Perhaps his wife's satisfaction, which his sharpened conscience perceived and understood, troubled him intolerably.

At any rate, his silence and disquiet grew, and his only pleasure lay, more than ever, in those solitary cogitations we have already spoken of.
The 15th of October approached--as it happened, the Friday before the smithy prayer-meeting.

On that day of the year, according to ancient and invariable custom, the Yorkshire stock--steers, heifers, young horses--which are transferred to the Derbyshire farms on the 15th of May, are driven back to their Yorkshire owners, with all the fatness of Derbyshire pastures showing on their sleek sides.

Breeders and farmers meet again at Woodhead, just within the Yorkshire border.

The animals are handed over to their owners, paid for at so much a head, and any preventible damage or loss occurring among them is reckoned against the farmer returning them, according to certain local rules.
As the middle of the month came nearer, Reuben began to talk despondently to Hannah of his probable gains from his Yorkshire 'boarders.' It had been a cold wet summer; he was 'feart' the owners would think he might have taken more care of some of the animals, especially of the young horses, and he mentioned certain ailments springing from damp and exposure for which he might be held responsible.