CHAPTER V: RETURNING HOME WARD
"'A took it very well, then?" said Mail, as they all walked up the
hill.
"He behaved like a man, 'a did so," said the tranter. "And I'm glad
we've let en know our minds. And though, beyond that, we ha'n't got
much by going, 'twas worth while. He won't forget it. Yes, he took
it very well. Supposing this tree here was Pa'son Mayble, and I
standing here, and thik gr't stone is father sitting in the easy-
chair. 'Dewy,' says he, 'I don't wish to change the church music in
a forcible way.'"
"That was very nice o' the man, even though words be wind."
"Proper nice--out and out nice. The fact is," said Reuben
confidentially, "'tis how you take a man. Everybody must be
managed. Queens must be managed: kings must be managed; for men
want managing almost as much as women, and that's saying a good
deal."
"'Tis truly!" murmured the husbands.
"Pa'son Mayble and I were as good friends all through it as if we'd
been sworn brothers. Ay, the man's well enough; 'tis what's put in
his head that spoils him, and that's why we've got to go."
"There's really no believing half you hear about people nowadays."
"Bless ye, my sonnies! 'tisn't the pa'son's move at all. That
gentleman over there" (the tranter nodded in the direction of
Shiner's farm) "is at the root of the mischty."
"What! Shiner?"
"Ay; and I see what the pa'son don't see. Why, Shiner is for
putting forward that young woman that only last night I was saying
was our Dick's sweet-heart, but I suppose can't be, and making much
of her in the sight of the congregation, and thinking he'll win her
by showing her off. Well, perhaps 'a woll."
"Then the music is second to the woman, the other churchwarden is
second to Shiner, the pa'son is second to the churchwardens, and God
A'mighty is nowhere at all."
"That's true; and you see," continued Reuben, "at the very beginning
it put me in a stud as to how to quarrel wi' en. In short, to save
my soul, I couldn't quarrel wi' such a civil man without belying my
conscience. Says he to father there, in a voice as quiet as a
lamb's, "William, you are a' old aged man, as all shall be, so sit
down in my easy-chair, and rest yourself." And down father zot. I
could fain ha' laughed at thee, father; for thou'st take it so
unconcerned at first, and then looked so frightened when the chair-
bottom sunk in."
"You see," said old William, hastening to explain, "I was scared to
find the bottom gie way--what should I know o' spring bottoms?--and
thought I had broke it down: and of course as to breaking down a
man's chair, I didn't wish any such thing."
"And, neighbours, when a feller, ever so much up for a miff, d'see
his own father sitting in his enemy's easy-chair, and a poor chap
like Leaf made the best of; as if he almost had brains--why, it
knocks all the wind out of his sail at once: it did out of mine."
"If that young figure of fun--Fance Day, I mean," said Bowman,
"hadn't been so mighty forward wi' showing herself off to Shiner and
Dick and the rest, 'tis my belief we should never ha' left the
gallery."
"'Tis my belief that though Shiner fired the bullets, the parson
made 'em," said Mr. Penny. "My wife sticks to it that he's in love
wi' her."
"That's a thing we shall never know. I can't onriddle her, nohow."
"Thou'st ought to be able to onriddle such a little chiel as she,"
the tranter observed.
"The littler the maid, the bigger the riddle, to my mind. And
coming of such a stock, too, she may well be a twister."
"Yes; Geoffrey Day is a clever man if ever there was one. Never
says anything: not he."
"Never."
"You might live wi' that man, my sonnies, a hundred years, and never
know there was anything in him."
"Ay; one o' these up-country London ink-bottle chaps would call
Geoffrey a fool."
"Ye never find out what's in that man: never," said Spinks.
"Close? ah, he is close! He can hold his tongue well. That man's
dumbness is wonderful to listen to."
"There's so much sense in it. Every moment of it is brimmen over
wi' sound understanding."
"'A can hold his tongue very clever--very clever truly," echoed
Leaf. "A do look at me as if 'a could see my thoughts running round
like the works of a clock."
"Well, all will agree that the man can halt well in his talk, be it
a long time or be it a short time. And though we can't expect his
daughter to inherit his closeness, she may have a few dribblets from
his sense."
"And his pocket, perhaps."
"Yes; the nine hundred pound that everybody says he's worth; but I
call it four hundred and fifty; for I never believe more than half I
hear."
"Well, he've made a pound or two, and I suppose the maid will have
it, since there's nobody else. But 'tis rather sharp upon her, if
she's been born to fortune, to bring her up as if not born for it,
and letting her work so hard."
"'Tis all upon his principle. A long--headed feller!"
"Ah," murmured Spinks, "'twould be sharper upon her if she were born
for fortune, and not to it! I suffer from that affliction."
