Chapter x.x.xII.
Mrs. Poyser "Has Her Say Out"
THE next Sat.u.r.day evening there was much excited discussion at the Donnithorne Arms concerning an incident which had occurred that very day--no less than a second appearance of the smart man in top-boots said by some to be a mere farmer in treaty for the Chase Farm, by others to be the future steward, but by Mr. Ca.s.son himself, the personal witness to the stranger"s visit, p.r.o.nounced contemptuously to be nothing better than a bailiff, such as Satch.e.l.l had been before him. No one had thought of denying Mr. Ca.s.son"s testimony to the fact that he had seen the stranger; nevertheless, he proffered various corroborating circ.u.mstances.
"I see him myself," he said; "I see him coming along by the Crab-tree Meadow on a bald-faced hoss. I"d just been t" hev a pint--it was half after ten i" the fore-noon, when I hev my pint as reg"lar as the clock--and I says to Knowles, as druv up with his waggon, "You"ll get a bit o" barley to-day, Knowles," I says, "if you look about you"; and then I went round by the rick-yard, and towart the Treddles"on road, and just as I come up by the big ash-tree, I see the man i" top-boots coming along on a bald-faced hoss--I wish I may never stir if I didn"t. And I stood still till he come up, and I says, "Good morning, sir," I says, for I wanted to hear the turn of his tongue, as I might know whether he was a this-country man; so I says, "Good morning, sir: it "ll "old hup for the barley this morning, I think. There"ll be a bit got hin, if we"ve good luck." And he says, "Eh, ye may be raight, there"s noo tallin"," he says, and I knowed by that"--here Mr. Ca.s.son gave a wink--"as he didn"t come from a hundred mile off. I daresay he"d think me a hodd talker, as you Loamshire folks allays does hany one as talks the right language."
"The right language!" said Bartle Ma.s.sey, contemptuously. "You"re about as near the right language as a pig"s squeaking is like a tune played on a key-bugle."
"Well, I don"t know," answered Mr. Ca.s.son, with an angry smile. "I should think a man as has lived among the gentry from a by, is likely to know what"s the right language pretty nigh as well as a schoolmaster."
"Aye, aye, man," said Bartle, with a tone of sarcastic consolation, "you talk the right language for you. When Mike Holdsworth"s goat says ba-a-a, it"s all right--it "ud be unnatural for it to make any other noise."
The rest of the party being Loamsnire men, Mr. Ca.s.son had the laugh strongly against him, and wisely fell back on the previous question, which, far from being exhausted in a single evening, was renewed in the churchyard, before service, the next day, with the fresh interest conferred on all news when there is a fresh person to hear it; and that fresh hearer was Martin Poyser, who, as his wife said, "never went boozin" with that set at Ca.s.son"s, a-sittin" soakin" in drink, and looking as wise as a lot o" cod-fish wi" red faces."
It was probably owing to the conversation she had had with her husband on their way from church concerning this problematic stranger that Mrs. Poyser"s thoughts immediately reverted to him when, a day or two afterwards, as she was standing at the house-door with her knitting, in that eager leisure which came to her when the afternoon cleaning was done, she saw the old squire enter the yard on his black pony, followed by John the groom. She always cited it afterwards as a case of prevision, which really had something more in it than her own remarkable penetration, that the moment she set eyes on the squire she said to herself, "I shouldna wonder if he"s come about that man as is a-going to take the Chase Farm, wanting Poyser to do something for him without pay. But Poyser"s a fool if he does."
Something unwonted must clearly be in the wind, for the old squire"s visits to his tenantry were rare; and though Mrs. Poyser had during the last twelvemonth recited many imaginary speeches, meaning even more than met the ear, which she was quite determined to make to him the next time he appeared within the gates of the Hall Farm, the speeches had always remained imaginary.
"Good-day, Mrs. Poyser," said the old squire, peering at her with his short-sighted eyes--a mode of looking at her which, as Mrs. Poyser observed, "allays aggravated me: it was as if you was a insect, and he was going to dab his finger-nail on you."
However, she said, "Your servant, sir," and curtsied with an air of perfect deference as she advanced towards him: she was not the woman to misbehave towards her betters, and fly in the face of the catechism, without severe provocation.
"Is your husband at home, Mrs. Poyser?"
"Yes, sir; he"s only i" the rick-yard. I"ll send for him in a minute, if you"ll please to get down and step in."
"Thank you; I will do so. I want to consult him about a little matter; but you are quite as much concerned in it, if not more. I must have your opinion too."
"Hetty, run and tell your uncle to come in," said Mrs. Poyser, as they entered the house, and the old gentleman bowed low in answer to Hetty"s curtsy; while Totty, conscious of a pinafore stained with gooseberry jam, stood hiding her face against the clock and peeping round furtively.
"What a fine old kitchen this is!" said Mr. Donnithorne, looking round admiringly. He always spoke in the same deliberate, well-chiselled, polite way, whether his words were sugary or venomous. "And you keep it so exquisitely clean, Mrs. Poyser. I like these premises, do you know, beyond any on the estate."
"Well, sir, since you"re fond of "em, I should be glad if you"d let a bit o" repairs be done to "em, for the boarding"s i" that state as we"re like to be eaten up wi" rats and mice; and the cellar, you may stan" up to your knees i" water in"t, if you like to go down; but perhaps you"d rather believe my words. Won"t you please to sit down, sir?"
"Not yet; I must see your dairy. I have not seen it for years, and I hear on all hands about your fine cheese and b.u.t.ter," said the squire, looking politely unconscious that there could be any question on which he and Mrs. Poyser might happen to disagree. "I think I see the door open, there. You must not be surprised if I cast a covetous eye on your cream and b.u.t.ter. I don"t expect that Mrs. Satch.e.l.l"s cream and b.u.t.ter will bear comparison with yours."
"I can"t say, sir, I"m sure. It"s seldom I see other folks"s b.u.t.ter, though there"s some on it as one"s no need to see--the smell"s enough."
"Ah, now this I like," said Mr. Donnithorne, looking round at the damp temple of cleanliness, but keeping near the door. "I"m sure I should like my breakfast better if I knew the b.u.t.ter and cream came from this dairy. Thank you, that really is a pleasant sight. Unfortunately, my slight tendency to rheumatism makes me afraid of damp: I"ll sit down in your comfortable kitchen. Ah, Poyser, how do you do? In the midst of business, I see, as usual. I"ve been looking at your wife"s beautiful dairy--the best manager in the parish, is she not?"
Mr. Poyser had just entered in shirt-sleeves and open waistcoat, with a face a shade redder than usual, from the exertion of "pitching." As he stood, red, rotund, and radiant, before the small, wiry, cool old gentleman, he looked like a prize apple by the side of a withered crab.
"Will you please to take this chair, sir?" he said, lifting his father"s arm-chair forward a little: "you"ll find it easy."
"No, thank you, I never sit in easy-chairs," said the old gentleman, seating himself on a small chair near the door. "Do you know, Mrs. Poyser--sit down, pray, both of you--I"ve been far from contented, for some time, with Mrs. Satch.e.l.l"s dairy management. I think she has not a good method, as you have."
"Indeed, sir, I can"t speak to that," said Mrs. Poyser in a hard voice, rolling and unrolling her knitting and looking icily out of the window, as she continued to stand opposite the squire. Poyser might sit down if he liked, she thought; she wasn"t going to sit down, as if she"d give in to any such smooth-tongued palaver. Mr. Poyser, who looked and felt the reverse of icy, did sit down in his three-cornered chair.
"And now, Poyser, as Satch.e.l.l is laid up, I am intending to let the Chase Farm to a respectable tenant. I"m tired of having a farm on my own hands--nothing is made the best of in such cases, as you know. A satisfactory bailiff is hard to find; and I think you and I, Poyser, and your excellent wife here, can enter into a little arrangement in consequence, which will be to our mutual advantage."
"Oh," said Mr. Poyser, with a good-natured blankness of imagination as to the nature of the arrangement.
"If I"m called upon to speak, sir," said Mrs. Poyser, after glancing at her husband with pity at his softness, "you know better than me; but I don"t see what the Chase Farm is t" us--we"ve c.u.mber enough wi" our own farm. Not but what I"m glad to hear o" anybody respectable coming into the parish; there"s some as ha" been brought in as hasn"t been looked on i" that character."
"You"re likely to find Mr. Thurle an excellent neighbour, I a.s.sure you--such a one as you will feel glad to have accommodated by the little plan I"m going to mention, especially as I hope you will find it as much to your own advantage as his."
"Indeed, sir, if it"s anything t" our advantage, it"ll be the first offer o" the sort I"ve heared on. It"s them as take advantage that get advantage i" this world, I think. Folks have to wait long enough afore it"s brought to "em."
"The fact is, Poyser," said the squire, ignoring Mrs. Poyser"s theory of worldly prosperity, "there is too much dairy land, and too little plough land, on the Chase Farm to suit Thurle"s purpose--indeed, he will only take the farm on condition of some change in it: his wife, it appears, is not a clever dairy-woman, like yours. Now, the plan I"m thinking of is to effect a little exchange. If you were to have the Hollow Pastures, you might increase your dairy, which must be so profitable under your wife"s management; and I should request you, Mrs. Poyser, to supply my house with milk, cream, and b.u.t.ter at the market prices. On the other hand, Poyser, you might let Thurle have the Lower and Upper Ridges, which really, with our wet seasons, would be a good riddance for you. There is much less risk in dairy land than corn land."
Mr. Poyser was leaning forward, with his elbows on his knees, his head on one side, and his mouth screwed up--apparently absorbed in making the tips of his fingers meet so as to represent with perfect accuracy the ribs of a ship. He was much too acute a man not to see through the whole business, and to foresee perfectly what would be his wife"s view of the subject; but he disliked giving unpleasant answers. Unless it was on a point of farming practice, he would rather give up than have a quarrel, any day; and, after all, it mattered more to his wife than to him. So, after a few moments" silence, he looked up at her and said mildly, "What dost say?"
Mrs. Poyser had had her eyes fixed on her husband with cold severity during his silence, but now she turned away her head with a toss, looked icily at the opposite roof of the cow-shed, and spearing her knitting together with the loose pin, held it firmly between her clasped hands.
"Say? Why, I say you may do as you like about giving up any o" your corn-land afore your lease is up, which it won"t be for a year come next Michaelmas, but I"ll not consent to take more dairy work into my hands, either for love or money; and there"s nayther love nor money here, as I can see, on"y other folks"s love o" theirselves, and the money as is to go into other folks"s pockets. I know there"s them as is born t" own the land, and them as is born to sweat on"t"--here Mrs. Poyser paused to gasp a little--"and I know it"s christened folks"s duty to submit to their betters as fur as flesh and blood "ull bear it; but I"ll not make a martyr o" myself, and wear myself to skin and bone, and worret myself as if I was a churn wi" b.u.t.ter a-coming in"t, for no landlord in England, not if he was King George himself."
"No, no, my dear Mrs. Poyser, certainly not," said the squire, still confident in his own powers of persuasion, "you must not overwork yourself; but don"t you think your work will rather be lessened than increased in this way? There is so much milk required at the Abbey that you will have little increase of cheese and b.u.t.ter making from the addition to your dairy; and I believe selling the milk is the most profitable way of disposing of dairy produce, is it not?"
"Aye, that"s true," said Mr. Poyser, unable to repress an opinion on a question of farming profits, and forgetting that it was not in this case a purely abstract question.
"I daresay," said Mrs. Poyser bitterly, turning her head half-way towards her husband and looking at the vacant arm-chair--"I daresay it"s true for men as sit i" th" chimney-corner and make believe as everything"s cut wi" ins an" outs to fit int" everything else. If you could make a pudding wi" thinking o" the batter, it "ud be easy getting dinner. How do I know whether the milk "ull be wanted constant? What"s to make me sure as the house won"t be put o" board wage afore we"re many months older, and then I may have to lie awake o" nights wi" twenty gallons o" milk on my mind--and Dingall "ull take no more b.u.t.ter, let alone paying for it; and we must fat pigs till we"re obliged to beg the butcher on our knees to buy "em, and lose half of "em wi" the measles. And there"s the fetching and carrying, as "ud be welly half a day"s work for a man an" hoss--that"s to be took out o" the profits, I reckon? But there"s folks "ud hold a sieve under the pump and expect to carry away the water."
"That difficulty--about the fetching and carrying--you will not have, Mrs. Poyser," said the squire, who thought that this entrance into particulars indicated a distant inclination to compromise on Mrs. Poyser"s part. "Beth.e.l.l will do that regularly with the cart and pony."
"Oh, sir, begging your pardon, I"ve never been used t" having gentlefolks"s servants coming about my back places, a-making love to both the gells at once and keeping "em with their hands on their hips listening to all manner o" gossip when they should be down on their knees a-scouring. If we"re to go to ruin, it shanna be wi" having our back kitchen turned into a public."
"Well, Poyser," said the squire, shifting his tactics and looking as if he thought Mrs. Poyser had suddenly withdrawn from the proceedings and left the room, "you can turn the Hollows into feeding-land. I can easily make another arrangement about supplying my house. And I shall not forget your readiness to accommodate your landlord as well as a neighbour. I know you will be glad to have your lease renewed for three years, when the present one expires; otherwise, I daresay Thurle, who is a man of some capital, would be glad to take both the farms, as they could be worked so well together. But I don"t want to part with an old tenant like you."
To be thrust out of the discussion in this way would have been enough to complete Mrs. Poyser"s exasperation, even without the final threat. Her husband, really alarmed at the possibility of their leaving the old place where he had been bred and born--for he believed the old squire had small spite enough for anything--was beginning a mild remonstrance explanatory of the inconvenience he should find in having to buy and sell more stock, with, "Well, sir, I think as it"s rether hard..." when Mrs. Poyser burst in with the desperate determination to have her say out this once, though it were to rain notices to quit and the only shelter were the work-house.
"Then, sir, if I may speak--as, for all I"m a woman, and there"s folks as thinks a woman"s fool enough to stan" by an" look on while the men sign her soul away, I"ve a right to speak, for I make one quarter o" the rent, and save another quarter--I say, if Mr. Thurle"s so ready to take farms under you, it"s a pity but what he should take this, and see if he likes to live in a house wi" all the plagues o" Egypt in"t--wi" the cellar full o" water, and frogs and toads hoppin" up the steps by dozens--and the floors rotten, and the rats and mice gnawing every bit o" cheese, and runnin" over our heads as we lie i" bed till we expect "em to eat us up alive--as it"s a mercy they hanna eat the children long ago. I should like to see if there"s another tenant besides Poyser as "ud put up wi" never having a bit o" repairs done till a place tumbles down--and not then, on"y wi" begging and praying and having to pay half--and being strung up wi" the rent as it"s much if he gets enough out o" the land to pay, for all he"s put his own money into the ground beforehand. See if you"ll get a stranger to lead such a life here as that: a maggot must be born i" the rotten cheese to like it, I reckon. You may run away from my words, sir," continued Mrs. Poyser, following the old squire beyond the door--for after the first moments of stunned surprise he had got up, and, waving his hand towards her with a smile, had walked out towards his pony. But it was impossible for him to get away immediately, for John was walking the pony up and down the yard, and was some distance from the causeway when his master beckoned.
"You may run away from my words, sir, and you may go spinnin" underhand ways o" doing us a mischief, for you"ve got Old Harry to your friend, though n.o.body else is, but I tell you for once as we"re not dumb creatures to be abused and made money on by them as ha" got the lash i" their hands, for want o" knowing how t" undo the tackle. An" if I"m th" only one as speaks my mind, there"s plenty o" the same way o" thinking i" this parish and the next to "t, for your name"s no better than a brimstone match in everybody"s nose--if it isna two-three old folks as you think o" saving your soul by giving "em a bit o" flannel and a drop o" porridge. An" you may be right i" thinking it"ll take but little to save your soul, for it"ll be the smallest savin" y" iver made, wi" all your sc.r.a.pin"."
There are occasions on which two servant-girls and a waggoner may be a formidable audience, and as the squire rode away on his black pony, even the gift of short-sightedness did not prevent him from being aware that Molly and Nancy and Tim were grinning not far from him. Perhaps he suspected that sour old John was grinning behind him--which was also the fact. Meanwhile the bull-dog, the black-and-tan terrier, Alick"s sheep-dog, and the gander hissing at a safe distance from the pony"s heels carried out the idea of Mrs. Poyser"s solo in an impressive quartet.
Mrs. Poyser, however, had no sooner seen the pony move off than she turned round, gave the two hilarious damsels a look which drove them into the back kitchen, and unspearing her knitting, began to knit again with her usual rapidity as she re-entered the house.
"Thee"st done it now," said Mr. Poyser, a little alarmed and uneasy, but not without some triumphant amus.e.m.e.nt at his wife"s outbreak.
"Yes, I know I"ve done it," said Mrs. Poyser; "but I"ve had my say out, and I shall be th" easier for"t all my life. There"s no pleasure i" living if you"re to be corked up for ever, and only dribble your mind out by the sly, like a leaky barrel. I shan"t repent saying what I think, if I live to be as old as th" old squire; and there"s little likelihood--for it seems as if them as aren"t wanted here are th" only folks as aren"t wanted i" th" other world."
"But thee wutna like moving from th" old place, this Michaelmas twelvemonth," said Mr. Poyser, "and going into a strange parish, where thee know"st n.o.body. It"ll be hard upon us both, and upo" Father too."
"Eh, it"s no use worreting; there"s plenty o" things may happen between this and Michaelmas twelvemonth. The captain may be master afore them, for what we know," said Mrs. Poyser, inclined to take an unusually hopeful view of an embarra.s.sment which had been brought about by her own merit and not by other people"s fault.
"I"M none for worreting," said Mr. Poyser, rising from his three-cornered chair and walking slowly towards the door; "but I should be loath to leave th" old place, and the parish where I was bred and born, and Father afore me. We should leave our roots behind us, I doubt, and niver thrive again."
Chapter x.x.xIII.
More Links.
THE barley was all carried at last, and the harvest suppers went by without waiting for the dismal black crop of beans. The apples and nuts were gathered and stored; the scent of whey departed from the farm-houses, and the scent of brewing came in its stead. The woods behind the Chase, and all the hedgerow trees, took on a solemn splendour under the dark low-hanging skies. Michaelmas was come, with its fragrant basketfuls of purple damsons, and its paler purple daisies, and its lads and la.s.ses leaving or seeking service and winding along between the yellow hedges, with their bundles under their arms. But though Michaelmas was come, Mr. Thurle, that desirable tenant, did not come to the Chase Farm, and the old squire, after all, had been obliged to put in a new bailiff. It was known throughout the two parishes that the squire"s plan had been frustrated because the Poysers had refused to be "put upon," and Mrs. Poyser"s outbreak was discussed in all the farm-houses with a zest which was only heightened by frequent repet.i.tion. The news that "Bony" was come back from Egypt was comparatively insipid, and the repulse of the French in Italy was nothing to Mrs. Poyser"s repulse of the old squire. Mr. Irwine had heard a version of it in every parishioner"s house, with the one exception of the Chase. But since he had always, with marvellous skill, avoided any quarrel with Mr. Donnithorne, he could not allow himself the pleasure of laughing at the old gentleman"s discomfiture with any one besides his mother, who declared that if she were rich she should like to allow Mrs. Poyser a pension for life, and wanted to invite her to the parsonage that she might hear an account of the scene from Mrs. Poyser"s own lips.
"No, no, Mother," said Mr. Irwine; "it was a little bit of irregular justice on Mrs. Poyser"s part, but a magistrate like me must not countenance irregular justice. There must be no report spread that I have taken notice of the quarrel, else I shall lose the little good influence I have over the old man."
"Well, I like that woman even better than her cream-cheeses," said Mrs. Irwine. "She has the spirit of three men, with that pale face of hers. And she says such sharp things too."
"Sharp! Yes, her tongue is like a new-set razor. She"s quite original in her talk too; one of those untaught wits that help to stock a country with proverbs. I told you that capital thing I heard her say about Craig--that he was like a c.o.c.k, who thought the sun had risen to hear him crow. Now that"s an AEsop"s fable in a sentence."
"But it will be a bad business if the old gentleman turns them out of the farm next Michaelmas, eh?" said Mrs. Irwine.
"Oh, that must not be; and Poyser is such a good tenant that Donnithorne is likely to think twice, and digest his spleen rather than turn them out. But if he should give them notice at Lady Day, Arthur and I must move heaven and earth to mollify him. Such old parishioners as they are must not go."
"Ah, there"s no knowing what may happen before Lady day," said Mrs. Irwine. "It struck me on Arthur"s birthday that the old man was a little shaken: he"s eighty-three, you know. It"s really an unconscionable age. It"s only women who have a right to live as long as that."
"When they"ve got old-bachelor sons who would be forlorn without them," said Mr. Irwine, laughing, and kissing his mother"s hand.
Mrs. Poyser, too, met her husband"s occasional forebodings of a notice to quit with "There"s no knowing what may happen before Lady day"--one of those undeniable general propositions which are usually intended to convey a particular meaning very far from undeniable. But it is really too hard upon human nature that it should be held a criminal offence to imagine the death even of the king when he is turned eighty-three. It is not to be believed that any but the dullest Britons can be good subjects under that hard condition.
Apart from this foreboding, things went on much as usual in the Poyser household. Mrs. Poyser thought she noticed a surprising improvement in Hetty. To be sure, the girl got "closer tempered, and sometimes she seemed as if there"d be no drawing a word from her with cart-ropes," but she thought much less about her dress, and went after the work quite eagerly, without any telling. And it was wonderful how she never wanted to go out now--indeed, could hardly be persuaded to go; and she bore her aunt"s putting a stop to her weekly lesson in fine-work at the Chase without the least grumbling or pouting. It must be, after all, that she had set her heart on Adam at last, and her sudden freak of wanting to be a lady"s maid must have been caused by some little pique or misunderstanding between them, which had pa.s.sed by. For whenever Adam came to the Hall Farm, Hetty seemed to be in better spirits and to talk more than at other times, though she was almost sullen when Mr. Craig or any other admirer happened to pay a visit there.
Adam himself watched her at first with trembling anxiety, which gave way to surprise and delicious hope. Five days after delivering Arthur"s letter, he had ventured to go to the Hall Farm again--not without dread lest the sight of him might be painful to her. She was not in the house-place when he entered, and he sat talking to Mr. and Mrs. Poyser for a few minutes with a heavy fear on his heart that they might presently tell him Hetty was ill. But by and by there came a light step that he knew, and when Mrs. Poyser said, "Come, Hetty, where have you been?" Adam was obliged to turn round, though he was afraid to see the changed look there must be in her face. He almost started when he saw her smiling as if she were pleased to see him--looking the same as ever at a first glance, only that she had her cap on, which he had never seen her in before when he came of an evening. Still, when he looked at her again and again as she moved about or sat at her work, there was a change: the cheeks were as pink as ever, and she smiled as much as she had ever done of late, but there was something different in her eyes, in the expression of her face, in all her movements, Adam thought--something harder, older, less child-like. "Poor thing!" he said to himself, "that"s allays likely. It"s because she"s had her first heartache. But she"s got a spirit to bear up under it. Thank G.o.d for that."
As the weeks went by, and he saw her always looking pleased to see him--turning up her lovely face towards him as if she meant him to understand that she was glad for him to come--and going about her work in the same equable way, making no sign of sorrow, he began to believe that her feeling towards Arthur must have been much slighter than he had imagined in his first indignation and alarm, and that she had been able to think of her girlish fancy that Arthur was in love with her and would marry her as a folly of which she was timely cured. And it perhaps was, as he had sometimes in his more cheerful moments hoped it would be--her heart was really turning with all the more warmth towards the man she knew to have a serious love for her.
Possibly you think that Adam was not at all sagacious in his interpretations, and that it was altogether extremely unbecoming in a sensible man to behave as he did--falling in love with a girl who really had nothing more than her beauty to recommend her, attributing imaginary virtues to her, and even condescending to cleave to her after she had fallen in love with another man, waiting for her kind looks as a patient trembling dog waits for his master"s eye to be turned upon him. But in so complex a thing as human nature, we must consider, it is hard to find rules without exceptions. Of course, I know that, as a rule, sensible men fall in love with the most sensible women of their acquaintance, see through all the pretty deceits of coquettish beauty, never imagine themselves loved when they are not loved, cease loving on all proper occasions, and marry the woman most fitted for them in every respect--indeed, so as to compel the approbation of all the maiden ladies in their neighbourhood. But even to this rule an exception will occur now and then in the lapse of centuries, and my friend Adam was one. For my own part, however, I respect him none the less--nay, I think the deep love he had for that sweet, rounded, blossom-like, dark-eyed Hetty, of whose inward self he was really very ignorant, came out of the very strength of his nature and not out of any inconsistent weakness. Is it any weakness, pray, to be wrought on by exquisite music? To feel its wondrous harmonies searching the subtlest windings of your soul, the delicate fibres of life where no memory can penetrate, and binding together your whole being past and present in one unspeakable vibration, melting you in one moment with all the tenderness, all the love that has been scattered through the toilsome years, concentrating in one emotion of heroic courage or resignation all the hard-learnt lessons of self-renouncing sympathy, blending your present joy with past sorrow and your present sorrow with all your past joy? If not, then neither is it a weakness to be so wrought upon by the exquisite curves of a woman"s cheek and neck and arms, by the liquid depths of her beseeching eyes, or the sweet childish pout of her lips. For the beauty of a lovely woman is like music: what can one say more? Beauty has an expression beyond and far above the one woman"s soul that it clothes, as the words of genius have a wider meaning than the thought that prompted them. It is more than a woman"s love that moves us in a woman"s eyes--it seems to be a far-off mighty love that has come near to us, and made speech for itself there; the rounded neck, the dimpled arm, move us by something more than their prettiness--by their close kinship with all we have known of tenderness and peace. The n.o.blest nature sees the most of this impersonal expression in beauty (it is needless to say that there are gentlemen with whiskers dyed and undyed who see none of it whatever), and for this reason, the n.o.blest nature is often the most blinded to the character of the one woman"s soul that the beauty clothes. Whence, I fear, the tragedy of human life is likely to continue for a long time to come, in spite of mental philosophers who are ready with the best receipts for avoiding all mistakes of the kind.
Our good Adam had no fine words into which he could put his feeling for Hetty: he could not disguise mystery in this way with the appearance of knowledge; he called his love frankly a mystery, as you have heard him. He only knew that the sight and memory of her moved him deeply, touching the spring of all love and tenderness, all faith and courage within him. How could he imagine narrowness, selfishness, hardness in her? He created the mind he believed in out of his own, which was large, unselfish, tender.
The hopes he felt about Hetty softened a little his feeling towards Arthur. Surely his attentions to Hetty must have been of a slight kind; they were altogether wrong, and such as no man in Arthur"s position ought to have allowed himself, but they must have had an air of playfulness about them, which had probably blinded him to their danger and had prevented them from laying any strong hold on Hetty"s heart. As the new promise of happiness rose for Adam, his indignation and jealousy began to die out. Hetty was not made unhappy; he almost believed that she liked him best; and the thought sometimes crossed his mind that the friendship which had once seemed dead for ever might revive in the days to come, and he would not have to say "good-bye" to the grand old woods, but would like them better because they were Arthur"s. For this new promise of happiness following so quickly on the shock of pain had an intoxicating effect on the sober Adam, who had all his life been used to much hardship and moderate hope. Was he really going to have an easy lot after all? It seemed so, for at the beginning of November, Jonathan Burge, finding it impossible to replace Adam, had at last made up his mind to offer him a share in the business, without further condition than that he should continue to give his energies to it and renounce all thought of having a separate business of his own. Son-in-law or no son-in-law, Adam had made himself too necessary to be parted with, and his headwork was so much more important to Burge than his skill in handicraft that his having the management of the woods made little difference in the value of his services; and as to the bargains about the squire"s timber, it would be easy to call in a third person. Adam saw here an opening into a broadening path of prosperous work such as he had thought of with ambitious longing ever since he was a lad: he might come to build a bridge, or a town hall, or a factory, for he had always said to himself that Jonathan Burge"s building business was like an acorn, which might be the mother of a great tree. So he gave his hand to Burge on that bargain, and went home with his mind full of happy visions, in which (my refined reader will perhaps be shocked when I say it) the image of Hetty hovered, and smiled over plans for seasoning timber at a trifling expense, calculations as to the cheapening of bricks per thousand by water-carriage, and a favourite scheme for the strengthening of roofs and walls with a peculiar form of iron girder. What then? Adam"s enthusiasm lay in these things; and our love is inwrought in our enthusiasm as electricity is inwrought in the air, exalting its power by a subtle presence.
Adam would be able to take a separate house now, and provide for his mother in the old one; his prospects would justify his marrying very soon, and if Dinah consented to have Seth, their mother would perhaps be more contented to live apart from Adam. But he told himself that he would not be hasty--he would not try Hetty"s feeling for him until it had had time to grow strong and firm. However, tomorrow, after church, he would go to the Hall Farm and tell them the news. Mr. Poyser, he knew, would like it better than a five-pound note, and he should see if Hetty"s eyes brightened at it. The months would be short with all he had to fill his mind, and this foolish eagerness which had come over him of late must not hurry him into any premature words. Yet when he got home and told his mother the good news, and ate his supper, while she sat by almost crying for joy and wanting him to eat twice as much as usual because of this good-luck, he could not help preparing her gently for the coming change by talking of the old house being too small for them all to go on living in it always.
Chapter x.x.xIV.
The Betrothal.
IT was a dry Sunday, and really a pleasant day for the 2d of November. There was no sunshine, but the clouds were high, and the wind was so still that the yellow leaves which fluttered down from the hedgerow elms must have fallen from pure decay. Nevertheless, Mrs. Poyser did not go to church, for she had taken a cold too serious to be neglected; only two winters ago she had been laid up for weeks with a cold; and since his wife did not go to church, Mr. Poyser considered that on the whole it would be as well for him to stay away too and "keep her company." He could perhaps have given no precise form to the reasons that determined this conclusion, but it is well known to all experienced minds that our firmest convictions are often dependent on subtle impressions for which words are quite too coa.r.s.e a medium. However it was, no one from the Poyser family went to church that afternoon except Hetty and the boys; yet Adam was bold enough to join them after church, and say that he would walk home with them, though all the way through the village he appeared to be chiefly occupied with Marty and Tommy, telling them about the squirrels in Binton Coppice, and promising to take them there some day. But when they came to the fields he said to the boys, "Now, then, which is the stoutest walker? Him as gets to th" home-gate first shall be the first to go with me to Binton Coppice on the donkey. But Tommy must have the start up to the next stile, because he"s the smallest."
Adam had never behaved so much like a determined lover before. As soon as the boys had both set off, he looked down at Hetty and said, "Won"t you hang on my arm, Hetty?" in a pleading tone, as if he had already asked her and she had refused. Hetty looked up at him smilingly and put her round arm through his in a moment. It was nothing to her, putting her arm through Adam"s, but she knew he cared a great deal about having her arm through his, and she wished him to care. Her heart beat no faster, and she looked at the half-bare hedgerows and the ploughed field with the same sense of oppressive dulness as before. But Adam scarcely felt that he was walking. He thought Hetty must know that he was pressing her arm a little--a very little. Words rushed to his lips that he dared not utter--that he had made up his mind not to utter yet--and so he was silent for the length of that field. The calm patience with which he had once waited for Hetty"s love, content only with her presence and the thought of the future, had forsaken him since that terrible shock nearly three months ago. The agitations of jealousy had given a new restlessness to his pa.s.sion--had made fear and uncertainty too hard almost to bear. But though he might not speak to Hetty of his love, he would tell her about his new prospects and see if she would be pleased. So when he was enough master of himself to talk, he said, "I"m going to tell your uncle some news that"ll surprise him, Hetty; and I think he"ll be glad to hear it too."
"What"s that?" Hetty said indifferently.
"Why, Mr. Burge has offered me a share in his business, and I"m going to take it."
There was a change in Hetty"s face, certainly not produced by any agreeable impression from this news. In fact she felt a momentary annoyance and alarm, for she had so often heard it hinted by her uncle that Adam might have Mary Burge and a share in the business any day, if he liked, that she a.s.sociated the two objects now, and the thought immediately occurred that perhaps Adam had given her up because of what had happened lately, and had turned towards Mary Burge. With that thought, and before she had time to remember any reasons why it could not be true, came a new sense of forsakenness and disappointment. The one thing--the one person--her mind had rested on in its dull weariness, had slipped away from her, and peevish misery filled her eyes with tears. She was looking on the ground, but Adam saw her face, saw the tears, and before he had finished saying, "Hetty, dear Hetty, what are you crying for?" his eager rapid thought had flown through all the causes conceivable to him, and had at last alighted on half the true one. Hetty thought he was going to marry Mary Burge--she didn"t like him to marry--perhaps she didn"t like him to marry any one but herself? All caution was swept away--all reason for it was gone, and Adam could feel nothing but trembling joy. He leaned towards her and took her hand, as he said: "I could afford to be married now, Hetty--I could make a wife comfortable; but I shall never want to be married if you won"t have me."
Hetty looked up at him and smiled through her tears, as she had done to Arthur that first evening in the wood, when she had thought he was not coming, and yet he came. It was a feebler relief, a feebler triumph she felt now, but the great dark eyes and the sweet lips were as beautiful as ever, perhaps more beautiful, for there was a more luxuriant womanliness about Hetty of late. Adam could hardly believe in the happiness of that moment. His right hand held her left, and he pressed her arm close against his heart as he leaned down towards her.
"Do you really love me, Hetty? Will you be my own wife, to love and take care of as long as I live?"
Hetty did not speak, but Adam"s face was very close to hers, and she put up her round cheek against his, like a kitten. She wanted to be caressed--she wanted to feel as if Arthur were with her again.
Adam cared for no words after that, and they hardly spoke through the rest of the walk. He only said, "I may tell your uncle and aunt, mayn"t I, Hetty?" and she said, "Yes."
The red fire-light on the hearth at the Hall Farm shone on joyful faces that evening, when Hetty was gone upstairs and Adam took the opportunity of telling Mr. and Mrs. Poyser and the grandfather that he saw his way to maintaining a wife now, and that Hetty had consented to have him.
"I hope you have no objections against me for her husband," said Adam; "I"m a poor man as yet, but she shall want nothing as I can work for."
"Objections?" said Mr. Poyser, while the grandfather leaned forward and brought out his long "Nay, nay." "What objections can we ha" to you, lad? Never mind your being poorish as yet; there"s money in your head-piece as there"s money i" the sown field, but it must ha" time. You"n got enough to begin on, and we can do a deal tow"rt the bit o" furniture you"ll want. Thee"st got feathers and linen to spare--plenty, eh?"
This question was of course addressed to Mrs. Poyser, who was wrapped up in a warm shawl and was too hoa.r.s.e to speak with her usual facility. At first she only nodded emphatically, but she was presently unable to resist the temptation to be more explicit.
"It ud be a poor tale if I hadna feathers and linen," she said, hoa.r.s.ely, "when I never sell a fowl but what"s plucked, and the wheel"s a-going every day o" the week."
"Come, my wench," said Mr. Poyser, when Hetty came down, "come and kiss us, and let us wish you luck."
Hetty went very quietly and kissed the big good-natured man.
"There!" he said, patting her on the back, "go and kiss your aunt and your grandfather. I"m as wishful t" have you settled well as if you was my own daughter; and so"s your aunt, I"ll be bound, for she"s done by you this seven "ear, Hetty, as if you"d been her own. Come, come, now," he went on, becoming jocose, as soon as Hetty had kissed her aunt and the old man, "Adam wants a kiss too, I"ll warrant, and he"s a right to one now."
Hetty turned away, smiling, towards her empty chair.
"Come, Adam, then, take one," persisted Mr. Poyser, "else y" arena half a man."