might not
be what Hazel wants. Mrs Marston worries when she
sees him looking pale and distraught.

Chapter Sixteen

The Callow is covered in a foam of lilac and laburnum
blossom as Abel busies himself making Hazel a
wedding wreath of lilies of the valley. She puts on her
wedding clothes astonishing both herself and her father
by her appearance.

Foxy wearing a wedding collar of blue forget-me-nots,
the one-eyed cat blue-ribboned, and the bird and rabbit,
are packed into the neighbour's cart, borrowed, with
the lame cream-coloured pony for the day. Abel drives
Hazel to God's Little Mountain, and they pass near the
quarry. Hazel shivers with dread and Abel 's comment -
''Somebody walking over your grave' - is, she feels,
ominous.

Edward greets Hazel with great tenderness and they
unpack 'the little creatures' giving Mrs Marston an
unpleasant surprise.

Chapter Seventeen

Hazel waits outside the chapel with Foxy, sitting on a
flat gravestone: she is frightened on seeing that it is the
grave of a young girl, which seems another omen.
Inside the chapel are guests and some members of the
congregation;also the minister friend of Edward who is
to marry them. Abel leads Hazel, ''strangely beautiful',
up the aisle; in her wake is Foxy on her lead, 'a loving
though incompetent bridesmaid'. Mr James wants to
put her outside, arguing with Hazel until Edward orders
that Foxy is to stay. The congregation is amused, Mrs
Marston embarrassed.

After the ceremony they go into the house where Hazel,
seeing the huge wedding cake, kisses Mrs Marston.
This pleases the old lady and the wedding party is a
happy one, finishing with Abel playing the harp and
Hazel playing with Foxy near the window. Reddin lurks
outside, watching the house jealously. Hazel cries out
with shock when she sees him, but pretends it is due to
a pin in her dress. Reddin retreats as the guests leave.

Edward and Hazel are alone in the parlour, he lights
their bed-time candles, not showing ''ahint of passion'
to Hazel as he takes her to her room, honouring his word
reluctantly. Reddin sees their seperate lit windows and
is relieved; he walks home through the woods, pondering
on his loss, and is enraged against Edward. He determines
to 'get Hazel' even though she is now married.

Chapter Eighteen

Reddin spends the day on God's Little Mountain in the
shade of yew tree opposite the parsonage, waiting for
a glimpse of Hazel. She comes out with Edward who

is digging a garden for her at the side of the house.
The blind bird in its cage is hung out and astonishes them
by its singing. Reddin waits, hoping to catch Haze! alone.

is married to Edward, whose bible stories she enjoys, and
some of which (about women) she is beginning to relate to.

Edward and Hazel, with Foxy on a lead, walk out over
the mountain, a suitable place, he thinks, to tell her that
if ever she ''would rather have a husband than a brother',
she has only to say so. Hazel flushes but doesn't reply.
Foxy creates a diversion by pulling away and running
off. Hazel, fearing she will make for the woods, runs
unknowingly towards Reddin's hiding place. He startles
her, and she tries to get away unsuccessfully. Reddin
tells her she was meant for him not Edward, and extracts
a promise from her that she will come and talk to him
at the tree where he'll be waiting. He black mails Hazel
into this by his threat to tell ''the parson' that she spent
the night at Undern: ''a parson doesn't want a wife that
isn't ' respectable'. And then he wins her over by his
'indefinable charm'. Hazel is fascinated, promising him
just 'a minute' the following day. She runs home.

Chapter Nineteen

Hazel changes her mind, is afraid, and doesn't go to the
woods the next day, instead staying indoors, helping Mrs
Marston to cover rhubarb jam and learning from the
old lady how to knit. She hears Reddin walking past the
house and is disturbed, thinking deeply about whether or
not to tell Edward of her night at Undern. She decides not
to tell him and the following day and for successive days,
she meets Reddin under the yew tree, where they talk.

Ms Marston worries about Hazel going into the woods
alone while Edward is out visiting. She suggests that
she might accompany Hazel, who reports this to Reddin.
telling him not to come again. Reddin thinks Hazel has
made it up, and this leads to an arguement. Once again
she pleads with him ''canna you leave me be?' He makes
it clear that he never will.



Chapter Twenty

On Sunday at God's Little Mountain, Hazel is in chapel
listening proudly as Edward leads the service. She has not
seen Reddin for a week, is afraid of him and glad that she
is married to Edward, whose bible stories she enjoys, and
some of which (about women) she is beginning to relate to.

Edward is the middle of his sermon when Reddin enters
the chapel and sits behind Hazel. She is visibly upset,
so much that Mrs Marston thinks she is unwell and takes
her out. They go into the parsonage where Reddin follows.
Reddin sums up Edward as a man to be reckoned
with, but this does not deflect him from his purpose.
Mrs Marston is flattered by Reddin's visit and offers
him a drink. He asks for sherry, and when the old lady
goes to the cellar he seizes Hazel and kisses her' wildly''.
Hazel hits him. Mrs Marston comes with gooseberry
wine, which Reddin drinks. Soon after, Edward arrives
and is introduced to Reddin, who decides to leave, even
though invited to supper by Mrs Marston.

Chapter Twenty-One

Hazel goes into the fields in the early morning to find
spring mushrooms. Mist drifts across the valley and the
tops of the hills stand out 'darkly green'. She runs
barefooted, with her petticoats and sleeves pinned up.
''Intensely happy', wild and free, she dances regardless
of direction. She is a child of earth, immersed in the
natural world, enjoying it all 'in a mystical exaltation':
'she had so deep a kinship with the trees, so intuitive a
sympathy with leaf and flower'.

Hazel's ecstasy is interrupted when Reddin rides up;
she had not realised that she had strayed onto his land.
He is disappointed on hearing that she has not deliberately
come, that it is not for him that she is looking so attractive,
not for the master of Undern, but in order to gather
mushrooms. He kisses her and is again rejected. Hazel,
insisting she is ''Ed'ards missus', trudges off up the road,
leaving Reddin 'angry and depressed'. He now resolves
that next time he won't 'be asking': he will use his power
against weakness, even though he feels a sense of his
own meanness.

Chapter Twenty-Two

It is evening; Hazel is picking wimberry-flowers from
their stalks and sucking out the drop of honey from each
flower: 'she sipped hastily like a honey-fly'. Sometimes
she eats the whole flower. Hazel is at one with nature
and partaking of it as a sacrament. She fastens two fox-
gloves around her head in a wreath, walking 'like a jester
in a grieving world' (this presages her sad fate).

Reddin startles her. silhouetted on his tall black horse
against the sunset. He gallops towards her 'the embodiment
of cruelty', reminding her of the death pack, and nervously
she tells him so. Reddin is at his most magnetic and
masterful. He boldly kisses Hazel and asks her to come


to Hunter's Spinney on Sunday. She explains that she
must go to the chapel with Edward and Mrs Marston,
but Reddin tells her to start out as soon as they are all
in church. He promises to bring her a present.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Hazel arrives at the parsonage, and Mrs Marston notices
her damp stockings. She changes into the new ones Edward
has bought for her, and feels cared-for, safe, resolving
now not to meet Reddin at Hunter's Spinney. But that
night she cannot 'keep her mind clear of Reddin' and
'his personality dragged at hers'. Hazel realises that
'days without him were saltless food', even though she is
afraid of him. It is as if someone 'had spun invisible threads'
between her and Reddin and ''was slowly tightening them''.

In this torment Hazel decides to consult the book of charms
to find out whether she should meet Reddin at Hunters
Spinney: 'If they say go, I'll go, and if they say stay.
/'II stay'.

First she tries the Harper Charm; in moonlight, on a
lonely hill, listen for the fairy playing and 'if it is heard,
go on with your undertaking and there 'II be no tears in it.'
Hazel goes out to listen, and at last she hears the tinkling
of a harp. Ironically it is her father on the way back from
a festival, playing his harp as he rests, but Hazel thinks
it is the fairy harper, and a sign that she is to go to Reddin.

Hazel returns to the house, where Edward knowing she
is out in the dark, is waiting anxiously, not liking this
'roaming' on her own. She hears the bad news that
Foxy has bitten through her rope and stolen the mutton.
Hazel argues her case with Mrs Marston: 'Foxy is ''not
a bad dog' but 'a good fox'.

Hazel tries another of the charms. In the woods she looks
for 'the Holy Sign' and sees nothing until a bright glow
terrifies her and she runs home, not knowing that it is only a
rotting tree 'shining with the phosphorescence of corruption'.

Chapter Twenty-Four

On Midsummer Eve, Hazel and Mrs Marston are picking
blackcurrants. Martha brings milk and cake at eleven,
and Edward reads to them. Hazel is again lulled, but her
being has become 'the passive battleground of strange
emotions'. She has decided to try the last charm that night,
even though she feels this to be 'traitorous to Edward'.
This is the charm of the bracken-flower: whoever she
dreams of with this flower under her pillow must be
her lover. Edward could have won her at this point,
when he sees her standing on the threshold of her
moonlit room, but he misses his chance and goes to his
own room.

Hazel goes out to find a bracken-flower. She takes a clean
chemise onto the hillside and places it under a clump of
bracken, waiting until 'the dove-grey hour that precedes
dawn'. Half-hoping there will be no flower, she looks
in the chemise and finds a minute blue petal in the centre.
When asleep with it under her pillow, she dreams of
Reddin, inevitably since he 'had more control over her
thoughts than Edward'. She does not know that in reality
this was 'no faery flower but only a petal of blue milkwort...
loosened by her own nervous hands the night before.'

Chapter Twenty-Five

The following Sunday evening. Hazel puts on her white
dress and with 'a sense of excitement' goes to Hunter's
Spinney. Sitting on the hill-top she hears in the distance
a man singing. It is Reddin riding to meet her. Hazel is
afraid and is about to go when Reddin comes up. He gives
her a present of two gold bracelets each set with a large
ruby: she dislikes the bracelets, likening the rubies to 'drops
of blood'. Reddin forces them onto her wrists, fastening
the clasps. She cries and raves at him and resists when
he tells her she must come and live with him at Undern.



Hazel runs off downhill into the wood, but is caught by
Reddin who throws her into the bracken. Reddin is on
top of her and she can see nothing but him. In the twilight
the clock at Alderslea strikes eight and people are returning
from church. Hazel feels 'crushed, bruised, robbed',
Reddin is dazed, having felt true passion for the first
time, and he weeps uncontrollably. Hazel weeps too,
tears of pain. A sense of foreboding overtakes them.

Reddin has a reaction of anger because Hazel has seen
him crying. He walks her up through ''the crackling wood'
to where his horse is tied. She weeps again, thinking of
Edward, but is passive when Reddin lifts her onto the saddle:
he heads for Undern, putting the horse to a gallop.
Hazel wails for Foxy, but she will not allow Reddin to
fetch her from Edward; now she herself longs to be back
with him. Vessons hearing her thinks it is the lady of
Undern Coppy crying 'Lost! Alost!'

Chapter Twenty-Six

The June atmosphere at Undern is ''hypnotic, brooding'.
Hazel senses ghostly presences as Reddin shows her
around the ''echoing rooms'. Undern, he tells her, is
reputedly haunted. She is lonely and homesick,
thinking of the small comforts and routines at
Edward's, and his protection. Realising her mistake,
Hazel 'sat down sadly in the home that was not home'.
Reddin clashes with Vessons who makes it clear that he
objects to having a 'Missus' at Undern. When Reddin
plays the piano and sings 'It's a Fine Hunting Day',
Hazel is furious and burns the music.

Reddin makes Hazel write a note to Edward telling him
she is safe: Vessons will push it under Edward's door.

Weary, miserable and confused, Hazel goes upstairs to the
four-poster bed; her prayers to 'Him above' are overheard
by Reddin who is abashed and retreats. Hazel cries
herself to sleep while Reddin is downstairs drinking
whisky; he finally creeps up to bed and sleeps heavily.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Vessons brings in the cows for milking. He is angered
when Hazel mocks him and takes revenge by shooting
as many birds as he can, knowing how this will upset her.
Savagely he piles his 'trophies' on the kitchen table.
Hazel then feels it is her fault for coming to Undern.
Vessons gives in his notice but Reddin persuades him
to take it back; a 'curious' peace is declared, 'like the
hush before thunder'.

When Hazel reminds Reddin how he cried at Hunter's
Spinney, he is uneasy and frightened.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

The Friday after Hazel comes to Undern, Reddin has to
attend a horse fair; his need for Hazel surprises him and
he is reluctant to be away from her.

Vessons and Hazel quarrel over the bees in the walled
garden. When Reddin returns for tea, he has 'something'
for Hazel. It is a hedgehog. Reddin shows how callous
and cruel he really is, pulling the hedgehog's spines until
it screams. Hazel attacks him and kicks his hound which
has come to kill the hedgehog. She makes Reddin send
the dog out.

The Miss Clombers arrive, having heard rumours about
Hazel. Amelia questions her spitefully concerning her
marriage, until Reddin intervenes. Miss Clomber (elder)
asks Hazel to leave Reddin as she is causing him to sin.
Hazel's reply - 'He wunna let me' - is an unconscious
revenge on the Clombers.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

On Sunday, a week after Hazel has gone to Undern,
Vessons carries out his plan to reveal her whereabouts
to Edward. At the parsonage he first meets Martha, whom
he disappoints when he declares he will never marry.
Mrs Marston arrives and to her Vessons divulges that
Haze! is at Undern. Edward returns from searching the
hillsides for Hazel to hear from his mother that there is
news of her; Mrs Marston also emphasises that she does
not want Hazel back. Edward is angry with his mother
and sets off for Undern to bring Hazel home. She is
amazed to see him, fearful that Reddin will hurt him.
There is a tense exchange of insults, Reddin taunting
Edward, telling him 'you know you aren 't her husband'.
They go outside in the moonlight and fight until Edward
is knocked to the ground. Vessons drives Edward and
Hazel back to the parsonage.

Chapter Thirty

Mrs Marston makes it clear that she is unwilling now to
accept Hazel. There is a confrontation between them.
Hazel goes to bed sobbing and unsure, as she is still very
attracted to Reddin even though she is becoming more
aware of his 'innate callousness'.

Chapter Thirty'-One

Hazel's strained relationship with Mrs Marston and
Martha wears on her spirit until she wishes she was back
at Undern. Six weeks later Hazel is finding 'the velvet
slaps' of the women unbearable; she is also feeling unwell
and rather piqued that Reddin has not pursued her.
Martha maliciously tells her that he is 'after' Sally Haggard
- 'They do say as all her brats be his.' Hazel now needs
Reddin as never before, a physiological need as she is
bearing his child (though unaware of this).

She is goaded by Martha's revelations to see for herself
whether Sally Haggard has taken her place at Undern.
Although she weeps at leaving Edward, Hazel creeps
from the house, leaving him 'a little blotted note'.
Arriving at Undern, she sits by the pool looking across
at the house with its air of 'deep sadness'.

Reddin is not surprised by her return. His attitude towards
her is masterful and 'vaguely insolent', but he is pleased,
especially because he suspects that Hazel is pregnant.
He determines to legalise things and marry Hazel, as he
badly wants a son - 'born in wedlock'. He must also 'get rid
of Sally...he was sick of the sight of her and her children'.
Reddin visits Sally Haggard to tell her to move on.
When he returns, Vessons, still scheming to get Hazel
out of Undern, quickly goes to Sally with his plan.
in return for which Sally has to promise never to live
at Undern. Vessons will tell Sally when Reddin is


away for the day: she is to come with her children to
Undern to see Hazel. The month of September passes
without any opportunity for Vessons to put his plan
into action.

Chapter Thirty-Two

An early frost at Undern kills the fuschias Hazel has
been watching each day. She finds frozen bees and puts
them in a little box near the parlour fire. Some revive and
buzz around the room; this is an irritation to Reddin just
returned from a disappointing meeting with Sally Haggard,
who refuses to leave until November. He sees the 'hospital
full of bees' by the fire and throws the box into the flames.
Hazel is distraught, calling him 'a cruel beast'..

Hazel is silent all day until Reddin orders Vessons to
bring her some bees from the hive. She is scornful as
Reddin does not understand that she wants to rescue
the stricken frozen bees, not hive-bees, warm in their
hives. Hazel is thinking of Edward and homesick for
Foxy: she goes out only into Reddin's fields.
Near the end of October Reddin goes to a horse fair,
giving Vessons the opportunity he has wanted. Sally,
though, is having a washing-day and is late arriving
at Undern. Hazel is startled by Sally and her five children,
one a baby in arms, particularly when Sally declares
they are all Reddin's. Hazel immediately concedes that
it is Sally who should be living at Undern and not herself.
Sally realises, astonished, that Hazel is ignorant about
the conception of babies and does not know that she is
herself pregnant. Telling Hazel about her own pregnancies,
she convinces her that she is 'going to have a baby'
and goes on to give 'lurid details' of childbirth.

Hazel is in tears and the children laugh at her. She is
strongly advised by Sally to return to Edward. They have
tea and it is late, dusk falling, Vessons waiting nervously
outside. Reddin returns, staggered to find Sally and her
children having tea in his parlour. He is shocked again
when Hazel comes to Sally^s defence: the two women
face him. Sally declaring that Hazel is too good for him.
Reddin is 'completely routed'.

Later that evening Hazel tells him she will never marry
him, that she would prefer her baby to be like Edward.
Reddin is shaken but thinks Hazel is upset by Sally and
will ''get over it'; he is sure 'the parson' will never take
her back.

Chapter Thirty-Three

A great storm is raging: to Hazel it sounds like the death
pack. She has made up her mind to leave Reddin whose
'daily acts of callousness' torment her. She is appalled
by his cruelty, killing rabbits in the harvest-field in spite

of her pleading. Now she longs passionately for the quiet
sheltered days with Edward, not understanding that she
has 'sinned against the Mountain so deeply that the old
life could never return.'

She leaves Undern at dawn, with the gale unabated,
walking in the deep lanes at first, then up to the Mountain
where trees have been toppled, then into the graveyard
where crosses had fallen and half a tomb was torn away.
She shelters in the porch of the chapel until she hears
Mrs Marston's breakfast-bell: then she knocks at the door.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Edward brings Hazel inside: she sees at once that he is
'much altered', his face white. He seems weary and stern
and does not take her hand. Mrs Marston refuses to eat
at the table with Hazel, calling her 'a wicked woman...
an adulteress'; she asks Edward to turn Hazel out,
pleading with him as his mother. But Edward turns on
Mrs Marston, telling her to stop torturing him, after
which, 'frozen with grief, she stays in the kitchen.
Out on the hillside Edward questions Hazel about why
she left him twice for Reddin; it is the second time that
torments him most. He becomes passionate and
intense, talking about having his 'bridal night' with
her. Hazel sees that he could be like Reddin. Then she
tells him that she is having Reddin *s baby. Edward
feels robbed, cruelly cheated. He can no longer believe
in God; clearly he sees that it was his self-denial,
his own love, which has destroyed them both.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Martha gives Edward notice. Edward quarrels again with
his mother who leaves two days later with her luggage.
Hazel manages the house for Edward, lovingly caring
for him and making meals. They have a few days of
peace together.

While Hazel is out. Reddin arrives, asking Edward to
divorce her, stating that he will marry her 'as it's my
child she's going to have'. He offers to pay all the
expenses and maintenance, 'grateful for favours received'
(a jibe at Edward). Reddin says he will return on
Saturday when 'the meet's in the woods'. Edward gives
no answer, going inside and closing the door.

Hazel returns, stopping to look at the hundreds of swallows
'wheeling about the quarry cliffs'. Edward does not tell
her about Reddin's visit, but says they will be 'leaving
the Mountain' and he will 'give up the Ministry'; they
will have a little cottage somewhere and be together.
That night Foxy awakes, barking and whimpering
'in some dark terror'.

Chapter Thirty-Six

The wind is raging from the top of the mountain to the
woods, disguising the sound of the hunt which is riding
up. Miss Amelia Clomber admires Reddin who is strikingly
attractive with ''the new zest and youth that Hazel had
given him'.

At the parsonage Edward and Hazel are studying a map
of the county to decide where they will live. Foxy, the
one-eyed cat and the rabbit are around the fire, the bird
chirruping in its cage. Their peace is shattered by the
arrival of Mr James and five others of the congregation
- 'six God-fearing men' - to tell Edward that 'the adulteress
must go'. Mr James, the spokesman, demands that Hazel
should be put in a 're forma tory' and 'made to repentf;
Edward is to make a statement that he will never speak
or write to her again.

Edward turns on the six men in defiance and scorn,
announcing that he and Hazel are leaving, and he has
lost his belief in God. Mr James suggests that Edward
has accepted money from Reddin, a final insult.
Edward then breaks down and Hazel curses them for
tormenting him. Edward advises her to go out to the woods
while he deals with the men.

She sits opposite the house watching until she becomes
aware of the sound of the hunt nearing; she is suddenly
fearful for Foxy and runs back to the house. But Foxy
is not there. Hazel then runs in panic back up the hill,
calling for Foxy. Reddin sees her, and realising what has
happened spurs his horse in the hope of helping her and
Foxy. The pack has now picked up Foxy's scent. Hazel
is running frantically when Foxy trots out of the wood
to her. She picks up the fox as the hounds, with a horrific
uproar, come 'over the ridge like water', followed by the
hunt. Edward and the six righteous men come out to see
what the noise is about". Hazel is running, 'her whole soul
in her feet\ but she has lost her fleetness, due to the baby.
Foxy is panicking and struggling, slowing her down even
more, and she is only half-way to the quarry, the house
being twice as far. She is terrified that Foxy will be torn
to pieces by the hounds. Edward sees her, snatches up a
spade and runs.
Hazel does not hear Reddin who is galloping up to save
her, shouting for her to give Foxy to him. She gives one
backward glance, seeing the hunt as the death-pack, and
knows there is no hope. The huntsmen cannot beat off
the hounds in time; Edward is running to her but she
doesn't see him; Reddin is close, intending to drag her
onto his horse, but she turns and sees him only as the
Black Huntsman. She screams and heads for the quarry,
reaching the steep cliff. Then, as the pack, 'with a ferocity

of triumph' flings itself upon her, she jumps over the
edge; she is gone with Foxy 'into everlasting silence'.

Silence reigns on God's Little Mountain until a voice,
'awful and piercing causes all to shiver and cower,
even the bristling hounds at the quarry edge.
Once more 'the terrible cry' rouses the shivering echoes:
'Gone to earth! Gone to earth!'
-----------------------------------------------------
Copyright © Gladys Mary Coles 1999
These Studv Notes are for private study only. No part
may be printed in an article or book, transmitted or
recorded without the written permission of the author,
Gladys Mary Coles, according to the legal ruling of the
Copyright, Designs and Patent Act, 1988.
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