“Ah, my dear acquaintance!”
And she gave him a sprig of rosemary. She said no word, and she supposed
he would go by her. But he set his arms about her and gathered her up
before him on the saddle, and his right arm was strong around her. So
they rode away, and the sound of the people died till it was less than
the hum of a midge, and there was nothing but a scent of rosemary, and
warm sun, and the horse lengthening its stride towards the mountains,
whence came the air of morning.
* * * * *
“Two for his nob!” called Missis Sexton. “Your deal, Prue.”
So I tucked my legs under the bench as well as I could for her
furbelows, and went at it with a will. And I may say that Missis Miller
and I won, out and out, to her everlasting astonishment. For she seemed
to think it an impertinence on her part to beat Missis Sexton.
“You played like a demon, Prue Sarn,” said Felena.
It was late, so Jancis opened the door and called, “Supper!” and in
rushed the four hoydens, who seemed children to me, though I was nearly
of an age with them. They burst out with their doings, though they had
better have kept them to themselves.
“We’ve bin in the attic.”
“We sat on the bed!”
“He can whistle like a throstle.”
“He weaves as quick as ninepence!”
“He’s got a green coat for Sundays and a Bible with pictures in it, and
he can read the Bible.”
“He’s got a watch, and a pipe with a silver band, and he won the
wrestlers’ medal at Silverton.”
“He canna abide bull-baiting nor cock-fighting nor shameless women.”
“He likes a good song and home-brewed in reason, and a dance in the
meadow, and the sound of bells.”
“He’s got a great lump of muscle on his arm, like a frozen snowball.”
“We measured un on the attic door, and found the inches with the
weaver’s measure.”
“He be thirty-eight inches round the middle and five foot ten inches
high!”
“He’s got a pair of Wellington boots, but he dunna wear ’em much, being
above his station and a dommed lot of trouble to clean.”
“_He_ said dommed, _we_ didna.”
“He likes children and dogs and a quiet life.”
“He wouldna mind a missus of his own if she was biddable. Only he’s
never seen the woman he’d lief have yet.”
“His eyes be watchet blue, what you can see of ’em for the black middles
and the lids and the lashes.”
“And if so be he’d got any sisters he’d like ’em to favour Sukey and
me!”
“God bless me!” says the mother of Sukey and Moll, and I could see the
slipper threatening, “God bless me, not a thousand starlings in the
reeds make such a din.”
It was lucky for the girls that their mother happened to have won.
“Get your tippets on now, this instant minute!” she said.
“Call un down, Jancis!” they pleaded.
So she called him to supper. The sound of the treadles and the thud of
the batten stopped, and he came down.
Sukey ran to him and put summat into his hand. Then they made their
curtsies and said—
“Thank you for me,” and followed their mother.
But Sukey put her head in at the door again, and gave a bit of a giggle
and whispered—
“I gid him my gingerbread baby!”
“Out, girls!” ordered their mother, and off they went, with a lanthorn
to light them, and the ox-goad in case of gentlemen of the road.
I went out to the barn, that Kester Woodseaves might not see me, and
when I came back he was gone to the attic again. Felena had gone early,
with a luring smile and a word for him.
“If you come our way, Mister, I’ll learn you the story of Adam and Eve.”
The two from the mill were very unwilling to part, but at last they
went, and we made ready to go also.
“A right good caking!” says Missis Beguildy. “I’ve made enough on the
cakes to pay weaver, and we’ve spun a deal. A Love Spinning’s a great
salvation. So now you can tell your son, Missis Sarn, as we shall be
ready with the bride and the linen as well, when he gives the word to
make the bed.”
Beguildy raught back as we set out. He was a bit peart, but not drunk.
He said he’d met Miss Dorabella’s cousin, and that he wouldna believe
Beguildy could raise Venus. So he’d told him to come and see for
himself.
“Venus? Where _is_ the baggage?” says his wife. “How can you raise her
if she inna here?”