Part 5 (1/2)
”Ay!” he said, seizing now both her hands, ”rougher, perhaps, than the gay gallants of Bideford, who serenade you, and write sonnets to you, and send you posies Rougher, but , Rose! Do not turn away! I shall die if you take your eyes off me! Tell me,--tell me, now here--this moment--before we part--if I , and bursting into tears ”This is too rude If I ahter I ao! or I will call for help!”
Eustace had heard or read somewhere that such expressions in a wons that she had no objection to be alone, and did not intend to call for help; and he only grasped her hands the ry eyes; but she was in earnest, nevertheless, and a loud shriek ood nao: but there was one question, for an answer to which he would risk his very life
”Yes, proud woallants has been beforehand with me Tell me who--”
But she broke from him, and passed him, and fled down the lane
”Mark it!” cried he, after her ”You shall rue the day when you despised Eustace Leigh! Mark it, proud beauty!” And he turned back to join Campian, who stood in some trepidation
”You have not hurt the ht I heard a scream”
”Hurt her! No Would God that she were dead, nevertheless, and I by her! Say no h of the world to guess what had happened, and they both hurried hoh played hisrun nearly to Chapel, stopped for very shaes which stood opposite the gate, and then turned up the lane towards Moorwinstow village, whither she was bound But on second thoughts, she felt herself so ”red and flustered,” that she was afraid of going into the village, for fear (as she said to herself) ofinto a by-path, struck away toward the cliffs, to cool her blushes in the sea-breeze And there finding a quiet grassy nook beneath the crest of the rocks, she sat down on the turf, and fell into a great h specimen of a West-coast maiden, full of passionate iinations, a fit subject, as the North-Devon woentle superstitions Left early without ends and ballads of her native land, till she believed--what did she not believe?--of mermaids and pixies, charic in which most of the countrywoh but twenty years ago Then her father's house was seldon parts, who, like Othello, had his tales of-- ”Antres vast, and deserts idle, Of rough quarries, rocks, and hills whose heads reach heaven”
And,-- ”And of the cannibals that each other eat, The anthropophagi, and row beneath their shoulders”
All which tales, she, like Desdereedy ears, whenever she could ”the house affairs with haste despatch” And when these failed, there was still boundless store of wonders open to her in old rolish house of the better class The Legend of King Arthur, Florice and Blancheflour, Sir Ysumbras, Sir Guy of Warwick, Palamon and Arcite, and the Romaunt of the Rose, ith her text-books and canonical authorities And lucky it was, perhaps, for her that Sidney's Arcadia was still in petto, or Mr Frank (who had already seen the first book or two in manuscript, and extolled it above all books past, present, or to coht a copy down for Rose, and thereby have turned her poor little flighty brains upside down forever And with her head full of these, it was no wonder if she had likened herself of late more than once to some of those peerless princesses of old, for whose fair hand paladins and kaisers thundered against each other in tilted field; and perhaps she would not have been sorry(provided, of course, no one was killed) if duels, and passages of arms in honor of her, as her father reasonably dreaded, had actually taken place
For Rose was not only well aware that she ooed, but found the said wooing (and little shame to her) a very pleasant process Not that she had any wish to break hearts: she did not break her heart for any of her admirers, and why should they break theirs for her? They were all very charentle since learnt to turn up her nose at hers); but one of them was not so very h was the ; but then, as a courtier and squire of da but sonnets and coallant, as said (though, by the by, most scandalously) to have a lady love at Milan, and another at Vienna, and half-a-dozen in the Court, and half-a-dozenwas Mr Williaalliards and lavoltas; over and above his rich inheritance; but then, charh he were a little proud and stately; but which of the two should she choose? It would be very pleasant to be mistress of Clovelly Court; but just as pleasant to find herself lady of Portledge, where the Coffins had lived ever since Noah's flood (if, indeed, they had not merely returned thither after that te her wealth into a family which was as proud of its antiquity as any nobleht have made a fourth to that famous trio of Devonshi+re Cs, of which it is written,-- ”Crocker, Cruwys, and Copplestone, When the Conqueror cah Fortescue, too--people said that he was certain to becoreat as his brother Arthur--and that would be pleasant enough, too, though he was but the younger son of an innuh Ah, poor Airl's fancy for him had vanished, or rather, perhaps, it was very irl's fancies beside it had entered in, and kept it in due subjection But still, she could not help thinking a good deal about hith, and beauty, and valor, which had already reached her in that out-of-the-way corner; and though she was not in the least in love with hi that he had at least (to put her pretty little thought in the , too, with all her fancy, to give his which he had seen and done in this ever-ether, it was no wonder, if in her last night's dreaure of Amyas had been even more forward and troublesome than that of Frank or the rest
But, ure had been forward and troublesoht's sleep-world; and forward and troubleso-world, nae that she should have drea with Mr Frank and Mr A--see, she had e way; so the first half of her dream had come true; and after what had past, she only had to breathe a whisper, and the second part of the dreae of arh compass one: not that she would do it for worlds! And after all, though Mr Eustace had been very rude and naughty, yet still it was not his own fault; he could not help being in love with her And--and, in short, the poor little es on earth, with all the cares (or hearts) of the country in her keeping, and as ht as ever was any Cleophila, or Dianeme, Fiordispina or Flourdeluce, in verse run tame, or prose run mad
Poor little Rose! Had she but had a mother! But she was to learn her lesson, such as it was, in another school She was too shy (too proud perhaps) to tell her aunt her hty troubles; but a counsellor shewith her head in her hands, for half-an-hour orthe cliffs towards Marsland She would go and see Lucy Pass; Lucy would tell her what to do; perhaps even whom to marry
Lucy was a fat, jolly wo-eyes, which twinkled like sparks of fire, and eyebrohich sloped upwards and outwards, like those of a satyr, as if she had been (as indeed she had) all her life looking out of the corners of her eyes Her qualifications as white witch were boundless cunning, equally boundless good nature, considerable knowledge of human weaknesses, some mesmeric power, some skill in ”yarbs,” as she called her simples, a firm faith in the virtue of her own incantations, and the faculty of holding her tongue By dint of these she contrived to gain a fair share ofthe simple folk for many miles round If a child was scalded, a tooth ached, a piece of silver was stolen, a heifer shrew-struck, a pig bewitched, a young damsel crost in love, Lucy was called in, and Lucy found a remedy, especially for the latter coround, for the kind-heartedness which compelled her to help all distressed damsels out of a scrape, sometied fathers called Lucy ugly naaol for a witch, and she smiled quietly, and hinted that if she were ”like some that were ready to return evil for evil, such talk as that would bring no blessing on thelish, meant, ”If you trouble s will die, your horses stray, your cream turn sour, your barns be fired, your son have St Vitus's dance, your daughter fits, and so on, woe on woe, till you are very probably starved to death in a ditch, by virtue of this terrible little eye of , you know you are now shaking in your shoes for fear So you had ive me a drink of cider, and leave ill alone, lest you make it worse”
Not that Lucy ever proceeded to any such fearful extremities On the contrary, her boast, and her belief too, was, that she was sent into the world to make poor souls as happy as she could, by lawful means, of course, if possible, but if not--why, unlawful ones were better than none; for she ”couldn't a-bear to see the poor creatures taking on; she was too, too tender-hearted” And so she was, to every one but her husband, a tall, siood deal older than herself Fully agreeing with Sir Richard Grenville's great axiom, that he who cannot obey cannot rule, Lucy had been for the last five-and-twenty years training him pretty smartly to obey her, with the intention, it is to be charitably hoped, of letting him rule her in turn when his lesson was perfected He bore his honors, however,a boundless respect for his wife's wisdoo her oay and earn her own ot a littlethose lonely cliffs), by feeding a herd of sooats The donkeys fetched, at each low- tide, white shell-sand which was to be sold for oats furnishednor sand-carrying to be done, old Will Passoats rattle their horns together, thinking about nothing at all, and taking very good care all the while neither to inquire nor to see who calen
The prophetess, when Rose approached her oracular cave, was seated on a tripod in front of the fire, distilling strong waters out of penny-royal But no sooner did her distinguished visitor appear at the hatch, than the still was left to take care of itself, and a clean apron andbeen slipt on, Lucy welcomed Rose with endless courtesies, and--”Bless ht to see the Rose of Torridge to my poor little place!”
Rose sat down: and then? How to begin was more than she knew, and she stayed silent a full fiveearnestly at the point of her shoe, till Lucy, as an adept in such cases, thought it best to proceed to business at once, and save Rose the delicate operation of opening the ball herself; and so, in her oay, half fawning, half fa lady, and what is it I can do for ye? For I guess you want a bit of old Lucy's help, eh? Though I'm most mazed to see ye here, surely I should have supposed that pretty face could e they sort of ed, confessed at once, and with many blushes and hesitations, made her soon understand that what she wanted was ”To have her fortune told”
”Eh? Oh! I see The pretty face has ed it a bit too well already, eh? Tu many o' mun, pure fellows? Well, 'tain't every mayden has her pick and choose, like some I know of, as be blest in love by stars above So you hain't made up your mind, then?”
Rose shook her head
”Ah--well,” she went on, in a half-bantering tone ”Not so asy, is it, then? One's gude for one thing, and one for another, eh? One has the blood, and another thewo half to herself, ran over all the na at Rose all the while out of the corners of her foxy bright eyes, while Rose stirred the peat ashes steadfastly with the point of her little shoe, half angry, half ashauessed so well both her suitors and her thoughts about them, and tried to look unconcerned at each name as it ca by herto take; ”think over it--think over it, my dear life; and if you did set your ht help you to a sight of hiht of him?”
”His sperrit, dear life, his sperrit only, Icoowld untowld, I 'udn't; but the sperrit of mun--to see whether mun would be true or not, you'd like to know that, now, 'udn't you, hed, and stirred the ashes about vehemently
”I must first knoho it is to be If you could show me that-- now--”
”Oh, I can show ye that, tu, I can Ben there's a way to 't, a sure way; but 'tis mortal cold for the time o' year, you zee”
”But what is it, then?” said Rose, who had in her heart been longing for so of that very kind, and had half made up her oo into the say by night for a ht would serve, too; 't will be just low tide to ht”
”If you would come with me perhaps--”
”I'll come, I'll come, and stand within call, to be sure Only do yea cruht at all, indeed, now And beside, there's a noxious business grow'd up against h saith I shall to Exeter gaol for a witch--did ye ever hear the likes?--because his groo! And now never he nor th' owld Father Francis goo byof their Ayes and Malificas--I do knohat their Roo o' their charms and incantations to their saints and idols! They be mortal feared of witches, they Papists, and mortal hard on 'em, even on a pure body like me, that doth a bit in the white way; 'case why you see, dear life,” said she, with one of her huree Do ye try my bit of a charm, now; do ye!”
Rose could not resist the tereed on, and the next night was fixed for its trial, on the payment of certain current coins of the real a tester into the daot there in safety
But in thehis suit in the lane at Moorwinstow, a very different scene was being enacted in Mrs Leigh's roooing to bed, heard his brother Frank in the next roo And both their s being open, and only a thin partition between the cha ears ca in that delicate andall fair ladies:-- ”Ah, tyrant Love, Megaera's serpents bearing, Why thus requite hs with veno, Why flesh them, traitress, in this faithful heart? Is this ons' teeth alone In Venus' lawns by lovers' hands be sown?
”Nay, gentlest Cupid; 'twas uiltless dove; by mine oound I fell To worshi+p, not to wed, Celestials bid me: I dreamt to mate in heaven, and wake in hell; Forever doo wheel”
At which the sied that he could write such neat verses, and sing thee the ear of Rose Salterne with a; and if he had the bone and muscle of the family, it was but fair that Frank should have the brains and voice; and, after all, he was bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh, and it was just the sas which Frank could do; for as long as one of the family won honor, what h the wall, ”Good night, old song-thrush; I suppose I need not pay the musicians”
”What, awake?” answered Frank ”Co”
So Amyas went in, and found Frank laid on the outside of his bed not yet undrest
”I am a bad sleeper,” said he; ”I spend ht oil than prudent er, and tell ions, and the fire-regions, and the paradises of the West”
So Amyas sat down, and told: but somehow, every story which he tried to tell came round, by crooked paths, yet sure, to none other point than Rose Salterne, and how he thought of her here and thought of her there, and hoondered what she would say if she had seen hied to have had her with hiht, till Frank let him have his oay, and then out came the whole story of the sih those three long years of world-anderings
”And oh, Frank, I could hardly think of anything but her in the church the other day, God forgive me! and it did seem so hard for her to be the only face which I did not see--and have not seen her yet, either”
”So I thought, dear lad,” said Frank, with one of his sweetest set her father to let her ie”