When the little girl of Ruffluck Croft was to be taken to the
parsonage, to be christened, that father of hers behaved so
foolishly that Katrina and the godparents were quite put out
with him.
It was the wife of Eric of Falla who was to bear the child to the
christening. She sat in the cart with the infant while Eric of
Falla, himself, walked alongside the vehicle, and held the reins.
The first part of the road, all the way to Doveness, was so
wretched it could hardly be called a road, and of course Eric had
to drive very carefully, since he had the unchristened child to
convey.
Jan had himself brought the child from the house and turned it
over to the godmother, and had seen them set out. No one knew
better than he into what good hands it was being intrusted. And he
also knew that Eric of Falla was just as confident at handling the
reins as at everything else. As for Eric's wife--why she had borne
and reared seven children; therefore he should not have felt the
least bit uneasy.
Once they were well on their way and Jan had again gone back to his
digging, a terrible sense of fear came over him. What if Eric's
horse should shy? What if the parson should drop the child? What if
the mistress of Falla should wrap too many shawls around the little
girl, so she'd be smothered when they arrived with her at the
parsonage?
He argued with himself that it was wrong in him to borrow trouble,
when his child had such godfolk as the master and mistress of
Falla. Yet his anxiety would not be stilled. Of a sudden he dropped
his spade and started for the parsonage just as he was taking the
short cut across the heights, and running at top speed all the way.
When Eric of Falla drove into the stable-yard of the parsonage the
first person that met his eyes was Jan of Ruffluck.
Now, it is not considered the proper thing for the father or mother
to be present at the christening, and Jan saw at once that the
Falla folk were displeased at his coming to the parsonage. Eric did
not beckon to him to come and help with the horse, but unharnessed
the beast himself, and the mistress of Falla, drawing the child
closer to her, crossed the yard and went into the parson's kitchen,
without saying a word to Jan.
Since the godparents would not so much as notice him, he dared not
approach them; but when the godmother swept past him he heard a
little piping sound from the bundle on her arm. Then he at least
knew the child had not been smothered.
He felt it was stupid in him not to have gone home at once. But now
he was so sure the parson would drop the child, that he had to
stay.
He lingered a moment in the stable-yard, then went straight over to
the house and up the steps into the hallway.
It is the worst possible form for the father to appear before the
clergyman, particularly when his child has such sponsors as Eric of
Falla, and his wife. When the door to the pastor's study swung open
and Jan of Ruffluck in his soiled workaday clothes calmly shuffled
into the room, just after the pastor had begun the service and
there was no way of driving him out, the godparents swore to
themselves that once they were home they would take him severely
to task for his unseemly behaviour.
The christening passed off as it should without the slightest
occasion for a mishap, and Jan of Ruffluck had nothing for his
intrusion. Just before the close of the service he opened the door
and quietly slipped out again, into the hallway. He saw of course
that everything seemed to go quite smoothly and nicely without his
help.
In a little while Eric of Falla and his wife also came out into the
hall. They were going across to the kitchen, where the mistress of
Falla had left the child's outer wraps and shawls. Eric went ahead
and opened the door for his wife, whereupon two kittens came
darting into the hallway and tumbled over each other right in front
of the woman's feet, tripping her. She felt herself going headlong
and barely had time to think: "I'm falling with the child; it will
be killed and I'll be heartbroken for life," when a strong hand
seized and steadied her. Looking round she saw that her rescuer was
Jan Anderson of Ruffluck, who had lingered in the hallway as if
knowing he would be needed there. Before she could recover herself
sufficiently to thank him, he was gone.
And when she and her husband came driving home, there stood Jan
digging away. After the accident had been averted, he had felt that
he might safely go back to his work.
Neither Eric nor his wife said a word to him about his unseemly
behaviour. Instead, the mistress of Falla invited him in for
afternoon coffee, muddy and begrimed as he was from working in the
wet soil.