Book Two The Woman - Chapter 14 Concerning Black George's Letter

It was with a feeling of great relief that I watched the fellow
out of sight; nevertheless his very presence seemed to have left a
blight upon all things, for he, viewing matters with the material
eye of Common-sense, had, thereby, contaminated them--even the air
seemed less pure and sweet than it had been heretofore, so that,
glancing over my shoulder, I was glad to see that Charmian had
re-entered the cottage.

"Here," said I to myself, "here is Common-sense in the shape of a
half-witted peddling fellow, blundering into Arcadia, in the
shape of a haunted cottage, a woman, and a man. Straightway our
Pedler, being Common-sense, misjudges us--as, indeed, would every
other common-sense individual the world over; for Arcadia, being
of itself abstract and immaterial, is opposed to, and incapable
of being understood by concrete common-sense, and always will be
--and there's the rub! And yet," said I, "thanks to the Wanderer
of the Roads, who built this cottage and hanged himself here, and
thanks to a Highland Scot who performed wonderfully on the
bagpipes, there is little chance of any common-sense vagrant
venturing near Arcadia again--at least until the woman is gone,
or the man is gone, or--"

Here, going to rub my chin (being somewhat at a loss), I found
that I had been standing, all this while, the broom in one hand
and the belt in the other, and now, hearing a laugh behind me, I
turned, and saw Charmian was leaning in the open doorway watching
me.