Ashurst pointed to the narrow green mound. "Can you tell me what this is?"
The old fellow stopped; on his face had come a look as though he were thinking: "You"ve come to the right shop, mister!"
""Tes a grave," he said.
"But why out here?"
The old man smiled. "That"s a tale, as yu may say. An" not the first time as I"ve a-told et--there"s plenty folks asks "bout that bit o"
turf. "Maid"s Grave" us calls et, "ereabouts."
Ashurst held out his pouch. "Have a fill?"
The old man touched his hat again, and slowly filled an old clay pipe.
His eyes, looking upward out of a ma.s.s of wrinkles and hair, were still quite bright.
"If yu don" mind, zurr, I"ll zet down my leg"s "urtin" a bit today." And he sat down on the mound of turf.
"There"s always a flower on this grave. An" "tain"t so very lonesome, neither; brave lot o" folks goes by now, in they new motor cars an"
things--not as "twas in th" old days. She"ve a got company up "ere.
"Twas a poor soul killed "erself."
"I see!" said Ashurst. "Cross-roads burial. I didn"t know that custom was kept up."
"Ah! but "twas a main long time ago. Us "ad a parson as was very G.o.d-fearin" then. Let me see, I"ve a "ad my pension six year come Michaelmas, an" I were just on fifty when t"appened. There"s none livin"
knows more about et than what I du. She belonged close "ere; same farm as where I used to work along o" Mrs. Narracombe "tes Nick Narracombe"s now; I dus a bit for "im still, odd times."
Ashurst, who was leaning against the gate, lighting his pipe, left his curved hands before his face for long after the flame of the match had gone out.
"Yes?" he said, and to himself his voice sounded hoa.r.s.e and queer.
"She was one in an "underd, poor maid! I putts a flower "ere every time I pa.s.ses. Pretty maid an" gude maid she was, though they wouldn"t burry "er up to th" church, nor where she wanted to be burried neither." The old labourer paused, and put his hairy, twisted hand flat down on the turf beside the bluebells.
"Yes?" said Ashurst.
"In a manner of speakin"," the old man went on, "I think as "twas a love-story--though there"s no one never knu for zartin. Yu can"t tell what"s in a maid"s "ead but that"s wot I think about it." He drew his hand along the turf. "I was fond o" that maid--don" know as there was anyone as wasn" fond of "er. But she was to lovin"-"earted--that"s where "twas, I think." He looked up. And Ashurst, whose lips were trembling in the cover of his beard, murmured again: "Yes?"
""Twas in the spring, "bout now as "t might be, or a little later--blossom time--an" we "ad one o" they young college gentlemen stayin" at the farm-nice feller tu, with "is "ead in the air. I liked "e very well, an" I never see nothin" between "em, but to my thinkin"
"e turned the maid"s fancy." The old man took the pipe out of his mouth, spat, and went on:
"Yu see, "e went away sudden one day, an" never come back. They got "is knapsack and bits o" things down there still. That"s what stuck in my mind--"is never sendin" for "em. "Is name was Ashes, or somethen" like that."
"Yes?" said Ashurst once more.
The old man licked his lips.
""Er never said nothin", but from that day "er went kind of dazed lukin"; didn"seem rightly therr at all. I never knu a"uman creature so changed in me life--never. There was another young feller at the farm--Joe Biddaford "is name wer", that was praaperly sweet on "er, tu; I guess "e used to plague "er wi "is attentions. She got to luke quite wild. I"d zee her sometimes of an avenin" when I was bringin" up the calves; ther" she"d stand in th" orchard, under the big apple tree, lukin" straight before "er. "Well," I used t"think, "I dunno what "tes that"s the matter wi" yu, but yu"m lukin" pittiful, that yu be!""
The old man refit his pipe, and sucked at it reflectively.
"Yes?" said Ashurst.
"I remembers one day I said to "er: "What"s the matter, Megan?"--"er name was Megan David, she come from Wales same as "er aunt, ol" Missis Narracombe. "Yu"m frettin" about somethin". I says. "No, Jim," she says, "I"m not frettin"." "Yes, yu be!" I says. "No," she says, and to tears cam" rollin" out. "Yu"m cryin"--what"s that, then?" I says. She putts "er "and over "er "eart: "It "urts me," she says; "but "twill sune be better," she says. "But if anything shude "appen to me, Jim, I wants to be burried under this "ere apple tree." I laughed. "What"s goin" to "appen to yu?" I says; "don"t "ee be fulish." "No," she says, "I won"t be fulish." Well, I know what maids are, an" I never thought no more about et, till two days arter that, "bout six in the avenin" I was comin" up wi" the calves, when I see somethin" dark lyin" in the strame, close to that big apple tree. I says to meself: "Is that a pig-funny place for a pig to get to!" an" I goes up to et, an" I see what "twas."
The old man stopped; his eyes, turned upward, had a bright, suffering look.
""Twas the maid, in a little narrer pool ther" that"s made by the stoppin" of a rock--where I see the young gentleman bathin" once or twice. "Er was lyin" on "er face in the watter. There was a plant o"
goldie-cups growin" out o" the stone just above "er"ead. An" when I come to luke at "er face, "twas luvly, butiful, so calm"s a baby"s--wonderful butiful et was. When the doctor saw "er, "e said: "Er culdn" never a-done it in that little bit o" watter ef" er "adn"t a-been in an extarsy." Ah! an" judgin" from "er face, that was just "ow she was. Et made me cry praaper-butiful et was! "Twas June then, but she"d afound a little bit of apple-blossom left over somewheres, and stuck et in "er "air. That"s why I thinks "er must abeen in an extarsy, to go to et gay, like that. Why! there wasn"t more than a fute and "arf o" watter. But I tell "ee one thing--that meadder"s "arnted; I knu et, an" she knu et; an" no one"ll persuade me as "tesn"t. I told "em what she said to me "bout bein" burried under th" apple tree. But I think that turned "em--made et luke to much "s ef she"d "ad it in "er mind deliberate; an"
so they burried "er up "ere. Parson we "ad then was very particular, "e was."
Again the old man drew his hand over the turf.
""Tes wonderful, et seems," he added slowly, "what maids "ll du for love. She "ad a lovin-"eart; I guess "twas broken. But us never knu nothin"!"
He looked up as if for approval of his story, but Ashurst had walked past him as if he were not there.
Up on the top of the hill, beyond where he had spread the lunch, over, out of sight, he lay down on his face. So had his virtue been rewarded, and "the Cyprian," G.o.ddess of love, taken her revenge! And before his eyes, dim with tears, came Megan"s face with the sprig of apple blossom in her dark, wet hair. "What did I do that was wrong?" he thought. "What did I do?" But he could not answer. Spring, with its rush of pa.s.sion, its flowers and song-the spring in his heart and Megan"s! Was it just Love seeking a victim! The Greek was right, then--the words of the "Hippolytus" as true to-day!
"For mad is the heart of Love, And gold the gleam of his wing; And all to the spell thereof Bend when he makes his spring.
All life that is wild and young In mountain and wave and stream All that of earth is sprung, Or breathes in the red sunbeam; Yea, and Mankind. O"er all a royal throne, Cyprian, Cyprian, is thine alone!"
The Greek was right! Megan! Poor little Megan--coming over the hill!
Megan under the old apple tree waiting and looking! Megan dead, with beauty printed on her!
A voice said:
"Oh, there you are! Look!"
Ashurst rose, took his wife"s sketch, and stared at it in silence.
"Is the foreground right, Frank?"
"Yes."
"But there"s something wanting, isn"t there?"
Ashurst nodded. Wanting? The apple tree, the singing, and the gold!
And solemnly he put his lips to her forehead. It was his silver-wedding day. 1916
THE JURYMAN
"Don"t you see, brother, I was reading yesterday the Gospel about Christ, the little Father; how He suffered, how He walked on the earth. I suppose you have heard about it?"
"Indeed, I have," replied Stepanuitch; "but we are people in darkness; we can"t read."--TOLSTOI.