Reuben felt a stab. Neither of the children knew that they possessed a penny. A blunt word of Hannah"s first of all, about "not gien "em ony high noshuns o" theirsels," aided on Reuben"s side by the natural secretiveness of the peasant in money affairs, had effectually concealed all knowledge of their own share in the family finances from the orphans.
He reached out a soil-stained hand, shaking already with incipient age, and laid it on David"s sleeve.
"Art tha hankerin after a trade, lad?" he said hastily, nay, harshly.
David looked at his uncle astonished. A hundred thoughts flew through the boy"s mind. Then he raised his head and caught sight of the great peak of Kinder Low in the distance, beyond the green swells of meadowland,--the heathery slopes running up into its rocky breast,--the black patch on the brown, to the left, which marked the site of the smithy.
"No," he said decidedly. "No; I can"t say as I am. I like t" farmin well enough."
And then, boy-like, hating to be talked to about himself, he shook himself free of his uncle and walked away. Reuben fell to his pipe again with a beaming countenance.
"Louie, my gell," he said.
"Yes," said the child, not moving.
"Coom yo heer, Louie."
She unwillingly got down and came up to him. Reuben put down his pipe, and fumbled in his waistcoat pocket. Out of it, with difficulty, he produced a sixpence.
"Art tha partial to goodies, Louie?" he said, dropping his voice almost to a whisper, and holding up the coin before her.
Louie nodded, her eyes glistening at the magnitude of the coin.
Uncle Reuben might be counted on for a certain number of pennies during the year, but silver was unheard of.
"Tak it then, child, an welcome. If yo have a sweet tooth--an it"s t" way wi moast gells--I conno see as it can be onythin else but Providence as gave it yo. So get yorsel soom bull"s-eyes, Louie, an--an"--he looked a little conscious as he slipped the coin into her eager hand--"doan"t let on ti your aunt! She"d think mebbe I wor spoilin your teeth, or summat,--an, Louie--"
Was Uncle Reuben gone mad? For the first time in her life, as it seemed to Louie, he was looking at what she had on, nay, was even taking up her dress between his finger and thumb.
"Is thissen your Sunday frock, chilt?"
"Yes," said the girl, flushing scarlet, "bean"t it a dishclout?"
And she stood looking down at it with pa.s.sionate scorn. It was a worn and patched garment of brown alpaca, made out of an ancient gown of Hannah"s.
"Wal, I"m naw judge i" these matters," said Reuben, dubiously, drawing out his spectacles. "It"s got naw holes "at I can see, but it"s not varra smart, perhaps. Satan"s varra active wi gells on this pint o" dress--yo mun tak noatice o" that, Louie--but--listen heer--"
And he drew her nearer to him by her skirt, looking cautiously up and down the lane and across to the farm.
"If I get a good price for t" wool this year--an theer"s a new merchant coomin round, yan moor o" t" buyin soart nor owd Croker, soa they say, I"st save yo five shillin for a frock, chilt. Yo can goo an buy it, an I"st mak it straight wi yor aunt. But I mun get a good price, yo know, or your aunt ull be fearfu" bad to manage."
And he gazed up at her as though appealing to her common sense in the matter, and to her understanding of both his and her situation.
Louie"s cheeks were red, her eyes did not meet his. They looked away, down towards Clough End.
"Theer"s a blue cotton at Hinton"s," she said, hurriedly--"a light-blue cotton. They want sixpence farthin,--but Annie Wigson says yo could bate "em a bit. But what"s t" use?" she added, with a sudden savage darkening of her bright look--"she"d tak it away."
The tone gave Reuben a shock. But he did not rebuke it. For the first time he and Louie were conspirators in the same plot.
"No, no, I"d see to "at. But how ud yo get it made?" He was beginning to feel a childish interest in his scheme.
"Me an Annie Wigson ud mak it oop fast enough. Theer are things I can do for her; she"d not want no payin, an she"s fearfu" good at dressmakin. She wor prenticed two years afore she took ill."
"Gie me a kiss then, my gell; doan"t yo gie naw trooble, an we"st see. But I mun get a good price, yo know."
And rising, Reuben bent towards his niece. She rose on tiptoe, and just touched his rough cheek. There was no natural childish effusiveness in the action. For the seven years since she left her father, Louie had quite unlearnt kissing.
Reuben proceeded up the lane to the gate leading to the moor. He was in the highest spirits. What a mercy he had not bothered Hannah with Mr. Ancrum"s remarks! Why, the boy wouldn"t go to a trade, not if he were sent!
At the gate he ran against David, who came hastily out of the farmyard to intercept him.
"Uncle Reuben, what do they coe that bit watter up theer?" and he pointed up the lane towards the main ridge of the Peak. "Yo know--that bit pool on t" way to th" Downfall?"
The farmer stopped bewildered.
"That bit watter? What they coe that bit watter? Why, they coe it t" Witch"s Pool, or used to i" my yoong days. An for varra good reason too. They drownded an owd witch theer i" my grand-feyther"s time--I"ve heerd my grandmither tell th" tale on"t scores o" times.
An theer"s aw mak o" tales about it, or used to be. I hannot yeerd mony words about it o" late years. Who"s been talkin to yo, Davy?"
Louie came running up and listened.
"I doan"t know," said the boy,--"what soart o" tales?"
"Why, they"d use to say th" witch walked, on soom neets i" th"
year--Easter Eve, most pertickerlerly--an foak wor feeart to goo onywhere near it on those neets. But doan"t yo goo listenin to tales, Davy," said Reuben, with a paternal effusion most rare with him, and born of his recent proceedings; "yo"ll only freeten yorsel o" neets for nothin."
"What are witches?" demanded Louie, scornfully. "I doan"t bleeve in "em."
Reuben frowned a little.
"Theer wor witches yance, my gell, becos it"s in th" Bible, an whativer"s in th" Bible"s _true_," and the farmer brought his hand down on the top bar of the gate. "I"m no gien ony judgment about "em nowadays. Theer wor aw mak o" queer things said about Jenny Crum an Needham Farm i" th" owd days. I"ve heerd my grandmither say it worn"t worth a Christian man"s while to live in Needham Farm when Jenny Crum wor about. She meddled wi everythin--wi his lambs, an his coos, an his childer. I niver seed nothin mysel, so I doan"t say nowt--not o" my awn knowledge. But I doan"t soomhow bleeve as it"s th" Awmighty"s will to freeten a Christian c.o.o.ntry wi witches, _i" th" present dispensation_.
An murderin"s a graat sin, wheder it"s witches or oother foak."
"In t" books they doan"t coe it t" Witch"s Pool at aw," said Louie, obstinately. "They coe it t" _Mermaid"s_ Pool."
"An anoother book coes it a "Hammer-dry-ad,"" said David, mockingly, "soa theer yo are."
"Aye, soom faddlin kind of a name they gie it--I know--those Manchester chaps, as cooms trespa.s.sin ower t" Scout wheer they aren"t wanted. To hear ony yan o" _them_ talk, yo"d think theer wor only three fellows like "im cam ower i" three ships, an two were drownded. T"aint ov ony account what they an their books coe it."
And Reuben, as he leant against the gate, blew his smoke contemptuously in the air. It was not often that Reuben Grieve allowed himself, or was allowed by his world, to use airs of superiority towards any other human being whatever. But in the case of the Manchester clerks and warehous.e.m.e.n, who came tramping over the grouse moors which Reuben rented for his sheep, and were always being turned back by keepers or himself--and in their case only--did he exercise, once in a while, the commonest privilege of humanity.
"Did yo iver know onybody "at went up on Easter Eve?" asked David.
Both children hung on the answer.
Reuben scratched his head. The tales of Jenny Crum, once well known to him, had sunk deep into the waves of memory of late years, and his slow mind had some difficulty in recovering them. But at last he said with the sudden brightening of recollection:
"Aye--of _coorse!_--I knew theer wor soom one. Yo know "im, Davy, owd "Lias o" Frimley Moor? He wor allus a foo"hardy sort o"
creetur. But if he wor short o" wits when he gan up, he wor mich shorter when he cam down. That wor a rum skit!--now I think on "t.
Sich a seet he wor! He came by here six o"clock i" th" mornin. I found him hangin ower t" yard gate theer, as white an slamp as a puddin cloth oop on eend; an I browt him in, an was for gien him soom tay. An yor aunt, she gien him a warld o" good advice about his gooins on. But bless yo, he didn"t tak in a word o" "t. An for th" tay, he"d naw sooner swallowed it than he runs out, as quick as leetnin, an browt it aw up. He wor fairly clemmed wi" t" cold,--"at he wor. I put in th" horse, an I took him down to t" Frimley carrier, an we packed him i" soom rugs an straw, an soa he got home. But they put him out o" t" school, an he wor months in his bed. An they do tell me, as n.o.bory can mak owt o" "Lias Dawson these mony years, i" th" matter o" brains. Eh, but yo shudno meddle wi Satan."
"What d"yo think he saw?" asked David, eagerly, his black eyes all aglow.