"Good heavens!" cried I, glancing reproachfully at Mr. ---, who was discussing his partridge with stoical indifference. "What will become of us? Where are we to go?"
"Oh, make yourself easy; I will force that old witch, Joe"s mother, to clear out."
"But "tis impossible to stow ourselves into that pig-sty."
"It will only be for a week or two, at farthest. This is October; Joe will be sure to be off by the first of sleighing."
"But if she refuses to give up the place?"
"Oh, leave her to me. I"ll talk her over," said the knowing land speculator. "Let it come to the worst," he said, turning to my husband, "she will go out for the sake of a few dollars. By-the-by, she refused to bar the dower when I bought the place; we must cajole her out of that. It is a fine afternoon; suppose we walk over the hill, and try our luck with the old n.i.g.g.e.r?"
I felt so anxious about the result of the negotiation, that, throwing my cloak over my shoulders, and tying on my bonnet without the a.s.sistance of a gla.s.s, I took my husband"s arm, and we walked forth.
It was a bright, clear afternoon, the first week in October, and the fading woods, not yet denuded of their gorgeous foliage, glowed in a mellow, golden light. A soft purple haze rested on the bold outline of the Haldimand hills, and in the rugged beauty of the wild landscape I soon forgot the purport of our visit to the old woman"s log hut.
On reaching the ridge of the hill, the lovely valley in which our future home lay smiled peacefully upoon us from amidst its fruitful orchards, still loaded with their rich, ripe fruit.
"What a pretty place it is!" thought I, for the first time feeling something like a local interest in the spot, springing up in my heart. "How I wish those odious people would give us possession of the home which for some time has been our own."
The log hut that we were approaching, and in which the old woman, R---, resided by herself--having quarrelled years ago with her son"s wife--was of the smallest dimensions, only containing one room, which served the old dame for kitchen, and bed-room, and all. The open door, and a few glazed panes, supplied it with light and air; while a huge hearth, on which crackled two enormous logs--which are technically termed a front and a back stick--took up nearly half the domicile; and the old woman"s bed, which was covered with an unexceptionally clean patched quilt, nearly the other half, leaving just room for a small home-made deal table, of the rudest workmanship, two ba.s.swood-bottomed chairs, stained red, one of which was a rocking-chair, appropiated solely to the old woman"s use, and a spinning wheel. Amidst this muddle of things--for small as was the quantum of furniture, it was all crowded into such a tiny s.p.a.ce that you had to squeeze your way through it in the best manner you could--we found the old woman, with a red cotton handkerchief tied over her grey locks, hood-fashion, sh.e.l.ling white bush-beans into a wooden bowl. Without rising from her seat, she pointed to the only remaining chair. "I guess, miss, you can sit there; and if the others can"t stand, they can make a seat of my bed."
The gentlemen a.s.sured her that they were not tired, and could dispense with seats. Mr. --- then went up to the old woman, and proffering his hand, asked after her health in his blandest manner.
"I"m none the better for seeing you, or the like of you," was the ungracious reply. "You have cheated my poor boy out of his good farm; and I hope it may prove a bad bargain to you and yours."
"Mrs. R---," returned the land speculator, nothing ruffled by her unceremonious greeting, "I could not help your son giving way to drink, and getting into my debt. If people will be so imprudent, they cannot be so stupid as to imagine that others can suffer for their folly."
"Suffer!" repeated the old woman, flashing her small, keen black eyes upon him with a glance of withering scorn. "You suffer! I wonder what the widows and orphans you have cheated would say to that? My son was a poor, weak, silly fool, to be sucked in by the like of you. For a debt of eight hundred dollars--the goods never cost you four hundred--you take from us our good farm; and these, I s"pose," pointing to my husband and me, "are the folk you sold it to. Pray, miss," turning quickly to me, "what might your man give for the place?"
"Three hundred pounds in cash."
"Poor sufferer!" again sneered the hag. "Four hundred dollars is a very SMALL profit in as many weeks. Well, I guess, you beat the Yankees hollow. And pray, what brought you here to-day, scenting about you like a carrion-crow? We have no more land for you to seize from us."
Moodie now stepped forward, and briefly explained our situation, offering the old woman anything in reason to give up the cottage and reside with her son until he removed from the premises; which, he added, must be in a very short time.
The old dame regarded him with a sarcastic smile. "I guess, Joe will take his own time. The house is not built which is to receive him; and he is not a man to turn his back upon a warm hearth to camp in the wilderness. You were GREEN when you bought a farm of that man, without getting along with it the right of possession."
"But, Mrs. R---, your son promised to go out the first of sleighing."
"Wheugh!" said the old woman. "Would you have a man give away his hat and leave his own head bare? It"s neither the first snow nor the last frost that will turn Joe out of his comfortable home. I tell you all that he will stay here, if it is only to plague you."
Threats and remonstrances were alike useless, the old woman remained inexorable; and we were just turning to leave the house, when the cunning old fox exclaimed, "And now, what will you give me to leave my place?"
"Twelve dollars, if you give us possession next Monday," said my husband.
"Twelve dollars! I guess you won"t get me out for that."
"The rent would not be worth more than a dollar a month," said Mr. ---, pointing with his cane to the dilapidated walls.
"Mr. Moodie has offered you a year"s rent for the place."
"It may not be worth a cent," returned the woman; "for it will give everybody the rheumatism that stays a week in it--but it is worth that to me, and more nor double that just now to him. But I will not be hard with him," continued she, rocking herself to and fro. "Say twenty dollars, and I will turn out on Monday."
"I dare say you will," said Mr. ---, "and who do you think would be fool enough to give you such an exorbitant sum for a ruined old shed like this?"
"Mind your own business, and make your own bargains," returned the old woman, tartly. "The devil himself could not deal with you, for I guess he would have the worst of it. What do you say, sir?" and she fixed her keen eyes upon my husband, as if she would read his thoughts. "Will you agree to my price?"
"It is a very high one, Mrs. R---; but as I cannot help myself, and you take advantage of that, I suppose I must give it."
""Tis a bargain," cried the old crone, holding out her hard, bony hand. "Come, cash down!"
"Not until you give me possession on Monday next; or you might serve me as your son has done."
"Ha!" said the old woman, laughing and rubbing her hands together; "you begin to see daylight, do you? In a few months, with the help of him," pointing to Mr. ---, "you will be able to go alone; but have a care of your teacher, for it"s no good that you will learn from him. But will you really stand to your word, mister?" she added, in a coaxing tone, "if I go out on Monday?"
"To be sure I will; I never break my word."
"Well, I guess you are not so clever as our people, for they only keep it as long as it suits them. You have an honest look; I will trust you; but I will not trust him," nodding to Mr. ---, "he can buy and sell his word as fast as a horse can trot. So on Monday I will turn out my traps. I have lived here six-and-thirty years; "tis a pretty place and it vexes me to leave it," continued the poor creature, as a touch of natural feeling softened and agitated her world-hardened heart. "There is not an acre in cultivation but I helped to clear it, nor a tree in yonder orchard but I held it while my poor man, who is dead and gone, planted it; and I have watched the trees bud from year to year, until their boughs overshadowed the hut, where all my children, but Joe, were born. Yes, I came here young, and in my prime; and I must leave it in age and poverty. My children and husband are dead, and their bones rest beneath the turf in the burying-ground on the side of the hill. Of all that once gathered about my knees, Joe and his young ones alone remain. And it is hard, very hard, that I must leave their graves to be turned by the plough of a stranger."
I felt for the desolate old creature--the tears rushed to my eyes; but there was no moisture in hers. No rain from the heart could filter through that iron soil.
"Be a.s.sured, Mrs. R---," said Moodie, "that the dead will be held sacred; the place will never be disturbed by me."
"Perhaps not; but it is not long that you will remain here. I have seen a good deal in my time; but I never saw a gentleman from the old country make a good Canadian farmer. The work is rough and hard, and they get out of humour with it, and leave it to their hired helps, and then all goes wrong. They are cheated on all sides, and in despair take to the whiskey bottle, and that fixes them. I tell you what it is, mister--I give you just three years to spend your money and ruin yourself; and then you will become a confirmed drunkard, like the rest."
The first part of her prophecy was only too true. Thank G.o.d! the last has never been fulfilled, and never can be.
Perceiving that the old woman was not a little elated with her bargain, Mr. --- urged upon her the propriety of barring the dower.
At first, she was outrageous, and very abusive, and rejected all his proposals with contempt; vowing that she would meet him in a certain place below, before she would sign away her right to the property.
"Listen to reason, Mrs. R---," said the land speculator. "If you will sign the papers before the proper authorities, the next time your son drives you to C---, I will give you a silk gown."
"Pshaw! Buy a shroud for yourself; you will need it before I want a silk gown," was the ungracious reply.
"Consider woman; a black silk of the best quality."
"To mourn in for my sins, or for the loss of the farm?"
"Twelve yards," continued Mr. ---, without noticing her rejoinder, "at a dollar a yard. Think what a nice church-going gown it will make."
"To the devil with you! I never go to church."
"I thought as much," said Mr. ---, winking to us. "Well, my dear madam, what will satisfy you?"
"I"ll do it for twenty dollars," returned the old woman, rocking herself to and fro in her chair; her eyes twinkling, and her hands moving convulsively, as if she already grasped the money so dear to her soul.
"Agreed," said the land speculator. "When will you be in town?"
"On Tuesday, if I be alive. But, remember, I"ll not sign till I have my hand on the money."