William Howitt

“ The princess arrived at Barenburg Castle on the evening of the following day. The housekeeper, in her most splendid attire, a violet silk dress and a splendid lace cap, together with the rest of the household, solemnly received her at the foot of the flight of steps leading into the castle. The children witnessed the arrival from the little window of the porter's room, and even the free-minded Fritz felt a reverential throbbing of the heart, as he saw the carriage-step let down, and the princess alight, wholly different in appearance to what he had expected ”

“ It was time for Luke Barnicott to be going. No sooner did the man below perceive his butty above, than turning the earth out of the "cauf" or box, he sprang into it, and called to him to draw him up with all his might. Once on the bank, he cast a rapid glance round, and telling his mate in a few hurried words what had happened, they both dashed in amongst the furze bushes in quest of the culprit. They ran fiercely hither and thither; they doubled and crossed and beat over the whole common, as a sportsman beats for his game. ”

“ There,—all at once, the road again expanding, the castle stood before their astonished gaze, in its ancient splendour! Two gigantic bears, carved in stone, which gave name to the castle, stood like sentinels before it; whilst bounding deer on the pillars, and a pair of monstrous stag's horns on the pediment, showed it to be, as of old, a hunting castle. Lofty gates opening upon broad flights of steps led to a green turfed front court, where, in the midst of flowering shrubs, a splendid fountain threw aloft its silvery jet of water. ”

“ No sooner is the word dropped in one ear than it is out upon the tongue, and turns away to some other ear, and encircles round the world like sunshine. Amy had the pleasure of stopping two or three people before she got across the fields to the village, and telling them that Mrs. Barnicott had heard of Luke, and that he was a fine young sailor, and had been in the Indies and all over the world, and the young gentleman at the Dog and Partridge had brought the news, and had seen young Birchin of Cosser, who had sailed with him. ”

“ My story is no secret; everybody knows who are emancipists here, and who are not But we have wealth, and friends, and rising families who will one day rank with the first people of the colony in education and worth. As for me, I feel I am no longer the poor collier of the Marlpool. By trade, by study, by associating with men of intelligence and mind, my own mind and views have expanded. I have grown out of a black, crawling, ignorant caterpillar into a something more noble—into a man and a Christian. ”

“ Near this mill, Ives's mill, there is another hamlet called Marlpool, as though people could live in a pool, but it is called Marlpool, as a kettle is said to boil when only the water boils in it, because it stands on the edge of a great pool almost amounting to a lake, where marl formerly was dug, and which has for years been filled with water. The colliers living there call it the eighth wonder of the world, because they think it wonderful that a pool should stand on the top of a hill, though that is no wonder at all, but is seen in all quarters of the world. ”

“ But such little nooks abounded all the more beautifully and sweeter in the garden, where the children found a new world of wonder. According to their ideas, derived from the garden at home, which was celebrated, not only in the village itself, but through the whole neighbourhood, they imagined, under the name of a garden, a beautiful smooth piece of ground, divided into accurately-formed vegetable-beds, which wore bordered and adorned with lovely flowers, and in the very middle of all a green painted garden-house covered with creepers. ”

“ Webster told her all about the enormous whales at sea; how they used to see them come up near the ship, huge and black, and rear themselves up almost as high as a house, and then souse down again, and spout water up from their nostrils ever so high. And all about sharks, and flying-fish, and dolphins, and the beautiful nautiluses, and Portuguese men-of-war, that resemble the nautilus, but are only like little ships of gristle, but are beautifully painted as a rainbow, and they float about when the sea is calm as glass in the hot climates, and look like beautiful flowers on a plain of crystal. ”

“ Now I can say, Luke Barnicott, you did me the grandest day's work imaginable when you caused my transportation, or rather when I caused it myself by mad anger against you.' I asked his pardon a thousand times for my folly in tantalizing him with the brick at the pit.
"'Don't mention it,' he said; 'we have both of us something to forget and to forgive. God, I trust, has forgiven us both. He has prospered me beyond all conception. I am one of the richest men in this colony. I have lands that would make estates for half-a-dozen noblemen, and I have ships on half-a-dozen seas. ”

“ Luke, aware of the vengeance that he had provoked, had securely hidden himself somewhere. His pursuers could discover him nowhere. They returned to the Marlpool, and related the atrocious deed. The whole place arose in a fury. All men and women vowed to pay the young tormentor off. Dick Welland's wife, a tall, stout amazon of a woman, the head taller than any woman of the whole country round; strong, good-looking, and accustomed to walk with the stout strides and the air of a virago, vowed merciless retribution on the culprit if ever she laid hands on him. ”

“ One day old Beckey had a nice jug of curds sent her up from farmer Flamstead's, of Langlee, and she said, "Ah! that is that good Sally Flamstead's doing. She is always very good to me." And she made Amy get some sugar, and they had a delicious dish of cherry-curds, all three of them, under the old elder. "Flamstead!" said Webster, that reminds me that Birchin used to say, "Why, she must be as handsome as Sally Flamstead," when any handsome woman was spoken of. And when I asked him who Sally Flamstead was, he said, "Oh, that he had learned of Luke Barnicott." ”

“ The Marlpoolians and Monnycroftians who had called young Luke all manner of names as the most incorrigible of scapegraces, now pitied him as a very ill-used and persecuted lad. "Why, all lads are full of mischief," said Mrs. Widdiwicket of the Dog and Partridge public-house. "I would not give a potato for a lad without a bit of mischief in him. Poor lad! it was only his spirit, and what sort of a man is to grow out of a boy without a spirit?" ”

“ I have pursued some tender herrings to this side of the island for my breakfast; but if I am seen the people will shoot their arrows into me, and probably come off in boats and with harpoons after me. It is rather provoking that one cannot seek one's breakfast in peace without being called on to become a ferryman."
"Be civil, friend whale, as becomes thee," said the north wind. "I have blown along all day and night with the maiden, and surely it cannot hurt thy strong back just to bear her to the shore." ”

“ There she has a nice tall-backed cushioned chair set for her in a sunny corner, and she delights to ramble about the garden and smell the flowers, and about the farm-yard, and listen to the fowls and ducks and geese and pigeons, and fancy that she sees them.
"There's only one thing that troubles me," said old Beckey soon after Luke had been recognised, "and that is, that Welland and his wife were transported for nothing. Thou'st plenty of money, Luke, and if I were thee, I'd send for them back." ”

“ Old Luke Barnicott went to his mill and back as usual, but with a much sadder and darker air; poor old Beckey's eyes were red with weeping, and her frame seemed all at once withered and grown shaky. The incensed colliers and the redoubtable virago, Doll Welland, his wife, had been seen watching the Reckoning House, night after night, suspecting that the culprit must steal there in the dark to get something to live on, for he could not live on the air. But Tom Smith solemnly assured inquirers that no Luke had been seen near home since the day when he flourished the brick over the pit-mouth ”

“ I could not have stayed in my place when they left if I had not become acquainted with my blessed late husband, the castle house-steward, who, when we married, brought me here, where it was quite another thing to living in the house merely of a wealthy baron."
"Was your gentleman-husband, the castle house-steward, as elegant as the gentleman out there in the blue coat?" asked Fritz.
"As he?" asked Mrs. Walter, with offended pride. "Get along with you! He is a simple porter, and was my husband's underling! ”

“ Widdiwicket always said, only his spirit; he wanted more room for his life than he got here, and should have been a soldier or a traveller, or something or another where he would always be moving." She had often dreamt of her husband, who appeared to her and said he was waiting for her in a very pleasant place; but he never mentioned little Luke, and she never dreamed of him except as racing before Welland and his giant wife, or plunging into Hillmarton dam, all amongst the dark weeds and deep, slimy mud. ”

“ You know, Luke used to say, that she was far above a poor lad like me; she was the farmer's only child, and the old man was rich for a farmer; he had flocks of sheep and cattle, and great fat teams, and such corn and hay-stacks, and geese, and turkeys, and fowls, and pigeons. Oh, he seemed to Luke quite a king. Yet little Sally Flamstead took quite a fancy for Luke, and used to give him good advice; for, she said, everybody said he was wild. Luke used to collect nuts and mushrooms for her, and she used to give him ripe cherries and plums, and often she would save her plum-cake and give him. ”

“ Walter rose up with an air of business, and took up the important bunch of keys, saying, "Come, Mina, you shall go with me; you can be of some use."
"Ah! a real, living princess," said Mina, "I shall be frightened if I meet her."
"I shall not," said Fritz boldly, "all men are equal before God, prince or peasant or nobleman; it makes no difference."
"You talk as you know, foolish boy," said Mrs. Dote, now for the first time really angry; "it is true that God created all men equal, but the Lord himself has appointed to each one his particular place ”

“ The lady I then lived with was very queer-tempered and proud; for it often happens, that those who have only riches to boast of, are not nearly so affable and considerate as the truly nobly born. I had no parents, no brothers nor sisters, and felt myself quite alone in the world. Then came your parents, and as I myself was the daughter of a schoolmaster, I had naturally a liking for schoolmasters. Your mother is of a timid, gentle nature. ”

“ Luke said, "God bless her! I knew she was one in ten thousand, and if I were——," but here Amy, who was as full of the news of Luke's being alive and being come as an egg is of yolk, and had been out at the garden gate to catch the first person going down the field-path and let off her steam, came running out of breath, "Wist! wist! here is Miss Flamstead coming up the field with a little basket in her hand, and a nice white cloth on it. She's bringing you something nice, Missis Barnicott; don't let us say who the young gentleman is, and see what she will say. ”

“ She's never married, though she's as handsome a wench as any lady in all the country-side, and rich she is, and manages her farm like a man, for the old Flamsteads are dead; and as for followers and sweethearts, heaven love me! she has had them all, I think, dangling after her in their turns. Nay, there came a very fine gentleman from London here, and he offered to keep her a coach and settle a fine estate on her; but no, thank you, she would not have him. No, she'll never marry, Luke, unless thou marries her. ”

“ Yes, yes, mountain and valley cannot meet, but people can! How little I thought that the baby Fritz that I carried in my arms to be baptized, and dandled so nicely to keep him from crying, would one day come to see me such a fine young fellow! But now, come in with me, you must be hungry."
Anything more charming than Mrs. Dote's little parlour could not be imagined; the children thought that the princess herself could not live in one more beautiful. It was full of all such old, carved furniture as was superfluous in the castle; a little sofa and high-backed chairs of faded blue silk damask ”

“ Then she had to tell the wonderful news all over to Amy, and to ask a hundred questions. What sort of looking young man was he, light or dark? and how he was dressed, and how tall he was? Though he'd been a sailor, she was sure he was a gentleman by his talk. Amy said he was a handsome young man, and quite a gentleman in his dress. He was as finely dressed as young Squire Flaggimore himself. His eyes were dark blue.
"Blue, says ta?" broke in old Beckey. "Luke's were blue." ”

“ When she had told him all this, he said:—"Thou art come precisely at the right time, for the stepmother has been exercising her witchcraft to occasion me to marry another princess, which must have taken place if she could have retained her power over me for a week longer. But now is her power at an end, for it can endure no longer than till a true woman asserts her right as wife in this castle. ”

“ Nor yet had they come to an end of the discoveries in the garden, nor yet had Fritz wholly completed the accurate description of the journey which he had promised to send his father.
The children had been accustomed to a simple, laborious life, therefore their holidays appeared to them a season of the purest enjoyment. Mina, brought up to very early rising, was every morning ready dressed, and put her head within her brother's little chamber to summon him, whilst he was yet generally asleep; and every morning Fritz asked her, "But, I say, Mina, isn't it a dream?" ”