So impulsive, kind-hearted, and honest was Mrs. Huxtable, that we could
always tell what was the next thing she was going to say or do. Even at
her meals she contrived to be in a bustle, except on Sundays; but she
got through a great deal of work. On Sundays she put on, with her best
gown, an air of calm dignity which made her unhappy until it was off,
which it was directly after the evening service. She seemed a very
sensible woman, and whatever the merits of the case she sided always
with the weakest. The next morning we asked how it was she appeared not
to expect us, as I had written and posted the letter myself on the
previous Saturday.
"For sure now," she replied, "and the papper scrawl coom'd on Monday;
but us bain't girt scholards, and Varmer said most like 'twas the
Queen's taxes, for there was her head upon it; so us put un in the big
mortar till Beany Dawe should come over, or us should go to church next
Zunday, and passon would discoorse it for us. But"--and off she
ran--"But her belongs to you now, Miss Clerer, seeing as how you've coom
after un."
So they had only a general idea that we were coming, and knew not when
it would be. The following day, Thomas Henwood arrived, bringing our
boxes in a vehicle called a "butt," which is a short and rudely made
cart, used chiefly for carrying lime.
After unpacking our few embellishments, we set up a clumsy but
comfortable sofa for my mother, and tried to divert her sadness a little
by many a shift and device to garnish our narrow realm. We removed the
horrible print of "Death and the Lady," which was hung above the
chimneypiece, and sundry daubs of our Lord and the Apostles, and a woman
of Samaria with a French parasol, and Eli falling from a turnpike gate
over the Great Western steamer. But these alterations were not made
without some wistful glances from poor Mrs. Huxtable. At last, when I
began to nail up a simple sketch of the church at Vaughan St. Mary
instead of a noble representation of the Prodigal Son, wearing a white
hat with a pipe stuck under the riband, and weeping into a handkerchief
with some horse upon it, the good dame could no longer repress her
feelings.
"Whai, Miss Clerer, Miss, dear art alaive, cheel, what be 'bout? Them's
the smartest picters anywhere this saide of Coorn. Varmer gied a pan of
hogs' puddens for they, and a Chainey taypot and a Zunday pair of
corderahoys. Why them'll shaine with the zun on 'um, laike a vield of
poppies and charlock. But thic smarl pokey papper of yourn ha'ant no
more colour nor the track of a marly scrarly. A massy on us if I
couldn't walk a better picter than thic, with my pattens on in the zider
squash."
To argue with such a connoisseur would have been worse than useless; so
I pacified her by hanging the rejected gems in her own little summer
room by the dairy. Our parlour began before long to look neat and even
comfortable. Of course the furniture was rough, but I care not much for
upholstery, and am quite rude of French polish. My only fear was lest
the damp from the lime-ash floor should strike to my dear mother's feet,
through the scanty drugget which covered it. The fire-place was bright
and quaint, lined with old Dutch tiles, and the grey-washed walls were
less offensive to the eye than would have been a paper chosen by good
Mrs. Huxtable. The pretty lattice window, budding even now with
woodbine, and impudent to the winds with myrtle, would have made amends
for the meanest room in England. Before it lay a simple garden with
sparry walks and bright-thatched hives, and down a dingle rich with
trees and a crystal stream, it caught a glimpse of the Bristol Channel.