Part 9 (1/2)
”Ah, old Jerry Penfold We always called 'n Old Jerry He bin dead several tiht so Rare ructions there bin over there, no ot to sharin' out his kit One come an'
took away his clock, and another his chest o' drawers, and some of his sons even coot the lawyer an'it all back”
”Rare ructions”--yes: but Bettesworth used the word ”rare” as we should use ”great,” and did not mean that the affair was very unusual He was not scandalized soof the faht only to identify Old Jerry So the road withand other labours on a certain farm I had never learnt his name, nor had seen the man since; but now it occurred to me that perhaps he was old Penfold I asked Bettesworth
Bettesworth decided in the negative Old Penfold had never been a shepherd, or worked for the farmer I named
Yet another old hty, as still creeping honourably about at work Frequently I met him; but he seemed so shut up in himself that I had never cared to intrude upon him with more than a ”Good-day” e met But now I na shepherd have been he?
Bettesworth shook his head emphatically It turned out that he and old dicky were chums in their way: they knew all about one another, and with mutual respect ”Couldn't ha' bin old dicky,” said Bettesworth
”He never worked anywhere else about here 'xcept in builders' yards
Forty-four year ago he started for Coopers, and bin on there ever since He was a sailor before that He come out o' the navy when he conorant of such a thing as that! I had not foundScenting romance, in the foolish superficial way of outsiders, I resolved to i that the sailor was going to showthat Bettesworth's information about this old man would be capped by infor, about Bettesworth
How I fell in with old Martin, early in February, is of no moment here He talked veryin the Mediterranean sixty years ago But when I said at last, believing it true, ”I don't suppose there is another man in our parish has travelled so far as you,” his reply startled me
”No, I dessay not--without 'tis your land”
”Yes he was He bin as fur as Russia and the Black Sea, at any rate”
”YouI should have heard of it if he had”
”I dunno about that P'raps he don't care to talk about it, but 'tis right enough I fancy he did get into soh, in the Crimea”
Old dicky was so convinced that I held ue sensation crept overheard soht have been credible then seeht that now I knew all there was to know about Bettesworth's life; and I could not see where, a was to find room
Besides, hoas it possible that, in ten years or so, during which Bettesworth had prattled carelessly of anything that came uppermost in his mind, no hint of this had escaped him? It would have slipped out unawares, one would have supposed; by some inadvertence or other I should have learnt it But, save for that forgotten ru had come until noever, the e It was very strange
One thing was clear If there were truth in this tale after all, Bettesworth's silence on the subjectabout it of which he was ashamed? What was that ”trouble” to which old dicky so darkly alluded? Eager as I was to question Bettesworth, I wasto his discredit And the reluctance prevailed over ht to force a confidence from him, I tried to dismiss the subject from my mind; and for a time I succeeded
XV
_April 17, 1902_--We pass on to April, when bird-notes were sounding through all the gardens
”Hark at those starlings!” I said to Bettesworth And he, ”Yes--I dunno who 'twas I was talkin' to this uv'nor,' I says I likes 'eibberin' to one another--jest like 's if they was talkin'
An' they lifts up their feet, an' flaps up their wings, an' they nods” The old man's words ran rhyth; and then, dropping the rhythm, ”I likes to hear 'em very well And I don't think they be mischieful birds neither, like these 'ere sparrers and caffeys” (chaffinches) ”They beggars, I shouldn't care so round they'd eat 'ereen top off and leaves it
Si'lar for mischief”