M. E. Francis

“ Peering over his uncle Richard descried the mistress of the establishment stooping over the large cheese-vat already alluded to, one white arm, bare almost to the shoulder, vigorously kneading and stirring a huge mass of curds. Her buff print dress appeared to imprison the sunshine, and attitude and movement alike showed off her supple figure to the very best advantage.
Most lovers, thought the young man, would have been unable to resist the temptation of putting an arm about that inviting waist for the morning greeting—the arm of the future husband had surely a right to be there. ”

“ As she lay tossing uneasily on her pillow, and as the light grew and brightened, and the birds’ jubilant songs mingled with the distant lowing of cows, a new sense of disquietude came to her, proceeding from a different and very tangible cause. It was broad day—Monday morning—a morning of exceptional importance at the farm—and no human being seemed yet to be afoot. Reaching up her hand to the old-fashioned watch-pocket which hung in the centre of the bed, she took down Elias’s heavy silver repeater and pressed the spring. ”

“ The downs were now all bathed with the light of the sinking sun, and the topmost branches of the hedges which bordered the cornfields seemed turned to gold; while the banks beneath had begun already to assume the deeper tint that spoke of gathering dew—dew that the morning light would turn to a very sheet of silver; but Rosalie could only see the beauties of the world without through a mist of crape and tears.
‘I have not a friend in the world,’ she said to herself, ‘not one! ”

“ The love for farm-work is in my blood, I believe. I want the smell of the fresh-turned earth; I want my arms to be tired heaving the sheaves into the waggons; I want to lead out the horses early in the morning into the dewy fields—I want, oh, many things!’
Rosalie considered him wonderingly: these things were done around her every day as a matter of course, but how curiously the man spoke of them, how unaccountable was that longing of which he spoke! ”

“ He shook his head slowly; his mind was of the strictly conservative order, and the contemplated abolition of pigs from the premises of this large dairy-farm seemed to him an almost sacrilegious innovation. Moreover, to sell pigs in July; to make cheeses that nobody in that part of the world cared to eat; to replace two seasoned men who knew their business—whatever might be their faults—with that dangerous commodity, womankind—the whole experiment seemed to him utterly wild, and pregnant with disaster.
‘I mean to do it,’ said Rosalie, defying the condemnation in his face. ”

“ Richard looked after her with a disgusted air, and then his glance reverted to Mrs. Fiander, whose beautiful round arm was still embedded in curds, and whose face, a little paler than its wont, continued to be full of ire. What could this trifling mistake matter after all to such a rich woman, a woman who would soon be richer still? ”

“ I can manage women very well.’
‘But, my dear,’ cried Isaac, opening his eyes very wide, and speaking in horror-stricken tones, ‘women can’t do men’s work.’
‘No, but they can do women’s work. I have thought it all out, Mr. Sharpe, and my mind is made up. Job and Abel must go. I shall put Sam Belbin in Job’s place.’
‘Well, he have behaved well to ’ee,’ conceded Isaac, unwillingly; ‘but he be young. I doubt if he’s fit for ’t.’
‘I’ve watched him,’ returned Rosalie, positively, ‘and I think he’s quite fit for it. He has worked under Job for some time, and is a capital milker. ”

“ Oh, yes, perhaps; but this homely beauty touches me as no other sight could do. Something about a great sketch of green like this always affects me curiously. I love these wide fields.’
‘Yes, I remember your saying so,’ said Rosalie. The ice was broken now and she could talk to him freely, even taking courage to broach a subject which had much occupied her thoughts lately. ‘You told me, you know, how pleased you were at the sight of the cornfield in—in my picture.’
He did not turn towards her, and continued to scan the mead; but over his brown face she saw the colour rush quickly. ”

“ I’ll bide here till ye come back.’
Sharpe paused for a moment or two, staring at him with evident displeasure, and then went forward. Presently his tall form towered above the bushes, and he looked down into the pit beneath.
After a long and steady gaze he returned to Job, took him by the shoulder, and propelled him to a safe distance from the tantalising spot. Job, when finally released, examined him with great curiosity; but the farmer’s face, though a little redder than usual, in consequence probably of his recent exertions, was stolid as ever. ”

“ Everything that I love—all the live things that I knew and used to take care of—even my churn, and my cheese-presses—granfer used always to say I was wonderful about cheese-making—and the pails and pans out of my dairy—everything that I kept so nice and took such pride in. They’ll all go to strangers now—all scattered about, one here, one there. ”

“ They should have been in the field hours ago, and yet they slouched about as though the beautiful golden morning were not already half over. Now, at last they were starting—no, here was James coming back for something they had forgotten. Rising hastily from her chair, she leaned out of the open window, tapping impatiently on the pane. ‘What are you about, Bundy? Why on earth don’t you try and make a little more haste?’
‘Mum?’ gasped Bundy, turning round a vacant, weather-beaten countenance adorned with the smallest fraction of a nose which it was possible for the face of man to possess. ”

“ So long as she had been thought plunged in grief, these wooers of hers had been content to bide their time; but when it became known that there was actually an avowed suitor in the field, and one, moreover, to whom the lady had given unequivocal tokens of confidence and good-will, they resolved with one accord to bestir themselves, lest the prize of which each thought himself most deserving, might be secured by another. ”

“ Wilson appeared on the threshold of the milk-house, and after a brief greeting bent her head over her mould and went on with her work.
‘Always busy, Mrs. Fiander,’ remarked the visitor pleasantly. ‘’Pon my word, you ladies put us to shame sometimes. We men are idle creatures in comparison with you.’
Rosalie made no answer, and Sam banged about the vat with his stiff brush so energetically that he seemed bent on giving the lie to the auctioneer’s words. ”

“ I don’t think I’ll sit down by the fire—I’ll go out for a stroll to stretch my legs.’
‘Stretch your legs!’ commented his uncle indignantly. ‘Ha’n’t ye stretched them enough to-day already? You’ve a-worked hard enough for two men.’
‘No remedy so good as a hair of the dog that bit you, you know,’ said Richard. ‘A brisk turn will take the stiffness off, and it is a lovely evening.’
‘Lard, how restless these young chaps do be!’ ejaculated Isaac, as he scraped his chair across the tiled floor to the hearth; ‘a body mid think he’d be glad enough to set down for a bit. ”

“ By-and-by he began to talk about his uncle, speaking of him with such evident affection that the heart of the future Mrs. Sharpe warmed to him. Her grateful regard for Isaac had increased during their four months’ betrothal. Indeed, it could not have been otherwise: he was so placid, and good-natured, and obliging. Moreover, he took a lot of trouble off her hands, for he had assumed the management of the farm immediately after their engagement. No one could cavil at this arrangement: it was natural that the man who was so shortly to be master should at once take over the control of affairs. ”

“ She is, as I say, a practical woman.’
‘She is—she is,’ agreed Farmer Sharpe warmly. ‘She be a wonderful good manager. Many’s the time I’ve said that. Ah, I reckon I can say I’m in luck.’
Richard murmured something inarticulate and returned to his chair, re-lighting his pipe and beginning to smoke without further remark. On the opposite side of the hearth Isaac ruminated contentedly, without appearing to notice his nephew’s preoccupation, and tumblers and pipes were emptied in almost unbroken silence. ”

“ Or that little ferret-faced Samuel Cross—he’d know how to manage a dairy-farm, would n’t he? You’d like to see him strutting about, and giving orders here? I tell you what it is, Isaac Sharpe, if you have no respect for dear Elias’s memory, you should be glad that I have.’
‘Who says I have n’t respect for ’Lias’s memory?’ thundered Isaac, now almost goaded into a fury. ‘I’ve known ’en a deal longer nor you have, Widow Fiander, and there’s no one in this world as thought more on him. All I says is—I bain’t a marryin’ man—’Lias knowed I were n’t never a marryin’ man. ”

“ It was quite decent and becoming to cry in church where everybody was looking at you, but to cry when you were alone for an old man of sixty-two—when you had been left in undisputed possession of all his property, and might with perfect impunity marry again at the earliest possible opportunity—it was not only unreasonable and foolish, but rank ingratitude for the most merciful dispensation of Providence. ”

“ Sharpe!’
p. 81‘Don’t ’ee now, my dear,’ stammered Isaac, almost purple in the face, and with his usually keen eyes suffused with tears. ‘I do really feel touched to the ’eart when you look at me so pitiful and say such things. God knows I’d be main glad to comfort you, but what can the likes of I do?’
‘You could let me feel that I had still a friend,’ sobbed Rosalie. ‘You might come and sit in your old chair, and we could—we could talk about Elias.’
‘That’s trew, so we could,’ agreed Isaac in a choked voice. ‘Well, next Sunday—if I live so long—I’ll not let nothing hinder me. ”

“ Burge’s flushed and dazed countenance as he stared helplessly upwards, contemplating probably a thousand stars, Isaac seized the chair by the legs and began to drag it across the floor, bumping its occupant unmercifully in his exertions. ”

“ I am always thought to be a lady’s man—my late poor wife used to say that my consideration for ladies injured the business; but, as I used to tell her, a man has a heart or else he has n’t. If he has a heart—if he has more feelings than his neighbours, he is n’t to blame for it. “Let the business go, my dear,” I ’d say, “but don’t ask me to be hard on a woman.”’
It had been whispered among the gossips of Branston that during the lifetime of the late Mrs. Wilson her lord had been wont to correct her occasionally with a boot-jack, but p. 115these rumours had not reached Rosalie’s ears ”

“ Rosalie gave a little sob, and the farmer, stretching out a large brown hand, patted her arm soothingly.
‘Don’t ’ee take on, though,’ he said. ‘Nay now, don’t ’ee take on, my dear. Cryin’ never did nobody no good.’
‘I’m so lonely,’ went on the girl brokenly. ‘I miss him at every turn.’
‘Ye’d be like to do that,’ responded Sharpe judicially. ‘Dear, yes—ye’d be like to do that.’
‘Everything is at sixes and sevens,’ she pursued plaintively. ‘The men think they can do just as they like; it was eight o’clock before they began their mowing this morning.’
‘Well, I never!’ ejaculated Isaac. ”

“ When the churn was fairly at work, the skim-milk duly meted out to the pigs, and the long procession of dairy cows were sauntering back to their pasture under the guardianship of Job and the three ‘chaps’ who had till then been busily milking, Rosalie removed her hat and sat down to breakfast. ”

“ If you don’t, ask the fascinating young widow—ask lovely, dainty Mrs. F. She knows what she’s about, though she contrives to look so demure. Come,’ marking the expression of Richard’s face, ‘you need n’t turn rusty over it—I’ll tell no tales, bless you! But there’s others besides me that has been passing remarks about the Widow Fiander’s new business-manager. Ha! ha!—You may carry on, though, as far as I am concerned—perhaps I know a little too much about the lady to envy you; she has played a double game before now. As for the old man, he’ll find out nothing ”

“ But when a young woman comes and axes a man as a favour to marry her it be a different story, bain’t it?’
Rosalie stopped laughing and glanced at him indignantly.
p. 179‘If that’s the way in which you look at it, Mr. Sharpe,’ she said, ‘I think we had better give up the idea. How dare you,’ she burst out suddenly—‘how dare you tell me to my face that I asked you as a favour? I am not the kind of person to pray and beseech you. You know as well as I do that other people are ready to fall on their knees if I but hold up a finger.’
‘Ah, a good few of them are,’ agreed Isaac dispassionately ”

“ I’m used to the country, d’ ye see, and when I do have to go to town—to Dorchester, or Weymouth, or any big place like that—Lard, I do get mortal tired! Walkin’ them streets, now, and lookin’ in at the shop-winders—dear heart alive, it makes me so weary as I could very nigh drop down in the middle of ’em! As for travellin’—goin’ in trains an’ sich-like—it do make me so stiff I can scarce lay legs to the ground when I do ’light from ’em. But I dare say you found it a hardish bit o’ work turnin’ up the big field yonder?’
His nephew made no response, and Isaac bawled out the question afresh. ”

“ Fiander with her hands upon her hips. ‘The very thing. “’t is most onbecomin’,” says I, “to be settin’ yourselves up to pry into the affairs o’ your betters. Missus,” says I, “be a-thinkin’ of nothing but her mournin’ so far, and when she do make her ch’ice,” says I, “she’ll please herself and pick out him as is most suitable.” Them was my words, mum.’
‘Well,’ cried Rosalie, rising to her feet impetuously, ‘I wonder you dare to own them to me, Mrs. Greene. I think that, considering you are a widow yourself, you ought to know better than to accuse another woman of such faithlessness. ”