Part 14 (2/2)
”He was.”
The dalesmen walked on. They had got down into the road, when the little schoolmaster ran up against them almost before he had been seen.
”Oh, here you are, are you?” he gasped.
”Are they coming?” said Robbie Anderson, jumping on to the turf hedge to get a wider view.
”That they are.”
The little man had dropped down on to a stone, and was mopping his forehead. When he had recovered his breath, he said,--
”I say, Monsieur the Gladiator, why didn't you kill when you were about it? I say, why didn't you kill?” and Monsey held his thumbs down, as he looked in Ralph's face.
”Kill whom?” said Ralph. He could not help laughing at the schoolmaster's ludicrous figure and gesture.
”Why, that Garth--a bad garth--a kirk-garth--a kirk-warner's garth-a devil's garth--_Joe_ Garth?”
”I can't see them,” said Robbie, and he jumped down again into the road.
”Oh, but you will, you will,” said Monsey; and stretching his arm out towards Ralph with a frantic gesture, he cried, ”You fly, fly, fly, fly!”
”Allow me to point out to you,” observed Ralph, smiling, ”that I do not at all fly, nor shall I know why I should not remain where I am until you tell me.”
”Then know that your life's not worth a pin's fee if you remain here to be taken. Oh, that Garth--that devil's garth--that--that--_Joe_ Garth!”
There was clearly no epithet that suited better with Monsey's mood than the said monster's proper name.
”Friends,” said Ralph, more seriously, ”it's clear I can't leave before I see my father buried, and it's just as clear I can't see him buried if I stay. With your help I may do both--that is, seem to do both.”
”How? how? unfold--I can interpret you no conundrums,” said Monsey.
”To go, and yet not to go, that is the question.”
”Can I help you?” said Robbie with the simplicity of earnestness.
”Go back, schoolmaster, to the Lion.”
”I know it--I've been there before--well?”
”Say, if your conscience will let you--I know how tender it is--say you saw me go over Lauvellen in the direction of Fairfield. Say this quietly--say it to old Matthew in a whisper and as a secret; that will be enough.”
”I've shared with that patriarch some secrets before now, and they've been common property in an hour--common as the mushrooms on the common--common as his common saws--common--”
”Robbie, the burial will take place the day after to-morrow, at three in the afternoon, at the kirk-garth--”
”Oh, that Garth,--that devil's garth--that Joe--”
”At the kirk-garth at Gosforth,” continued Ralph. ”Go round the city and the dale, and bid every master and mistress within the warning to Shoulthwaite Moss at nine o'clock in the morning. Be there yourself as the representative of the family, and see all our old customs observed. The kirk-garth is twenty miles away, across rugged mountain country, and you must follow the public pa.s.s.”
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