The Belle of the Village

Chapter I

Long ago — it matters not when — the in habitants of a viUage in one of the rural districts of England were not a little sur prised by a stranger in the sable garb of a widoAV, accompanied by a little girl, making inquiries for furnished lodgings. It was a most astonishing proceeding; at least so everybody thought, and so everybody said. Who could they be ? Where did they come VOL. I. B from ? Why were they there ? By Avhat brought? How did they arrive? In chaise, cart, carriage, coach, van, Avaggon, or wheel barroAv ? No one seemed to knoAv. Numerous were the questions, but painfully feAV the answers to them. At length the general shopkeeper, Avhose curiosity on all subjects Avherein mystery was involved, mounted like quicksilver in the sun, could no longer submit to the pressure from Avithin, and, in order to obtain the relief he desired, determined upon taking the matter in hand him self, as he would a parcel duly consigned from the wholesale house with which he dealt, and stripping it of all outward con cealment, lay bare, exposed and palpable, that which was now wrapped in fog, clouds, and darkness.

Jacob Giles Avas as mild a little man as ever craned a long thin neck over a little Avhitc Avisp of a cravat. His hair, always a poor crop in his sunniest days, looked like thistle down gummed in patches upon a pink scalp ; Avhile, as if his system was denied the usual qualities of nutrition, he was com pletely devoid of eyebrows, eyelashes, and Avhiskers. Nothing, indeed, could present a smoother surface than Jacob's countenance ; more particularly Avhen, Avith a bland smile, he rested his knuckles on the counter of the general shop, and leaning slightly fonvard, said, " What may be the next article, Mem?" Just above the tape, hoAvever, Avhich held the SAveeping Avhite apron round his girdle, as soft, tender, and easily-melted a little heart throbbed, as ever beat within the confines of a human bosom.

It was as easily moulded to the slightest touch of want or suffering, as a pat of fresh butter to the dairymaid's stamp. Jacob Giles, diminutive as he Avas, possessed an enlarged view of " doing unto »•> TIIE BELLE OF THE VILLAGE. others as he wished they should do unto him ; " and although, by care and thrift, never knoAving what the necessities of life Avere, he had not become deaf or indifferent to those of his less fortunate neighbours who might be frequently sensible of nature's immediate demands, without the resources of an equally ready supply. Notwithstanding these sentiments, which rung like sound bellmetal from the secret recesses of Jacob's anatomy, it must be confessed that he was tainted to the backbone with the vulgar inclination of knowing everybody's business, even in preference to his own ; and was never at rest, either mentally or physically, until all neAvs, hints, rumours, reports, suspicions, and mysteries, coming under his lynx-eyed notice, Avere thoroughly sifted, winnowed, and rendered clear and transparent to his perception.

A stranger asking for furnished lodgings in the village of Grundy's Green ! Such a circumstance had not been heard of within the memory of the oldest inhabitant ; and as for apartments, they were not to be had, except the sandy-floored parlour with the room over it, at the HarroAV and Pitchfork ; and the former of these was invariably oc cupied each Saturday night by the members of the Rollicking Club. "You'll excuse me, Mem," observed Jacob, between a squeak and a whistle, for he was sadly at a loss for breath, from the haste he had exercised in overtaking the mysterious strangers, now at the extremity of Grundy's Green; "You'll excuse me, Mem," repeated he, glancing from the tall figure of the lady to that of the chUd, holding timidly the hand of her companion, as she nestled to her side with fear, "but," and the general shopkeeper gently chafed the tips of his long freckled fingers together, " if I'm informed co-rectly, you are desirous of obtaining furnished lodgings in our village."

" Indeed," replied the stranger, throwing back a deep fall of crape, Avhich hitherto had effectually acted as a perfect screen to her features, " I'm exceedingly anxious of so doing; but there appears — " " Some difficulty in getting what you re quire, Mem," continued Jacob, pretending to close his eyes — the fox — but in reality to peep at the face presented to his full view with less strain upon his modesty, and which something Avarm and glowing within told him in strict confidence that it Avas the loveliest — albeit ghastly pale — that his light blue, and soraeAvhat fishy organs of vision had ever rested on. " Perhaps you can render me some as sistance," returned the lady, " for I'm very wearied and — " she hesitated to conclude the sentence, and the words died upon her lips. Jacob Giles's curiosity l-eceived a fresh stimulus from this, and Avith pricked ears he almost gasped, " very wearied and — " " 111, Sir, I would have said," she added, in a subdued tone, and glancing furtively at the child.

" Very wearied and very ill! " ejaculated Jacob, as the gimblet of compassion drilled its Avay straight as an arrow to his sensitive core. " What can be done, my dear Mem? What can /do?" " Is there no place near wherein I can have an hour's rest?" she rejoined, faintly, " I am much in want of it." " To be sure there is, Mem," said Jacob Giles, encouragingly. " My shop's not a quarter of a mile off, and over it there's a snuggery, much at your service. Some times, Mem, this -snuggery, in the hot Aveather, and when the new cheeses come in fresh, doesn't smell as one could wish ; but at the present moment, Mem, there's nothing less SAveet in it than a pot of mignionette and a handful of Avoodbine." " I am deeply sensible of your proffered kindness," replied the stranger, in a tremu lous voice, " and Avill accept the offer with heartfelt thankfulness."

Turning to retrace her footsteps, she stag gered, as isa sudden faintness had overcome her; and had not Jacob's ready hand been near, to render the required support, she probably might have fallen to the ground. " There, my dear Mem," said Jacob, draAving the lady's arm through his own, Avith a secret resolve that she should have a night's rest in the snuggery at least, if not a week's. " There, there, my dear Mem ! a glass of my sparkling gooseberry will soon set all things straight. Yes, yes. The day's Avarm and close, and you're travel-Avorn. There, lean on me. I'm stronger than I look, much stronger ; " and with many such terms and phrases, he conducted his unknown guest, tenderly and in silence, towards the promised haven of his snuggery. As may be visibly perceived in the mind's eye, without the smallest stretch of the imagination, the inhabitants of Grundy's Green Avere more than ordinarily moved with the sight of Jacob Giles leading the unknown lady through the village; and many heads Avere thrust from door and AvindoAv, and gazes of bewilderment exchanged, as they neared his domicile.

But when the door was gained, and he Avas palpably seen to point the way through the shop, and by a waving motion of his dexter hand, invite the strangers to mount the stairs leading to the snuggery, no common pen can describe the excitement prevailing from one end of Grundy's Green to the other. The circumstances surrounding, as with a haze, this unprecedented event, had now become so far beyond the reach of the highest-flown speculations, that mute amazement took possession of each and all. Even the most prone to gossip, with one consent appeared to abandon the use of their tongues, and, for once in their lives, to feel the total in adequacy of the gift of speech. " There, Mem," said Jacob, throAving open the door of his snuggery, and exhibiting the economy of the interior Avith no little satisfaction, " I beg you'll make yourself at home.

Let me, my dear Mem," continued he, Avheeling a Avell-cushioned sofa to the open windoAv, " assist you. There, noAV take your rest, and don't let the thought of starting come into your head." " You are very kind," replied the stranger, in a feeble and exhausted tone, as she dropped upon the sofa. " Not at all," rejoined Jacob, flying about the room in the greatest haste to accomplish something; but what that something was, it is impossible to conjecture, as he nearly upset all the fire-irons, two chairs, and the coal-scuttle. " Not at all," repeated he, "far from it." " Clara," said the lady, " come here, love, and let me untie your bonnet." " Permit me, Mem," returned Jacob, and the succeeding instant he began fastening the child's bonnet strings in such a com plication of the hardest knots, that there appeared Uttle likelihood of their ever finding mortal fingers to untwist them.

"I think, Sir," said Clara, looking up wards with an appealing look, for her neck began to ache most painfuUy, " that you had better let mamma try." " My dear little dear," replied Jacob, " I'm precisely of your o-pinion," and as the task was transferred to abler hands, and Clara's clustering nut-broAvn curls fell upon her shoulders like the tendrils of the wild hop-vine, the little general shopkeeper's eyes became rivetted as upon a picture of transcendent beauty. Indeed, no limner's art could trace features of greater childish loveliness. Her dark violet eyes were fringed with long web-like lashes, black as a raven's feather, and the finely-arched eyebrows looked like tAvo thin strokes from a pencil's point. Lofty, and Avhite as polished ivory, was the brow, and •■ the delicately chiselled, and slightly aquiline nose was only surpassed in beauty by the red pouting lips, which the birds might have pecked for cherries red and ripe.

Upon her cheeks, the tinge of the ripening peach spread its shade, and, above all, the sunny expression of her features betokened hidden beauties of far greater Avorth. With a slight and even fragile figure, Clara possessed no appearance of that lurking and insidious disease, Avhich often nips the bud ere it blossoms. There was health in her bounding step and joyous tone, and, although now and then a cloud of melancholy fell upon her face, it Avas only when her eyes became thoughtfully fixed on those of her mother, and then sad reflections seemed to rise of coming sorrows Avhose shades Avere cast before. After several futile attempts to arrange the fire-irons in their assigned position, Jacob Giles made a dive — for nothing more of him was left visible than the skirt of his coat — into a deep cupboard, or recess, placed in a corner of the room, and began draAving forth, in rapid succession, the varied stores contained within it : oranges, cakes, ginger bread, plums, nuts, raisins, apples, pears, biffins, bottles of gooseberry, currant, ginger, and coAvslip wines, in addition to a capacious jar of cherry brandy; all of Avhich he begged and entreated might meet with a concen trated and simultaneous attack, without the further waste of a moment.

"My dear Mem," said Jacob, enthusias ticaUy, and his eyes sparkled almost as brightly as the wine Avhich he noAV gurgled from the bottle, " take a glass of my own importation ; I mean my own making. Better gooseberry," continued he, " was never squeezed from gooseberries." Without waiting for assent or dissent, the hospitable general shopkeeper plied his guests so bountifully, that had his directions been complied with with anything like strictness, they must literally have been choked with sweets. Greatly, however, to the mental uneasi ness of Jacob Giles, he saw not the slightest possible progress made in the demolition of the multifarious good things which he had so liberally provided. The strangers expressed their grateful thanks for the kindness displayed by their entertainer; but Clara stood with an arm encircling the neck of her mother, who reclined upon the couch in a manner pourtraying the greatest exhaustion, and neither seemed disposed to yield to his pressing soUcitations to try the " excellent gooseberry."

" Presently," said the latter, slightly raising herself, and speaking in a tone scarcely above a Avhisper, " presently, Sir, I hope to be sufficiently recovered to partake of your hospitality; but, if I may venture to express a wish, without giving offence, it is to be left alone for a brief half hour." " Alone ! " exclaimed Jacob, " to be sure, my dear Mem. Neither man, woman, nor child shall disturb ye. I see you want quiet, and quiet you shall have. Yes, yes, leave that to me. If anything's wanted," continued he, addressing himself to Clara, " touch that hand-bell on the table, my dear little dear, and— and— and I'll fly to serve ye. My maid-of-all-Avork, or housekeeper, as she calls herself, is as deaf as an adder ; but quicker ears than mine — probably from their length — were never knoAvn, I should say;" and with this humorous panegyric upon his organs of hearing, Jacob Giles made as nimble an exit as a pair of lean legs, encased in drab, short, anti-continu ations, and ribbed cotton stockings, can Avell be imagined capable of accomplishing.

" Are you very ill, dear Mamma?" said Clara, as the door closed upon the ribbed cotton stockings, and, as she spoke, she twined her arms fondly around her mother, and pressed her cheek closely to hers. " I hope not, dearest," Avas the reply. "But, tell me what you think," rejoined Clara, earnestly. " It may be only fatigue," returned her mother, " and I trust a little rest may soon restore me." " I never saw you look so pale — so very pale, before," added the child, as tears began to steal from her eyeUds, and course them selves down her cheeks. " Don't weep, dearest one," said her mother. " It will but increase my paleness to see you thus. Come, come," and she drew her closer to her bosom. c vol I.

Chapter II

It was a thick watch which Jacob Giles Avore in his fob. Round, roomy, and not unUke a turnip in shape, it might have been used for a warming-pan at a pinch. How often did the little general shop keeper tug at the bunch of burnished seals which dangled at the end of a steel chain, and drag this corpulent keeper of time's stealthy progress, to mark the minutes as they passed. It was a long half-hour, one of the longest that ever trailed its Aveary length over the index of a dial, and Jacob began to entertain suspicions that he must have omitted to give it its customary wind up, and held it occasionaUy to his ear, to test the accuracy of his fears. There was the well-remembered tick-tick, however, which first saluted him upon receiving it as a guerdon from his master, at the ex piration of his apprenticeship, forty years ago, and more.

Jacob Giles started as if a galvanic shock had thrilled through his nerves. The shrill and piercing tongue of the hand-bell rang through the house, and, Avith a heart beat ing a succession of double-knocks in his breast, he dropped the cheese-taster, and rushed up the stairs with the Avings Avhich fear often lends to heels far less agile than the little general shopkeeper's. "What's the matter?" cried he, as he jerked the door of the snuggery back upon c its hinges ; but the scene Avhich presented itself afforded sufficient explanation. The apparently lifeless form of the lady laid stretched upon the couch, Avhile the child Avas on her knees, wildly clasping her hands, and giving expression to the most poignant grief. Bloodless and in animate, the mother looked beyond all human aid, and her features resembled those carved from a block of the whitest marble.

" Stay, stay ! " cried Jacob, as he placed a hand upon the cold and clammy broAv of the stranger. " It is but a fainting fit. Here," continued he, offering a vial of hartshorn, but so rapid were his move ments, that it is impossible to say whence he procured it; "hold this so, my dear little dear; just so, not too close. There, nothing can be better, while I go for a medical man. He shall be here sooner ArILLAGE. than convenient despatch can bring him, rest assured ; " and with this fixed resolve to hasten the advent of the medical man, he made a departure distinguished only for its abruptness. True to his word, Jacob scarcely ap peared to have turned his heel upon the scene, when he returned, dragging firmly by the arm a diminutive, podgy, bald headed man, gasping convulsively for breath.

" Now," said Jacob, " there's your pa tient, Doctor Grimes. Let us Avitness an exhibition of that skill, Sir, Avhich has ex alted you among the practitioners of the county in general, and the neighbourhood of Grundy's Green in particular." Doctor Grimes bowed, or, to be particular as regards this movement, the bald part of his head became more distinct and palpable as he acknoAvledged the compliment, with lips pursed with a self-satisfied smile, as if conscious and convinced of its being earned on the merits of the cause. " Humph, ha — a — ah ! " ejaculated Doc tor Grimes, shaking his head with a conventional air of professional mystery. Jacob GUes whispered the ejaculation to himself, but seemed to derive no informa tion from it. "Nature," began Doctor Grimes, with a slight preUminary cough, " and in speaking of nature," continued he, pressing the well pared and filbert-shaped nails of the two first fingers of his right hand on the faint and fluttering pulse of his patient's left wrist, " I mean human nature, can only bear an amount of exhaustion propor tionate to the stamina acting as the sup ply.

Now whenever," and Doctor Grimes spoke like a man who considered he had studied his subject, "the physical be comes so far expended, as to be minus, and the exhaustion plus; what is the result?" Jacob GUes felt somewhat at a loss to answer this query; but he was soon relieved from the difficulty by the loquacious practitioner taking up the thread of his own discourse, and returning an ansAver in a way most likely to suit the majority of questioners. " The result is," resumed Doctor Grimes, " prostration of the animal functions, and not unfrequently a suspension of vitality itself." During this soliloquy the child continued in a kneeling posture, with her large, dark eyes fixed with a mixture of dread and in quiry upon those of the speaker, and she only removed them to Avipe the tears from her cheeks, as they coursed each other down in silent evidence of her grief.

The sufferer heaved a deeply-drawn sigh, and Clara pressed closer to her mother's side, when Doctor Grimes, taking her hand in his, gently raised her from the ground, and said, as he divided the clustering curls from her brow, "Air is an aliment of which our patient stands most in need. Be composed, and leave her for a few moments," continued he, " and aU will be well." " 0 Sir ! " exclaimed the child, in a passionate burst of sorrow, " do not take me from my mother — my dear, dear mother," and she struggled to release her self from his hold. " Nay, nay," rejoined he, in a tender voice, and drawing Clara towards him, " I had no such cruel intention, my little little — little" — the doctor was at a clear loss for a titular, but, after a pause, added "seraph." " To be sure not," added Jacob, sooth ingly.

" Don't take on so, my dear little dear," and the general shopkeeper found himself the succeeding minute nursing on his knees the sorrowful little Clara, who buried her face in his prominent shirt frill, to the great detriment of the starch, and exactness of its arrangements. Doctor Grimes now prepared to make a beginning of that professional skill so laudatory spoken of by Jacob Giles, and he turned up the cuffs of his coat-sleeves, con veying symbolically, perhaps, the intelli gence of an approaching fight, or Avrestle Avith the ills and ailments of his patient, and from some secret depth of his garments extracted an ominous case of instruments, Avhich he placed on a table within reach, as it appeared, to prove that he was alike prepared for extracting a molar, to the fixing of a tourniquet.

At this juncture the invalid, after an in voluntary shudder vibrating through her frame, opened her eyes, and seeing Clara nestling among Jacob Giles's crimped cam bric, a smile passed over her wan features, and extending her arms, the child leaped towards her, and both became twined and locked in an embrace of which those only loving and beloved know the value. " O Mamma!" cried Clara, "I have been so frightened. Tell me, pray tell me, that you are well again." "I am better, dear one," replied her mother, faintly. " But not well," added Doctor Grimes, again bringing the bald patch to a front view of the spectator, as he bowed himself into notice. " It does not require, Madam, one to be deeply versed in the science of a pharmacopoUst to discover that you are not weU," continued he, with emphasis on the negative.

"And under the misfortunate circum stances, Mem," chimed in Jacob Giles, gently shampooing the tips of his fingers, " mustn't think of stirring from my humble snuggery to-day." " Nor for several days," said Doctor Grimes sternly; for when the vision of a biU presented itself, there was nothing more inimical to the doctor's feelings than for it to be dispelled " like the airy trace of nothing." " We require," resumed he, closing his eyes, and again pressing his weU-pared nails upon his patient's feeble pulse; "we require," and Doctor Grimes appeared to be reading by means of clair voyance, "rest, gentle stimulants, and a general setting to rights, if I may so express myself, of a system suffering from organic debility, and inflammatory action. That is my opinion," and .Doc tor Grimes coughed a firm defiance, as if he should much like to see the man, without loss of time, Avho Avould dare to oppose it.

" And a co-rect one," observed Jacob, renewing the process of chafing his fingers, " you may rest assured. My friend, the doctor here," continued the general shop keeper, Avith appealing humility, " if I may be bold enough so to caU him — " Doctor Grimes expressed a condescend ing acquiescence by bringing his bald patch a feAV inches nearer his feet. " And as I therefore do caU him," con tinued Jacob Giles, " is a medical man who has brought scores of matrons safely through their confinements, vaccinated hundreds of infants, draAvn countless teeth, and physicked, cupped, bled, blistered, and clystered generations upon generations. I need scarcely say," said Jacob, " that my friend, the doctor, has had some experience." "I have no doubt but the treatment Avhich I shall receive at your hands, Sir," replied the invalid, " wiU be most judicious.

But I fear," continued she, ad dressing Jacob, with a look so full of gratitude and thankfulness, that it well nigh turned the solid muscle of his heart into a solution " in remaining your inmate for the time named, that I shall be greatly trespassing upon your kindness." " Precisely the opposite point of the compass, Mem, so to speak," rejoined Jacob. " 1 couldn't part with you, Mem, for a considerable premium." And then other kind words — words perhaps, which soothed a pain never to be healed — were spoken, and replied to, and Doctor Grimes, in the plenitude of his wisdom, hastened away to prepare such potions as were never yet surpassed; and when Clara and her mother were left alone, they wept less for sorrow than love for one another.

Chapter III

The Harrow and Pitchfork, that well knoAvn sign of the village hostelrie, has been mentioned ; but not the hostess of the hostelrie, Mistress Twigg. There was no graft of a crab upon a pippin in Mistress Twigg ; for a more jolly, round and red-faced, blue eyed, it must be added, corpulent dame, never foamed from the tap a tankard of ale, nor mixed in goblets fermented liquors of many kinds, and, possibly, qualities. She was always very neat and comely, was Mistress Twigg. It Avas generally supposed, and as generally believed, that she possessed, once upon a time, the legal right and title of a husband, in fee ; but who, or Avhat Twigg was, or what became of him ; whether he died as became a Christian, betAveen the domestic sheets, or drowned himself, or hastened his own decease by means of arsenic, laudanum, hanging, or any other of the popular means for cutting short the uncertain thread of life, noone seemed to entertain the most trifling interest.

Poor Twigg ! it really might reasonably be con jectured that he had been a mere will-o'the wisp, a phantom, a myth, a nothing. It is but a speculative simUe; but, as planets eclipse the light of parasites and lesser luminaries, so might have operated the effulgent rays of the hostess of the HarroAv and Pitchfork upon the pale glow worm lamp of the pitiable TAvigg. He was as a sound for which memory found no echo. And there, in the bar-parlour — and of bar-parlours it was the pink of pinks — sat the paramount mistress of the Harrow and Pitchfork, commanding a comprehensive view of all and everything worthy of her attention. Not an ingress or egress could be effected without coming under her immediate scan, and with the keen perception of the necessity of guarding herself, her rights, and immunities from imposition (which, as a forlorn widow, she both thought and said was indispensable), Mistress Twigg measured a doubtful customer in the space of time fitly to be described as a twinkling.

There was no want of decision among Mistress Twigg's charac teristics. With as dazzUng a cap as ever crimson ribbon fluttered in, and jauntily placed upon a head over which forty-and-six sum mers had barely passed— Mistress Twigg VOL. I. D disclaimed the small change, and stuck to the principal amount — without a single hair of the glossy brown curls being tinted with the silver hue of declining years, and kept in close order by a fillet of black velvet passed across the brow, the hostess appeared entombed in a reverie. Her chin — and a soft, crummy, double chin it was — creased with the tightened ribbon beneath it, and finishing in a conspicuous bunch of bows and ends, close under the left ear, was lowered even to her bosom. Now, with the fuU knowledge of the delicacy of touching upon this particular point of Mistress Twigg's person, it still seems ab solutely necessary for the completion of her portrait with anything like truthfulness, that it should be stated that a more pro minently-developed bosom was not often to be met with.

Indeed, Mistress Twigg, as a half length, Avould have looked in this respect, sadly out of proportion. As it Avas, however, her majestic figure smoothed and chiselled down this detriment; and there were no handsomer women, save in the opinions of her own sex, within a wide circle of Grundy's Green, than the popular hostess of the Harrow and Pitchfork. In her toilet, too, great nicety was ob servable in the setting off those personal charms, albeit upon an extensive scale, Avith which nature had so liberally endoAved her ; and from the crimson ribbon, to Avhich reference has before been made, to the small silver buckle glittering on her pointed sUpper, Mistress Twigg evinced a taste of no ordinary kind. Her black silk mantua was none of your cheap, faint, and flabby description, but gave due notice of her approach, by the loud rustling of its thick substantial folds, encompassing her form in perfect Avaves; and the kerchief, neatly d pinned across the aforesaid prominently developed bosom, might have rivaUed in Avhiteness the fresh-bloAvn lily, or the snoAV flake whirling in its course.

At her girdle bung a complicated bunch of polished keys, Avhich jingled musically as she walked ; and Avith these instruments of her houseAvifery, the slight sketch of Mistress Twigg shall be brought to a finish. A privileged feAV were admitted to the bar-parlour; but only of the choicest kind, Avho might be ranked as the reigning favourites at the Harrow and Pitchfork. And here this picked and selected band would combine a little flirting Avith their political discussions, and, over their pipes and potent mixtures, banter Mistress Twigg upon the chances of a change of condition, and convey a flattering surprise that the alteration had not taken place long since. It might certainly be astonishing, but to any hitherto serious advance, the widow had snuffed out love's flame as abruptly and effectually as extinguishing, by the same measures, the weak beam of a farthing rushlight.

In vain had Jacob Giles himself, to the great scandal of his deaf and ascetic housekeeper, Bridget, entered the lists. Mistress Twigg felt proud, she said, of the honour, and entertained not the smallest doubt concerning the general shopkeeper's sincerity of feeling, or the extent of his pecuniary resources; but — and here shall be closed the continuation of Avhat was said, for Jacob felt an icy chill run down the centre of his back, and he quitted the bar parlour for his home, by no means happier, but better informed upon the state of the siege he had laid to the Avidow's affections. If not in the same stereotyped phrase, each candidate for her hand met with a corresponding rebuff, and -the hostess of the Harrow and Pitchfork remained from summer's prime to Avinter's gloom, the seasons round, a torturer of hearts and puzzler of brains.