Under the Greenwood Tree (Hardy)/Part 2/Chapter 5

CHAPTER V: RETURNING HOME WARD

&ldquo;&lsquo;A took it very well, then?&rdquo; said Mail, as they all walked up the hill.

&ldquo;He behaved like a man, &rsquo;a did so,&rdquo; said the tranter. &ldquo;And I&rsquo;m glad we&rsquo;ve let en know our minds. And though, beyond that, we ha&rsquo;n&rsquo;t got much by going, &rsquo;twas worth while. He won&rsquo;t forget it. Yes, he took it very well. Supposing this tree here was Pa&rsquo;son Mayble, and I standing here, and thik gr&rsquo;t stone is father sitting in the easy-chair. &lsquo;Dewy,&rsquo; says he, &lsquo;I don&rsquo;t wish to change the church music in a forcible way.&rsquo;&rdquo;

&ldquo;That was very nice o&rsquo; the man, even though words be wind.&rdquo;

&ldquo;Proper nice&mdash;out and out nice. The fact is,&rdquo; said Reuben confidentially, &ldquo;&rsquo;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&rsquo;s saying a good deal.&rdquo;

&ldquo;&rsquo;Tis truly!&rdquo; murmured the husbands.

&ldquo;Pa&rsquo;son Mayble and I were as good friends all through it as if we&rsquo;d been sworn brothers. Ay, the man&rsquo;s well enough; &rsquo;tis what&rsquo;s put in his head that spoils him, and that&rsquo;s why we&rsquo;ve got to go.&rdquo;

&ldquo;There&rsquo;s really no believing half you hear about people nowadays.&rdquo;

&ldquo;Bless ye, my sonnies! &rsquo;tisn&rsquo;t the pa&rsquo;son&rsquo;s move at all. That gentleman over there&rdquo; (the tranter nodded in the direction of Shiner&rsquo;s farm) &ldquo;is at the root of the mischty.&rdquo;

&ldquo;What! Shiner?&rdquo;

&ldquo;Ay; and I see what the pa&rsquo;son don&rsquo;t see. Why, Shiner is for putting forward that young woman that only last night I was saying was our Dick&rsquo;s sweet-heart, but I suppose can&rsquo;t be, and making much of her in the sight of the congregation, and thinking he&rsquo;ll win her by showing her off. Well, perhaps &rsquo;a woll.&rdquo;

&ldquo;Then the music is second to the woman, the other churchwarden is second to Shiner, the pa&rsquo;son is second to the churchwardens, and God A&rsquo;mighty is nowhere at all.&rdquo;

&ldquo;That&rsquo;s true; and you see,&rdquo; continued Reuben, &ldquo;at the very beginning it put me in a stud as to how to quarrel wi&rsquo; en. In short, to save my soul, I couldn&rsquo;t quarrel wi&rsquo; such a civil man without belying my conscience. Says he to father there, in a voice as quiet as a lamb&rsquo;s, &lsquo;William, you are a&rsquo; old aged man, as all shall be, so sit down in my easy-chair, and rest yourself.&rsquo; And down father zot. I could fain ha&rsquo; laughed at thee, father; for thou&rsquo;st take it so unconcerned at first, and then looked so frightened when the chair-bottom sunk in.&rdquo;

&ldquo;You see,&rdquo; said old William, hastening to explain, &ldquo;I was scared to find the bottom gie way&mdash;what should I know o&rsquo; spring bottoms?&mdash;and thought I had broke it down: and of course as to breaking down a man&rsquo;s chair, I didn&rsquo;t wish any such thing.&rdquo;

&ldquo;And, neighbours, when a feller, ever so much up for a miff, d&rsquo;see his own father sitting in his enemy&rsquo;s easy-chair, and a poor chap like Leaf made the best of, as if he almost had brains&mdash;why, it knocks all the wind out of his sail at once: it did out of mine.&rdquo;

&ldquo;If that young figure of fun&mdash;Fance Day, I mean,&rdquo; said Bowman, &ldquo;hadn&rsquo;t been so mighty forward wi&rsquo; showing herself off to Shiner and Dick and the rest, &rsquo;tis my belief we should never ha&rsquo; left the gallery.&rdquo;

&ldquo;&rsquo;Tis my belief that though Shiner fired the bullets, the parson made &rsquo;em,&rdquo; said Mr. Penny. &ldquo;My wife sticks to it that he&rsquo;s in love wi&rsquo; her.&rdquo;

&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a thing we shall never know. I can&rsquo;t onriddle her, nohow.&rdquo;

&ldquo;Thou&rsquo;st ought to be able to onriddle such a little chiel as she,&rdquo; the tranter observed.

&ldquo;The littler the maid, the bigger the riddle, to my mind. And coming of such a stock, too, she may well be a twister.&rdquo;

&ldquo;Yes; Geoffrey Day is a clever man if ever there was one. Never says anything: not he.&rdquo;

&ldquo;Never.&rdquo;

&ldquo;You might live wi&rsquo; that man, my sonnies, a hundred years, and never know there was anything in him.&rdquo;

&ldquo;Ay; one o&rsquo; these up-country London ink-bottle chaps would call Geoffrey a fool.&rdquo;

&ldquo;Ye never find out what&rsquo;s in that man: never,&rdquo; said Spinks. &ldquo;Close? ah, he is close! He can hold his tongue well. That man&rsquo;s dumbness is wonderful to listen to.&rdquo;

&ldquo;There&rsquo;s so much sense in it. Every moment of it is brimmen over wi&rsquo; sound understanding.&rdquo;

&ldquo;&rsquo;A can hold his tongue very clever&mdash;very clever truly,&rdquo; echoed Leaf. &ldquo;&rsquo;A do look at me as if &rsquo;a could see my thoughts running round like the works of a clock.&rdquo;

&ldquo;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&rsquo;t expect his daughter to inherit his closeness, she may have a few dribblets from his sense.&rdquo;

&ldquo;And his pocket, perhaps.&rdquo;

&ldquo;Yes; the nine hundred pound that everybody says he&rsquo;s worth; but I call it four hundred and fifty; for I never believe more than half I hear.&rdquo;

&ldquo;Well, he&rsquo;ve made a pound or two, and I suppose the maid will have it, since there&rsquo;s nobody else. But &rsquo;tis rather sharp upon her, if she&rsquo;s been born to fortune, to bring her up as if not born for it, and letting her work so hard.&rdquo;

&ldquo;&rsquo;Tis all upon his principle. A long-headed feller!&rdquo;

&ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; murmured Spinks, &ldquo;&rsquo;twould be sharper upon her if she were born for fortune, and not to it! I suffer from that affliction.&rdquo;