Page:Eliot - Adam Bede, vol. I, 1859.djvu/157

Rh to the door to meet them, curtsying low, and trembling between anger with Dinah and anxiety to conduct herself with perfect propriety on the occasion. For in those days the keenest of bucolic minds felt a whispering awe at the sight of the gentry, such as of Old men felt when they stood on tip-toe to watch the gods passing by in tall human shape.

"Well, Mrs Poyser, how are you after this stormy morning?" said Mr Irwine, with his stately cordiality. "Our feet are quite dry; we shall not soil your beautiful floor."

"O, sir, don't mention it," said Mrs Poyser "Will you and the Captain please to walk into the parlour?"

"No, indeed, thank you, Mrs Poyser," said the Captain, looking eagerly round the kitchen, as if his eye were seeking something it could not find. "I delight in your kitchen, I think it is the most charming room I know. I should like every farmer's wife to come and look at it for a pattern."

"O, you're pleased to say so, sir. Pray take a seat," said Mrs Poyser, relieved a little by this compliment and the Captain's evident good-humour, but still glancing anxiously at Mr Irwine, who, she saw, was looking at Dinah and advancing towards her.