Part 22 (2/2)

”Come along,” said he; ”come along.”

Why he should ”call” me to come along I never knew. I had no part in the piece at that moment. But he soon gave me one. I followed, with lingering steps and slow, having no knowledge of the construction of the premises; but in a moment Mathews had disappeared, and I found myself in the middle of the stage, with a crowded house in front of me. The whole audience burst into an uproar of laughter. I suppose it was the incompatibility of my appearance at that juncture which made me ”take” so well; but it brought down the house, and if the curtain had fallen at that moment, I should have been a great success, and Mathews would have been out of it. In the midst of my discomfiture, however, he came on to the stage by another entrance as ”cool as a cuc.u.mber.” He told me afterwards that he had turned the incident to good account by referring to me as ”Every man in his humour,” or, ”A bailiff in distressing circ.u.mstances!”

I was visiting the country house of a respectable old solicitor, who was instructing me in a ”compensation case” which was to be heard at Wakefield.

”I don't know, Mr. Hawkins,” said he on Sunday morning, ”whether you would like to see our little church?”

”No, thank you,” I answered; ”we can have a look at it to-morrow when we have a 'view of the premises.'”

”I thought, perhaps,” said Mr. Goodman, ”you might like to attend the service.”

”No,” said I, ”not particularly; a walk under the 'broad canopy' is preferable on a beautiful morning like this to a poky little pew; and I like the singing of the birds better than the humming of a clergyman's nose.

”Very well,” he said; ”we will, if you like, take a little walk.”

With surprising innocence he inflicted upon me a pious fraud, leading me over fields and meadows, stiles and rustic bridges, until at last the cunning old fox brought me out along a by-path and over a plank bridge right into the village. Then turning a corner near a picturesque farmhouse, he smilingly observed, ”This is our church.”

”It's a very old one, and looks much more picturesque in the distance.

Shall we have a view a little farther off?”

”St. Mary's,” said he; ”1694 is the date--”

”St. Mary's?” said I. ”Fancy! And what is the date--1694?”

”It has some fine tablets, Mr. Hawkins, if you'd like to look in--”

”I don't care for tablets,” I answered; ”if I go to church it is not to stare at tablets.”

At last my host summed up courage to say,--

”Mr. Hawkins, this is our little harvest festival of thanksgiving, and I should not like to be absent.”

”Why on earth, Mr. Goodman,” I answered, ”did you not say that before?

Let us go in by all means. I like a good harvest as well as any Christian on earth.”

The pew was the family pew--the _whole family pew_, and nothing but the family pew; bought with the estate, with the family estate; and was in an excellent situation for the congregation to have a fine view of Mr. Goodman. Indeed, his cheery face could be seen by everybody in church.

I must say the little edifice looked very nice, and had been adorned with the most artistic taste by the young ladies of the Vicarage and the Hall. Mr. Goodman was ”the Hall.” There were bunches of neatly-arranged turnips and carrots, with potatoes, barley, oats, and mangel-wurzel, and almost every variety of fruit from the little village; and every girl had barley and wheat-ears in her straw hat.

It was an affecting sight, calculated to make any one adore the young ladies and long for dinner.

The sermon was an excellent one so far as I could p.r.o.nounce an opinion, but would have been considerably improved had it been three-quarters of an hour shorter. It contained, however, the usual allusions to harvest-homes, gathering into barns, and laying up treasures; which last observation reminded Mr. Goodman that he had _left his purse at home_, and had come away without any money.

I saw him fumbling in his pocket. Now, thought I, the time has come for showing my devotion to Mr. Goodman. As soon, therefore, as he had whispered to me, I handed him all I had, which consisted of a five-pound note. He gratefully took it, and although about five times as much as _he_ intended to give, when the bag was handed to him in went the five-pound note.

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