As the little man went down the hill toward the ferry he was pounced upon by Mother Butson, who regularly now watched for him and waylaid him on his way home.
"Hold hard, Peter Benny--it"s no use your trying to slip by now!"
"I wasn"t, Mrs. Butson; indeed, now, I wasn"t!" he protested; though indeed this waylaying had become a torment to him.
"Well, and what have they decided?" The poor old soul asked it fiercely, yet trembled while waiting for his answer, almost hoping that he would have none.
Mr. Benny longed to say that nothing was decided; but the letter in his pocket seemed to be burning against his ribs. He was a truthful man.
"It don"t lie with me, Mrs. Butson; I"m only the clerk, and take my orders. But I must warn you not to be too hopeful. The person that Mr.
Rosewarne selected will come down and be interviewed. That"s only right and proper."
All the village knew by this time what had happened at the last Board meeting.
"Coming, is she? Then "tis true what I"ve heard, that the old varmint went straight from the meetin" and wrote off to the woman, and that the hand of G.o.d struck "en dead in his chair. Say what you will,"--the cracked voice shrilled up triumphantly--""tis a judgment! What"s the woman"s name?"
"That I"m not allowed to tell you. And look here, Mrs. Butson--you mustn"t use such talk of my poor dead master; indeed you mustn"t."
He looked past her appealingly and at Mrs. Trevarthen, who had come to her doorway to listen.
"I said what I chose to "en while he was alive, and I"ll say what I choose now. You was always a poor span"el, Peter Benny; but John Rosewarne never fo"ced _me_ to lick his boots. "Poor dead master!"" she mimicked.
"Iss fay!--dead enough now, and poor, he that ground the poor!"
At once she began to fawn. "But Mr. Sam"ll see justice done.
You"ll speak a word for me to Mr. Sam? He"s a professin" Christian, and like as not when this woman shows herself she"ll turn out to be some red-hot atheist or Jesuit. To bring the like o" they here was just the dirty trick that old heathen of yours would enjoy. Some blasphemy it must ha" been, or the hand o" G.o.d"d never have struck "en as it did."
"Folks are saying," put in Mrs. Trevarthen from the doorway, "that Sall here ill-wished "en. But she didn"t. "Twas his own sins compa.s.sed his end. Look to your ways, Peter Benny! Your master was an unbeliever and an oppressor, and now he"s in h.e.l.l-fire."
Mr. Benny put his hands to his ears and ran from these terrible women.
For the moment they had both believed what they said, and yet old Rosewarne"s belief or unbelief had nothing to do with their hatred.
They gloated because he had been removed in the act of doing that which would certainly impoverish them. They, neither less nor more than Mr. Sam and Parson Endicott, made identical the will of G.o.d with their own wants.
Peter Benny as he crossed the ferry would have been uneasier and unhappier had he understood Mr. Sam"s parting words. He had not understood them because he had never laid a scheme against man, woman, or child in his life. Still he was uneasy and unhappy enough: first, because it hurt him that anyone should speak as these old women had spoken of his dead master; next, because he really felt sorry for them, and was carrying a letter to their hurt; again because, in spite of Mr. Sam"s rea.s.suring words, he could not shake off a sense of having exceeded his duties by signing that letter without consulting the Board; and lastly, because in his confusion he had forgotten his wife"s state of health, and must break to the poor woman, just arisen from bed and nursing a three-weeks"-old baby, that he had invited a lodger. Now that he came to think of it, there was not a spare bedroom in the house!
CHAPTER X.
NUNCEY.
The driver of the spring-cart was a brown-skinned, bright-eyed, and exceedingly pretty damsel of eighteen or twenty, in a pink print frock with a large crimson rose pinned in its bodice, and a pink sun-bonnet, under the pent of which her dark hair curtained her temples in two ample rippling bands.
"Why, hullo!" She reined up. Hester and the young sailor had fallen apart to let her pa.s.s, and from her perch she stared down from one side of the road to the other with a puzzled, jolly smile.
"Mornin", Tom!"
"Mornin", Nuncey!"
"Sakes alive! What be carryin" there "pon your back?"
"School furnitcher."
The girl"s eyes wandered from the bundle to Hester, and grew wide with surmise.
"You don"t mean to tell me you"re the new schoolmistress!"
"Yes, I"m Hester Marvin."
"And I pictered "ee a frump! But, my dear soul," she asked with sudden solemnity, "what makes "ee do it?"
"Do what?"
"Why, teach school? I al"ays reckoned that a trade for old persons-- toteling poor bodies, "most past any use except to worrit the children."
"And so "tis," put in the young sailor angrily.
"Han"t been crossed in love, have "ee? But there! what be I clackin"
about, when better fit I was askin" your pardon for bein" so late?
I"m sent to fetch you over to Troy. Ought to have been here more"n a half-hour ago; but when you"ve five children to wash an" dress an" get breakfast for an" see their boots is shined, and after that to catch the hoss and put"n to cart--well, you"ll have to forgive it. That"s your luggage Tom"s carryin", I s"pose?--and a funny pa.s.sel of traps school teachers travel with, I will say. You must be clever, though; else you couldn"t have coaxed Tom Trevarthen to shoulder such a load.
He wouldn"t lift his little finger for _me_." She shot this unrighteous shaft with a mischievous side-glance, and laughed.
She had beautiful teeth, and laughing became her mightily.
"But that is not my luggage."
"Not your luggage! Then where--Hullo! have you two been quarrellin"?
Well, I never! You can"t have lost much time about it."
"I left my trunk at the station," Hester went on, flushing yet redder with annoyance.
"And this here belongs to Mother Butson," declared Tom Trevarthen, red also. "I"m fetchin" it home for her."
"Then take and pitch it into the tail of the trap; and you, my dear, hand up your bag and climb up alongside o" me. We"ll drive back to station, fetch your trunk, and be back in time to overtake Tom at the top o" the hill and give him a lift home. There"s plenty room for three on the seat--that is, by squeezin" a bit."
"You"re very kind, Nuncey," said Tom Trevarthen sullenly. "But I"ll not take a lift alongside o" _she_; and I"ll not trouble you with my load, neither."
"Please yourself, you foolish mortal, you. But--I declare! You _must_ have had a tiff!"
"No tiff at all," corrected Tom, st.u.r.dily wrathful. "It"s despise her I do--comin" here and drivin" an old "ooman to the workhouse!"
He turned on his heel and trudged away stubbornly up the hill.
Nuncey gazed back at him for a moment over her shoulder.
"Never saw Tom in such a tear in all my life," she commented cheerfully. "Take "en all the week round, you couldn"t find a better-natered boy. Well, jump up, my dear, and we"ll fit and get your trunk. He may be cured of his sulks by time we overtake "en."
Undoubtedly Hester had excuses enough for feeling hurt and annoyed; yet what mainly hurt and annoyed her (though she would not confess it) was that this sailor and this girl had each taken her as one on equal terms with themselves. She was a sensible girl, by far too sensible to nurse on second thoughts a conceit that she was their superior simply because she spoke better English. Yet habit had taught her to expect some degree of deference from those who spoke incorrectly; and we are all touchier upon our vaguely reasoned claims than upon those of which we have perfect a.s.surance.
"J"p, Pleasant!" Nuncey called to the grey horse, flicking him lightly with the whip. The ill-balanced trap seesawed down the slope, and soon was spinning along the cliff-road, across which the wind blew with such force that Hester caught at her hat.
"Never mind a bit of breeze, my dear. And as for the touch of damp, "tis n.o.bbut the pride o" the mornin". All for heat and pilchar"s, as the saying is: we shall have it broiling hot afore noon. Now I come to think of it, "tis high time we made our introductions. I"m Nuncey Benny--that"s short for Annunciation. This here hoss and trap belongs to my mother. She"s a regrater when in health; but there"s a baby come. That makes eleven of us. You"ll find us a houseful."