never before had lucian seen the parlour of an english farmhouse, nor such a feast as that spread out on the square dinner-table. the parlour was long and wide and low-roofed, and the ceiling was spanned by beams of polished oak; a bright fire crackled in the old-fashioned grate, and a lamp burned on the table; but there were no blinds or curtains drawn over the latticed windows which overlooked the garden. lucian’s observant eyes roved about the room, noting the quaint old pictures on the walls; the oil paintings of mr. trippett’s father and mother; the framed samplers and the fox’s brush; the silver cups on the sideboard, and the ancient blunderbuss which hung on the centre beam. it seemed to him that the parlour was delightfully quaint and picturesque; it smelled of dried roses and lavender and sweetbriar; there was an old sheep-dog on the hearth who pushed his muzzle into the boy’s hand, and a grandfather’s clock in one corner that ticked a solemn welcome to him. he had never seen such an interior before, and it appealed to his sense of the artistic.
lucian’s eyes wandered at last to the table, spread for high tea. that was as new to him as the old pictures and samplers. a cold ham of generous proportions figured at one side of the table; a round of cold roast-beef at the other; the tea-tray filled up one end; opposite it space was left for something that was yet to come. this something presently appeared in the shape of a couple of roast fowls and a stand of boiled eggs, borne in by a strapping maid whose face shone like the setting sun, and who was sharply marshalled by mrs. trippett, carrying a silver teapot and a dish of hot muffins.
‘now then, my dear,’ she said, giving a final glance over the table, ‘we can begin as soon as the gentlemen{17} come, and i lay they won’t be long, for mr. pepperdine’ll be hungry after his journey, and so i’m sure are you. come and sit down here and help yourself to an egg—they’re as fresh as morning dew—every one’s been laid this very day.’
the boy sat down and marvelled at the bountiful provision of mrs. trippett’s tea-table; it seemed to him that there was enough there to feed a regiment. but when mr. trippett and mr. pepperdine entered and fell to, he no longer wondered, for the one had been out in the fields all day, and the other had been engaged in the unusual task of travelling, and they were both exceptional trenchermen at any time. mr. trippett joked with the boy as they ate, and made sundry references to yorkshire pudding and roast-beef which seemed to afford himself great satisfaction, and he heaped up his youthful visitor’s plate so generously that lucian grew afraid.
‘cut and come again,’ said mr. trippett, with his mouth full and his jaws working vigorously. ‘nothing like a good appetite for growing lads—ah, i was always hungry when i was a boy. never came amiss to me, didn’t food, never.’
‘but i’ve never eaten so much before,’ said lucian, refusing his host’s pressing entreaty to have another slice off the breast, or a bit of cold ham. ‘i was hungry, too, or i couldn’t have eaten so much now.’
‘he’ll soon get up an appetite at simonstower,’ said mrs. trippett. ‘you’re higher up than we are, mr. pepperdine, and the air’s keener with you. to be sure, our children have good enough appetites here—you should see them at meal times!—i’m sure i oft wonder wherever they put it all.’
‘it’s a provision of nature, ma’am,’ said mr. pepperdine. ‘there’s some wonderful things in nature.’
‘they’re wanting to see you, my dear,’ said mrs. trippett, ignoring her elder guest’s profound remark and looking at her younger one. ‘i told them mr. pepperdine was going to bring a young gentleman with{18} him. you shall see them after tea—they’re out in the orchard now—they had their teas an hour ago, and they’ve gone out to play. there’s two of them—john and mary. john’s about your own age, and mary’s a year younger.’
‘can’t i go out to them?’ said lucian. ‘i will, if you will please to excuse me.’
‘with pleasure, my dear,’ said mrs. trippett. ‘go by all means, if you’d like to. go through the window there—you’ll hear them somewhere about, and they’ll show you their rabbits and things.’
the boy picked up his hat and went out. mrs. trippett followed him with meditative eyes.
‘he’s not shy, seemingly,’ she said, looking at mr. pepperdine.
‘not he, ma’am. he’s an old-fashioned one, is the lad,’ answered lucian’s uncle. ‘he’s the manners of a man in some things. i reckon, you see, that it’s because he’s never had other children to play with.’
‘he’s a handsome boy,’ sighed the hostess. ‘like his father as i remember him. he was a fine-looking man, in a foreign way. but he’s his mother’s eyes—poor lucy!’
‘yes,’ said mr. pepperdine. ‘he’s lucy’s eyes, but all the rest of him’s like his father.’
‘were you in time to see his father before he died?’ asked mr. trippett, who was now attacking the cold beef, after having demolished the greater part of a fowl. ‘you didn’t think you would be when you went off that morning.’
‘just in time, just in time,’ answered mr. pepperdine. ‘ay, just in time. he went very sudden and very peaceful. the boy was very brave and very old-fashioned about it—he never says anything now, and i don’t mention it.’
‘it’s best not,’ said mrs. trippett. ‘poor little fellow!—of course, he’ll not remember his mother at all?’{19}
‘no,’ said mr. pepperdine, shaking his head. ‘no, he was only two years old when his mother died.’
mr. trippett changed the subject, and began to talk of london and what mr. pepperdine had seen there. but when the tea-table had been cleared, and mrs. trippett had departed to the kitchen regions to bustle amongst her maids, and the two farmers were left in the parlour with the spirit decanters on the table, their tumblers at their elbows and their pipes in their mouths, the host referred to mr. pepperdine’s recent mission with some curiosity.
‘i never rightly heard the story of this nephew of yours,’ he said. ‘you see, i hadn’t come to these parts when your sister was married. the missis says she remembers her, ’cause she used to visit hereabouts in days past. it were a bit of a romance like, eh?’
mr. pepperdine took a pull at his glass and shook his head.
‘ah!’ said he oracularly. ‘it was. a romance like those you read of in the story-books. i remember the beginning of it all as well as if it were yesterday. lucy—that was the lad’s mother, my youngest sister, you know, trippett—was a girl then, and the prettiest in all these parts: there’s nobody’ll deny that.’
‘i always understood that she was a beauty,’ said mr. trippett.
‘and you understood rightly. there wasn’t lucy’s equal for beauty in all the county,’ affirmed mr. pepperdine. ‘the lad has her eyes—eh, dear, i’ve heard high and low talk of her eyes. but he’s naught else of hers—all the rest his father’s—lucy was fair.’
he paused to apply a glowing coal to the tobacco in his long pipe, and he puffed out several thick clouds of smoke before he resumed his story.
‘well, lucy was nineteen when this mr. cyprian damerel came along. you can ask your missis what like he was—women are better hands at describing a man’s looks than a man is. he were a handsome young man, but foreign in appearance, though you{20} wouldn’t ha’ told it from his tongue. the boy’ll be like him some day. he came walking through simonstower on his way from scarhaven, and naught would content him but that he must set up his easel and make a picture of the village. he found lodgings at old mother grant’s, and settled down, and he was one of that sort that makes themselves at home with everybody in five minutes. he’d an open face and an open hand; he’d talk to high and low in just the same way; and he’d a smile for everybody.’
‘and naturally all the lasses fell in love with him,’ suggested mr. trippett, with a hearty laugh. ‘i’ve heard my missis say he’d a way with him that was taking with the wenches—specially them as were inclined that way, like.’
‘undoubtedly he had,’ said mr. pepperdine. ‘undoubtedly he had. but after he’d seen her, he’d no eyes for any lass but our lucy. he fell in love with her and she with him as naturally as a duckling takes to water. ah! i don’t think i ever did see two young people quite so badly smitten as they were. it became evident to everybody in the place. but he acted like a man all through—oh yes! my mother was alive then, you know, trippett,’ mr. pepperdine continued, with a sigh. ‘she was a straight-laced ’un, was my mother, and had no liking for foreigners, and damerel had a livelyish time with her when he came to th’ house and asked her, bold as brass, if he might marry her daughter.’
‘i’ll lay he wo’d; i’ll lay he wo’d,’ chuckled mr. trippett.
‘ay, and so he had,’ continued mr. pepperdine. ‘she was very stiff and stand-off, was our old lady, and she treated him to some remarks about foreigners and papists, and what not, and gave him to understand that she’d as soon seen her daughter marry a gipsy as a strolling artist, ’cause you see, being old-fashioned, she’d no idea of what an artist, if he’s up to his trade, can make. but he was one too many for{21} her, was damerel. he listened to all she had to say, and then he offered to give her references about himself, and he told her who he was, the son of an italian gentleman that had come to live in england ’cause of political reasons, and what he earned, and he made it clear enough that lucy wouldn’t want for bread and butter, nor a silk gown neither.’
‘good reasoning,’ commented mr. trippett. ‘very good reasoning. love-making’s all very well, but it’s nowt wi’out a bit o’ money at th’ back on’t.’
‘well, there were no doubt about damerel’s making money,’ said mr. pepperdine, ‘and we’d soon good proof o’ that; for as soon as he’d finished his picture of the village he sold it to th’ earl for five hundred pound, and it hangs i’ the dining-room at th’ castle to this day. i saw it the last time i paid my rent there. mistress jones, th’ housekeeper, let me have a look at it. and of course, seeing that the young man was able to support a wife, th’ old lady had to give way, and they were married. fifteen year ago that is,’ concluded mr. pepperdine with a shake of the head. ‘dear-a-me! it seems only like yesterday since that day—they made the handsomest bride and bridegroom i ever saw.’
‘she died soon, didn’t she?’ inquired mr. trippett.
‘lived a matter of four years after the marriage,’ answered mr. pepperdine. ‘she wasn’t a strong woman, wasn’t poor lucy—there was something wrong with her lungs, and after the boy came she seemed to wear away. he did all that a man could, did her husband—took her off to the south of europe. eh, dear, the letters that keziah and judith used to have from her, describing the places she saw—they read fair beautiful! but it were no good—she died at rome, poor lass, when the boy was two years old.’
‘poor thing!’ said mr. trippett. ‘and had all that she wanted, seemingly.’
‘everything,’ said mr. pepperdine. ‘her life was short but sweet, as you may say.’{22}
‘and now he’s gone an’ all,’ said mr. trippett.
mr. pepperdine nodded.
‘ay,’ he said, ‘he’s gone an’ all. i don’t think he ever rightly got over his wife’s death—anyway, he led a very restless life ever after, first one place and then another, never settling anywhere. sometimes it was italy, sometimes paris, sometimes london—he’s seen something, has that boy. ay, he’s dead, is poor damerel.’
‘leave owt behind him like?’ asked mr. trippett sententiously.
mr. pepperdine polished the end of his nose.
‘well,’ he said, ‘there’ll be a nice little nest-egg for the boy when all’s settled up, i dare say. he wasn’t a saving sort of man, i should think, but dear-a-me, he must ha’ made a lot of money in his time—and spent it, too.’
‘easy come and easy go,’ said mr. trippett. ‘i’ve heard that’s the way with that sort. will this lad take after his father, then?’
‘nay,’ said mr. pepperdine, ‘i don’t think he will. he can’t draw a line—doesn’t seem to have it in him. curious thing that, but it is so. no—he’s all for reading. i never saw such a lad for books. he’s got a great chest full o’ books at the station yonder—wouldn’t leave london without them.’
‘happen turn out a parson or a lawyer,’ suggested mr. trippett.
‘nay,’ said mr. pepperdine. ‘it’s my impression he’ll turn out a poet, or something o’ that sort. they tell me there’s a good living to be made out o’ that nowadays.’
mr. trippett lifted the kettle on to the brightest part of the fire, mixed himself another glass of grog, and pushed the decanter towards his friend.
‘there were only a poorish market at oakbro’ t’other day,’ he said. ‘very low prices, and none so much stuff there, nayther.’
mr. pepperdine followed his host’s example with{23} respect to the grog, and meditated upon the market news. they plunged into a discussion upon prices. mrs. trippett entered the room, took up a basket of stockings, planted herself in her easy-chair, and began to look for holes in toes and heels. the two farmers talked; the grandfather’s clock ticked; the fire crackled; the whole atmosphere was peaceful and homelike. at last the talk of prices and produce was interrupted by the entrance of the stout serving-maid.
‘if you please’m, there’s jim wood from the station with two trunks for mr. pepperdine, and he says is he to put ’em in mr. pepperdine’s trap?’ she said, gazing at her mistress.
‘tell him to put them in the shed,’ said mr. pepperdine. ‘i’ll put ’em in the trap myself. and here, my lass, give him this for his trouble,’ he added, diving into his pocket and producing a shilling.
‘and give him a pint o’ beer and something to eat,’ said mr. trippett.
‘give him some cold beef and pickles, mary,’ said mrs. trippett.
mary responded ‘yes, sir—yes’m,’ and closed the door. mr. pepperdine, gazing at the clock with an air of surprise, remarked that he had no idea it was so late, and he must be departing.
‘nowt o’ th’ sort!’ said mr. trippett. ‘you’re all right for another hour—help yourself, my lad.’
‘the little boy’s all right,’ said mrs. trippett softly. ‘he’s soon made friends with john and mary—they were as thick as thieves when i left them just now.’
‘then let’s be comfortable,’ said the host. ‘dang my buttons, there’s nowt like comfort by your own fireside. and how were london town looking, then, mr. pepperdine?—mucky as ever, i expect.’
mr. pepperdine, with a replenished glass and a newly charged pipe, plunged into a description of what he had seen in london. the time slipped away—the old clock struck nine at last, and suddenly reminded him{24} that he had six miles to drive and that his sisters would be expecting his arrival with the boy.
‘time flies fast in good company,’ he remarked as he rose with evident reluctance. ‘i always enjoy an evening by your hospitable fireside, mrs. trippett, ma’am.’
‘you’re in a great hurry to leave it, anyhow,’ said mr. trippett, with a broad grin. ‘sit ye down again, man—you’ll be home in half an hour with that mare o’ yours, and it’s only nine o’clock, and ten to one th’ owd clock’s wrong.’
‘ay, but my watch isn’t,’ answered mr. pepperdine. ‘nay, we must go—keziah and judith’ll be on the look-out for us, and they’ll want to see the boy.’
‘ay, i expect they will,’ said mr. trippett. ‘well, if you must you must—take another glass and light a cigar.’
mr. pepperdine refused neither of these aids to comfort, and lingered a few minutes longer. but at last they all went out into the great kitchen, mrs. trippett leading the way with words of regret at her guest’s departure. she paused upon the threshold and turned to the two men with a gesture which commanded silence.
the farmhouse kitchen, quaint and picturesque with its old oak furniture, its flitches of bacon and great hams hanging from the ceiling, its bunches of dried herbs and strings of onions depending from hooks in the corners, its wide fireplace and general warmth and cheeriness, formed the background of a group which roused some sense of the artistic in mrs. trippett’s usually matter-of-fact intellect. on the long settle which stretched on one side of the hearth sat four shock-headed ploughboys, leaning shoulder to shoulder; in an easy-chair opposite sat the red-cheeked maid-servant; close to her, on a low stool, sat a little girl with mrs. trippett’s features and eyes, whose sunny hair fell in wavy masses over her shoulders; behind her, hands in pockets, sturdy and strong, stood a miniature edition{25} of mr. trippett, even to the sandy hair, the breeches, and the gaiters; in the centre of the floor, at a round table on which stood a great oil lamp, sat the porter, busy with a round of beef, a foaming tankard of ale, and a crusty loaf. of these eight human beings a similar peculiarity was evident. each one sat with mouth more or less open—the ploughboys’ mouths in particular had revolved themselves into round o’s, while the porter, struck as it were in the very act of forking a large lump of beef into a cavernous mouth, looked like a man who has suddenly become paralysed and cannot move. the maid-servant’s eyes were wider than her mouth; the little girl shrank against the maid’s apron as if afraid—it was only the sturdy boy in the rear who showed some symptoms of a faint smile. and the object upon which all eyes were fixed was lucian, who stood on the hearth, his back to the fire, his face glowing in the lamplight, winding up in a low and thrilling voice the last passages of what appeared to be a particularly blood-curdling narrative.
mr. trippett poked mr. pepperdine in the ribs.
‘seems to ha’ fixed ’em,’ he whispered. ‘gow—the lad’s gotten the gift o’ the gab!—he talks like a book.’
‘h’sh,’ commanded mrs. trippett.
‘and so the body hung on the gibbet,’ lucian was saying, ‘through all that winter, and the rain, and the hail, and the snow fell upon it, and when the spring came again there remained nothing but the bones of the brigand, and they were bleached as white as the eternal snows; and giacomo came and took them down and buried them in the little cemetery under the cypress-trees; but the chain still dangles from the gibbet, and you may hear it rattle as you pass that way as it used to rattle when luigi’s bones hung swaying in the wind.’
the spell was broken; the porter sighed deeply, and conveyed the interrupted forkful to his mouth; the ploughboys drew deep breaths, and looked as if they had arisen from a deep sleep; the little girl, catching sight of her mother, ran to her with a cry of ‘is it true?{26} is it true?’ and mr. trippett brought everybody back to real life by loud calls for mr. pepperdine’s horse and trap. then followed the putting on of overcoats and wraps, and the bestowal of a glass of ginger-wine upon lucian by mr. trippett, in order that the cold might be kept out, and then good-nights and godspeeds, and he was in the dogcart at mr. pepperdine’s side, and the mare, very fresh, was speeding over the six miles of highway which separated mr. trippett’s stable from her own.
