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diff --git a/22843.txt b/22843.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7d3cd19 --- /dev/null +++ b/22843.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1053 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Aunt Deborah, by Mary Russell Mitford + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Aunt Deborah + +Author: Mary Russell Mitford + +Release Date: October 2, 2007 [EBook #22843] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AUNT DEBORAH *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +AUNT DEBORAH. + +By Mary Russell Mitford + + +A crosser old woman than Mrs. Deborah Thornby was certainly not to be +found in the whole village of Hilton. Worth, in country phrase, a power +of money, and living (to borrow another rustic expression) upon her +means, the exercise of her extraordinary faculty for grumbling and +scolding seemed the sole occupation of her existence, her only pursuit, +solace, and amusement; and really it would have been a great pity to +have deprived the poor woman of a pastime so consolatory to herself, and +which did harm to nobody: her family consisting only of an old labourer, +to guard the house, take care of her horse, her cow, and her chaise and +cart, and work in the garden, who was happily, for his comfort, stone +deaf, and could not hear her vituperation, and of a parish girl of +twelve, to do the indoor work, who had been so used to be scolded all +her life, that she minded the noise no more than a miller minds the +clack of his mill, or than people who live in a churchyard mind the +sound of the church bells, and would probably, from long habit, have +felt some miss of the sound had it ceased, of which, by the way, there +was small danger, so long as Mrs. Deborah continued in this life. Her +crossness was so far innocent that it hurt nobody except herself. But +she was also cross-grained, and that evil quality is unluckily apt to +injure other people; and did so very materially in the present instance. + +Mrs. Deborah was the only daughter of old Simon Thornby, of Chalcott +great farm; she had had one brother, who having married the rosy-cheeked +daughter of the parish clerk, a girl with no portion except her modesty, +her good-nature, and her prettiness, had been discarded by his father, +and after trying various ways to gain a living, and failing in all, had +finally died broken-hearted, leaving the unfortunate clerk's daughter, +rosy-cheeked no longer, and one little boy, to the tender mercy of his +family. Old Simon showed none. He drove his son's widow from the door as +he had before driven off his son; and when he also died, an event +which occurred within a year or two, bequeathed all his property to his +daughter Deborah. + +This bequest was exceedingly agreeable to Mrs. Deborah, (for she was +already of an age to assume that title,) who valued money, not certainly +for the comforts and luxuries which it may be the means of procuring, +nor even for its own sake, as the phrase goes, but for that which, to +a woman of her temper, was perhaps the highest that she was capable of +enjoying, the power which wealth confers over all who are connected with +or dependent on its possessor. + +The principal subjects of her despotic dominion were the young widow and +her boy, whom she placed in a cottage near her own house, and with whose +comfort and happiness she dallied pretty much as a cat plays with the +mouse which she has got into her clutches, and lets go only to catch +again, or an angler with the trout which he has fairly hooked, and +merely suffers to struggle in the stream until it is sufficiently +exhausted to bring to land. She did not mean to be cruel, but she could +not help it; so her poor mice were mocked with the semblance of liberty, +although surrounded by restraints; and the awful paw seemingly sheathed +in velvet, whilst they were in reality never out of reach of the horrors +of the pat. + +It sometimes, however, happens that the little mouse makes her escape +from madam pussy at the very moment when she seems to have the unlucky +trembler actually within her claws; and so it occurred in the present +instance. + +The dwelling to which Mrs. Deborah retired after the death of her +father, was exceedingly romantic and beautiful in point of situation. It +was a small but picturesque farm-house, on the very banks of the Loddon, +a small branch of which, diverging from the parent stream, and crossed +by a pretty footbridge, swept round the homestead, the orchard +and garden, and went winding along the water meadows in a thousand +glittering meanders, until it was lost in the rich woodlands which +formed the back-ground of the picture. In the month of May, when the +orchard was full of its rosy and pearly blossoms, a forest of lovely +bloom, the meadows yellow with cowslips, and the clear brimming river, +bordered by the golden tufts of the water ranunculus, and garlanded by +the snowy flowers of the hawthorn and the wild cherry, the thin wreath +of smoke curling from the tall, old-fashioned chimneys of the pretty +irregular building, with its porch, and its baywindows, and gable-ends +full of light and shadow,--in that month of beauty it would be difficult +to imagine a more beautiful or a more English landscape. + +On the other side of the narrow winding road, parted from Mrs. Deborah's +demesne by a long low bridge of many arches, stood a little rustic mill, +and its small low-browed cottage, with its own varied back-ground of +garden and fruit trees and thickly wooded meadows, extending in long +perspective, a smiling verdant valley of many miles. + +Now Chalcott mill, reckoned by everybody else the prettiest point in her +prospect, was to Mrs. Deborah not merely an eye-sore, but a heart-sore, +not on its own account; cantankerous as she was, she had no quarrel with +the innocent buildings, but for the sake of its inhabitants. + +Honest John Stokes, the miller, was her cousin-german. People did say +that some forty years before there had been question of a marriage +between the parlies; and really they both denied the thing with so much +vehemence and fury, that one should almost be tempted to believe there +was some truth in the report. Certain it is, that if they had been that +wretched thing a mismatched couple, and had gone on snarling together +all their lives, they could not have hated each other more zealously. +One shall not often meet with anything so perfect in its way as that +aversion. It was none of your silent hatreds that never come to words; +nor of your civil hatreds, that veil themselves under smooth phrases +and smiling looks. Their ill-will was frank, open, and above-board. They +could not afford to come to an absolute breach, because it would have +deprived them of the pleasure of quarrelling; and in spite of the +frequent complaints they were wont to make of their near neighbourhood, +I am convinced that they derived no small gratification from the +opportunities which it afforded them of saying disagreeable things to +each other. + +And yet Mr. John Stokes was a well-meaning man, and Mrs. Deborah Thornby +was not an ill-meaning woman. But she was, as I have said before, cross +in the grain; and he--why he was one of those plain-dealing personages +who will speak their whole mind, and who pique themselves upon that sort +of sincerity which is comprised in telling to another all the ill +that they have ever heard, or thought, or imagined concerning him, +in repeating, as if it were a point of duty, all the harm that one +neighbour says of another, and in denouncing, as if it were a sin, +whatever the unlucky person whom they address may happen to do, or to +leave undone. + +"I am none of your palavering chaps, to flummer over an old vixen for +the sake of her strong-box. I hate such falseness. I speak the truth and +care for no man," quoth John Stokes. + +And accordingly John Stokes never saw Mrs. Deborah Thornby but he +saluted her, pretty much as his mastiff accosted her favourite cat; +erected his bristles, looked at her with savage bloodshot eyes, showed +his teeth, and vented a sound something between a snarl and a growl; +whilst she, (like the fourfooted tabby,) set up her back and spit at him +in return. + +They met often, as I have said, for the enjoyment of quarrelling; and as +whatever he advised she was pretty sure _not_ to do, it is probable +that his remonstrances in favour of her friendless relations served to +confirm her in the small tyranny which she exercised towards them. + +Such being the state of feeling between these two jangling cousins, it +may be imagined with what indignation Mrs. Deborah found John Stokes, +upon the death of his wife, removing her widowed sister-in-law from the +cottage in which she had placed her, and bringing her home to the mill, +to officiate as his housekeeper, and take charge of a lovely little +girl, his only child. She vowed one of those vows of anger which I fear +are oftener kept than the vows of love, to strike both mother and son +out of her will, (by the way, she had a superstitious horror of that +disagreeable ceremony, and even the temptation of choosing new legatees +whenever the old displeased her, had not been sufficient to induce her +to make one,--the threat did as well,) and never to speak to either of +them again as long as she lived. + +She proclaimed this resolution at the rate of twelve times an hour, +(that is to say, once in five minutes,) every day for a fortnight; and +in spite of her well-known caprice, there seemed for once in her life +reason to believe that she would keep her word. + +Those prudent and sagacious persons who are so good as to take the +superintendence of other people's affairs, and to tell by the look of +the foot where the shoe pinches and where it does not, all united in +blaming the poor widow for withdrawing herself and her son from Mrs. +Deborah's protection. But besides that no human being can adequately +estimate the misery of leading a life of dependence upon one to whom +scolding was as the air she breathed, without it she must die, a +penurious dependence too, which supplied grudgingly the humblest wants, +and yet would not permit the exertions by which she would joyfully have +endeavoured to support herself;--besides the temptation to exchange Mrs. +Deborah's incessant maundering for the Miller's rough kindness, and her +scanty fare for the coarse plenty of his board,--besides these homely +but natural temptations--hardly to be adequately allowed for by those +who have passed their lives amidst smiling kindness and luxurious +abundance; besides these motives she had a stronger and dearer in her +desire to rescue her boy from the dangers of an enforced and miserable +idleness, and to put him in the way of earning his bread by honest +industry. + +Through the interest of his grandfather the parish clerk, the little +Edward had been early placed in the Hilton free school, where he had +acquitted himself so much to the satisfaction of the master, that +at twelve years old he was the head boy on the foundation, and took +precedence of the other nine-and-twenty wearers of the full-skirted +blue coats, leathern belts, and tasseled caps, in the various arts of +reading, writing, cyphering, and mensuration. He could flourish a swan +without ever taking his pen from the paper. Nay, there is little doubt +but from long habit he could have flourished it blindfold, like the +man who had so often modelled the wit of Ferney in breadcrumbs, that he +could produce little busts of Voltaire with his hands under the table; +he had not his equal in Practice or the Rule of Three, and his piece, +when sent round at Christmas, was the admiration of the whole parish. + +Unfortunately, his arrival at this pre-eminence was also the signal of +his dismissal from the free school. He returned home to his mother, +and as Mrs. Deborah, although hourly complaining of the expense of +supporting a great lubberly boy in idleness, refused to appentice him to +any trade, and even forbade his finding employment in helping her deaf +man of all work to cultivate her garden, which the poor lad, naturally +industrious and active, begged her permission to do, his mother, +considering that no uncertain expectations of money at the death of his +kinswoman could counterbalance the certain evil of dragging on his days +in penury and indolence during her life, wisely determined to betake +herself to the mill, and accept John Stokes's offer of sending Edward +to a friend in town, for the purpose of being placed with a civil +engineer:--a destination with which the boy himself--a fine intelligent +youth, by the way, tall and manly, with black eyes that talked and +laughed, and curling dark hair,--was delighted in every point of view. +He longed for a profession for which he had a decided turn; he longed +to see the world as personified by the city of cities, the unparagoned +London; and he longed more than either to get away from Aunt Deborah, +the storm of whose vituperation seemed ringing in his ears so long as he +continued within sight of her dwelling. One would think the clack of the +mill and the prattle of his pretty cousin Cicely might have drowned +it, but it did not. Nothing short of leaving the spinster fifty miles +behind, and setting the great city between him and her, could efface the +impression. + +"I hope I am not ungrateful," thought Edward to himself, as he was +trudging London-ward after taking a tender leave of all at the mill; "I +hope I am not ungrateful. I do not think I am, for I would give my right +arm, ay, or my life, if it would serve master John Stokes or please dear +Cissy. But really I do hope never to come within hearing of Aunt Deborah +again, she storms so. I wonder whether all old women are so cross. I +don't think my mother will be, nor Cissy. I am sure Cissy won't. Poor +Aunt Deborah! I suppose she can't help it." And with this indulgent +conclusion, Edward wended on his way. + +Aunt Deborah's mood was by no means so pacific. She staid at home +fretting, fuming, and chafing, and storming herself hoarse--which, as +the people at the mill took care to keep out of earshot, was all so much +good scolding thrown away. The state of things since Edward's departure +had been so decisive, that even John Stokes thought it wiser to keep +himself aloof for a time; and although they pretty well guessed that she +would take measures to put in effect her threat of disinheritance, the +first outward demonstration came in the shape of a young man (gentleman +I suppose he called himself--ay, there is no doubt but he wrote himself +Esquire) who attended her to church a few Sundays after, and was +admitted to the honour of sitting in the same pew. + +Nothing could be more unlike our friend Edward than the stranger. +Fair, freckled, light-haired, light-eyed, with invisible eye-brows and +eye-lashes, insignificant in feature, pert and perking in expression, +and in figure so dwarfed and stunted, that though in point of age he had +evidently attained his full growth, (if one may use the expression to +such a he-doll,) Robert at fifteen would have made two of him,--such was +the new favourite. So far as appearance went, for certain Mrs. Deborah +had not changed for the better. + +Gradually it oozed out, as, somehow or other, news, like water, will +find a vent, however small the cranny,--by slow degrees it came to +be understood that Mrs. Deborah's visiter was a certain Mr. Adolphus +Lynfield, clerk to an attorney of no great note in the good town of +Belford Regis, and nearly related, as he affirmed, to the Thornby +family. + +Upon hearing these tidings, John Stokes, the son of old Simon Thornly's +sister, marched across the road, and finding the door upon the latch, +entered unannounced into the presence of his enemy. + +"I think it my duty to let you know, cousin Deborah, that this +here chap's an impostor--a sham--and that you are a fool," was his +conciliatory opening. "Search the register. The Thornlys have been +yeomen of this parish ever since the time of Elizabeth--more shame to +you for forcing the last of the race to seek his bread elsewhere; and if +you can find such a name as Lynfield amongst 'em, I'll give you leave +to turn me into a pettifogging lawyer--that's all. Saunderses, and +Symondses, and Stokeses, and Mays, you'll find in plenty, but never +a Lynfield. Lynfield, quotha! it sounds like a made-up name in a +story-book! And as for 'Dolphus, why there never was anything like it in +all the generation, except my good old great aunt Dolly, and that stood +for Dorothy. All our names have been christian-like and English, Toms, +and Jacks, and Jems, and Bills, and Sims, and Neds--poor fellow! None of +your outlandish 'Dolphuses. Dang it, I believe the foolish woman likes +the chap the better for having a name she can't speak! Remember, I warn +you he's a sham!" And off strode the honest miller, leaving Mrs. +Deborah too angry for reply, and confirmed both in her prejudice and +prepossession by the natural effect of that spirit of contradiction +which formed so large an ingredient in her composition, and was not +wholly wanting in that of John Stokes. + +Years passed away, and in spite of frequent ebbs and flows, the tide of +Mrs. Deborah's favour continued to set towards Mr. Adolphus Lynfield. +Once or twice indeed, report had said that he was fairly discarded, +but the very appearance of the good miller, anxious to improve the +opportunity for his protege, had been sufficient to determine his cousin +to reinstate Mr. Adolphus in her good graces. Whether she really liked +him is doubtful. He entertained too good an opinion of himself to be +very successful in gaining that of other people. + +That the gentleman was not deficient in "left-handed wisdom," was +proved pretty clearly by most of his actions; for instance, when routed +by the downright miller from the position which he had taken up of a +near kinsman by the father's side, he, like an able tactician, wheeled +about and called cousins with Mrs. Deborah's mother; and as that good +lady happened to have borne the very general, almost universal, name of +Smith, which is next to anonymous, even John Stokes could not dislodge +him from that entrenchment. But he was not always so dexterous. Cunning +in him lacked the crowning perfection of hiding itself under the +appearance of honesty. His art never looked like nature. It stared +you in the face, and could not deceive the dullest observer. His very +flattery had a tone of falseness that affronted the person flattered; +and Mrs. Deborah, in particular, who did not want for shrewdness, found +it so distasteful, that she would certainly have discarded him upon +that one ground of offence, had not her love of power been unconsciously +propitiated by the perception of the efforts which he made, and the +degradation to which he submitted, in the vain attempt to please her. +She liked the homage offered to "_les beaux yeux de sa cassette_" pretty +much as a young beauty likes the devotion extorted by her charms, and +for the sake of the incense tolerated the worshipper. + +Nevertheless there were moments when the conceit which I have mentioned +as the leading characteristic of Mr. Adolphus Lynfield had well nigh +banished him from Chalcott. Piquing himself on the variety and extent +of his knowledge, the universality of his genius, he of course paid +the penalty of other universal geniuses, by being in no small degree +superficial. Not content with understanding every trade better than +those who had followed it all their lives, he had a most unlucky +propensity to put his devices into execution, and as his information +was, for the most part, picked up from the column headed "varieties," +in the county newspaper, where of course there is some chaff mingled +with the grain, and as the figments in question were generally ill +understood and imperfectly recollected, it is really surprising that the +young gentleman did not occasion more mischief than actually occurred by +the quips and quiddities which he delighted to put in practice whenever +he met with any one simple enough to permit the exercise of his talents. + +Some damage he did effect by his experiments, as Mrs. Deborah found to +her cost. He killed a bed of old-fashioned spice cloves, the pride of +her heart, by salting the ground to get rid of the worms. Her broods of +geese also, and of turkeys, fell victims to a new and infallible mode of +feeding, which was to make them twice as fat in half the time. Somehow +or other, they all died under the operation. So did half a score of fine +apple-trees, under an improved method of grafting; whilst a magnificent +brown Bury pear, that covered one end of the house, perished of the +grand discovery of severing the bark to increase the crop. He lamed Mrs. +Deborah's old horse by doctoring him for a prick in shoeing, and ruined +her favourite cow, the best milch cow in the county, by a most needless +attempt to increase her milk. + +Now these mischances and misdemeanors, ay, or the half of them, would +undoubtedly have occasioned Mr. Adolphus's dismission, and the recall of +poor Edward, every account of whom was in the highest degree favourable, +had the worthy miller been able to refrain from lecturing his cousin +upon her neglect of the one, and her partiality for the other. It was +really astonishing that John Stokes, a man of sagacity in all other +respects, never could understand that scolding was of all devisable +processes the least likely to succeed in carrying his point with one who +was such a proficient in that accomplishment, that if the old penalty +for female scolds, the ducking-stool, had continued in fashion, she +would have stood an excellent chance of attaining to that distinction. +But so it was. The same blood coursed through their veins, and his +tempestuous good-will and her fiery anger took the same form of violence +and passion. + +Nothing but these lectures _could_ have kept Mrs. Deborah constant in +the train of such a trumpery, jiggetting, fidgetty little personage +as Mr. Adolphus,--the more especially as her heart was assailed in its +better and softer parts, by the quiet respectfulness of Mrs. Thornly's +demeanour, who never forgot that she had experienced her protection +in the hour of need, and by the irresistible good-nature of Cicely, a +smiling, rosy, sunny-looking creature, whose only vocation in this world +seemed to be the trying to make everybody as happy as herself. + +Mrs. Deborah (with such a humanising taste, she could not, in spite of +her cantankerous temper, be all bad) loved flowers: and Cicely, a +rover of the woods and fields from early childhood, and no despicable +practical gardener, took care to keep her beaupots constantly supplied +from the first snowdrop to the last china rose. Nothing was too large +for Cicely's good-will, nothing too small. Huge chimney jars of lilacs, +laburnums, horse-chestnuts, peonies, and the golden and gorgeous double +furze; china jugs filled with magnificent double stocks, and rich +wallflowers,* with their bitter-sweet odour, like the taste of orange +marmalade, pinks, sweet-peas, and mignonette, from her own little +garden, or woodland posies that might beseem the hand of the faerie +queen, composed of those gems of flowers, the scarlet pimpernel, and the +blue anagallis, the rosy star of the wild geranium, with its aromatic +crimson-tipped leaves, the snowy star of the white ochil, and that third +starry flower the yellow loose-strife, the milk vetch, purple, or pink, +or cream coloured, backed by moss-like leaves and lilac blossoms of the +lousewort, and overhung by the fragrant bells and cool green leaves of +the lily of the valley. + + * Few flowers, (and almost all look best when arranged each + sort in its separate vase,)--few look so well together as + the four sorts of double wallflowers. The common dark, (the + old bloody warrior)--I have a love for those graphic names-- + words which paint the common dark, the common yellow, the + newer and more intensely coloured dark, and that new gold + colour still so rare, which is in tint, form, growth, + hardiness, and profusion, one of the most valuable + acquisitions to the flower garden. When placed together in + ajar, the brighter blossoms seem to stand out from those of + deeper hue, with exactly the sort of relief, the harmonious + combination of light and shade, that one sometimes sees in + the rich gilt carving of an old flower-wreathed picture- + frame, or, better still, it might seem a pot of flowers + chased in gold, by Benvenuto Cellini, in which the + workmanship outvalued the metal. Many beaupots are gayer, + many sweeter, but this is the richest, both for scent and + colour, that I have ever seen. + +It would puzzle a gardener to surpass the elegance and delicacy of such +a nosegay. + +Offerings like these did our miller's maiden delight to bring at all +seasons, and under all circumstances, whether of peace or war between +the heads of the two opposite houses; and whenever there chanced to be a +lull in the storm, she availed herself of the opportunity to add to her +simple tribute a dish of eels from the mill-stream, or perch from the +river. That the thought of Edward ("dear Edward," as she always called +him,) might not add somewhat of alacrity to her attentions to his +wayward aunt, I will not venture to deny, but she would have done the +same if Edward had not been in existence, from the mere effect of her +own peacemaking spirit, and a generosity of nature which found more +pleasure in giving than in possessing. A sweet and happy creature was +Cicely; it was difficult even for Mrs. Deborah to resist her gentle +voice and artless smiles. + +Affairs were in this posture between the belligerents, sometimes war to +the knife, sometimes a truce under favour of Cissy's white flag, when +one October evening, John Stokes entered the dwelling of his kinswoman +to inform her that Edward's apprenticeship had been some time at an end, +that he had come of age about a month ago, and that his master, for whom +he had continued to work, was so satisfied of his talents, industry, and +integrity, that he had offered to take him into partnership for a sum +incredibly moderate, considering the advantages which such a connexion +would ensure. + +"You have more than the money wanted in the Belford Bank, money that +ought to have been his," quoth John Stokes, "besides all your property +in land and houses and the funds; and if you did advance this sum, which +all the world knows is only a small part of what should have belonged to +him in right of his father, it would be as safe as if it was in the Bank +of England, and the interest paid half-yearly. You ought to give it +him out and out; but of course you won't even lend it," pursued this +judicious negotiator; "you keep all your money for that precious chap, +Mr. 'Dolphus, to make ducks and drakes with after you are dead; a fine +jig he'll dance over your grave. You know, I suppose, that we've got the +fellow in a cleft stick about that petition the other day? He persuaded +old Jacob, who's as deaf as a post, to put his mark to it, and when he +was gone, Jacob came to me (I'm the only man in the parish who can make +him hear) to ask what it was about. So upon my explaining the matter, +Jacob found he had got into the wrong box. But as the chap had taken +away his petition, and Jacob could not scratch out his name, what does +he do but set his mark to ours o' t'other side; and we've wrote all +about it to Sir Robert to explain to the Parliament, lest seeing Jacob's +name both ways like, they should think 'twas he, poor fellow, that meant +to humbug 'em. A pretty figure Mr. 'Dolphus 'll cut when the story comes +to be told in the House of Commons! But that's not the worst. He took +the petition to the workhouse, and meeting with little Fan Ropley, who +had been taught to write at our charity-school, and is quick at her pen, +he makes her sign her name at full length, and then strikes a dot over +the _e_ to turn it into Francis, and persuade the great folk up at +Lunnun, that little Fan's a grown-up man. If that chap won't come +someday to be transported for forgery, my name's not John Stokes! Well, +dame, will you let Ned have the money? Yes or no?" + +That Mrs. Deborah should have suffered the good miller to proceed with +his harangue without interruption, can only be accounted for on the +score of the loudness of tone on which he piqued himself with so much +justice. When she did take up the word, her reply made up in volubility +and virulence for any deficiency in sound, concluding by a formal +renunciation of her nephew, and a command to his zealous advocate never +again to appear within her doors. Upon which, honest John vowed he never +would, and departed. + +Two or three days after this quarrel, Mr. Adolphus having arrived, +as happened not un-frequently, to spend the afternoon at Chalcott, +persuaded his hostess to accompany him to see a pond drawn at the Hall, +to which, as the daughter of one of Sir Robert's old tenants, she would +undoubtedly have the right of _entree_; and Mrs. Deborah assented to his +request, partly because the weather was fine, and the distance short, +partly, it may be, from a lurking desire to take her chance as a +bystander of a dish of fish; they who need such windfalls least, being +commonly those who are most desirous to put themselves in their way. + +Mr. Adolphus Lynfield's reasons were obvious enough. Besides the _ennui_ +of a tete-a-tete, all flattery on one side and contradiction on the +other, he was naturally of the fidgetty restless temperament which hates +to be long confined to one place or one occupation, and can never +hear of a gathering of people, whatever might be the occasion, without +longing to find himself amongst them. + +Moreover, he had, or professed to have, a passion for field sports of +every description; and having that very season contrived, with his usual +curious infelicity, to get into as many scrapes in shooting as shall +last most sportsmen their whole lives--having shot a spaniel instead of +a hare, a keeper instead of a partridge, and his own foot instead of +a pheasant, and finally, having been taken up for a poacher, although +wholly innocent of the death of any bird that ever wore feathers,--after +all these woeful experiences, (to say nothing of mischances in angling +which might put to shame those of our friend Mr. Thompson,) he found +himself particularly well disposed to a diversion which appeared to +combine in most choice union the appearance of sporting, which he +considered essential to his reputation, with a most happy exemption from +the usual sporting requisites, exertion or skill. All that he would +have to do would be to look on and talk,--to throw out a hint here and +a suggestion there, and find fault with everything and everybody, like a +man who understood what was going forward. + +The weather was most propitious; a bright breezy sunny October day, with +light snowy clouds, chased by a keen crisp wind across the deep +blue heavens,--and the beautiful park, the turf of an emerald green, +contrasting with the brown fern and tawny woods, rivalling in richness +and brightness the vivid hues of the autumnal sky. Nothing could +exceed the gorgeous tinting of the magnificent trees, which, whether in +detached clumps or forest-like masses, formed the pride and glory of +the place. The oak still retaining its dark and heavy verdure; the elm +letting fall a shower of yellow leaves, that tinged the ground beneath; +the deep orange of the horse-chestnut, the beech varying from ruddy gold +to greenish brown; and above all, the shining green of the holly, and +the rich purplish red of the old thorns, those hoary thorns, the growth +of centuries, gave to this old English gentleman's seat much of the +variety and beauty of the American backwoods. The house, a stately +ancient mansion, from the porch of which you might expect to see Sir +Roger de Coverley issue, stood half-way up a gentle hill, finely backed +by woods of great extent; and the pond, which was the object of the +visit, was within sight of the windows, but so skilfully veiled by +trees, as to appear of much greater extent than it really was. The +master and mistress of the Hall, with their pretty daughters, were +absent on a tour:--Is any English country family ever at home in the +month of October in these days of fashionable enterprise? They were gone +to visit the temples of Thebes, or the ruins of Carthage, the Fountains +of the Nile or the Falls of Niagara, St. Sophia, or the Kremlin, or some +such pretty little excursion, which ladies and gentlemen now talk of as +familiarly "as maids of puppy dogs." They were away. But enough of +the household remained at Chalcott, to compose, with a few visiters, a +sufficiently numerous and animated group. + +The first person whom Mrs. Deborah espied, (and it is remarkable that we +always see first those whom we had rather not see at all,) was her old +enemy the miller,--a fisherman of so much experience and celebrity, that +his presence might have been reckoned upon as certain--busily engaged, +together with some half-dozen stout and active coadjutors, in dragging +the net ashore, amidst a chorus of exclamations and cautions from the +various assistants, and the breathless expectation of the spectators on +the bank, amongst whom were Mrs. Thornly and Cicely, accompanied by a +tall, athletic young man of dark complexion, with peculiarly bright eyes +and curling hair, whom his aunt immediately recognised as Edward. + +"How improved he is!" was the thought that flashed across her mind, as +with an air of respectful alacrity he stepped forward to meet her; but +the miller, in tugging at his nets, happened to look towards them, and +ashamed that he of all men should see her change of feeling, she turned +away abruptly, without acknowledging his salutation, and walked off to +the other side with her attendant, Mr. Adolphus. + +"Drat the perverse old jade!" exclaimed John Stokes, involuntarily, as +he gave a mighty tug, which brought half the net ashore. + +"She's heavy, my good sir!" observed the pompous butler, conceiving that +the honest miller's exclamation had reference to the sport; "only see +how full she is! We shall have a magnificent hawl!" + +And the spectators, male and female, crowded round, and the fishermen +exerted themselves so efficiently, that in two minutes the net was on +dry land. + +"Nothing but weeds and rubbish!" ejaculated the disappointed butler, a +peculiarly blank look taking the place of his usual self-importance. +"What can have become of the fish?" + +"The net has been improperly drawn," observed Mr. Adolphus; "I myself +saw four or five large carp just before it was dragged ashore!" + +"Better fling you in, master 'Dolphus, by way of bait!" ejaculated our +friend the miller; "I've seen jacks in this pond that would make no +more bones of swallowing a leg or an arm of such an atomy as you, if +they did not have a try at the whole body, than a shark would of bolting +down Punch in the show; as to carp, everybody that ever fished a pond +knows their tricks. Catch them in a net if you can. They swim round and +round, just to let you look at 'em, and then they drop plump into the +mud, and lie as still and as close as so many stones. But come, Mr. +Tomkins," continued honest John, addressing the butler, "we'll try +again. I'm minded that we shall have better luck this time. Here are +some brave large tench, which never move till the water is disturbed; we +shall have a good chance for them as well as for the jacks. Now, steady +there, you in the boat Throw her in, boys, and mind you don't draw too +fast!" So to work they all went again. + +All was proceeding prosperously, and the net, evidently well filled with +fish, was dragging slowly to land, when John Stokes shouted suddenly +from the other side of the pond--"Dang it, if that unlucky chap, master +'Dolphus there, has not got hold of the top of the net! He'll pull it +over. See, that great jack has got out already. Take the net from him, +Tom! He'll let all the fish loose, and tumble in himself, and the water +at that part is deep enough to drown twenty such mannikins. Not that I +think drowning likely to be his fate--witness that petition business," +muttered John to himself in a sort of parenthesis. "Let go, I say, or +you will be in. Let go, can't ye?" added he, in his loudest tone. + +And with the word, Mr. Adolphus, still struggling to retain his hold of +the net, lost his balance and fell in, and catching at the person next +him, who happened to be Mrs. Deborah, with the hope of saving himself, +dragged her in after him. + +Both sank, and amidst the confusion that ensued, the shrieks and sobs +of the women, the oaths and exclamations of the men, the danger was +so imminent that both might have been drowned, had not Edward Thornly, +hastily flinging off his coat and hat, plunged in and rescued Mrs. +Deborah, whilst good John Stokes, running round the head of the pond as +nimbly as a boy, did the same kind office for his prime aversion, the +attorney's clerk. What a sound kernel is sometimes hidden under a rough +and rugged rind! + +Mr. Adolphus, more frightened than hurt, and with so much of the +conceit washed out of him by his involuntary cold bath, that it might be +accounted one of the most fortunate accidents in his life, was conveyed +to the Hall; but her own house being almost equally near, Mrs. Deborah +was at once taken home, and put comfortably to bed in her own chamber. + +About two hours afterwards, the whole of the miller's family, Mrs. +Thornly still pallid and trembling, Cicely smiling through her tears, +and her father as blunt and freespoken as ever, were assembled round the +homely couch of their maiden cousin. + +"I tell you I must have the lawyer fetched directly. I can't sleep till +I have made my will;" said Mrs. Deborah. + +"Better not," responded John Stokes; "you'll want it altered +to-morrow." + +"What's that you say, cousin John?" inquired the spinster. + +"That if you make your will to night, you'll change your mind +to-morrow," reiterated John Stokes. "Ned's going to be married to my +Cicely," added he, "and that you mayn't like, or if you did like it +this week, you might not like it next So you'd better let matters rest +as they are." + +"You're a provoking man, John Stokes," said his cousin--"a very +provoking, obstinate man. But I'll convince you for once. Take that key, +Mrs. Thornly," quoth she, raising herself in bed, and fumbling in an +immense pair of pockets for a small old-fashioned key, "and open the +'scrutoire, and give me the pen and ink, and the old narrow brown book, +that you'll find at the top. Not like his marrying Cicely! Why I always +have loved that child--don't cry, Cissy!--and have always had cause, for +she has been a kind little creature to me. Those dahlias came from her, +and the sweet posy," pursued Mrs. Deborah, pointing to a nosegay of +autumn flowers, the old fragrant monthly rose, mignionette, heliotrope, +cloves, and jessamine, which stood by the bedside. "Ay, that's the book, +Mrs. Thornly; and there, Cissy," continued Aunt Deborah, filling up the +check, with a sum far larger than that required for the partnership-- +"there, Cissy, is your marriage portion. Don't cry so, child!" said she, +as the affectionate girl hung round her neck in a passion of grateful +tears--"don't cry, but find out Edward, and send for the lawyer, for I'm +determined to settle my affairs to night And now, John Stokes, I know +I've been a cross old woman, but...." + +"Cousin Deborah," interrupted John, seizing her withered hand with a +gripe like a smith's vice,--"Cousin Deborah, thou hast acted nobly, +and I beg thy pardon once for all. God bless thee!--Dang it," added the +honest miller to himself, "I do verily believe that this squabbling has +been mainly my fault, and that if I had not been so provoking she would +not have been so contrary. Well, she has made us all happy, and we must +try to make her happy in return. If we did not, we should deserve to be +soused in the fish-pond along with that unhappy chap, Master 'Dolphus. +For my part," continued the good yeoman, forming with great earnestness +a solemn resolution--"for my part, I've fully made up my mind never +to contradict her again, say what she will. No, not if she says black's +white! It's contradiction that makes women contrary; it sets their backs +up, like. I'll never contradict her again so long as my name's John +Stokes." + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Aunt Deborah, by Mary Russell Mitford + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AUNT DEBORAH *** + +***** This file should be named 22843.txt or 22843.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/2/8/4/22843/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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