"You must sit down, Josey," she said; "You will be so tired standing! Sit down and tell me all about it! What trees are you speaking of? And who is going to cut them down! You see I don"t know anything about the place yet,--I"ve only just arrived--but if they are my trees, and you say my father would not have wished them to be cut down, they shan"t be cut down!--be sure of that!"
Josey"s eyes sparkled, and he waved his battered hat triumphantly.
"Didn"t I tell ye?" he exclaimed, turning round upon Bainton; "Didn"t I say as "ow this was the way to do it?--and as "ow the little gel wot I knew as a baby would listen to me when she wouldn"t listen to no one else? An" as "ow the Five Sisters would be spared?
An" worn"t I right! Worn"t I true?"
Maryllia smiled.
"You really must sit down!" she said again, gently persuading him into his chair, wherein he sank heavily, like a stone, though his face shone with alertness and vigour. "Primmins!" and she addressed that functionary who had been standing in the background watching the little scene; "Bring some gla.s.ses of port wine." Primmins vanished to execute this order. "Now, you dear old man," continued Maryllia, drawing up an oaken settle close to Josey"s knee and seating herself with a confidential air; "you must tell me just what you want me to do, and I will do it!"
She looked a mere child, with her fair face upturned and her rippling hair falling loosely away from her brows. A great tenderness softened Josey"s eyes as he fixed them upon her.
"G.o.d Almighty bless ye!" he said, raising his trembling hand above her head; "G.o.d bless ye in your uprisin" and downlyin",--and make the old "ouse and the old ways sweet to ye! For there"s naught like "ome in a wild wandering world--and naught like love to make "appiness out of sorrow! G.o.d bless ye, dear little gel!--and give ye all your "art"s desire, if so be it"s for your good and guidin"!"
Instinctively, Maryllia bent her head with a pretty reverence under the benediction of so venerable a personage, and gently pressed the wrinkled hand as it slowly dropped again. Then glancing at Bainton, she said softly:
"He"s very tired, I"m afraid!--perhaps too tired to tell me all he wishes to say. Will you explain what it is he wants?"
Bainton, thus adjured, took courage.
"Thank ye kindly, Miss; and if I may make so bold, it"s not what he wants more"n wot all the village wants and wot we"ve been "opin"
against "ope for, trustin" to the chance of your comin" "ome to do it for us. Pa.s.son Walden he"s a rare good man, and he"s done all he can, and he"s been and seen Oliver Leach, but it ain"t all no use,-- -"
He paused, as Maryllia interrupted him by a gesture.
"Oliver Leach?" she queried; "He"s my agent here, I believe?"
"Jes" so, Miss--he was put in as agent arter the Squire"s death, and he"s been "ere ever since, bad luck to "im! And he"s been a-cuttin"
down timber on the place whenever he"s took a mind to, askin" no by- your-leaves, and none of us "adn"t no right to say a wurrd, he bein"
master-like--but when it comes to the Five Sisters--why then we sez, if the Five Sisters lay low there"s an end of the pride and prosperity of the village, an" Pa.s.son Walden he be main worrited about it, for he do love trees like as they were his own brothers, m"appen more"n brothers, for sometimes there"s no love lost twixt the likes o" they, and beggin" your pardon, Miss, he sent me to ye with a message from hisself "fore dinner, but you was a-lyin" down and couldn"t be disturbed nohow, so I goes down to Spruce"--here Bainton indicated the silent Spruce with a jerk of his thumb--"he be the forester "ere, under Mr. Leach"s orders, as deaf as a post unless you "ollers at him, but a good-meanin" man for all that--and I sez, "Spruce, you and me "ull go an" fetch old Josey Letherbarrow, and see if bein" the oldest "n"abitant, as they sez in books, he can"t get a wurrd with Miss Vancourt, and so "ere we be, Miss, for the trees be chalked"--and he turned abruptly to Spruce and bellowed--"Baint the trees chalked for comin" down to-morrow marnin"? Speak fair!"
Spruce heard, and at once gave a lucid statement.
"By Mr. Leach"s orders, Miss," he said, addressing Maryllia; "The five old beech-trees on the knoll, which the village folk call the "Five Sisters," are to be felled to-morrow marnin". They"ve stood, so I"m told, an" so I b"lieve, two or three hundred years--"
"And they"re going to be cut down!" exclaimed Maryllia. "I never heard of such wickedness! How disgraceful!"
Spruce saw by the movement of her lips that she was speaking, and therefore at once himself subsided into silence. Bainton again took up the parable.
"He"s nigh stone-deaf, Miss, so you"ll "scuse him if he don"t open his mouth no more till we shouts at him--but what he sez is true enough. At six o"clock to-morrow marnin"--"
Here Primmins entered with the port wine.
"Primmins, where does the agent, Leach, live?" enquired Maryllia.
"I really couldn"t say, Miss. I"ll ask--"
""Tain"t no use askin"," said Bainton; "He lives a mile out of the village; but he ain"t at "ome nohow this evenin" bein" gone to Riversford town for a bit o" gamblin" at cards. Lor", Miss, beggin"
yer pardon, gamblin" with the cards do get rid o" timber--it do reely now!"
Maryllia took a gla.s.s of port wine from the tray which Primmins handed to her, and gave it herself to old Josey. Her mind had entirely grasped the situation, despite the prolix nature of Bainton"s discourse. A group of historic old trees were to be felled by the agent"s orders at six o"clock the next morning unless she prevented it. That was the sum total of the argument. And here was something for her to do, and she resolved to do it.
"Now, Josey," she said with a smile, "you must drink a gla.s.s of wine to my health. And you also--and you!" and she nodded encouragingly to Spruce and Bainton; "And be quite satisfied about the trees--they shall not be touched."
"G.o.d bless ye!" said Josey, drinking off his wine at a gulp; "And long life t"ye and "appiness to enjoy it!"
Bainton, with a connoisseur"s due appreciation of a good old brand, sipped at his gla.s.s slowly, while Spruce, hastily swallowing his measure of the cordial, wiped his mouth furtively with the back of his hand, murmuring: "Your good "elth, an" many of "em!"
"Wishin" ye long days o" peace an" plenty," said Bainton, between his appreciative sips; "But as fur as the trees is consarned, you"ll"scuse me, Miss, for sayin" it, but the time bein" short, I don"t see "ow it"s goin" to be "elped, Oliver Leach bein" away, and no post delivered at his "ouse till eight o"clock--"
"I will settle all that," said Maryllia--"You must leave everything to me. In the meantime,"--and she glanced at Spruce,--then appealingly turned to Bainton,--"Will you try and make your friend understand an order I want to give him? Or shall I ask Mrs. Spruce to come and speak to him?"
"Lord love ye, he"ll be sharper to hear me than his wife, Miss, beggin" yer pardon," said Bainton, with entire frankness. "He"s too accustomed to her jawin" an" wouldn"t get a cleat impression like.
Spruce!" And he uplifted his voice in a roar that made the old rafters of the hall ring. "Get ready to take Miss Vancourt"s orders, will ye?"
Spruce was instantly on the alert, and put his hand to his ear.
"Tell him, please," said Maryllia, still addressing Bainton, "that he is to meet the agent as arranged at the appointed place to-morrow morning; but that he is not to take any ropes or axes or any men with him. He is simply to say that by Miss Vancourt"s orders the trees are not to be touched."
These words Bainton dutifully bellowed into Spruce"s semi-closed organs of hearing. A look first of astonishment and then of fear came over the simple fellow"s face.
"I"m afraid," he at last faltered, "that the lady does not know what a hard man Mr. Leach is; he"ll as good as kill me if I go there alone to him!"
"Lord love ye, man, you won"t be alone!" roared Bainton,--"There"s plenty in the village "ull take care o" that!"
"Say to him," continued Maryllia steadily, noting the forester"s troubled countenance, "he must now remember that I am mistress here, and that my orders, even if given at the last moment, are to be obeyed."
"That"s it!" chuckled Josey Letherbarrow, knocking his stick on the ground in a kind of ecstasy,--"That"s it! Things ain"t goin" to be as they "as been now the Squire"s little gel is "ome! That"s it!"
And he nodded emphatically. "Give a reskil rope enough an" he"ll "ang hisself by the neck till he be dead, and the Lord ha" mercy on his soul!"
Maryllia smiled, watching all her three quaint visitors with a sensation of mingled interest and whimsical amus.e.m.e.nt.
"D"ye hear? You"re to tell Leach," shouted Bainton, "that Miss Vancourt is mistress "ere, and her orders is to be obeyed at the last moment! Which you might ha" understood without splittin" my throat to tell ye, if ye had a little more sense, which, lackin", "owever, can"t be "elped. What are ye afeard of, eh?"
"Mr. Leach is a hard man," continued Spruce, anxiously glancing at Maryllia; "He would lose me my place if he could--:"
Maryllia heard, and privately decided that the person to lose his place would be Leach himself. "It is quite exciting!" she thought; "I was wondering a while ago what I should do to amuse myself in the country, and here I am called upon at once to remedy wrongs and settle village feuds! Nothing could be more novel and delightful!"
Aloud, she said,--
"None of the people who were in my father"s service will lose their places with me, unless for some very serious fault. Please"--and she raised her eyes in pretty appeal to Bainton, "Please make everybody understand that! Are you one of the foresters here?"
Bainton shook his head.
"No, Miss,--I"m the Pa.s.son"s head man. I does all his gardening and keeps a few flowers growin" in the churchyard. There"s a rose climbin" over the cross on the old Squire"s grave what will do ye good to see, come another fortnight of this warm weather. But Pa.s.son, he be main worrited about the Five Sisters, and knowin" as "ow I"d worked for the old Squire at "arvest an," sich-like, he thought I might be able to "splain to ye--"
"I see!" said Maryllia, thoughtfully, surveying with renewed interest the old-world figure of Josey Letherbarrow in his clean smock-frock. "Now, how are you going to get Josey home again?" And a smile irradiated her face. "Will you carry him along just as you brought him?"
"Why, yes, Miss--it"ll be all goin" downhill now, and there"s a moon, and it"ll be easy work. And if so be we"re sure the Five Sisters "ull be saved--"