Pedlar

“ The less they are raised above animal life, the sounder the sleep is, and the more it seems to be an act of volition with them; when they close their eyes there is nothing within to keep them waking.
Well, our Little Woman was sleeping on a bank beside the way, when a Pedlar happened to come by. Not such a Pedlar as the one in Mr. Wordsworth's Excursion, who was what Randolph's Pedlar describes himself to be, “a noble, generous, understanding, royal, magnificent, religious, heroical, and thrice illustrious Pedlar;” ”

“ Our bargain went no further than to procure my disguise and to let me know when the coast was clear, and in the latter particular you were mistaken."
"I was," said the pedlar, "and the greater the reason why you should go back to-night. The pass I gave you will serve but once."
"Here I stay this night, come what will."
"Captain Wharton," said the pedlar, with great deliberation, "beware a tall Virginian with huge whiskers; he is below you; the devil can't deceive him ”

“ So the Stargazers looked at the stars again, but they got quite cross, and said,—
"We told you before, and we tell you now, she is to have the miller's son, whom you threw into the river, and wished to make an end of; for he is alive, safe and sound, in such and such a mill, far down the stream."
So Peter the Pedlar gave them two hundred dollars for this news, and thought how he could best be rid of the miller's son. The first thing Peter did when he got home was to set off for the mill. ”

“ It is a gay interlude burlesquing a lecture in philosophy, the whole piece being an argument to support the claims of sack against small beer. The Conceited Pedlar is an amusing monologue delivered by the pedlar, who defines himself as an “individuum vagum, or the primum mobile of tradesmen, a walking-burse or movable exchange, a Socratical citizen of the vast universe, or a peripatetics journeyman, that, like another Atlas, carries his heavenly shop on's shoulders. ”

“ So they turned the key, and opened the chest, and lo! there lay the prettiest child you ever set eyes on. So they were both glad, and were ready to keep the child, for they had no children of their own, and were so old they could now hope for none.
Now, after a little while, Peter the Pedlar began to wonder how it was no one came to woo his daughter, who was so rich in land, and had so much ready money. At last, when no one came, off he went again to the Stargazers, and offered them a heap of money if they could tell him whom his daughter was to have for a husband. ”

“ One accident in pedlar life was some drawback to its general pleasantness. He often bore not only a great charge of goods, but of gold also. His steps were dogged by robbers, and many a skeleton, since disinterred in solitary places, is the mortal framework of some wandering merchant who had met with foul play on his circuit. The packman’s ghost too is no unusual spectre in many of our shires.
How important a personage among the dramatis personæ of rural life the pedlar was, at even a recent period, in the northern counties of England, may p. ”

“ Certainly, if the Dost's justice had ever any reference to pedlars, it must have been a nervous affection of penitential panic during some fit of the cholera, and as transient as the measles; his regard for pedlars being notoriously of that kind which tigers bear to shoulders of lamb; and Cabool has since rung with his pillagings of caravans. But we believe the pedlar's mot to have been thoroughly misconceived. If we see a poor man bleeding to death in a village lane, we naturally exclaim—"What! ”

“ Elisabeth made no answer. Instead, she pointed to the Monk's Cliff, where the grey stone of Far End gleamed in the sunlight against its dark background of trees.
“Who lives there?” she asked. Sara's eyes followed the direction of her hand, and she smiled.
“I'm going to live there,” she answered. “That's Garth's home.”
“Oh-h!” Elisabeth drew a quick breath. “It's a grim-looking place,” she added, after a moment. “Rather lonely, I should imagine.”
“Garth is fond of solitude,” replied Sara simply, and she missed the swift, searching glance instantly leveled at her by the hyacinth eyes. ”

“ She looked up swiftly, trying to read what lay behind the harsh repression in his tones. She felt as though he were holding something in leash—something that strained and fought against restraint.
"I'm a man—not a saint!" The memory of his renunciation at King Arthur's Castle swept over her.
"Yet I once thought you—almost that, Peter," she said slowly.
But he brushed her words aside.
"Well, I'm not. When I saw you to-day at the studio . . . God! Did you think I'd keep away? . . . Nan, did you want me to?" ”

“ Snatching the key which she took down from a peg on the wall, he returned to the car with it. Barry was still sitting behind the steering wheel. He bent forward as Peter approached.
“You go,” he said with a bluntness that masked an infinite understanding. “Here's the brandy flask. If you want help, blow that hooter.” He had detached one of the horns from the car. “If not, well, I shall just wait here till you come back.”
CHAPTER XVI. The tide was at its full when Peter began the ascent to King Arthur's Castle, the sea a vast stretch of quivering silver fringed with a mist of flying spray. ”

“ When the lad came to the house, the good wife hasted and gave him meat to them, saying, Lad, run hard, and tell them, that the enemies are spread; and we are looking for them here every minute. As the lad was going from the house, eighteen of the enemies foot appeared, who cried to him, Stand dog! But the lad ran, and six of them pursued half a mile, and fired hard upon him; the ball went close by his head: All that time Mr. Peden continued in prayer for him alone, and with the rest, being twelve men. ”

“ The pedler is always popular with his world and Dives knew Petitjean to be as honest as a pedler can ever hope to be in a world where small pence are only made large by some one being sacrificed on the altar of duplicity. Therefore it was that Petitjean's hearse-like cart was always a welcome visitor;—one could at least be as sure of a just return for one's money in trading with a pedler as from any other source in this thieving world. In the end, one always got something else besides the bargain to carry away with one. ”

“ A coquettish little lace cap adorned the silver-grey hair, and the face beneath the cap was just what you would have expected to find it—soft and very gentle, its porcelain pink and white a little faded, the pretty old eyes a misty, lavender blue.
She was alone when the two girls arrived, and greeted Sara with a humorous little smile.
“How kind of you to come, Miss Tennant! We've been all agog to meet you, Miles and I. In a tiny place like Monkshaven, you see, every one knows every one else's business, so of course we have been hearing of you constantly.” ”

“ Thus speaking, and turning to some of those around him, he gave directions which imparted to the limbs of the pedler a continuous and crazy motion, that made his teeth chatter.
"Hark ye, boys, jist step out, and bring in the cart of Jared Bunce, wheels and all, if so be that the body won't come off easily. We'll see for ourselves."
It was now the pedler's turn for speech; and, forgetting the precise predicament in which he personally stood, and only solicitous to save his chattels from the fate which he plainly saw awaited them, his expostulations and entreaties were rapid and energetic. ”

“ The ralli-cart swung round a corner into a narrow lane, and a quick exclamation broke from Ann as she recognised in the tall, striding figure approaching from the opposite direction the man of whom they had just been speaking. A beautiful thoroughbred collie bounded along beside him, looking up at his master every now and again with adoring eyes.
“Why, here is Mr. Coventry!” she exclaimed. “Shall I pull up?”
Without waiting for an answer she brought the cob to a standstill exactly as Eliot, catching sight of them, halted instinctively. ”

“ He had not contemplated the possibility of any beast, even bear or bull-moose, daring to face him, because he knew that, except in mating-time, the boldest of them would give a man wide berth. But, as he now reflected, here on this narrow ledge even a buck or a lynx would become dangerous, finding itself suddenly at bay.
The steepness of the rise in the trail at this point almost drove Peddler to helping himself with his hands. As he neared the next turn, he was surprised to note, far out to his right, a soaring eagle, perhaps a hundred feet below him. ”

“ Roger swung round upon him furiously, his hands clenched, his forehead suddenly gnarled with knotted veins.
"By God, Rooke!" he exclaimed. "You go too far! You will exhibit
Nan's portrait . . . you will hang it in your house! . . . And you
think I'll stand by and tolerate such impertinence? Understand . . .
Nan's portrait hangs at Trenby Hall—or nowhere!"
Rooke regarded him apparently unmoved.
"I've yet to learn the law which compels a man to part with his work," he remarked indifferently.
Roger took an impetuous step towards him, his clenched hand raised as though to strike. ”

“ The lawyer was delighted too, but his satisfaction was of a far different origin. He had now some prospect of getting back his favorite steed—that fine animal, described by him elsewhere to the pedler, as docile as the dog, and fleet as the deer. He had heard of the safety of his horse, and his anger with the pedler had undergone some abatement; but, with the consciousness of power common to inferior minds, came a strong desire for its use. He knew that the pedler had been guilty in a legal sense of no crime, and could only be liable in a civil action for his breach of trust. ”

“ Far End, they calls the 'ouse.”
“Far End,” repeated Sara. The name conveyed an odd sense of remoteness and inaccessibility. It seemed peculiarly appropriate to a house built thus on the very edge of the mainland.
Her eyes rested musingly on the bleak promontory. It would be a fit abode, she thought, for some recluse, determined to eschew the society of his fellow-men; here he could dwell, solitary and apart, surrounded on three sides by the grey, dividing sea, and protected on the fourth by the steep untempting climb that lay betwixt the town and the lonely house on the cliff. ”

“ An old Italian woman, her dark eyes bright and glancing like a robin's, peered at him scrutinisingly. Could he see the signora? She shook her head doubtfully. Peter smiled at her—that lovable, half whimsical smile of his which so few women could resist—and the old serving woman melted. Yes, it was true—the signora had finished her siesta. Perhaps she would receive the signoré inglese. The name? A swift expression of surprise crossed her face as Peter gave his name. ”

“ Just at the end, before they turned the corner where the car awaited them, Peter spoke to her again, taking both her hands in his for the last time and holding them in a firm, steady clasp.
"Don't forget, Nan, what we said just now. We can each remember that—our troth. Hang on to it—hard, when life seems a bit more uphill than usual." ”

“ Sara, her slim, boyish build, with its long line of slender hip, accentuated by the clinging black of her gown, moved listlessly across the hall to where Major Durward was standing smoking by the big open fire, waiting for the car which was to take him to the station.
He made as though to throw his cigarette away at her approach, but she gestured a hasty negative.
“No, don't,” she said. “I like it. It seems to make things a little more natural. Uncle Pat”—with a wan smile—“was always smoking.” ”

“ Five minutes later she heard his footsteps as he came striding along the corridor on to which the West Parlour opened. Then the door-handle was turned with imperious eagerness, someone switched on the light, and he came in—splashed with mud, his face red from the lash of the wind, his hair beaded with moisture from the misty air. He looked just what he was—a typical big sporting Englishman—as he tramped into the room and made his way to the warmth of the blazing log fire.
Nan looked up and threw him a little smile of greeting. ”

“ As for Peddler, he was equally startled, but he had too much discretion and self-control to show it. Never moving a muscle, and keeping his body out of sight so that his face [Pg 189] seemed to be suspended in mid-air, he held the great beast's eyes with a calm, unwinking gaze.
The bear was plainly disconcerted. After a few seconds he glanced back over his shoulder, and seemed to contemplate a strategic movement to the rear. As the ledge at this point was sufficiently wide for him to turn with due care, Peddler expected now to see him do so. ”

“ CHAPTER XIX. A sense of bustle and mild excitement pervaded Trenby Hall. The hounds were to meet some distance away and a hunting morning invariably necessitated the services of at least two of the menservants and possibly those of an observant maid to get Roger off successfully.
“My hunting boots, Jenkins!” he demanded as he issued from the library. “And look sharp with them! Flask and sandwich case—that's right.” He busied himself bestowing these two requisites in his pockets.
Nan, cool and unperturbed, joined him in the hall, a small, amused smile on her face. ”

“ He went on in silence, conscious in every fiber of his being of the supple body gathered so close against his own, of the young, sweet, clean-cut curve of her cheek, and of the warmth of her hair against his shoulder. He jerked his head aside, his mouth set grimly, and crossed quickly to the other bank of the river.
As he let her slip to the ground, steadying her with his arms, he bent swiftly and, for an instant, his lips just brushed her hair. Nan scarcely felt the touch of his kiss, it fell so lightly, but she sensed it through every nerve of her. ”