E\ Libris 
 ISAAC FOOT
 
 THE EOSEKY FOLK. 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK 
 
 a Coimtrp ^alc 
 
 G? MANVILLE FENX 
 
 AUTHOR OF "the PARSON o' DUMFORD," " ELl's CHILDREN. 
 
 "the vicar's people," "sweet maof.,'' etc. BTC. 
 
 TWO YOIXMES 
 VOL. I 
 
 LONDOX: CHAPMAN AND HALL 
 
 LIMITKD 
 
 1SS4
 
 F4-5'R C> 
 
 V. 
 
 lONDOtJ : 
 
 rRINTKD BY .1. 3. VIRTDE AND CO., LIMITRD 
 
 CITY ROAD.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAOG 
 
 iR James Scahlktt's Gakden .... I 
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 Down from Town . . . . . . .15 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 Fanny's Magazines . 26 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 *' Jack "......... 'S'6
 
 VI CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 PAGK 
 
 The Doctou on Nervks 52 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 DocTOK Scales heaus a Moknino Lectvue . . (iS 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Sru James catcmies Cold in the Back . . .92 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Jai K Scales meets his Fate Ill 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 Atnt Soi'hia ox Boats ...... 123 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Up to the Weiu . . . . . . .134 
 
 CHArTER XI. 
 The Doctou Ahkoad ...... 157
 
 CONTENTS. VU 
 
 CHAPTER Xn. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 A Haui) Night's Work 170 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 After the Mishap ....... 192 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Mk. Saxby comes down on Business . . . 207 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 A Wife'.** Appeal 226 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 Brother William at Home 253
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 SIR JAMES Scarlett's garden. 
 
 " Pray speak gently, dear." 
 
 " Speak gently ! how can a man speak 
 gently ? The things are of no value, but it 
 worries me, I've taken such pains with them, 
 through the cold weather, to bring them on." 
 
 " You have. Sir James, you have, sir ; 
 and I never let the fire go out once." 
 
 " No : but you've let the grapes go out, 
 confound you ! and if I find that you have been 
 dishonest " 
 
 VOL. I. B
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 " Oh ! but I'm sure, dear, that lie would not 
 be." 
 
 " Thank you kindly, my lady," said John 
 Monnick, the old gardener, taking off his hat 
 and wiping his streaming brow with his arm, 
 as he stood bent and dejected, leaning upon his 
 spade, with every line in his countenance 
 puckered and drawn with trouble, and a help- 
 less look of appeal in his eyes. " No, my lady, I 
 wouldn't let these here old hands take to pick- 
 ing and stealing, and many's the trouble I've 
 been in with Fanny and Martha and the others 
 because I was so particular oven to a goose- 
 berry." 
 
 " There, dear, I told you so ! " 
 
 "But the grapes are gone," cried Sir James 
 Scarlett angrily. " Who could have taken 
 thom?"
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 " That's what puzzles me, Master James, it 
 do indeed. I did get into temptation once, and 
 took something, but it's been a lesson to me ; 
 and I said then, never no more, with the Lord's 
 help, and never no more, sir, it's true, never up 
 to now." 
 
 " Then you confess you did steal some fruit 
 once?" 
 
 " Yes, Master James, I confess it, sir, and a 
 deal I've thouorht about it since ; and I've come 
 to think from much reading, sir, that though 
 this here garden wasn't planted eastward in 
 Eden it's a very beautifid place ; all the neigh- 
 bours say, sir, that there ain't a more beautiful 
 little place for miles round, and Lady IVIart- 
 lett's folk's about wild at our growing such 
 better fruit and flowers." 
 
 " Oh, yes ! I know all about that, but
 
 4 THE ROSERY FOLK 
 
 what has that to do with your confes- 
 sion?" 
 
 " Everything, if you please, Master James, for 
 how could there be a beautiful garden even 
 now without temptation coming into it, same as 
 it did when that there apple, as brought all the 
 sin into the world, was picked and eat ? " 
 
 "There, that will do, Monnick ; now speak 
 out." 
 
 " I will, sir and my lady, and ask your par- 
 don humbly and get it off my mind. It were 
 five year ago, sir, and just after you'd took the 
 place, and I'd come ujd from old master's, sir." 
 
 " Five years ago, John ? " said Lady Scarlett 
 smiling. 
 
 " Yes, my lad}-, five year, and it'll be six at 
 Michaelmas, and it wasn't over an apple but 
 over one o' them Willyum pears, as growd
 
 THE ROSEEY FOLK. 
 
 on that cup- shaped tree down side the south 
 walk." 
 
 " And you cleared that, did 3'ou 't " said Sir 
 James grimly. 
 
 "Nay, sir, I didn't; it were only one of 'em 
 as had hung till it were dead-ripe, and then 
 fell as soon as the sun came on it hot, and there 
 it lay under the tree, with its rosy green and 
 yellow side, and a big crack acrost it like a 
 hopen mouth asking me to taste how good it 
 was. 
 
 " And did you, John ? " said Lady Scarlett, 
 passing her arm through her husband's, and 
 pressing it quietly. 
 
 " Did I, my lady 'i I was mowing that there 
 great walk and I went by it three or four times, 
 but the grass there was dry and wirj- and 
 would not cut, and I had to go over it again
 
 THE EOSERY FOLK. 
 
 and affain, and the more I tried to resist the 
 temptation the more it wouldn't flee before me, 
 but kept on adrawing and adrawing of me 
 till at last I dropped my scythe and rubber and 
 ran right away, T did, Sir James and my lady, 
 I did indeed." 
 
 " And left the pear ?" said Sir James. 
 
 The old man shook his grey head sadly. 
 
 "I was obliged to go and fetch my scythe 
 and rubber, master. I might ha' left em till 
 night, but that was the temptation on it a, 
 drawing of me till I went back, meaning to shut 
 my eyes and snatch up the scythe and come 
 away. But lor', my lady, you know how weak 
 we sinful mortals be. I tried hard but my 
 eyes would open, and so as I see that pear, I 
 made a snatch at it, meaning to run with it right 
 into the house at once."
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 " And you did not, John ? " said Lady 
 Scarlett. 
 
 "No, ma'am, my lady," said the old man 
 sadly. " I got my finger all over juiced and I 
 sucked it and that did for me. The taste of 
 the sin was so good. Sir James, that I did eat 
 that pear, thinking no one would know, and it's 
 lay heavy on my heart ever since." 
 
 " And what about the grapes ? " said Sir 
 James. 
 
 " I don't know, sir ; I didn't know they were 
 gone till you see it. That was the on'y time, 
 sir, as ever I dared to take any of the fruit, and 
 I wish as I coidd turn myself inside out to 
 show you how clean my heart is, sir, of ever 
 doing you a wi'ong all 'cept that there pear, 
 which has, as I said afore, lay heavy on my 
 chesty ever since."
 
 8 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 " Well, there : I don't think j^ou took the 
 grapes, Monnick ; but it's very vexatious : I 
 meant to send them to Lady Martlett. You 
 must keep a good look out." 
 
 " Thank you, kindly, sir, and I will keep a 
 look out, too. And you don't think I'd rob you, 
 my lady ? " 
 
 "Indeed I don't, John," cried Lady Scarlett, 
 who was divided between a desire to laugh and 
 sorrow for the faithful old fellow's trouble. 
 
 " God bless your dear, sweet, kind face, my 
 lady, and bless you too. Sir James," said the 
 old fellow, taking oft' his ragged straw hat 
 and standing bare-headed, " I wouldn't rob 
 you of a leaf." 
 
 The three then separated. Sir James Scarlett 
 and his sweet young wife going towards the 
 glass-houses, and old John Monnick shouldering
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 his spade and watching them for a few moments 
 before going down towards another part of the 
 garden. 
 
 " Eh, but they're a handsome pair," he mut- 
 tered. " He's a bit masterful, but he's got a 
 good heart, and she's an angel, like a pear-tree 
 growed by the water side, she is, bless her ! and 
 if I get hold of him as took them grapes 
 I'U " 
 
 He gave the little box edging a blow with 
 the flat of the spade, wath tlie effect that a great 
 snail rolled out on to the path, and suffered 
 death beneath the old gardener's heel, being 
 crushed and ground into the gravel with savage 
 earnestness. 
 
 " That I will," said the old fellow, and then 
 he walked away, meeting before he had gone 
 many yards a tall, dark, grave-looking man
 
 lO THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 of about thirty, coining slowly along the path 
 reading. He was scrupulously attired in 
 glossy black with tie to match, grey check 
 trousers, and faultless shirt front, while his hat 
 was of the most glossy. The hands that held the 
 volume were white and carefully kept, while the 
 expression of the man's face was that of some 
 calm, thoughtful student, who passed the 
 greater portion of his life with books, not men. 
 
 " Ah, gardener," he said softly, and his voice 
 was very rich and deep, " what a lovely day ! 
 Your garden looks exquisite. I hope you are 
 quite well." 
 
 " Tidy, sir, thank you kindly, tidy ; and, yes, 
 the garden do look well just now, if we could 
 keep out the thieves." 
 
 " Ah ! yes, the birds, and slugs, and snails, 
 and insects," said the other with a soft, grave
 
 THE EOSERY FOLK. I I 
 
 smile ; " but we must not forget, gardener, that 
 these poor things do not comprehend the 
 difference between right and wrong. The fair 
 fruits of the earth are growing in their path, 
 and they do not understand why they may not 
 freely eat." 
 
 " Xo, sir, of course not," said Monnick, giv- 
 ing his ear a vicious rub, " but they has to pay 
 for it precious dear when they are ketched." 
 
 " Yes, gardener, yes, poor things," said the 
 other, letting his head sink sidewise; and shut- 
 ting his book upon one finger he crossed his 
 wrists so that the work hiuig lightly from his 
 shapely hand, while his eyes half closed and a 
 dreamy, thoughtful look came upon his face. 
 
 "It's a deal o'mischief they do, sii", like 
 plagues of Eg}-p' they'd be if they weren't 
 stopped."
 
 12 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 " Ah, yes, gardener," said the other contem- 
 platively, " but it often strikes me as being one 
 of the darker sides of horticultural pursuits, that 
 the gardener's way is by a path of blood." 
 
 John Monnick pushed his old straw hat a 
 little on one side and stared. 
 
 " I saw traps down by the wood to catch the 
 soft velvet mole, a wire by a hole in the 
 fence to take the harmless rabbit." 
 
 " Harmless, sir? He took the hearts out of a 
 row of young cauliflowers all in one night." 
 
 " Ah, yes, but he sinned in ignorance. Then 
 you are always destroying life. That imple- 
 ment you hold pierces the ground and cuts in 
 two the burrowing worm. There was a scent 
 of pungent fumes in the greenhouse and 
 myriads of tiny flies lay scattered in the pots 
 dead from the poisonous smoke. You crush
 
 THE ROSEEY FOLK. 1 3 
 
 the snail and slug, the beetle, and the grub. 
 The birds are often shot. Yes, yes, I think I'm 
 right; your path is marked by blood. But this 
 place is veiy bright and beautiful, gardener." 
 
 " Yes, sir, it is," said Monnick, changing his 
 spade to the other hand so as to tilt his straw 
 hat the other way. 
 
 " It is a privilege to come down upon this 
 glowing summer day, from the smoke and 
 noise and crowd of London streets." 
 
 "Ay, sir, it must be," said the old man. " I 
 often pity you as lives there. I was never 
 there but once and never want to go again." 
 
 "And I envy you, gardener," said the 
 speaker with a sigh, and raising his book he 
 opened it, smiled sadly, nodded, and walked on. 
 
 " And he might do that in London town," 
 muttered the old man. " Looks well ! of course
 
 14 THE EOSERY FOLK. 
 
 it does ; but what's tlie use of looking at all 
 my bedding plants through a book ?" 
 
 " Ah ! " he said as he went on, " it's all very 
 fine, but where would the nicencss be if we 
 didn't kill the snails ? Master don't buy coke 
 to heat the greenhouse to breed green fly and 
 thrip, and as to the worms, and slugs, and 
 grubs, there's room enough in the whole wide 
 world without their coming here. He's a very 
 nice smooth-spoken gent he is, and can't have 
 ever cut a worm in two with digging in his 
 blessed life ; but somehow he's too fine for me. 
 I wonder what his mother were like now, to have 
 such a son. Let's see, master's mother's sister 
 I think she were. Ah ! people's like plants, 
 they've sports and Avariations from the payrent 
 stock ; but if I wanted to produce the finest speci- 
 men of human kind I wouldn't graft on he."
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 DOWN FROM TOWN. 
 
 Little moie than an hour before his words 
 with the old gardener, Sir James was in his 
 dingy office in Leadenhall Street, where, 
 young as he was, through succession to his 
 father, he stood head of a large shipping 
 business. He had been waiting for his cousin, 
 Arthur Prayle, who was invited to spend a 
 few days with him in the coimtry. Then a 
 cab was taken, the train caught, and in an 
 hour they were whirled down to a station in 
 Berkshire, where, in Kght, simple, summer 
 dress, looking bright and attractive as the
 
 1 6 THE ROSEKY FOLK. 
 
 country round, sat Lady Scarlett, eagerly 
 watchino- tlic platform from her seat in the 
 little phaeton drawn by t^Ao liandsome cobs, 
 wlio tossed their heads impatiently, and threw 
 tlio white foam from their well-champed, 
 brightly polished bits, to the bes^pecklemcnt of 
 the smart groom's hat and coat. Her face 
 brightened as she caught sight of her husband, 
 and fell a little as she saw that he was followed 
 by his cousin, xVrthur Prayle ; but she smiled 
 sweetly at their visitor, and lield out her hand 
 to him as he came uj) and raised his hat. 
 
 " I've brought Arthur down to get rid of tlio 
 soot, Kitty," cried Scarlett heartily. " See liow 
 solemn he looks." 
 
 " I am very glad to see him," said Kate 
 Scarlett, smiling, and colouring slightly. 
 
 "There, jump up beside Kitty, old man,"
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 1 7 
 
 continued Scarlett. "She'll soon rattle us 
 home." 
 
 " No, no, dear ; you'll drive." 
 
 " What ! In these lavender kids, and in this 
 coat ! " cried Scarlett laughingly. " No, 
 thanks. — Jump in, Arthur. That's right. I'm 
 up. — Let 'em go, Tom. — Now, my beauties," 
 
 The handsome little pair of cobs shook their 
 heads, and started off at a rapid trot, the groom 
 catching the side of the phaeton as it passed 
 him, and mounting beside his master in the 
 seat behind ; when the brisk, sweet, summer 
 air seemed to bring a little colour into the 
 cheeks of Arthur Prayle, and a great deal into 
 those of Lady Scarlett, as she guided the spirited 
 little pair along the dusty road, and then in 
 between the long stretches of fir- wood, whence 
 came delicious warm breathings of that lemony 
 
 VOL. I, c
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 aromatic scent of the growing pines brought 
 forth by the mid-day sun. 
 
 " There, my lad, that's better than sitting in 
 chambers," cried Scarlett. "Fellows pooh- 
 pooh me for living out here. It is living, 
 my bo3\ It's djang, to shut yourself up in 
 town." 
 
 " Ah, yes," said Praylc with a sigh ; " it is 
 very delicious." 
 
 " Delicious ? I should think it is," cried 
 Scarlett eagerly ; and he stood up behind his 
 wiie, holding on by the back seat, as fine and 
 manly a specimen of humanity' as could be 
 found in a day's march. He was fashionably 
 dressed, tightly buttoned up, and had the 
 orthodox flower in his button-hole ; but his 
 bronzed face and fresh look told of country- 
 life ; and down in Berkshire, the staid solem-
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 1 9 
 
 nity of his Loudon ways was cast aside for a 
 buoyant youtMuluess that made his sedate 
 cousin turn slightly to gaze at him through his 
 half-closed eyes. 
 
 " Give them their heads, Kitty," cried Scar- 
 lett, as they approached a hill ; and, as they 
 heard the order, the cobs gave their crests a 
 toss, and broke into a canter, breasting the hill, 
 and keeping up the speed to the very top,, 
 where they were checked for the descent upon 
 the other side. 
 
 " There you are, old fellow," cried Scarlett. 
 " There's the river winding among the patches 
 of grove and meadow. There's the Rosery ; 
 you can catch it beautifully now. Do you see 
 how the creeper has gone up the chimney- 
 stack? No, of course you can't from here. — - 
 Grently, my beauties ; steady, steady, little
 
 20 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 rascals. Don't pull your mistress's arms out 
 by the roots." 
 
 " A lovely \aew indeed, James," said the 
 visitor " It seems more beautiful ever}^ time 
 I come." 
 
 " Oh, every place looks at its best now," said 
 Scarlett heartily. "I say, I've got doAMi a 
 new boat ; we must have a pull up to the locks. 
 That's the sort of thing to do you good, my 
 boy." 
 
 Prayle smiled, and shrugged his shoulders 
 slightly. 
 
 " How long does it take you to drive from 
 the station ? " he said quietly. 
 
 "We allow five-and- twenty minutes," said 
 Scarlett. " "We shall do it in twenty to-day. 
 I like to go fast, and these little ruffians enjoy 
 it. They want it : they're getting too fat."
 
 THE ROSEKY FOLK. 21 
 
 The cobs tossed their heads again at this, and 
 tried to break into another canter. 
 
 " Steady, steady, you larky little scoundrels. 
 — Give them a pull, Kitty. Oh, that's right ; 
 the gate's open." 
 
 They were in sight of a rustic gateway 
 banked with masses of rhododendrons and 
 other flowering shrubs, and through this Mrs. 
 Scarlett deftly guided the phaeton, which 
 seemed suddenly to run more quietly along the 
 pretty curved gravel drive, whose sides were 
 lawn of the most velvety green ; while flowers 
 of the brightest hues filled the many beds. 
 The grounds were extensive, though the house 
 was small and cottage-like, with its highly- 
 pitched gables, latticed windows, and red brick 
 walls covered with magnificent specimens of 
 creeping plants. On either side of the house
 
 2 2 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 Mere pretty extensive conservatories, and 
 glimpses of other glass-houses could be seen 
 beyond a tall thick hedge of yew. In fact, it 
 was just the beau-ideal of a pretty country- 
 hoTiic, with a steep slope down to the river. 
 
 " Here we are, old fellow," cried Scarlett, as 
 he leaped out and helped his wife to alight. — 
 "Are they warm, Tom? " 
 
 " No, sir ; not turned a hair, sir." 
 
 * That's right. — Now then, Arthur. Same 
 room as you had before. Will you take any- 
 tliing after your ride ? " 
 
 " Oh, dear, no," said Prayle ; " and if you'll 
 allow me, I'll ramble about till dinner." 
 
 " Do just what you Like, old man. There 
 are cigars and cigarettes in the study. If 
 there's anything else you Avant, just ring." 
 
 " Oh, don't ; pray don't," said Prajde depre-
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 23 
 
 catingly. "You will spoil my visit if you 
 make so much of me." 
 
 "Make much of you, lad? Stuff !— Good- 
 bye, Buddy ; good-bye, Jen," he cried, patting 
 the cobs. — "Take care of them, Tom. — 
 Beauties, aren't they, Arthur ? My present 
 to Kate. Now then, come along." 
 
 He led the visitor into the tiled hall, at 
 every corner of which was some large jar- 
 diniere full of flowers, and up the broad stair- 
 case to the guest-chamber, flowers being in 
 the window even here ; while the floors were 
 covered with the softest carpets and rugs, 
 and pictures and engravings of no little merit 
 covered the walls. 
 
 " You have a magnificent place here, James," 
 said the visitor, with a sigh. 
 
 " Nonsense, man. Half the beauty is
 
 24 THE R08ERY FOLK. 
 
 Nature's own doing, aided by yom- humble 
 servant, Kitty, old John Monnick, and a 
 couple of labourers. Why, I pay less for 
 this pretty Elizabethan cottage than I should 
 for some brick dimgeon in a West-end 
 square. Less? Why, I don't pay half. 
 Now, I'm going to unfig." 
 
 He nodded pleasantly at his guest, and left 
 him alone, when a scowl came over Prayle's 
 face, and glancing round at the well- furnished 
 room, with its bright fittings and charming 
 flowers in window and vase, he said in a low 
 and bitter voice : " Why should this weak 
 boor be rolling in wealth, while I have to 
 pinch and spare and contrive in my dim blank 
 chambers ? The world is not fair. Oh, it is 
 not fair ! " 
 
 As he stood there in the middle of the room,
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 25 
 
 a distant sound made him turn his head 
 sharply, and he caught sight of his frowning 
 face in the dressing-glass, when, smoothing 
 away the wrinkles, he paid a few attentions to 
 his personal appearance, and went down to 
 stroll about the grounds.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 FANNY S MAGAZINES. 
 
 " Have you brouglit my magazines, Wil- 
 liam ? " said a bright-faced, eager girl, with 
 no slight pretensions to good looks, as she 
 stood there in her neat, dark, closely fitting 
 dress with white apron, collar and culfs, and 
 natty muslin cap with black ribbon, looking 
 the very model of the neat-handed Phyllis 
 many people thinly; so satisfactory for a par- 
 lour-maid. The William addressed was a 
 broad-shouldered, heavy-looking young man 
 of three or four and thii'ty, dressed in bro^n 
 velveteen coat and vest, and drab cord trousers.
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 27 
 
 He was very cleanly shaAed ; his fair crisp hair 
 closely cut ; and he had evidently been paying 
 a great deal of attention to his heavy boots. 
 There was a sprig of southernwood in his 
 button-hole, a smaller sprig in his mouth ; 
 and he held in one hand his soft felt hat, in 
 the other, one of those ash, quarter- staff- 
 looking implements, with a tiny spade at the 
 end, known to fanners as a thistle- spud — a 
 companion that served him as walking-stick 
 and a mean? of getting rid of the obnoxious 
 weeds about his little farm. For Brother Wil- 
 liam, otherwise William Cressy, farmed the 
 twenty acres that had been held by his ances- 
 tors for the past two hundred years, and it was 
 his custom to walk over every Saturday to see 
 how his sister Fanny was getting on, the said 
 young lady having been in service at the
 
 28 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 Rosery ever since Sir James Scarlett's marriage. 
 He always timed his visit so that he should get 
 there just before Martha set out the tea-things, 
 and from regular usage Martha always placed 
 an extra cup — extra large as well, for Brother 
 William, who afterwards stayed until supper, 
 and then declared, in a tone quite of remon- 
 strance, " Well, I must go now," as if he had 
 been all along pressed to stay. Whereas he had 
 scarcely spoken all the time, and been hardly 
 spoken to, but had sat stolid!}' in an armed 
 Windsor chair staring at Martha, the housemaid, 
 as she darned stockings, a whole basket full, 
 with the light making a broad path upon her 
 carefully smoothed and glossy hair. 
 
 " Yes ; here they be," said Brother William, 
 solemnly drawing a couple of the most romantic 
 and highly flavoured of the penny weeklies of
 
 THE EOSERY FOLK. 29 
 
 the day from his breast-pocket, and opening 
 and smoothing them out, so as to display to the 
 best advantage the woodcuts on the front pages 
 of each, where, remarkably similar in style, a 
 very undulatory young lady in evening dress 
 was listening to the attentions of a small- 
 headed, square-shouldered gentleman of impos- 
 sible height, with an enormous moustache, 
 worn probably to make up for his paucity of 
 cranial hair. " Yes ; here they be ; and I 
 don't think much of 'em either." 
 
 " No ! what do you know about them ? " 
 said the girl sharply. "If it had been the 
 Farmer's Friend, with its rubbish about crops 
 and horseballs and drenches, you woidd say 
 it was good reading." 
 
 " Mebbe," said Brother William, placing his 
 soft hat very carefully upon the rounded knob
 
 30 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 of his thistle staff, and standing it up in a 
 corner of the room adjoining the kitchen. 
 " Mebbe, Fanny, my lass ; but I don't see what 
 good it's going to do you reading 'bout dooks 
 and lords a-marrying housemaids, as they don't 
 never do — do they, Martha ? " 
 
 " I never know of such a thing, Mr. Cressy," 
 said Martha in a quiet demure way. " I did 
 once hear of a gentleman marrying his cook." 
 
 "Yes," said Brother William solemnly, "I 
 think I did hear of such a thing as that, and 
 that might be sensible ; but in them magazines 
 they never marry the cooks — it's always the 
 housemaids — and Fanny's getting her head full 
 of such stuff." 
 
 " You mind your own business, William, and 
 let me mind mim>, if you please," said the 
 young lady warmly.
 
 THE ROSERT FOLK. 3 1 
 
 "Oh, all rio-lit, my dear; only, I'm your 
 brother, you know," said the young man, 
 hitching himself more comfortably into his 
 chair. " Got company, I see." 
 
 " How did you know ? " cried Fanny. 
 
 "I was oyer at the station deliyering my bit 
 o' wheat, when Sir James come in with that 
 Mr. Prayle. I don't think much of him." 
 
 " And pray, why not ? " 
 
 "Dunno. Seems too smooth and mider- 
 handed like. I didn't take to him when he 
 come round my farm." 
 
 " You're a very foolish, prejudiced fellow, 
 William," said Fanny warmly ; and she 
 whisked herself out of the room. 
 
 "That's what mother used to say,", said 
 Brother William, thoughtfidly rubbing his 
 broad palms to and fro along the polished arms
 
 32 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 of the chair. " She used to say : ' Wilyum, 
 my boy, thou'rt prejudiced ; ' and I s'pose I 
 am. That sort o' thing is in a man's natur', 
 and can only be bred out in time. — Is tea 'most 
 ready, Martha Betts ? " 
 
 Martha replied by filling up the teapot, and 
 proceeding to cut some bread and butter, of 
 both of which refreshing kinds of nutriment 
 Brother William partook largeh' upon the 
 return of his sister, who soon after hurried 
 away to attend to her duties, that being with 
 her a busy night.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 "JACK." 
 
 To " imfig," with Sir James Scarlett, meant to 
 thoroughly change his London garments for an 
 easy suit of flannels, such as he used for boat- 
 ing and gardening, the latter pursuit being one 
 of which he was passionately fond. He had 
 begun by having a professed gardener, and ended 
 by being his own head. For the sharp professed 
 gardener seemed to be imbued with the idea 
 that the grounds and glass-houses of the Rosery 
 were his special property, out of whose abund- 
 ance he grudgingly allowed his master a few 
 cut flowers, an occasional cucumber, now and 
 
 VOL. I. D
 
 34 THE KOSERY FOLK. 
 
 then a melou, and at times a buucli of grapes, 
 and a nectarine or peach. 
 
 But that regime had to come to an end. 
 "Hang the fellow, Kitty!" cried Scarlett 
 one day; "he bullies poor old Monnick, and 
 snubs me, and I feel as if I were nobody but 
 the paymaster. It won't do. What's the good 
 of livijig in the country with such a garden as 
 this, if one can't have abundance of fruit and 
 flowers for one's friends ? " 
 
 "It does seem too bad, certainly, dear," she 
 replied. " I don't get half the flowers I should 
 like." 
 
 Tile result was that the professed gardener 
 left, saying that he wanted to be where the 
 master was a gentleman, and not one who 
 meddled in the garden like a jobbing hand. 
 Furthermore, he prophesied that the Rosery
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 35 
 
 would go to ruin now ; and when it did not g-o 
 to ruin, but under its master's own manage- 
 ment put fortli such flowers and fruit as the 
 place had never seen before, the dethroned 
 monarch declared that it was scandalous for 
 one who called himself a gentleman to suck a 
 poor fellow's brains and then turn him out like 
 a dog. 
 
 Unfigged, Sir James Scarlett hurried out into 
 the garden with his young partner, and for a 
 good hour was busy seeing how much certain 
 plants had grown since the previous evening. 
 Then there was an adjournment to the grape- 
 house, where the great black Hambros grew so 
 well and in such abundance, without artificial 
 heat; and here, about half an hour later, a 
 very keen-looking, plainly-dressed man heard 
 the sound of singing as he walked down the
 
 36 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 patli from tlie house. He paused and listened, 
 "with a pleasant smile coming upon his earnest 
 face, and as he stood attent, a judge of human- 
 kind who had gazed upon his broad shoulders and 
 lithe strong limbs, and the sharp intelKgent 
 look in his face, would have said that Nature 
 had meant him for a handsome man, but had 
 altered her mind to make him look like one of 
 the clover ones of earth. He laughed, and 
 after listening for a minute, went on softly and 
 stood in the doorway, locjking up. The large 
 house with its span roof was covered with the 
 sweetly scented leaves of the young vine 
 growth, and everywhere hung pendent bunches 
 iji their immature state, with grapes no larger 
 than so many peas. It was not upon these 
 that the visitor's eyes were fixed, but upon a 
 stout plank stretching from one iron tie of the
 
 THE EOSERY FOLK. 37 
 
 grape-house to another ; for, perched upon this 
 plank, to whose height approach was gained by 
 a pair of steps, sat the owners of the place, 
 with heads thrown back, holding each a bunch 
 of grapes with one hand, a pair of pointed 
 scissors with the other, which clicked as they 
 snipped away, thinning out the superabundant 
 berries, which kept on falling, and making a 
 noise like the avant-garde of a gentle hailstorm 
 on a simimer's day. As they snipped, the 
 grape-thinners sang verse after verse, throwing 
 plenty of soul into the harmony which was 
 formed by a pleasant soprano and a deep tenor 
 voice. 
 
 The visitor stood for fully five minutes, 
 watching and laughing silently, before he said 
 aloud : " What a place this is for birds! " 
 
 Lady Scarlett started ; her scissors fell tink-
 
 38 THE EOSERY FOLK. 
 
 ling upon the tiled floor, and her face foUowed 
 suit with her name. 
 
 "Why, Jack I " shouted Scarlett, leaping off 
 the hoard, and then holding it tightly as 
 his wife uttered aery of alarm. — "All right, 
 dear; you shan't fall. There, let me help you 
 down." 
 
 " I beg your pardon, Lady Scarlett," said the 
 visitor apologetically. " It was very thought- 
 less of me. I am sorry." 
 
 " Jack, old fellow, Kitty don't mind. It 
 was only meant for a bit of fun. But how did 
 you get down ? " 
 
 " Train, and walked over, of course." 
 
 " I nni glad to see you," said Scarlett. " "^Vhy 
 didn't you say you were coming, and meet me 
 at the station? " 
 
 " Didn't know I was coming till the last
 
 THE ROSERT FOLK. 39 
 
 moment. — Will you give me a bit of dinner, 
 Lady Scarlett ? " 
 
 " Will we give yon a bit of dinner ? " cried 
 Sir James. "Just hark at him! There come 
 along ; never mind the grapes. I say, how's 
 the practice — improving ? " 
 
 " Pooh ! No. I shall never get on. I can't 
 stick to their old humdrum ways. I want to 
 go forward and take advantage of the increased 
 light science gives us, and consequently they 
 say I'm unorthodox, and the fellows about 
 my place won't meet me in consultation." 
 
 "Well, you always were a bit of a quack, 
 old boy," said Scarlett laughing. 
 
 "Always, always. T accept the soft im- 
 peachment. But is a man to run the chariot 
 of his life down in the deeply worn ruts made 
 by his ancestors ? I say, let us keep to the rut
 
 40 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 when it is true and good ; but let us try and 
 make new, hard, sensible tracks where we can 
 improve upon the old. It is my honest con- 
 viction that in the noble practice of medicine 
 a man may — ha-ha-ha-ha-ha ! Just look at 
 your husband's face, Lady Scarlett," cried their 
 visitor, bursting into a hearty, uncontrollable 
 fit of honest, contagious laughter. 
 
 " My face ! " said Sir James. " Why, of 
 course I hurry back home for country enjoy- 
 ment, and you begin a confounded lecture on 
 medical science. I'm quite well, thank you, 
 doctor, and won't put out my tongue." 
 
 "Well? Yes, you always are well," said the 
 other. — " I never saw such a man as your hus- 
 band. Lady Scarlett ; he is disgustingly robust 
 and hearty. Such men ought to be forced to 
 take some complaint. Why, if there were
 
 THE ROSERT FOLK. 4 1 
 
 many of them, my profession would become 
 bankrupt." 
 
 " You must be faint after your walk, Doctor 
 Scales," said Lady Scarlett. " Come in and 
 have a cup of tea and a biscuit ; it is some 
 time yet to dinner." 
 
 " Thanks. But may I choose for myself ? " 
 
 "Of course." 
 
 " Then I have a lively recollection of a lady 
 with whom I fell in love last time I was 
 here." 
 
 "Alady— feUinlove?" 
 
 " Yes. Let me see," said the visitor. " She 
 is pretty well photographed upon my brain." 
 
 " I say, Jack, old boy, what do you mean ? " 
 cried Scarlett. 
 
 " By your leave, sir," said the doctor, waving 
 one strong brown hand. " Let me see ; she
 
 42 THE ROSEEY. FOLK. 
 
 had large, full, lustrous, beaming eyes, whicli 
 dwelt upon me kindly ; her breath was odorous 
 of the balmy meads " 
 
 " Why, the fellow's going to do a sonnet," 
 cried Scarlett. But tlic doctor paid no heed, 
 and went on. 
 
 "Her lips were dewy, her mousy skin was 
 glossy, her black horns curved, and as she 
 ruminating stood " 
 
 " Why, he means Dolly," cried Lady Scarlett 
 clapping her hands — "Jersey Dolly. — A glass, 
 of new milk, Doctor Scales? " 
 
 "The very culmination of my wishes, 
 madam," said the doctor, nodding. 
 
 "Then why couldn't you say so in plain 
 English ? " cried Scarlett, clapping him on the 
 shoulder. " What a fellow you are. Jack ! I 
 say, if you get talking in such a metaphorical
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 43 
 
 manner about salts and senna and indigestion 
 I don't wonder at the profession being dead 
 against you." 
 
 " Would you like to come round to the dairy, 
 Doctor Scales ? " said Lady Scarlett. 
 
 " I'd rather go there than into the grandest 
 palace in the world." 
 
 "Then come along," cried Scarlett thrusting 
 his arm through that of his old schooKellow ; 
 and the little party went down a walk, through 
 an opening in a laurel hedge, and entered a 
 thickly thatched, shady, red-brick building, 
 with ruddy-tiled floor, and there, in front of 
 them was a row of shallow glistening tins, 
 brimming with rich millv, whose top was thick 
 with yellow cream. 
 
 " Hah ! how deliciously cool and fresh ! " 
 cried the doctor, as his eye ranged over the
 
 44 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 white churn aud marble slabs. " Some m.en 
 arc wonderfully proud of their wine-cellars, 
 but at a time like this I feel as if I woidd 
 rather own a dairy and keep cows." 
 
 "Now then, Kitty, give him his draught," 
 said Scarlett. 
 
 " Yes, just one glass," cried the doctor ; 
 " aud here we are," he said, pausing before a 
 great shallow tin, beyond which was freshly 
 chalked the word "Dolly." "This is the 
 well in the pleasant oasis from which I'd 
 drink." 
 
 " Give him some quickly, Kitty," cried 
 Scarlett ; " his metaphors will make me ill." 
 
 " Then my visit will not have been in vain," 
 cried the doctor merrily. Then he ejaculated, 
 " Hah ! " very softly, and closed his eyes as he 
 partook of the sweet rich draught, sot down the
 
 THE ROSERT FOLK. 45 
 
 glass, and after wiping his lips, exclaimed : 
 " * Serenely calm, the epicure may say ' " 
 
 " 3'es ; I know," said Sir James, catching 
 him up. " ' Fate cannot harm me — I haye 
 dined to-day.' But you haA^e not dined yet, 
 old fellow ; and you shall have such a salad ! 
 My own growing ; Kitty's making. Come 
 along now, and let's look round. Prayle's 
 here." 
 
 " Is he ? " said the doctor, raising his eye- 
 brows slightly, and his tone seemed to say : 
 " I'm sorry to hear it." 
 
 " Yes, poor fellow ; he's working too hard, 
 and I brought him down to stay a bit. Now 
 you've come, and we'll have " 
 
 " No, no ; I must get back. None of your 
 unmanly temptations. I'm going to catch the 
 last up-train to-night."
 
 46 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 "One of your patients in a dangerous state, 
 I suppose \ " said Scarlett, with a hiunorous 
 glance at bis wife. 
 
 " IN'o : worse luck ! I've no patients waiting 
 for me. I say, old fellow, you haven't a rich old 
 countess about here — baroness would do — one 
 who sufiers from chronic spleen, as the French 
 call it ? Get me called in there, you know, and 
 make me her confidential attendant." 
 
 "Why, there's Lady Martlett," said Scarlett, 
 with another glance at his wife which plainly 
 said : " Hold your tongue, dear." " Widow 
 lady. Just the body. I dare say she'll be here 
 before long." 
 
 " Oh, but I'm oft" back to-night." 
 
 "Are you?" said Scarlett. — "Kitty, my 
 dear. Jack Scales is your prisoner. You are 
 the chatelaine here, and as your superior, I
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK, 47 
 
 order you to render him up to me safe and 
 sound for transport back to town this day 
 month. \Vliy, Jack, you promised to help me 
 drain the pond. We'll do it now you're down." 
 " Oh, nonsense ; I must go back." 
 " Yes ; that's what all prisoners say or 
 think," said Scarlett, laughing — ■" Don't be too 
 haid upon the poor fellow, dear. He may 
 have as much milk as he likes. Soften his 
 confinement as pleasantly as you can. — Excuse 
 me, Jack. There's Prayle." 
 
 He nodded, and went off down one of the 
 paths, and his departiu'e seemed to have taken 
 with it some of the freedom and ease of the 
 conversation that had been carried on ; the 
 doctor's manner becoming colder, and the 
 bright girlish look fading out of Lady Scarlett's 
 face.
 
 48 THE ROSEliY FOLK. 
 
 " This is very, very kind of you "both," said 
 the doctor, turning to her ; " but I really ought 
 not to stay." 
 
 " James will be quite hurt, I am sure, if you 
 do not," she answered. " He thinks so much 
 
 you. 
 
 " I'm glad of it," said the doctor earnestly ; 
 and Lady Scarlett's face brightened a little. 
 " He's one of the most frank and open-hearted 
 fellows in the world. It's one of the bright 
 streaks in my career that we have always 
 remained friends. PteaUy I envy him his 
 home here, though I fear thtit I should be out 
 of place in such a country- life." 
 
 " I do not think you would. Doctor Scales," 
 said his hostess, " but of course he is busy the 
 greater part of his time in town, and that 
 makes the change so nice."
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 49 
 
 " But you ? " said the doctor. " Do you not 
 find it dull when he is away ? " 
 
 "I? I find it dull?" she cried, with a 
 girlish laugh. " Oh dear, no. I did for the 
 first month, but you have no idea how busy I 
 am. James has made me such a gardener; 
 and I superintend. Come and see my poultry 
 and the cows." 
 
 " To be sure I will," said the doctor more 
 warmly, as they walked on towards a fence 
 which separated them from a meadow lunning 
 down to the river, where three soft fawn- 
 coloui'ed Jersey cows were grazing, each of 
 which raised its head slowly, and came up, 
 munching the sweet grass, to put its deer-like 
 head over the fence to feel the touch of its 
 mistress's hand. 
 
 " Are they not beauties ? " cried Lady 
 
 VOL. I. E
 
 50 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 Scarlett. "There's your friend Dolly," she 
 continued. " She won't hurt you." 
 
 "I'm not afraid," said the doctor, smiling; 
 and then a visit was paid to where the poultry 
 came rushing up to be fed, and then follow 
 their mistress ; while the pigeons hovered 
 about, and one more venturesome than the 
 others settled upon her head. 
 
 They saw no more of Scarlett till just before 
 dinner, when they met him with Prayle ; and 
 now it was that, after feeling warmer and more 
 friendly towards his yoimg hostess than he 
 ever had felt before, the unj)leasant sense of 
 distance and of chill came back, as the doctor 
 was shown up into his room . 
 
 " I'm afraid I'm prejudiced," he said. 
 " She's very charming, and the natural girlish 
 manner comes in very nicely at times ; but 
 somehow, Kate Scarlett, I never thought you
 
 THE ROSEKY FOLK. 5 I 
 
 were quite the wife for my old friend. — Let's 
 play fair," lie said, as he stood contemplatively 
 wiping his hands upon a towel that smelt of 
 the pure fresh air. " What hare I to say 
 against her ? " 
 
 He remained silent for a few moments, and 
 then said aloud : " Nothing ; only that she has 
 always seemed to distrust me, and I have dis- 
 trusted her. ^VTiy, I believe we are jealous of 
 each other's influence with poor old Jem." 
 
 He laughed as he said these words, and then 
 went down-stairs, to find that his stay at the 
 Rosery was to be more lively than he had 
 anticipated, for, upon entering the drawing- 
 room, he was introduced by I^ady Scarlett to a 
 stern-looking, grey, elderly lady as " my Aunt 
 Sophia — Miss Raleigh," and to a rather pretty 
 girl, "Miss Naomi Haleigh," the former of 
 which two ladies he had to take in to dinner.
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 THE DOCTOR ON NERVES. 
 
 The dinner at the Rosery was all that was 
 pleasant and desirable, saving that Doctor 
 Scales felt rather disappointed in having to 
 take in Aunt Sophia. lie was not a ladies' 
 man, he said, when talking of such matters, 
 and would have been better content to have 
 gone in alone. He was not much pleased 
 either at being very near Mr. Arthur Prayle, 
 to whom he at once took a more decided dislike, 
 being, as he acknowledged to himself, exceed- 
 ingly ready to fonn antipathies, and prejudiced 
 in the extreme.
 
 THE EOSERY FOLK. 53 
 
 "Ah," he said to himself, "one ought to be 
 satisfied ; " and he glanced round the prettily 
 decorated table, and uttered a sigh of satis- 
 faction as the sweet scents of the garden floated 
 in through the open window. Then he uttered 
 another similiar sigh, for there were scents in 
 the room more satisfying to a hungry man. 
 
 " Perhaps you'd like the window shut, 
 auntie ? " said Sir James. 
 
 " No, my dear ; it would be a shame ; the 
 weather is so fine. — You don't think it will 
 give me rheumatism in the shoulder, do you, 
 doctor?" 
 
 " No, madam, certainly not," said Scales. 
 " You are not over-heated. " 
 
 " Then we will have it open," said Aimt 
 Sophia decisively. 
 
 "Do you consider that rheumatism always
 
 54 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 comes from colds, Doctor Scales ? " said 
 xVrthur Prayle, bending forwui'd from his seat 
 beside his hostess, and speaking in a bland 
 smooth tone. 
 
 " That fellow's mouth seems to me as if it 
 must be lined with black velvet," thought the 
 doctor. " Bother hini ! if I believed in 
 metempsychosis, I should say he would turn 
 into a black Tom-cat. He purrs and sets up 
 liis back, and seems as if he must have a tail 
 hidden away under his coat. — No, decidedly 
 not," he said aloud. " I think people often 
 suffer from a kind of rheumatic affection due to 
 errors of diet." 
 
 " Dear me ! how strange." 
 
 "Then we shall have Aunt Sophia laid up," 
 said Sir James, " for she is always committing 
 errors in diet."
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 55 
 
 " Now, James ! " began the lady in protesta- 
 tion. 
 
 " JSTow, auntie, you know you'd eat a whole 
 cucumber on the sly, if you had the chance." 
 
 " No, no, my dear ; that is too bad. I 
 confess that I do like cuciunber, but not to that 
 extent." 
 
 " Well, Naomi, I hope you are ready for 
 plenty of boating, now you have come down," 
 said Scarlett. " We must brown you a bit ; 
 you are too fair.- — Isn't she, Jack ? " 
 
 " Not a bit," said the doctor, who was enjoy- 
 ing his salmon. " A lady can't be too fair." 
 
 Aimt Sophia looked at him sharply ; but 
 Jack Scales's eyes had not travelled in the 
 direction of Naomi, and when he raised them 
 to meet Aunt Sophia's, there was a frank in- 
 genuous look in them that disarmed a disposi-
 
 56 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 tion on tlie lady's part to set up her feathers 
 and defend her niece. 
 
 " I think young ladies ought to be fair and 
 pretty ; don't you, ma'am ? " 
 
 " Ye — es ; in reason," said Aunt Sophia, 
 bridling slightly. 
 
 " I side with you, Jack," said their host, 
 with a tender look at his wife. 
 
 "Yes," said Prayle slowlj^ ; "one naturally 
 expects a lady to be beautiful ; but, alas ! how 
 soon does beauty fade." 
 
 " Yes, if you don't take care of it," said 
 Aunt Sophia sharply. " Fnkindness is like a 
 blight to a flower, and so is the misery of this 
 world." 
 
 " So," said Scarlett, " the best thing is never 
 to be unkind, auntie, and have nothing to do 
 with misery "
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 57 
 
 " If j'-ou can help it," said the doctor. 
 
 " — Or the doctors," said Scarlett, laughing 
 — " always excepting Doctor Scales." 
 
 About this time, Aunt Sophia, who had been 
 very stiff and distant, began to soften a little 
 towards the doctor, and listened attentively as 
 the host seemed to be trying to draw him 
 out. 
 
 " What are you doing now, Jack ? " he said, 
 after a glance round the table to see that all 
 was going satisfactorily and well ; while Lady 
 Scarlett sat, flushed and timid, troubled with 
 the cares of the house, and wondering whether 
 her husband was satisfied with the preparations 
 that had been made. 
 
 " Eating," said the doctor drily, " and to 
 such an extent, that I am blushing inwardly 
 for having such a dreadful appetite."
 
 58 THE ROSEET FOLK. 
 
 "I suppose," said Prayle, "tliat a good 
 appetite is a sign of good healtli ? " 
 
 "Sometimes," said the doctor. " There are 
 morbid forms of desire for food. — What say ? " 
 
 " I repeated my question," said Scarlett, 
 laughing. " What are you doing now ? " 
 
 " Well, I am devoting myself for the most 
 part to the study of nervous diseases," said the 
 doctor. "There seems to be more opening 
 there than in any other branch of my pro- 
 fession, and unless a man goes in for a 
 speciality, he has no chance." 
 
 " Come, Aunt Sophia," said Scarlett, merrily ; 
 " here's your opportunity. You are always 
 complaining of your nerves." 
 
 " Of course T am," said the old lady sharply ; 
 " and no wonder." 
 • " Well, then, why not engage Doctor Scales
 
 THE ROSERT FOLK. 59 
 
 as your private physician, before he is snatched 
 up?" 
 
 " Ah, before I'm snatched up, Miss Raleigh. 
 Don't you have anything to do with me, 
 madam. Follow your nephew's lead, and take 
 to jjardeninw. There is medicine in the scent 
 of the newly tui-ned earth, in the air you 
 breathe, and in the exercise, that will do you 
 more good than any drugs I can prescribe." 
 
 " There you are, aunt ; pay up." 
 
 " Pay up 't Bless the boy ! what do you 
 mean ? " said Aunt Sophia. 
 
 " A guinea. Physician's fee." 
 
 " Stuff and nonsense ! " said Aimt Sophia. — 
 " But I don't want to be rude to you. Doctor 
 Scales, and I think it's worth the guinea far 
 more than many a fee I've paid for what has 
 done me no good."
 
 6o THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 " I've got a case in hand," said the doctor, 
 going on with his dinner, but finding time to 
 talk. "I've a poor creature suffering from 
 nervous shock. Fine-looldng, gentlemanly 
 fellow as you'd wish to see, but completely off 
 his balance." 
 
 " Bless the man ! don't talk about mad 
 people," said Aunt Sophia. 
 
 " No, ma'am, I will not. He's as sane as 
 you are," said the doctor ; " but his nerve is 
 gone. He dare not trust himself outside the 
 house ; he cannot do the slightest calculation — 
 write a letter— give a decisive answer. He 
 would not take the shortest journey, or see any 
 one on business. In fact, though he could do 
 all these things as well as any of us, he doesn't, 
 and, paradoxical as it may sound, can't." 
 
 " But whv not ? " said Scarlett.
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 6 1 
 
 " Why not ? Because his nerve has gone. 
 He dare not sleep without some one in the next 
 room. He could not bear to be in the dark. 
 He cannot trust himself to do a single thing for 
 fear he should do it wrong, or go anywhere lest 
 some terrible accident should befall him." 
 
 " What a dreadful man I " cried Aunt Sophia. 
 
 " Not at all, my dear madam ; he's a 
 splendid fellow." 
 
 " It must be terrible for his poor wife. 
 Doctor Scales." 
 
 " No, ma'am, it is not, because he has no 
 wife ; but it is verj^ trying to his sweet sister." 
 
 " I say, hark at that," said Scarlett, merrily 
 — " 'his sweet sister.' Ahem, Jack ! In con- 
 fidence, eh ? " 
 
 " What do you mean ? " cried the doctor, as 
 the ladies smiled.
 
 62 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 " I say — you kuow— his sweet sister. Is 
 that the immortal she ? " 
 
 "What? My choice? Ha-ha! Ha-ha- 
 ha ! Ha-ha-ha-ha ? " laughed the doctor, 
 with enjoyable mirth. " No, no ; I'm cut out 
 for a bachelor. No wedding for me. Bah ! 
 what's a poor doctor to do with a wife ! No, 
 sir ; no, sir. I'm going to preserve myself 
 free of domestic cares for the benefit of all who 
 may seek my aid." 
 
 " Well, for my part," said Aunt Sophia, 
 "I thinlv it must bo a very terrible case." 
 
 " Terrible, my dear madam." 
 
 " But you will be able to cure him ? " 
 
 " I hope so ; but indeed that is all I can say. 
 Such cases as this puzzle the greatest men." 
 
 " I suppose," said Arthiu' Prayle, in a 
 smooth bland voice, ' that you administer
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 63 
 
 tonic medicines- —quinine and iron and the 
 like ? " 
 
 " O yes," said the doctor grimly. " That's 
 exactly what we do, and it doesn't cure the 
 patient in the least." 
 
 " But you give him cold bathing and 
 exercise, doctor ? " 
 
 " O yes, Mr. Prayle ; cold bathing and 
 exercise, plenty of them ; but they don't do 
 any good." 
 
 " Hah ! that is singular," said Prayle 
 thoughtfully. " Would the failure be from 
 want of perseverance, do you think ? " 
 
 " Perhaps so. One doesn't know how much 
 to persevere, you see." 
 
 " These matters are very strange — ver}- well 
 worthy of consideration and study, Doctor 
 Scales."
 
 64 THE ROSERT FOLK. 
 
 " Very well worthy of consideration indeed, 
 Mr. l^raylc," .said the doctor ; and then to him- 
 self : " This fellow gives me a nervous afEection 
 in the toes." 
 
 " I trust my remarks do not worry you, Lady 
 Scarlett ? " said Prayle, in his bland way. 
 
 "O no, not at all," replied that lady. 
 " Pray do not think we camiot appreciate a 
 little serious talk." 
 
 Prayle smiled as he looked at the speaker — 
 a quiet sad smile, full of thankfulness ; but it 
 seemed to trouble Lady Scarlett, who hastened 
 to join the conversation on the other side, 
 replying only in monosyllables afterwards to 
 Prayle' s remarks. 
 
 The dinner passed off very pleasantly, and 
 at last the ladies rose and left the table, leaving 
 the gentlemen to theii' wine, or rather to the
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 65 
 
 modem substitute for the old custom — their 
 cofPee, after which they smoked their cigarettes 
 in the veranda, and the conversation once more 
 took a medical turn. 
 
 " I can't help thinking about that patient of 
 yours, Jack," said Sir James. " Poor fellow ! 
 What a shocking affair ! " 
 
 " Yes, it must be a terrible life," said Prajde. 
 
 " Life, Arthur ! it must be a sort of death," 
 exclaimed Scarlett excitedly. " Poor fellow ! 
 What a state ! " 
 
 "Well, S}Tnpathy's all very well," said the 
 doctor, smiling in rather an amused way ; 
 " but I don't see why you need get excited 
 about it." 
 
 "Oh, but it is horrible." 
 
 " Dreadful ! " echoed Prayle. 
 
 " Then I must have been an idiot to 
 
 VOL. I. F
 
 66 THE ROSERY POLK. 
 
 introduce it here, where uU is so calm and 
 peaceful," said the doctor. " Fancy what a 
 shock it would give us all if we were suddenly 
 to hear an omnibus go blundering by. James 
 Scarlett, you are a lucky man. You have 
 everything a fellow could desire in this world : 
 money, a delightful home, the best of 
 
 health " 
 
 "The best of wives," said Prayle softly. 
 " Thank you for that, Arthui'," said Scarlett, 
 turning and smiling upon the speaker. 
 
 " Humph I Perhaps I was going to say 
 that myself," said the doctor sourly. "Hah ! 
 you're a lucky man." 
 
 " Well, I don't grumble," said Scarlett, 
 laughing. " You fellows come down here just 
 when everything's at its best ; but there is 
 such a season as winter, you know."
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 67 
 
 " Of course there is, stupid ! " said the 
 doctor. " If there wasn't, who would care foi- 
 tickle spring ? " 
 
 " May the winter of adversity never come to 
 your home, Cousin James," said Prayle softly : 
 and he looked at his frank, manly young host 
 with something like pathetic interest as he 
 spoke. 
 
 " Thank j'ou, old fellow, thank you. — Now, 
 let's join the ladies." 
 
 " This fellow wants to borrow fifty povmds," 
 growled Doctor Scales. Then after a pause — 
 " There^s that itching again in my toes."
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 DOCTOR SCALES HEARS A MORNING LECTURE, 
 
 "Morning, Monnick," said the doctor, who 
 had resigned himself to his fate, and had passed 
 three days without attempting to escape from 
 his pleasant prison. 
 
 "Morning, sir," said the old gardener, 
 touching his hat. 
 
 "Sir James down yet ?" 
 
 " Oh yes, sir, he's been in the peach-house 
 this last hour." 
 
 " Has he ? thanks," said the doctor, walking 
 on in that direction, to hear his old friend's
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 69 
 
 voice, directly after, hummiiig away beneath 
 the glass like some gigantic bee. 
 
 " Hallo, lazybones ! " cried Sir James, who 
 was busy at work with a syringe water-shoot- 
 ins the various insects that had affected a lodg- 
 ment amongst his peach and nectarine trees. 
 
 " Lazybones ; be hanged ! why, it's barely 
 five." 
 
 " Well, that's late enough this weather. I 
 love being out early." 
 
 " Work of supererogation to tell me that, old 
 fellow." 
 
 "So it is, Jack, and I suppose I'm a mono- 
 maniac. Fellows at the club laugh at me. 
 They say, here you are — with plenty of money, 
 which is true ; heaps of brains — which is not ; 
 a title and a seat in the house, openings before 
 you to get some day in the cabinet, and you go
 
 70 THE EOSEEY FOLK:. 
 
 flown in the country and work like a gardener. 
 They think I'm a fool." 
 
 " Ijet 'em/' said the doctor, grimly, 
 
 " But T am a bit of a lunatic over garden 
 matters, and country life, Jack." 
 
 " So much the better," said the doctor, light- 
 ing a cigar and beginning to walk up and 
 down. " Go on with your squirting." 
 
 " Shan't ! I shall follow your bad habit." 
 And Sir James took one of his friend's cigars 
 and began to smoke. " Pleasure and profit 
 together," he said ; " it will kill insects." 
 
 " Nice place, this," said the doctor, glancing 
 about the large light structure, with its healthy 
 fruit trees growing vigorously ; " but I should 
 be careful about sudden changes. Might get 
 a cold that would affect you seriously." 
 
 " Out, croaker ! " cried Sir James ; " I never
 
 THE ROSERT FOLK. J I 
 
 catch cold." And he perched himself upon a 
 pair of steps. 
 
 " Going to preach ? " said the doctor, " be- 
 cause if so I'll sit down." 
 
 " Then sit, for I am, sir, a charity sermon ; 
 but there will be no collection after I have done." 
 
 " Go ahead," said the doctor. 
 
 " My dear guest," said Sir James, " there is 
 nothing pleasanter than being, through your 
 own foresight, on the right side of the hedge. 
 The bull may bellow and snort, and run at the 
 unfortunates who carelessly cross the dangerous 
 meadow, but it does not hurt you, who can 
 calmly shout to those in danger to run here or 
 there to saye themselyes from horns or hoofs. 
 In the same way how satisfactory to float at 
 your ease when the flood comes, and to see your 
 neighbours floundering and splashing as they
 
 72 THE liOSEEY FOLK. 
 
 struggle to baiik or tree, hardly saving them- 
 selves, while you, armed as you are with that 
 pocket Noah's Ark of a safety-belt, philosophi- 
 cally thiuk, what a pity it is that people will 
 not take precautions against the inevitable." 
 
 " What are you aiming at. Jemmy ? " said 
 the doctor. 
 
 " Sir," said Sir James, waving his cigar ; " I 
 take this roundabout way of apj) reaching that 
 most popular though slightly threadbare subject, 
 the weather ; and as I do so I cannot help, in 
 my self-satisfied way, feeling a kind of con- 
 temptuous compassion for those who, being 
 agriculturally or horticulturally disposed, go 
 out metaphorically without macintosh, um- 
 brella, or goloshes. It is in this spirit that I 
 feel but small pity for unfortunate Pat who, 
 knowing that Erin is so green on account of its
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 73 
 
 heavy rainfall, will persist in making the staple 
 of his growth the highly satisfactory but tropi- 
 cal potato — that child of the sun which blights 
 and rots and dies awaj^ in a humid atmosphere, 
 the consequence of our heavy downpours of 
 rain. ' But we must have potatoes,' say both 
 Pat, and John Bull. True : then do as I, Ajax, 
 the weather defier, have done : grow early sorts, 
 which flourish, ripen, and can be housed before 
 the setting in of the heavy autumnal rains." 
 
 " Hear, hear," said the doctor, sitting back in 
 his wicker chair and holding his fuming cigar 
 in the middle of a peach-tree, where some 
 insects had effected a lodgment. 
 
 " That's right, doctor, give them a good 
 dose," said Sir James following suit, "But to 
 proceed. It is not apropos of tubers that I 
 indulge this spring in a pleasant warm feeling of
 
 74 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 self-satisfaction, but on account of wall-fruit — 
 the delicious plum, a bag of golden saccharine 
 pulp, or a violet bloomed, purple-skinned mass 
 of deliciously flavoured amber ; the downy- 
 skinned peach, with a ruddy tint like that of a 
 bonny English maiden's cheek ; the fiery 
 stoned luscious nectarine — that vinous ambro- 
 sial fruit that ought to be eaten with the eyes 
 closed that the soul may dream and be trans- 
 ported into transports of mundane bliss ; item, 
 the apricot, that bivalve of fruits which will 
 daintily split into two halves, to enable you to 
 drop the stone before partaking of its juicy 
 joys. Come good season or bad season your 
 Londoner sees the pick of these princes of the 
 fruit world reposing in perfect trim in the 
 market or window ; but in such an autumn as 
 the past it was melancholy to walk round one's
 
 THF EOSERY FOLK. 75 
 
 friends' gardens — say with Tompkins or Smith 
 or Robinson, each of whom spends a little 
 fortune upon his grounds, over which MacdufP 
 or Macbeth or Macfarlane, or some other 
 'gairdner fra' the North,' tyrannically pre- 
 sides. The plums upon the most favoured 
 walls were cracked, and dropped spoiled from 
 the trees ; the peaches looked white and sickly, 
 and were spotted with decomposition ; the 
 nectarines that consented to stay on the twigs 
 were hard and green, and where one that 
 approached the appearance of ripeness was 
 tasted, it was watery, flavourless, and poor." 
 
 " "Watery, flavourless, and poor, is good," 
 said the doctor. " I don't often buy wall-fruit, 
 but if I do spend sixpence in the Central 
 Avenue, Covent Garden, that is about the state 
 of the purchase."
 
 76 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 ' "Exactly," said Sir James eagerly, "and it is 
 impossible to help triumphing in one's pity while 
 one reasonably says, ' Why attempt to grow 
 out-of-doors the tender fruits of a warmer 
 clime in such a precarious country as ours? 
 Or, if you must grow them, why not meta- 
 phorically provide your peaches, nectarines, 
 apricots, and choice plums with goloshes, 
 macintoshes, and, above all, with an umbrella?' 
 I do, and I egotistically take my friends to see 
 the result. Their trees are drenched, desolate, 
 and the saturated ground beneath is strewn 
 Avith rotting fruit. My trees, on the contrary, 
 have their toes nice and warm ; their bodies 
 are sm*rounded b}' a comfortable great coat ; 
 and, above all, thcii* delicate leaves and still 
 more delicate blossoms are sheltered by a 
 spreading umbrella of glass. In other words I
 
 THE ROSERT FOLK. 77 
 
 grow them in an orchard house, and the result 
 is that they are laden with luscious fruit." 
 
 " Ah ! " said the doctor, " but this is the 
 luxury of the rich, my boy : glass-houses are a 
 great expense." 
 
 " By no means, Jack. If gorgeous glass 
 palaces and Paxtonian splendour are desired, 
 of course I have nothing to say ; but the man 
 of modest mind who likes to exercise his own 
 ingenuity to slope some rafters from the top of 
 a garden wall to a few posts and boards in 
 front, and cover in the slope with the cheapest 
 glass, may provide himself at a very trifling- 
 expense with a glazed shed, within whose arti- 
 ficial climate he may grow as many choice 
 plants as he chooses. He may begin with five 
 pounds, or go up to five hundred, as he pleases: 
 the fruit would be the same : all that is required
 
 78 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 is shelter, ventilation, and abundance of light. 
 The heat is provided by Nature, none other is 
 needed — no furnaces, boilers, hot-water pipes, 
 flues, or expensive apparatus of any kind ; 
 finally, comprehensively, nothing is necessary 
 but a glass-roofed shed with brick or boarded 
 sides, and, I repeat, the roughest structure will 
 give as good fruit, perhaps as much satisfaction, 
 as the grandest house." 
 
 " Just as poor Hodge enjoys his slice of 
 bacon as much as you do your pate.' ' 
 
 "Exactly, Jack," continued Sir James, who 
 was well mounted upon his hobby, " there 
 is no secret about the matter. The delicate 
 fruits of the peach family, and even choicer 
 plums, are most abundant bearers; all they 
 want is a suitable climate to produce their 
 stores. That climate, save, say, once in seven
 
 THE KOSEKY FOLK. 79 
 
 or ei'glit years, England does not afford. The 
 troubles of these aristocrats of the garden 
 begin very early in the year, when, according 
 to their habit, every twig puts forth a won- 
 drous display of crimson, pink, and delicately- 
 tinted white bloom, just at a time when our 
 nipping frosts of early spring are rife. The 
 consequence is that in a few short hours the 
 hopes of a season are blighted. In sheltered 
 positions often, by chance, a few blossoms, as a 
 gardener woidd say, set their fruit, which run 
 the gauntlet of our fickle clime, and perhaps 
 ripen, but more likely drop from the trees in 
 various stages of their approach to maturity, 
 the whole process being so disheartening that, 
 in a season like the past, many gardeners 
 declared that it was a hopeless effort to attempt 
 to grow peaches and nectarines out-of-doors."
 
 80 THE EOSERY FOLK. 
 
 The doctor looked at liis watch. 
 
 " Ah ! it isn't breakfast time yet, Jack, and 
 you are in for my lecture As I was about to 
 say, nous arons change tout cela. "We build our 
 orchard house handsome or plain, according to 
 our means, and in that shelter we have an 
 artificial climate, such as made some gentlemen 
 from the South of France exclaim, when visit- 
 ing the gardens of the late Mr. Rivers, of Saw- 
 bridffeworth, the introducer of the svstem, 
 * Ah ! Monsieur Rivers, void notre elimat ! ' In 
 fact the above gentleman, in his interesting 
 work, says : ' An orchard house in the south 
 of England will give as nearly as possible the 
 summer climate of Toulouse.' And this, mind, 
 from sun heat and earth heat alone — heat 
 which, so far from needing increase, has to be 
 modified bv abundant ventilation."
 
 THE ROSERT EOLK. 8 1 
 
 " Ah ! that's what I want you to mind, old 
 fellow," said the doctor; "you are not a plant, 
 and I don't want you to get yourself in a state 
 of heat under the glass here, and then expose 
 yourself to abundant ventilation." 
 
 " Only like cooling after a Turkish bath," 
 said Sir James. 
 
 " I don't like Turkish baths," said the doctor, 
 " the overheating affects the nerves." 
 
 " You are always croaking about the 
 nerves," said Sir James ; " but as I was say- 
 
 lUg. 
 
 " Oh ! go on, preach the orchard house 
 down," said the doctor, " I'll listen." 
 
 " I'm preaching it iip, man," said Sir James. 
 " Given the matter of the orchard house, then, 
 what next? Presuming that you have taken 
 advantage of the possession of a south or south- 
 
 VOL. I. G
 
 82 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 west wall already covered with trees, and 
 against which you have placed glass roof and 
 simple front and ends, all else necessary is to 
 plant the space unoccupied by nailed-up trees 
 moderately full of little bushes and stan- 
 dards." 
 
 " I always thought peaches and nectarines 
 ought to be nailed up against walls till I saw 
 yours," said the doctor. 
 
 " Yes ; if you like to torture them into that 
 position ; but they will grow and bear better 
 like ordinary apple-trees or pears, only asking 
 for abundant pruning, plentj'^ of water, and 
 freedom from insect plagues. If you prefer so 
 doing, you may grow them in large pots, the 
 same as you \A'ould camellias, and ornament 
 your dining - table with a beautifvd little 
 eighteen-inch or two-feet high Early Louise
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 83 
 
 peach, an Elruge uectarine, or Moor Park 
 apricot, bearing its dozen or so of perfectly- 
 shaped fruit. And to the man of frugal mind 
 this has its advantages ; for every one exclaims, 
 * Oh, it would be a pity to pick them ! ' and 
 the dessert is saved." 
 
 " My dear James, I shall never say that, I 
 promise you." 
 
 " You're a humbug, Jack. Here we are, and 
 all this place, asking you to rmi down and 
 share some of its fruits, but you will never 
 come. But to proceed. I think I shall write 
 a pamphlet on this subject." 
 
 " I would," said the doctor, drily. 
 
 "I don't care for your chaff, my boy. I 
 want to see poor people refine their ways, — 
 working-men growing vines, old ladies with 
 orchard houses."
 
 84 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 "And I hope you may get it," said the 
 doctor. 
 
 " My dear Jack," continued Sir James, " such 
 a structure as an orchard house for a long period 
 of the year is * a thing of beauty,' and a walk 
 down the central avenue, with the little trees 
 blooming, leafing, and fruiting, is 'a joy, for 
 ever' so long. There is a large sound about 
 that ' central avenue,' but, believe me, there is 
 great pleasure to be derived if the little path be 
 only six feet long, and this is a pleasure that 
 can be enjoyed by the man of very humble 
 means, who may make it profitable if he has 
 the heart to sell his pets. Even in the 
 simplest structure there is infinite variety to 
 be obtained." 
 
 " I daresay," said the doctor. " I say, how 
 this leaf has curled up. It has killed the 
 insects, though."
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 85 
 
 " So would you curl up if a giant held a red 
 hot cigar end against your body," said Sir 
 James. " Do I bore you ? " 
 
 "Not a bit, mj'- dear boy; not a bit," cried 
 the doctor. " You do me good. Your verdant 
 prose refreshes me, and makes me think the 
 world is better than it is." 
 
 " Get out. But I've nearly done. I say, 
 Jack, I'm trying this on you. It's part of a 
 lecture I'm writing to deliver at our National 
 School." 
 
 "And here have I been sitting admiring 
 your eloquence. Oh ! James Scarlett, what a 
 deceitful world is this ! But there : go on, old 
 enthusiast." 
 
 " Some of the commonest plums," continued 
 Sir James, " are lovely objects when grown 
 under glass; so are the dwarf cherries, trees 
 which are clusters of coral from root to top, while
 
 86 THE EOSERY FOLK. 
 
 those who have not partaken of that Avonder- 
 fully beautiful fruit, the apple, when a choice 
 American kind is grown in an orchard house, 
 have a new sensation before them in the way of 
 taste. The modern Continental mode of grow- 
 ing fruit on cordons, as they are termed, a 
 simple stick, so to speak, without an extraneous 
 branch, all being fruit spurs, enables the lover 
 of such a form of horticulture to place an 
 enormous nimiber of trees beneath his glass in 
 a very small space, as they will flourish well at 
 a distance of two feet apart all along tlic back 
 and sides, and three feet apart in the centre, 
 while as to expense, the choicest of young trees 
 can be purchased for from cighteenpence to 
 half-a-crown each. In fact, if I wanted an 
 orchard house, I would start with quite a small 
 one, erected and stocked for a five-pound note.
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 87 
 
 ciiid if I could not raise so large a sum, I would 
 do it foi- half the money with old sashes from 
 some house-wrecker's stock, and grow it to a 
 better by-and-by." 
 
 "How much did this place cost?" said the 
 doctor. 
 
 " Five hundred," said Sir James. " But listen 
 to the finish, old fellow. Ajax, if he builds 
 himself such a structure, can defy the weather 
 — the much-abused weather, which, in spite of 
 all that has been said, seems much the same 
 as ever, people forgetting that they ask it to 
 perform the same miracles of growth that it 
 does in Eastern and Southern climes. Nature 
 meant England to grow sloes, blackberries, 
 and crabs, and we ask her to grow the pome- 
 granate, the orange, and the date. She defi- 
 nitely says she won't, though she does accord
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 the Hg, but ill a very insipid, trashy way. 
 Put up the glass umbrella however, and shut 
 out her freezing winds, and she will perform 
 wonders at our call. Our grandfathers thought 
 they had done everything when they had 
 planted their trees against a sheltering wall. 
 Our fathers went farther, and gave us the idea 
 of growing grapes and pines in a house of 
 glass. But the piuc and grape were lux- 
 urious affairs, not to be approached by the 
 meek, to whom these ideas are presented as 
 facts that will add another pleasure to their 
 lives." 
 
 " As the celebrated Samuel Weller observed, 
 when he had listened patiently to the Shepherd's 
 discourse, ' Brayvo ! very pretty ! ' But I say, 
 I'm getting hungry." 
 
 " Not seven yet," said Sir James ; go and get
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 89 
 
 yourself a glass of milk, and I'll have a walk 
 witli you till breakfast time. Here, I'll come 
 with you now." 
 
 " But, my dear boy, you are not coming out 
 of this hot, moist atmosphere without first 
 putting on a coat ? " 
 
 " Stuif ! Nothing hurts me, I'm used to 
 it." 
 
 " My dear fellow, you'll have a bad attack 
 some day," said the doctor. 
 
 " JSTot if I know it, Jack. Get out, you old 
 rascal, you want to riin me up a bill. I'm as 
 sound as a roach, and shall be as long as I lead 
 my country life. I say, I'm going to empty 
 the pond to-day. "We'll get the water out, and 
 then the ladies can come and see us catch the 
 fish." 
 
 " Us ?" said the doctor, " us ?"
 
 go THE ROSERT FOLK. 
 
 " Yes, you shall liave a landing net at the 
 end of a pole. You'll come ?," 
 
 " Is Prayle going to be there ?" 
 
 " Of course." 
 
 " Then I think I shall stay away." 
 
 " Nonsense, you prejudiced humbug. I want 
 you to see the fun. You will come?" 
 
 " My dear James Scarlett, I do not get on 
 at my profession, I know now why. It is from 
 weakness of will. I see it now. You have 
 taught rae that lesson this morning. First, 
 I find myself listening to a rigmarole about 
 growing fruit under glass. Now I am weakly 
 consenting to make myself as much a school- 
 boy as you in j^our verdant idyllic life." 
 
 "Then you'll come?" 
 
 " Oh, yes," said the doctor grimly, " I'll 
 come. Shall I go into the mud after eels ? "
 
 THE EOSERY FOLK. 9 1 
 
 "If you Kke, I'll lend you a pair of old 
 trousers. I shall." 
 
 " My dear fellow, I shall be attending- you 
 one of these days for paralysis brought on by 
 cold ; or spinal " 
 
 "Nancy, two big glasses of new milk," cried 
 Sir James, for they had entered the dairy. 
 " I say, Jack, old fellow, I want to give you a 
 little more of my natural history lecture, 
 because it would be sure to help me on." 
 
 " I feel," said the doctor, " as if I had a soft 
 collar round my neck, and was being led about 
 by a chain. There, make the most of me while 
 I'm here, you don't catch me down again." 
 
 "Don't I?" said Sir James. "Why, my 
 dear Jack, Kitty and I have made up our minds 
 to find you a wife."
 
 CHAPTER YII. 
 
 SIR JAMES CATCHES COLD IX THE HACK. 
 
 " AxD are there any fisli in that muddy 
 pond, Moimick?" said Arthur Prayle that 
 morning after breakfast. 
 
 " Oh, sir, yes ; you should see them some- 
 times ; great fellows that come up after the 
 bread you throw in. Are you coming to see 
 it emptied ? " 
 
 Arthur Prajde looked at his glossy black 
 garments, and then, bowing his head, gravely 
 said, " Yes, perhaps I shall be there," and he 
 raised his book and went on down the garden. 
 
 His "perhaps" proved a certainty, for when
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 93 
 
 the party started from the house to go across 
 the fields he walked sedately between Aunt 
 Sophia and Naomi, talking softly all the time 
 till they reached the place. 
 
 It was a large pond. How large ? Well, 
 about as big as ponds generally are ; and it 
 was pretty deep. There were mysterious 
 places beneath the overhanging willows, whose 
 roots hung in the water, where the hooked fish 
 rushed and entangled the lines. There was 
 that awkward spot where the old posts, and 
 wood, and willow poles lay with their ends in 
 the mud, where Sir James caught the great eel 
 that twined himself in and out, and the stout 
 silkworm gut line jjurted like tinder. There 
 was a deep hole, too, by the penstock, and 
 various lurking places where, in the silence of 
 the night, you could hear wallowings and
 
 94 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 splashings, and now and then a loud suck or 
 smack of the lips as a fish took something 
 from the top of the water. 
 
 On inspection half-a-dozen brawny brown- 
 armed men were found picking and throwing 
 out the earth, and graving a trench in a way 
 that would have made a military engineer 
 long for a few hundred of such fellows to form 
 his earthworks. Deep down they delved till 
 they had cut and laid bare certain pipes in a 
 huge dyke, every foot of which was suggestive 
 of the mysteries of the pond that required so 
 vast a trench to drain oil its waters. There 
 was a good deal of speculation rife about that 
 pond, inasmuch as one that was drained by Sir 
 James a couple of years before proved to hold 
 nothing but thousands of great fat newts that 
 swarmed over the mud like alligators in a
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 95 
 
 Florida lagoon. It was said that after all 
 perhaps a carp or two and an eel would be all 
 that were found, but, even as the speculative 
 remarks were made, a shoal of small i-oach 
 flecked the surface, and it was certain that the 
 result could not be nil. 
 
 It boots not to tell of the way those men 
 worked, as full of interest in the job as any 
 one else, it is enough to say that the pond head 
 was reached at last, the new drain ready, and 
 over the pipe a piece of wire-work placed to 
 stay any fish from passing down ; and at last 
 the water was allowed to flow till the pond was 
 a couple of feet lowei-, the roots of the bank 
 vegetation and the willows bare, and dozens of 
 slimy holes visible, such as would be affected by 
 eels, water-voles, and other lovers of such snug- 
 geries in the banks. Ragged pieces of wood
 
 96 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 stood out at all ang-les from the mud and water, 
 the penstock rose up like a model in old oak 
 of Tyburn Tree, kept for the execution of rats ; 
 and the g-rcat wooden pump, with its platform 
 in the corner where the water-barrels were 
 tilled, trailed its leaden pipe down into the 
 depths like a monstrous antediluA^an eel. 
 
 Not so much as a splash to tell that there 
 was anything within the waters rushing away in 
 a flood, down through the alders in an old marl 
 pit hard by. More hours wont on and there 
 were no signs of fish. Mud and to spare, and 
 the banks looking slimy and strange. Tangles 
 of wood that had lain at the bottom for years 
 began to show as lower sank the water, reveal- 
 ing pots, old boots, hurdles, and rusty iron, but 
 still no fish of size. Then there was a shout 
 of triuniph from one of the men at the sight of
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 97 
 
 a billhook some six feet from tlie bank, one 
 that had been dropped in years before, when 
 the overhanging willows wore being lopped, 
 and there was no Mercury at hand to bring it 
 up transformed to silver or gold. The keen- 
 edged ■ implement was recovered, hardly the 
 worse for its immersion, and, as far as its owner 
 was concerned, the game of draining the pond 
 was worth the candle. But still no fish, and, 
 save in the holes, the water was now only a 
 foot deep. There were indications though, for 
 the simple rmming of the water off would not 
 have made the remainder so thick, and as some 
 bubbles were seen to rise, one man declared 
 that it was a " girt " eel at work. Another 
 six inches lower, and here and there a dark line 
 could be seen, cutting the muddy water, 
 ploughing as it were along, while behind there 
 
 VOL. I. H
 
 gS THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 came a wavy eddy, and it was evident that 
 these dark lines were the back fins of fish 
 swimming- in the shallow pool. 
 
 " They are getting sick," said John Mon- 
 nick with a grim smile. 
 
 Certainly if swimming at the top of the 
 water indicated sickness, a number of large fish 
 were very sick indeed, while now that the fact 
 was patent of there being plenty of finny 
 creatures there, the excitement began to grow. 
 The remaining water grew more thick, and 
 here and there the surface was dimpled and 
 splashed by little dark spots where shoals of 
 small fish hurried to and fro. Then as the 
 water grew lower still, there was a cessation of 
 movement, the fish seemed all to have dis- 
 appeared, and they might have passed down 
 the drain for all there was to see.
 
 THE EOSERY FOLK. 99 
 
 " Rather a boyish pursuit," said Prayle, who 
 found himseK close by the doctor. 
 
 " Thoroughly/' replied Scales ; " puts one in 
 mind of old school days. Never enjoyed my- 
 self so much in my life." 
 
 Prayle smiled and turned to Naomi. 
 
 "That fellow's ancestors must have been 
 eels," growled the doctor to himself. " Great 
 Darwin ! I declare myself converted." 
 
 " Interested in it, Mr. Prayle ? " said 
 Naomi, opening her large soft eyes. " Oh, 
 yes, I like to see anything that pleases 
 my cousin." 
 
 "Ah! " sighed Prayle, "it seems a strange 
 pursuit." 
 
 " My cousin is so fond of the water," said 
 Naomi gently. 
 
 " He seems fond of the mud," muttered
 
 lOO THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 Prayle. " Good heavens ! how can a man be 
 such a boor ? " 
 
 All this while Lady Scarlett was smiling 
 on every body, and taking intense interest in 
 her husband's pursuit, seeing that the men had 
 lunch and as much beer as they liked — which 
 was a good deal — but they were working tre- 
 mendously and as eager as their lord. 
 
 And now preparations were made. Half-a- 
 dozen large tubs were filled with clean water ; 
 a strong landing-net was placed at hand, with 
 a couple of buckets, and two or three of the 
 shallow wooden baskets, kno^vn as " trucks," or 
 so-called "trugs." The next proceeding was 
 for a man to descend into the slime at the head 
 of the pond, and commence a trench, throwing 
 out the mud right and left till he had reached 
 the solid bottom, and thus going on ahead to 
 form, as it were, a ditch through the centre of
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 10 1 
 
 the hollow, a process which hastened the flow 
 of water and soon set the latest doubt at rest. 
 For before long there was a scuffling and 
 splashing of small fish, roach leaped out, and 
 small bream kept displaying their silvery sides. 
 Tiny pools fonned all over the bottom of the 
 pond, each occupied by its scores of fish, while, 
 in the principal pool, the great carp could be 
 seen sailing slowly and sedately here and 
 there, all singly, save in one instance, where a 
 monster fellow swam slowly in and out witli 
 one two-thirds his size close to his side — a regu- 
 lar fishy Darby and Joan. Then lower sank 
 the water, the small fish all splash and excite- 
 ment, but the great carp as cool and calm as 
 could be, retiring with the water to a pool that 
 grew less and less until, in place of being single 
 and in pairs, they were united into one great 
 shoal that, if not like dogs, as John Monnick
 
 I02 THE KOSERY FOLK. 
 
 said, were certainly suggestive of the backs of so 
 many little pigs swimming quietly to and fro. 
 Lower still the water, and tlie excitement 
 increasing. 
 
 " "WTiat a great carp ! " cried the doctor. 
 "Look at his back fin." 
 
 "No; it is an eel!" cried Sir James; 
 and an eel it was, slowly gliding along 
 through what was rapidly becoming liquid 
 mild ; and in few minutes another and another, 
 and then once more another could be seen, 
 huge fellows nearly a yard long, and very 
 thick and fat, going about with their long back 
 fins above the surface, as they moved in serpen- 
 tine wavy progression, seeking for some place 
 of refuge, and then suddenly disappearing by 
 giving themselves a wriggle and twist, and 
 working themselves down into the mud.
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. I03 
 
 " There goes Prayle's relation. I wish he'd 
 follow," said the doctor to himself. 
 
 " AVell, Jack, what do you think of it all?" 
 cried Sir James, whose old tweed coat was 
 bespattered with mud. 
 
 " That I never saw a fellow less like a baro- 
 net and a member of Parliament in my life," 
 replied Scales. 
 
 *' Ah ! you should have seen me at the Cape, 
 my boy, cooking for our party ; and in the far 
 west making a brush hut. You don't know 
 what a number of facets a fellow can show. 
 There, pidl off your coat and come and help. 
 Let's be boys while we can." 
 
 The doctor pulled off his coat and rolled up 
 his sleeves, and then bowing apologetically to 
 the ladies, 
 
 " For heaven's sake," he said, " if ever you
 
 I04 THE ROSERY l-OLK. 
 
 meet any patients of mine, don't say you saw 
 me bemired like tliis." 
 
 " Himipli ! " ejaculated Aunt Sophia, whose 
 face was an enigma. 
 
 " They would perhaps like you all the 
 better for it, doctor," said Lady Scarlett smiling, 
 and then turning serious as she noted the grave 
 look on the face of her husband's friend. 
 
 She looked wp directly after, and saw that 
 Prayle was watching her, and he soon took a 
 step forward as if about to come to her side, but 
 she coloured slightly, and went to sj)eak to the 
 old gardener, whom she sent to the house upon 
 some errand. 
 
 "An excuse," said Prayle to himself : " she 
 invented that on the instant." 
 
 By this time the ditch through the middle 
 was extending fast, the water pouring off, and
 
 THE EOSERY FOLK. IO5 
 
 the landing-net at Avork stopping fish like 
 shoals of sprats from going towards the wire- 
 protected drain, and these were scooped out, 
 placed in buckets, and from thence carried to 
 the tubs. The men worked furiouslj^, evidently 
 as delighted with the task as so many school- 
 boys, though extremely careful about getting 
 in the mud. But time soon changed all that, 
 for the water was now low enough for the great 
 carp to be reached, and the smaller fry of roach 
 and bream were left for the present, while the 
 men laid down planks upon the mud, and 
 approached the hole beneath the willows, 
 where it was known that the carp now lay. 
 " Take care ! Don't hurt them ! " " Scoop 
 'em out wi' the trug." Order after order, as 
 the wooden buckets were handled ; one was 
 plunged in, and shovelled out a great carp with
 
 I06 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 a quarter of a pailful of liquid mud. No calm 
 sedateness now. Tlic monarchs of tlie pond 
 had felt their latent majesty touched, and there 
 was a tremendous splashing and plunging ; the 
 man who had scooped out the great fish was 
 spattered with mud from head to foot ; there 
 was a plunge, and the carp was gone. The 
 mud was forgotten now in the excitement, as 
 fresh efforts were made, the carp were scooped 
 out and held down by main force as they gave 
 displays of their tremendous muscular power, 
 and were passed up the side — great golden 
 fellows, thick, short, and fat, clothed in a scale 
 armoiir that seemed to be composed of well-worn 
 half-sovereigns, and panting and gaping with 
 surprise as they were safely landed. 
 
 Shouts and laughter greeted each capture of 
 the great fellows, only one of which was as
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. IO7 
 
 small as two pomids weight, the others ruuning 
 from three to five, unci exhibiting a power 
 that was marvellous in creatures of their size. 
 Sometimes a great fellow eluded capture again 
 and again, gliding between the hands, leaping 
 out of the basket, and making furious efforts to 
 escape, but only to be caught once more, till the 
 last was secured, and attention turned to the eels. 
 By this time the doctor had caught the infec- 
 tion from his friend, and he was as forgetful of 
 the mud and as eager in the chase as Sir James 
 and his men ; and as the big landing-net was 
 brought into use, and the great eels that 
 glided over the mud like serpents were chased, 
 they showed that they could travel tail first as 
 fast as head first, and with the greatest ease. 
 The landing-net was held before them, and 
 efforts made to drive them in, but generally
 
 I08 THE EOSERY FOLK. 
 
 without result, or if they were driven in, it 
 was only for tlicni to glide out more quickly. 
 Hands were useless, shovels impotent, and the 
 chase grew exciting in the extreme, as the men 
 plunged in their bare arms to the shoulder, and 
 drew them from the mud again, looking as if 
 they had gone in, like Mrs. Ijoffin, for fashion, 
 and were wearing twenty-four button gloves of 
 a gloomy hue. But lithe and strong as they 
 were, the eels had to succumb, great two and 
 three pound fellows, and were safely throwTi 
 out on the grass ; the last of the small fish were 
 secured, the whole of the water drained off, and 
 nothins: remained but three feet of thick mud. 
 Nothing ? Nothing but the eels that had 
 dived in like worms. These were now attacked. 
 The mud was stirred with poles or shovels till 
 the lurking place of one was found, when, after
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. IO9 
 
 a long: fifflit, he would be secured, twisting, 
 t^^'iniIlg, and figliting- for liberty ; needing 
 delicate handling too, for these monsters of the 
 pond bite hard and sharp. Deep doA\ii in the 
 mud some forced themselves, but many were 
 dug out, and thrown or driven into places where 
 they could be secured, and at last, wet, muddy, 
 and weary, the owner cried Quantum suff., beer 
 for the last time was handed round, and the 
 empty pond was left in peace. 
 
 But there was fish for dinner that night, 
 savoury spitchcocked eels, and regal carp 
 with wine sauce, the latter being declared by 
 every one present, from Aunt Sophia to Prajde, 
 to be the poorest, muddiest, most insipid dish 
 ever placed upon a table. 
 
 It was about nine that night that just before 
 Lady Scarlett sent a message to the study,
 
 no THE EOSERY FOLK. 
 
 which was half full of smoke, and while Prayle 
 had gone for a stroll to watch the stars, as he 
 said, making Scales look a little glum as he 
 left the room, that Sir James cried suddenly — 
 
 " Jack, old man, I'll never brag again." 
 
 " Why ? " 
 
 " I've got the most awful of pains in my 
 back, and it seems to run right up my sj^ine. 
 "What the dickens is it ? Have you been giving 
 me a dose ? " 
 
 " No," said Scales grimly ; " that comes of 
 emptying the pond." 
 
 " Not going to be anything, is it ? " 
 
 "Well," said the doctor, "I don't know, but 
 a cold will settle sometimes upon the nerves." 
 
 " Oh ! hang it, man, don't talk about one's 
 nerves. Here, come along, I shall forget it. 
 Let's go and have some tea."
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 JACK SCALES MEETS HIS FATE. 
 
 "That's what I like in the countrj%" said 
 Jack Scales to himself, as he thrust his hands 
 into his pockets and strolled down one of the 
 garden paths. " Humph ! Five o'clock, and 
 people snoring in bed, when they might be up 
 and out enjopng this lovely air, the sweet 
 dewy scent of the flowers, and the clear sun- 
 shine, and be inhaling health with every 
 breath they draw. Bah ! I can't understand 
 how people can lie in bed — in the country. 
 There is reason in stopping in peacefid thought
 
 112 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 upon one's pillow in town till nine. — Ah, 
 gardener, nice morning." 
 
 " Beautiful morning, sir," said Jolm Mon- 
 nick, touching his hat, and then going on with 
 his task of carefully whetting a scythe, and 
 sending a pleasant ringing sound out upon the 
 sweet silence of the time. 
 
 " Grass cuts well, eh ? " said the doctor. 
 
 " Yes, sir ; crisp, as if there was a white 
 frost on." 
 
 "Ah, let's try," said the doctor. "I 
 haven't handled a scythe for a good many 
 years now." 
 
 " No, sir ; I s'pose not," said Monnick, with 
 a half -contemptuous smile. " Mind you don't 
 stick the pjTite into the ground, sir, and 
 don'tee cut too deep. I like to keep my 
 lawns regular like."
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. II3 
 
 " TVTiy don't you have a machine ? " said 
 the doctor, taking the scythe, and sweeping it 
 round with a slow measured sni's/i that took off 
 the grass and the dewy daisies to leave a velvet 
 pile. 
 
 " Machine, sir ? Oh, there's two in the 
 potting shed ; but I don't want no machines, 
 sir. Noo-fangled things, that breaks a man's 
 back to push 'em along. You has to put your- 
 self in a onnat'ral-like position to work 'em, 
 and when you've done it, the grass don't look 
 like as if it had been mowed. — Well, you do 
 s'prise me, sir ; I didn't know as you could 
 mow." 
 
 " Didn't you, Monnick ? " said the doctor, 
 pausing to take the piece of carpet with which 
 the old man wiped the blade, using it, and then 
 reaching out his hand for the long gritty whet- 
 
 VOL. I. I
 
 114 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 stone, with which he proceeded to sharpen the 
 scythe in the most business-like way. " x\h, 
 you never know what a man can do till you try 
 him. You see, Monnick, when I was a young 
 fellow, I often used to cut the Rectory lawns at 
 home." 
 
 " He's a clever one," muttered the old man, 
 watching intently the rubber, us it was passed 
 with quite a scientific touch up and down and 
 from side to side of the long curved blade. 
 " Man who can mow like that must be a good 
 doctor. I'll ask him about my 'bago." 
 
 " There, I'm going for a walk. I'm out of 
 condition too, and mowing touches my back." 
 
 " Do it now, sir ? " said the old man, 
 smiling. " Hah ! that's where it lays hold o' 
 me in a rheumaticky sort o' way, sir. You 
 couldn't tell me what'd be good for it, sir,
 
 THE EOSERT FOLK. I I 5 
 
 could you ? I've tried the ilcs, but it seems as 
 if it was getting worse." 
 
 " Oh, I'll give you something, Monnick," 
 said the doctor, laughing; "but, you know, 
 there's a touch of old age in your complaint." 
 
 " Eh, but I'm afraid there is, sir ; but 
 thank you kindly, and you'll forgive me 
 making so bold as to ask." 
 
 " Of course, of course. Come to me after 
 breakfast. — And look here, I want to get on 
 the open heathy part, among the gorse and 
 fir-trees. Which road had I better take ? " 
 
 " WeU, sir, if you don't mind the wet grass, 
 you'd best go acrost the meadows out into the 
 lane, turn to the left past the church, take the 
 first turning to the right, and go straight on." 
 
 " Thanks ; I shall find my way. Don't 
 foreret. I daresav I can set vou rif^ht." And
 
 Il6 THE ROSERT FOLK. 
 
 the doctor wont off at a swinging pace, crossed 
 the meadows, where tlio soft-eyed cows paused 
 to look np at liini, llien leapefl a gate, walked 
 down the lane, hud a look at the pretty old 
 church, embowered in trees, and had nearly 
 reached the open common-land, when the sharp 
 cantering of a horse roused him from his 
 pleasant morning reverie. 
 
 lie looked round, to see that the cantering 
 liorse was ridden b}' a lady, whose long habit 
 and natty felt hat set off what seemed in the 
 dislance to be a very graceful figure; while 
 tlie oncoming gronj) appeared to be advancing 
 thinugh an elongated telescopic frame of green 
 
 leaves and drooping branches, splashed with 
 gold and blue. 
 
 " PIcre's one sensible woman, at all events. 
 What a s])lendid horse ! " His glance was
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. II7 
 
 almost momentary. Then, feeling that he was 
 staring rudely, he went on with his walk, 
 continuing his way along the lane, and passing 
 a gate that opened at once upon the furzy 
 common-land. 
 
 Suddenly the horse was cheeked a short dis- 
 tance behind him, and an imperious voice called 
 out : " Here ! — hi ! — my man." 
 
 John Scales, M.D., felt amused. " This is 
 one of the haughty aristocrats we read abovit in 
 books," he said to himself, as he turned and 
 saw a handsome, imperious- looking woman of 
 eight- and- twenty or so, beckoning to him with 
 the handle of her whip. 
 
 " The goddess Diana in a riding-habit bv 
 Poole, and superbly mounted," muttered the 
 doctor as he stared wonderingly. He saw that 
 the lady's hair was dark, her cheeks slightly
 
 I 1 8 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 flushed with exercise ; that there was a glint of 
 very white teeth between two scarlet lips ; that 
 the figure was really what he had at the first 
 glance imagined — well formed and gracefxil, if 
 slightly too matured ; and his first idea was to 
 take off his hat and stand uncovered in the 
 presence of so much beauty ; his second, as he 
 saw the curl of the lady's upper lip, and her 
 imperious glance, to thrust his hands lower in 
 his pockets and return the haughty stare. 
 
 "Here, my man, come and ojjcn this 
 gate." 
 
 As she spoke, >Scales saw her pass her whip 
 into her bridle hand, draw off a tan-coloured 
 gauntlet glove, and a white and jewelled set of 
 taper fingers go towards the little pocket in her 
 saddle. 
 
 " Why, confound her impudence ! she takes
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. I I 9 
 
 me for a yokel, and is going to give me a pint 
 of beer," said the doctor to himself ; and ho 
 stood as if turned into stone. 
 
 "Do you hear!" she cried again sharply, 
 and in the tones of one accustomed to the 
 greatest deference. " Come and open this 
 gate." 
 
 John Scales felt his dignity touched, for he 
 too was accustomed to the greatest deference, 
 such as a doctor generally receives. For a 
 moment he felt disposed to turn upon his heel 
 and walk away ; but he did not, for he burst into 
 a hearty laugh, and walked straight up to the 
 speaker, the latter flushing crimson with anger 
 at the insolence, as she mentally called it, of 
 this stranger, 
 
 " How dare you I " she exclaimed. " Open 
 that gate ; " and she retook her whip with her
 
 I20 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 ungloved band to point onward, while her 
 highly bred horse pawed the ground, and 
 snorted and tossed its mane, as if indignant too. 
 
 " How dare I, my dear ? "' said the doetor 
 coolly, as he mentally determined not to be set 
 down. 
 
 " Sir I " exclaimed the lady with a flash of 
 her dark eyes that made the recipient think 
 afterwards that here was the style of woman 
 who, in the good old times, would have lianded 
 him over to her serfs. " Do you know whom 
 you arc addressing?" 
 
 " Not I," said the doctor ; " unless you are 
 some very beautiful edition in animated nature 
 of the Imntress Diana." 
 
 " Sir ! " 
 
 "And if you were not such a handsome 
 woman, I should leave you to open the gate
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 1 2 [ 
 
 yourself, or leap the hedge, which seems more 
 in your way." 
 
 " How dare you ! " she cried, utterly 
 astounded at the speaker's words. 
 
 '' IIow dare I ? " said the doctcn-, smiling. 
 " Oh, I'd dare anything now, to see those eyes 
 sparkle and those cheeks flush. There," he 
 continued, unfastening the gate and throwing 
 it back ; " the gate's open. Au reroir." 
 
 The lady seemed petrified. Then, giving 
 her horse a sharp cut, he boimded through on 
 to the furzy heath, and went off over the rough 
 ground like a swallow. 
 
 The doctor stood gazing after them, half 
 expecting to see the lady turn her head ; but 
 she rode straight on till she passed out of sight, 
 when he refastened the gate. 
 
 " She might have given me the twopence for
 
 122 THE ROSERT FOLK. 
 
 that pint of beer," he said mockingly. " Why, 
 she has ! " he cried, stooping and picking up a 
 sixpence that lay upon the bare earth close to 
 the gate-post. " Well, come, I'll keep you, my 
 little friend, and give you back. We may 
 meet again some day." 
 
 It was a trifling incident, but it seemed to 
 affect the doctor a good deal, for he walked on 
 amidst the furze and heath, seeing no golden 
 bloom and hearing no bird-song, but giving 
 vent every now and then to some short angry 
 ejaculation. For he was ruffled and annoyed. 
 He hardly knew why, unless it was at having 
 been treated with such contemptuous disdain. 
 
 "And by a woman, too," he cried at last, 
 stopping short, "of all creatures in the world. 
 Confound her impudence ! I should just like 
 to prescribe for her, upon my word."
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 AUNT SOPHIA OX BOATS. 
 
 Thk encounter completely spoiled the 
 doctor's walk, and he turned back sooner than 
 he had intended, meeting Aunt Sophia and 
 Naomi Raleigh in the garden, and accompany- 
 ing them in to the breakfast-table, where the 
 incident was forgotten in the discussion that 
 ensued respecting returns to town. Of these, 
 Scarlett woiild hear nothing, for he had made 
 his plans. He said they were to dine at five ; 
 and directly after, the boat would be ready, 
 and they would pull up to the lock, and then 
 float down home again by moonlight.
 
 124 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 "Well," said Scales, with a shrug of the 
 shoulders, " you are master here." 
 
 " No, no," replied his host ; " yonder sits the 
 master ; " and he pointed to his wife. 
 
 " How many will the boat hold safely, 
 dear ? " said Lady Scarlett. 
 
 " Oh, a dozen, easily. Eighteen, if they 
 would all sit still and not wink their eyes. 
 We shan't be above seven, so that's all 
 right." 
 
 "You need not expect me to go," said Aunt 
 Sophia sharply. " I'm not going to risk ray 
 life in a boat." 
 
 " Pooh ! auntie ; there's no risk," cried Scar- 
 lett. " You'd better come." 
 
 " No ; I shall not ! " said the lady very de- 
 cisively. 
 
 " Why, auntie, how absurd ! " said Scarlett,
 
 TI[E ROSERY FOLK. I 25 
 
 passing his arm round her waist. " Now, 
 what is the very Avorst that could happen P " 
 
 "Why, that boat woidd be sure to upset, 
 James, and then we should all be drowned." 
 
 " Now, my dear old aimtie," cried Scarlett, 
 " the boat is not at all likely to upset ; in fact 
 I don't think we could upset her ; and if she 
 were, it does not follow that we should be 
 drowned." 
 
 ""Why, we should certainly be, boy," cried 
 Aunt Sophia. — "Naomi, my dear, of course 
 you have not thought of going? " 
 
 " Yes, aimt, dear ; I shoidd like to go very 
 much," said Naomi. 
 
 " Bless the child ! Why ? " 
 " The river is lovely, aunt, with the shadows 
 of the trees falling upon it, and their branches 
 reflected on its surface."
 
 126 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 " yes ; very poetical and pretty at your 
 age, cliild," cried Aunt Sophia. " You never 
 see the mud at the bottom, or think that it is 
 wet and covered with misty fog in winter. 
 Well, I suppose you must go." 
 
 " Really, Miss Raleigh, we will take the 
 greatest care of her," said Prayle. 
 
 " I really should like to take the greatest 
 care of you,'' muttered the doctor. 
 
 " Well, I suppose you must go, my dear," 
 said Aunt Sophia. 
 
 " C)h, thank you, aunt ! " cried the girl glee- 
 fully. 
 
 " Now, look here, James," said Aunt Sopliiu ; 
 " you will be very, very careful ? " 
 
 " Of course, auntie." 
 
 "And you won't be dancing about in the 
 boat or playing any tricks ? "
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. I 27 
 
 "No — no — no," said Scarlett, at intervals. 
 "I faitkfully promise, though I do not know- 
 why." 
 
 " You don't know why, James ? " 
 
 " No, auntie. I never do play tricks in a 
 boat. No one does but a madman, or a fool. 
 Besides, I don't want to drown my little witie." 
 
 "Now, James, don't be absurd. Who ever 
 thought you did ? " 
 
 "No one, aunt," said Lady Scarlett. "But 
 you will go with us, will you not ? " 
 
 " No, my dear ; you know how I hate the 
 water. It is not safe." 
 
 " But James is so careful, aunt. I'd go any- 
 where with him." 
 
 "Of course you would, my child," said Aunt 
 Sophia shortly. " A wife should trust in her 
 husband thoroughl}- and well."
 
 THE ROSEllY FOLK. 
 
 " So should a maiden aunt in her nephew," 
 said Scarlett, laughing. " Come, auntie, you 
 shan't he drowned." 
 
 " Now, James, my dear, don't trj' to per- 
 suade me," said the lad}^ pulling up her hlack 
 lace mittens in a peculiar, nervous, twitchy way. 
 
 "I'll undertake to do the Lest for you, if you 
 arc drowned. Miss Raleigh," said the doctor 
 drily. " I'm pretty successful with such cases." 
 
 " Doctor Scales ! " cried Aunt Sophia. 
 
 " Fact, my dear madam. An old friend of 
 mine did the Hoyal Humane Society's business 
 for them at the building in Hyde Park ; and 
 one very severe winter when I helped him, we 
 reall}' brought back to life a good man}' whom 
 you might have quite given up." 
 
 "Doctor, you horrify me," cried Aunt 
 Sophia. — "Naomi, my child, come away."
 
 THE ROSERT FOLK. I 29 
 
 " No, no : nonsense ! " cried Scarlett. " It's 
 only Jack's joking way, auntie." 
 
 " Joke ! " cried the doctor ; " nonsense. The 
 ice was unsafe ; so of course the idiots insisted 
 upon setting the police at defiance, and went 
 on, to dro\\^^ themselves as fast as they could." 
 
 " How dreadful ! " said Prayle. 
 
 " Very, for the poor doctors," said Scales 
 grimly. " I nearly rubbed my arms out of the 
 sockets." 
 
 "Kitty, dear, you stay with Aunt Sophia, 
 then," said Scarlett. " We won't be very long 
 a ways" 
 
 " Stop ! " died Aunt Sophia sternly. 
 " Where is it you are going ? " 
 
 "Up to the lock and weir," said Scarlett. 
 " You and Kitty can sit under the big medlar 
 in the shade till we come back." 
 vol,. I. K
 
 I30 THE ROSERT FOLK. 
 
 " The lock and weir ? " cried Aunt Sophia 
 sharply. "That's where the water comes run- 
 ning over through a lot of sticks, isn't it ? " 
 
 " Yes, aunt, that's the place." 
 
 " And you've seen it before ? " 
 
 " Scores of times, dear." 
 
 " Then why do you want to go now ? " 
 
 " Because it will be a pleasant row." 
 
 " Nonsense ! " said Aunt Sophia shortly, 
 " pidling those oars and making blisters on 
 your hands. Well, you must have your own 
 way, I suppose." 
 
 " All right, aunt. You won't think it queer 
 of us to desert you ? " 
 
 " Oh, you're not going to desert me, James." 
 
 "Kitty will stay with you." 
 
 " No ; she will not," said the old lady, "I'm 
 not going to deprive her of her treat."
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. I^I 
 
 "I shan't mind, indeed, aunt," cried Lady 
 Scarlett. 
 
 " Yes you would ; and you shall not be dis- 
 appointed, for I shall go too." 
 
 " You will, aunt ? " cried Scarlett. 
 
 " Yes ; if you promise to be very careful. 
 And you are sure the boat is safe ?" 
 
 " As safe as being on this lawn, my dear aunt. 
 You trust to me. I am glad you are going." 
 
 Aunt Sophia looked at the frank manly face 
 before her, saw the truth in the eager eyes, and 
 her thin, yellow, careworn countenance relaxed 
 into a smile. 
 
 " Well, I'm going, James, because I don't 
 want to disappoint your little wife," she said to 
 him in a low tone ; " but I don't sec what 
 pleasure it can give you to have a disagreeable 
 old woman with vou in the boat."
 
 132 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 They had moved off a little way from the 
 others now, Scarlett having kept his arm romid 
 the old lady's waist, evidently greatly to her 
 gratification, though if it had been hinted at, 
 she would have repudiated the fact with scorn. 
 
 " Don't 3^ou, auntie ? " he said seriously. 
 "Well, I'll tell you." He paused, then, and 
 seemed to bo thinking. 
 
 "Well?" she said sharply; "why is it? 
 Xi)w you are making up a flowery speech." 
 
 " No," he said softly. " I was thinking of 
 liow precious little a young fellow thinks of 
 his mother till she has gone. Ainitie, every 
 now and then, when I look at you, there is a 
 something that brings her back so much. 
 Tliat's why I like to have you with me in this 
 trip." 
 
 Aunt So})hia did not speak ; but lior hard
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 1 33 
 
 sharp face softened more and more as she went 
 into the house, to come out, ten minutes later, 
 in one of the most far-spreading Tuscan straw- 
 hats that ever covered the head of a maiden 
 lady ; and the marvel to her friends was that 
 she should have been able to obtain so old- 
 fashioned a production in these modern times.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 VV TO TFIl-; WEIR. 
 
 "That's the style. Hold her tight, Mon- 
 uick. — Xow, auntie, you first. Steady ; that's 
 the way. You won't swamp her." 
 
 " But it gives way so, James, my dear," 
 said Aunt Sophia nervously. 
 
 " There you aie. Sit down at once. Never 
 stand up in a boat. — Is the cushion all right ? 
 That's the way. — Now, Naomi. — Hand her in. 
 Jack. — Come along, Kitty." 
 
 Lady Scarlett gave her hand to her husband 
 as soon as Naomi Ealeigh was in, and stepped 
 liglitly from the gunwale to one th^^'art, and
 
 THE ROSERY EOLK. 1 35 
 
 then took her place beside Aunt SopMa, Naomi 
 being on the other. 
 
 " Arthur, old fellow, j-ou'd better sit behind 
 them and ship the rudder. Shorten the lines, 
 and you can steer. — Ready, Jack ? " he said as 
 Prayle stepped into the boat and sat down on 
 a thwart behind the ladies. 
 
 " Oh ! " cried Aunt Sophia with a little 
 scream ; " take him out ; he's too heavy. 
 He'll sink the boat." 
 
 " Ha-ha-ha ! " laughed the doctor. 
 
 " It's all right, auntie, I tell you," cried 
 Scarlett, making the boat dance up and down 
 as he stepped in, and, stripping off his flan- 
 nel jacket, rolled up his sleeves over his 
 arms. 
 
 The doctor stepped in and imitated his 
 friend, both standing up, fine muscular speci-
 
 136 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 mens of humanity, though wonderfully unlike 
 in aspect. 
 
 " Now, you told me it was dangerous to 
 .stand up in a boat, James," cried Aunt Sophia. 
 " Pray, pray, take care. And look, look — the 
 boat has broken loose ! " For the gardener 
 had dropped the chain into the forepart, and it 
 ^\■as drifting slowly with the stream. 
 
 "Ah, so she has," cried Scarlett merrily; 
 "and if we don't stop her, she'll take us 
 right to London before we know where we 
 are." 
 
 " But do, pray, sit down, my dear." 
 
 " All right, auntie," said Scarlett, dropping 
 into his place, the doctor following suit. 
 
 " Oh, oh ! " cried Aunt Sophia, catching 
 tightly hold of her companions on each side ; 
 *' the boat's going over."
 
 THE EOSERY FOLK. I37 
 
 " No, no, aunt, dear," said Lady Scarlett ; 
 " it is quite safe." 
 
 " But why did it rock ? " cried the old lady 
 tremulously. " And look, look ; there are 
 only two of them there, and we are four at 
 this end ! We shall sink it, I'm sure." 
 
 " Now, auntie, it's too bad of you to set up 
 for a stout old lady, when you are as light as a 
 cork," cried Scarlett, dropping his oar with a 
 splash. — " Ready, Jack ? " 
 
 " Ready, ay, ready," said the doctor, follow- 
 ing suit ; but his oar only swept the sedge. 
 
 " Gently," said Scarlett ; don't break the 
 oar. — That's better; now you have it," he 
 said, as the head of the gig turned more and 
 more, the doctor's oar took a good hold of the 
 water ; and in a few moments they were well 
 out from the shore, the steady vigorous strokes
 
 138 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 sending them past the sloping lawn of the 
 Eosery, which looked its best from the river. 
 
 " There, aunt, see how steadily and well the 
 boat goes," said Lady Scarlett. 
 
 "Yes, my dear, but it doesn't seem at all safe." 
 " Place looks pretty from the water, doesn't 
 it, Arthur ? " shouted Scarlett. 
 
 "Delightful. A most charming home — 
 charming, charming," said Prayle, lowering 
 his voice with each word, till it was heard as in 
 a whisper by those on the seat in front. 
 
 "Don't feel afraid now, do you, aimtie?" 
 cried Scarlett to Aunt Sophia. 
 
 " N — not quite so much, my dear. But 
 won't you make yourself very hot and tired ? " 
 " Do him good, ma'am," said the doctor ; 
 " and me too. — Gently, old fellow, or you'll 
 pull her head round. I'm not in your trim."
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 1 39 
 
 Scarlett laughed, and pulled a little less 
 vigorously, so that they rode on and on 
 between the lovely banks, passing villa after 
 villa, with its boat-house, lawn, and trimly 
 kept garden. Then came a patch of trees 
 laving their drooping branches in the stream ; 
 then a sweep of wood, climbing higher and 
 higher into the background on one hand ; 
 while on the other the hills receded, leaving a 
 lawn-like stretch of meadow-land, rich in the 
 summer wild-flowers, and whose river-edge 
 was dense with flag and sedge and willow-herb 
 of lilac pink. The marsh-marigold shone 
 golden, and the water-plantains spread their 
 candelabra here and there. Great patches of 
 tansj' displayed their beautifully cut foliage ; 
 while in sheltered pools, the yellow water-lilies 
 sent up their leaves to float upon the calm
 
 I40 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 surface, with here and there a round green ball 
 in every grade of effort to escape from the 
 tightening scales to form a golden chalice on 
 the silvery stream. 
 
 By degrees the beauty of the scene lulled 
 Aunt Sophia's fears to rest, and she found suffi- 
 cient faith in the safety of the boat to loosen 
 her clutch upon the ladies on either side, to 
 admire some rustic cottage, or the sweep of 
 many-tinted verdure, drooping to the water's 
 edge ; while here and there, at a word from 
 Scarlett, the rowers let the boat go forward by 
 its own impetus, slowly and more slowly, 
 against the stream, so that its occupants could 
 gaze upon some lovely reach. Then as they sat 
 in silence, watching the beauty spread around, 
 the boat grew stationary, himg for a moment on 
 tlie balance, and began drifting back, gliding
 
 THE EOSERY FOLK. I4I 
 
 with increasing pace, till the oars were dipped 
 again, 
 
 " The evening is so lovely," said Scarlett, 
 breaking a long silence, " that I think we might 
 go through the lock." 
 
 " Bight," cried the doctor. " I am just 
 warming to my work." 
 
 " I think it would be delightful," said Lady 
 Scarlett. 
 
 " Oh, yes," said Naomi. " Those islands are 
 so beautiful." 
 
 " I don't think any part could be more beau- 
 tiful than where we are," said Aunt Sophia, 
 rather shortly. 
 
 " Oh, yes, it is, aunt, dear," said Scarlett. 
 " There you trust to me." 
 
 " Well, it seems I must, for we women are 
 very helpless here."
 
 142 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 " Oil, you may trust us, aunt. We won't 
 take you into any danger." 
 
 As they were speaking the boat was rowed 
 round a sliai-p curve to where the river on each 
 side was embowered in trees, and stretching 
 apparently like a bridge from side to side was 
 one of the man}' weirs that cross the stream ; 
 wliilc from between its piles, in gracefid curves 
 a row of little waterfalls flowed do^vn, each arc 
 of water glistening golden and many tinted in 
 the evening sun. 
 
 "There!" cried Scarlett.— " Easy, Jack.— 
 What do you think of that, aunt, for a view ? " 
 
 " Yes," said the old lady thoughtfully ; " it 
 is very sweet.'* 
 
 " A very poet's dream," said Prayle softly, as 
 he rested his elbow on the gunwale of the boat, 
 his chin upon his hand.
 
 THE EOSERY FOLK. 1 43 
 
 " It is one of my husband's favourite bits," 
 said Lady Scarlett, smiling in tlie face of bim 
 she named. — " Look, Naomi ; tbat is tbe 
 fishing-cottage, there on the left." 
 
 " I have not seen the weir for years — twenty 
 years," said Aimt Sophia thoughtfully ; " and 
 then it was from the carriage, as we drove along 
 the road." 
 
 " Not half so good a view as this," said Scar- 
 lett. — " Now, then, we'll go through the lock, 
 row up for a mile by the Dell woods, and then 
 back." 
 
 " But you will be tired, my dear," said Aunt 
 Sophia, whom the beauty of the scene seemed to 
 liave softened ; and her worn sharp face looked 
 Avistful and strange. 
 
 "Tired?" said Lady Scarlett, laughing 
 'Oh, no, aunt; he's never tired,"
 
 144 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 " Well," said Scarlett, with a bright look at 
 his wife, "I'll promise one thing — when we're 
 tired, we'U turn back." 
 
 " Yes, dear ; but there's all the way to 
 return." 
 
 " Oh, the river takes us back itself, aunt," 
 said Lady Scarlett merrily. "Eow up; and 
 then float back." 
 
 " Ah, well, my dears, I am in your hands," 
 said Aunt Sophia softly ; " but don't take me 
 into danger, please." 
 
 " All right, auntie — There's one of the pret- 
 tiest bits," he added, pointing to where the trees 
 on the right bank opened, showing a view of 
 the liills beyond. — " Now, Jack, pull." 
 
 Ten minutes' sharp rowing brought them up 
 to the stout piles that guarded the entrance to 
 the lock, whose slimy doors were open ; and as
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 1 45 
 
 they approached, they could see the further 
 pair, with the water hissing and spirting 
 through in tiny streams, making a strange echo 
 from the perpendicular stone walls that rose up 
 a dozen feet on either side. 
 
 " Lock, lock, lock, lock ! " shouted Scarlett in 
 his mellow tones, as the boat glided in between 
 the walls, and Aunt Sophia turned pale. 
 
 " They shut us up here, don't they, James, 
 and then let the water in ?" 
 
 " Till we are on a level with the river above, 
 and then open the other pair," said Scarlett 
 quietly. " Don't be alarmed.'^ 
 
 "But I am, my dear," said the old lady 
 earnestly. " My nerves are not what they 
 were." 
 
 " Of course not," said the doctor kindly. — " I 
 wouldn't go through, old fellow," he continued 
 
 VOL. I. L
 
 146 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 to Scarlett. "Let's paddle about below the 
 weir." 
 
 "To be sure," said Scarlett, as he saw his 
 aunt's alarin. " I brought you out to enjoy 
 yourselves. — PTere — lii I " he cried, standing up 
 in the boat, and making Aunt Sophia lean for- 
 ward, as if to catch hiin and save him from 
 going overboard. — " All right, aimtie. — Ili ! — 
 catch I " he cried to the lock-keeper, throwing 
 him a shilling. " We won't go through." 
 
 The man did not make an effort to catch the 
 money, but stooped in a heavy dreamy manner 
 to pick it up, staring stolidly at the occupants 
 of the boat. 
 
 Aunt Sophia uttered a sigh of reKef, one that 
 seemed to be echoed from behind her, where 
 Arthur Prayle was seated, looking of a sallow 
 sickly grey, but with his colour rapidly coming
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 1 47 
 
 back as they reached the opeu space below the 
 weir, where the water at once seemed to seize 
 the boat and to sweep it downwards, but only 
 to be checked and rowed upwards again towards 
 the weir. 
 
 "There, auntie, look over the side," cried 
 Scarlett. "Can you see the stones ? " 
 
 "Yes, my dear," said Aunt Sophia, who was 
 evidently mastering a good deal of trepidation. 
 " Is it all shallow like this ? " 
 
 " Oh, no. Up yonder, towards the piles, there 
 are plenty of holes fifteen and twenty feet deep, 
 scoured out by the falling water when it comes 
 over in a flood. See how clear and bright 
 it is." 
 
 Aunt Sophia sat up rigidly ; but her two 
 companions leaned over on each side to look 
 down through the limpid rushing stream at the
 
 148 THE EOSERY FOLK. 
 
 stones and gravel, over which shot away in fear, 
 shoal after shoal of silvery dace, with here and 
 there some bigger, darker fish that had been 
 lying head to stream, patiently waiting for 
 whatever good might come. 
 
 " Yes, my dears, it is verj^ beautiful," said 
 Aunt Sophia. "But you are going very near 
 the falling water, James. It will be tumbling 
 in the boat." 
 
 " ( )h, we'll take care of that, auntie," said 
 Scarlett merrily. " Trust to your boatman, 
 ma'am, ;md he will take you safe. — What say, 
 Arthur y" 
 
 " I say, are there any large fish here ?" 
 
 " Large fish, my boy ? Wait a moment. — 
 Pull, Jack." They rowed close up to a clump 
 of piles, driven in to save the bank from the 
 constant washing of the stream. — " Now, look
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 1 49 
 
 down, old fellow," continued Scarlett, " close in 
 by the piles. It's getting too late to see them 
 well. It ought to be when the sun is high. — 
 Well, what can you see ?" 
 
 "A number of dark shadow}'- forms close to 
 bottom," said Prayle. 
 
 " Ay, shoals of them. Big barbel, some as 
 long as your arm, my lad — ten and twelve 
 pounders. Come down some day and we'll have 
 a good try for them." 
 
 " Don't go too near, dear," cried Aunt 
 Sophia. 
 
 " All right, auntie. — Here, Jack, take the 
 boat-hook, and hold on a moment while I get 
 out the cigars and matches. — Ladies, may we 
 smoke ? Our work is done." 
 
 " A bad habit, James," said Aimt Sophia, 
 shaking her head at him.
 
 150 THE EOSERY FOLK. 
 
 " But he has so few bad habits, aunt," said 
 Lad}' Scarlett, smiling. 
 
 "And you encourage him in those, my 
 dear," said Aunt Sophia. — '* There sir, go 
 on." 
 
 "Won't you have a cigar, Arthur?" 
 
 " Thank you ; no," said Prayle, with a grave 
 smile. " I never smoke." 
 
 " Good young man ! " said the doctor to him- 
 self as he lit up. 
 
 "Man after your own heart, aunt," said 
 Scarlett merrily, as he resumed his oar ; and for 
 the next half-hour they rowed about over the 
 swiftly running water, now dyed with many a 
 hue, the reflections from the gorgeous clouds 
 tluit hovered over the ruddy sinking sun. The 
 dancing wavelets flashed and sparkled with 
 orange and g(jld ; the shadows grew more
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. I S I 
 
 intense, beneath the trees ; while in one portion 
 of the weir, where a pile or two had rotted 
 away, the water ran down in one smooth soft 
 curve, like so much molten metal povired from 
 some mighty furnace into the hissing, boiling 
 stream below." 
 
 " I never saw it so beautiful before," cried 
 Scarlett excitedly. " It is lovely indeed. — Look, 
 aunt. — Why, Arthur, it was worth a journey to 
 see." 
 
 " The place is like one seen in some vision of 
 the night," said Prayle softly. 
 
 " Hah ! yes," exclaimed the doctor thought- 
 fully ; " it is enough to tempt a man to give up 
 town." 
 
 " Do, old fellow, and you shall have us for 
 patients," cried Scarlett. " We never want a 
 doctor, and I hope we never shall."
 
 152 THE ROSERT FOLK. 
 
 " Amen to that ! " said Scales, in a low, 
 sei'ious tone." " Ah ! " he continued, " what a 
 pity it seems that we have so few of these 
 heavenly days." 
 
 " Oh, I don't know," said Scarlett. " Makes 
 lis appreciate thcni all the more." 
 
 " I think these things are best as they are," 
 said Prayle in his soft dreamy tenor. " Yes ; 
 all is for the best." 
 
 Lady Scarlett looked at him uneasily, and 
 Aunt Sophia tightened her lips. 
 
 " I should like to duck that fellow, and fish 
 him out with the boat-hook," thought the 
 doctor. 
 
 Then the conversation ceased. Words seemed 
 to be a trouble in the beauty of that evening 
 scene, one so imprinted in the breasts of the 
 spectators that it was never forgotten. The
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 1 53 
 
 boat was kept from floating down with the 
 quick racing current by a sharp dip of the 
 oars just given now and then, while every 
 touch of the long blue blades seemed to be 
 into liquid gold and silver and ruddy gems. 
 The wind had sunk, and, saving the occa- 
 sional distance - softened lowing from the 
 meads, no sound came from the shore ; but 
 always like distant thunder, heard upon 
 the summer breeze, came the never-ceasing, 
 low-pitched roar of the falling water at the 
 weir. 
 
 The silence was at last broken by Scarlett, 
 who said suddenly, making his hearers start : 
 " Now then. Jack, one row round by the piles, 
 and then home." 
 
 " Right," said the doctor, throwing the end 
 of his cigar into the water, where it fell with a
 
 154 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 hiss ; and bending to his oar, the light gig was 
 sent up against the racing water nearer and 
 nearer to the weir. 
 
 The Lidies joined hands, as if there was 
 danger, but became reassured as they saw their 
 protectors smile ; and soon after, quite near to 
 where the river came thundering down from 
 where it was six feet above their heads, instead 
 of the stream forcing them away, the water 
 seemed comparatively still, the eddy setting 
 slightly towards the weir. 
 
 " Here's one of the deep places," said Scar- 
 lett. "I fished here once, and my plummet 
 went dowTTi over twenty feet." 
 
 "And you didn't catch a gudgeon':^" said 
 the doctor. 
 
 " Not one," replied Scarlett. 
 
 " How deep and black it looks ! " said Prayle
 
 THE ROSERT FOLK. 1 55 
 
 softly, as he laved one soft white huud iu the 
 water. 
 
 " Enough to make it," said Scarlett — " deep 
 as that. I say, what a place for a header ! " 
 
 "Ah, splendid!" said the doctor; "only, 
 yon mustn't dive on to pile or stone. I say, 
 hadn't we better keep off a little more ?" 
 
 " Yes," said Scarlett, rising, oar in hand. 
 " I never knew the eddy set in so sharply 
 before. — \Yhy, auntie, if we went much nearer, 
 it would carry us right in beneath the falling 
 water, and we should be filled." 
 
 " Pray, take care, James." 
 
 "To be sure I will, my dear auntie," he 
 said, as he stood up there in the soft evening- 
 light. "I'll take care of you all, my precious 
 freight;" and Avaiting his time, he thrust the 
 bhide of his oar against a pile, placed one foot
 
 156 THE ROSERT FOLK. 
 
 upon the gunwale, and pressing heavily, he 
 sent the boat steadily farther and farther away^ 
 " Back water, Jack," he said. — " Now ! " 
 As he spoke, he gave one more thrust ; but in 
 the act there was a sharp crack as the frail 
 ashen oar snapped in twain, a shriek of horror 
 from Lady Scarlett as she started up, and a dull, 
 heavy plunge, making the water foam up, as 
 Sir James Scarlett went in head foremost and 
 disappeared.
 
 CHAPTER XT. 
 
 THE D0C:T0K ABROAD. 
 
 The thrust delivered by Scarlett before the 
 breaking of the oar, aided by the impetus given 
 by his feet as he fell, sent the boat back into 
 the rapid stream beyond the eddy ; and in 
 spite of the doctor's efforts, he could not check 
 its course, till, suddenly starting up, he used his 
 oar as a pole, arresting their downward course 
 as he scanned the surface towards the piles. 
 
 " Sit do\\Ti, Lady Scarlett ! " he cried in a 
 tierce, hoarse voice. — " Hold her, or she will be 
 over." 
 
 Aunt Sophia had already seized her niece's
 
 158 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 dress, and was dragging her back, the three 
 women sitting with bhiiiched faces and parted 
 ashy lips, gazing at the place where Scarlett 
 had gone down. 
 
 " Don't be alarmed ; he swims like a fish," 
 said the doctor, though grave apprehension was 
 changing the hue of his own countenance, as he 
 stood watching for the reappearance of his friend. 
 
 "Help! help!" cried Lady Scarlett suddenly; 
 and her voice went echoing over the water. 
 
 " Hush ! be calm," cried the doctor. — "Here, 
 quick — you — Mr. Prayle ! Come and shove 
 down the boat - hook here. She's di'ifting. 
 Mind, man, mind ! " he cried, as Prayle, trem- 
 bling visibly, nearly fell over as he stooped to 
 get out the boat-hook. 
 
 He thrust it down into the water, but in a 
 timid, helpless wny.
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. T59 
 
 '* Put it down ! " cried the doctor ; and then, 
 seizing an oar by the middle, he used it as a 
 paddle, just managing to keep the boat from 
 being swept away. 
 
 They were twenty yards at least from where 
 Scarlett went down ; but had he possessed the 
 power to urge the boat forward, Scales dared 
 not have sent it nearer to the piles with that 
 freig-ht on board. And still those terrible 
 moments went on, lengthening first into one 
 and then into a second minute, and Scarlett did 
 not reappear, 
 
 " Why does he not come up ? " said Prayle, 
 in a harsh whisper. 
 
 " Silence, man ! Wait ! " cried the doctor 
 hoarsely, as he saw Lady Scarlett's wild implor- 
 ing eyes. 
 
 "He must have struck his head ag-ainst a
 
 l6o THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 stone or pile," thought the doctor, " and is 
 stunned." And then the horrible idea came 
 upon him, that his poor friend was being kept 
 down by the tons and tons of falling water, 
 c^'ery time he would have risen to the top. 
 Two minutes — three minutes had passed, and, 
 as if in sjonpathy with the horror that had 
 fallen upon the group, the noise of the tumb- 
 ling waters seemed to grow more loud, and the 
 orange glow of sunset was giving place to a 
 cold grey light. 
 
 Aunt Sophia was the next to speak. " Do 
 something, man I " she cried, in a 2)assionate 
 imploring voice. But the doctor did not heed ; 
 he (July scanned the surface of the foamy pool. 
 
 " There, there, there ! " shrieked Lady Scar- 
 lett. " There, help I — James! Husband ! 
 Help ! "
 
 THE EOSEKY FOLTv. l6l 
 
 She would have flung herself from the hoat, 
 as she gazed wildly in quite a different direc- 
 tion ; and the doctor, dropping the oar acro.ss 
 the sides, sent the frail vessel back from him, 
 I'ocking heavily ; for he had plunged from it 
 headlong into the rushing water, hut only to 
 rise directly ; and they saw him swimming 
 rapidly towards where something creamy-look- 
 ing was being slowly carried by the current 
 back towards the piles. The doctor was u 
 powerful swimmer, but he was weaiy from his 
 exertions. He swam on, though, rapidly near- 
 ing the object of his search, caught it by the 
 flannel shirt, made a tremendous effort to 
 get beyond the back-set of the current, and 
 then turned a ghastly face upward to the air. 
 
 The gig was fifty yards away now, Prayh^ 
 being helpless to stay its course ; and though 
 
 VOL. I. M
 
 I 62 TTTE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 tlie doctor looked round, there was neitlier soul 
 nor boat in sight to give them help. 
 
 It was a hard fight ; but the swimmer won ; 
 for some thirty or forty strokes, given with all 
 his might, brought him into the shallow stream, 
 and then the rest was easy ; he had but to keep 
 his friend's face above the water ^^■hilc he tried 
 to overtake the boat. For a moment he 
 thought of landing; but no help was near 
 without carrying his inanimate burden perhaps 
 a mile, the lock being on the other side, its 
 keeper probably asleep, for he made no sign. 
 
 " Cannot that idiot stop the boat ? " groaned 
 Scales. " At last— at last ! " He uttered 
 these words with a cry of satisfaction, for 
 Prayle was making some pretence of forcing 
 the boat up-stream once more. 
 
 The doctor was skilful enough to direct his
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 1 63 
 
 course so that then' wei'o swept down to tlic 
 bows ; and grasping the gunwale with one 
 hand, he panted forth : " Down with that boat- 
 hook! Now, take him by the shouklers. 
 Lean back to the other side and draw him 
 in." 
 
 The shammer coukl lend but little help ; and 
 Prayle woidd have failed in his effort, and 
 probably overturned the boat, but for Aunt 
 Sopliia, whose dread of the water seemed to 
 have passed away as she came forward, and 
 between them they dragged Scarlett over the 
 side. 
 
 The doctor followed, with the water stream- 
 ing from him, and gave a glance to right and 
 left in search of a place to land. 
 
 "It would be no use," he said quickly. 
 " While we were getting him to some house,
 
 1 64 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 valuable minutes avouIcI be gone. — Now, Lady 
 Scarlett, for heaven's sake, be calm ! " 
 
 "Oil, lie is dead — lie is dead ! " moaned the 
 wi'ctched woman, on her knees. 
 
 " That's more than you know, or I know," 
 cried the doctor, who was working busih' all 
 the time. " lie calm, and hcl}) me. — Yon too, 
 Miss Ealeigh. — Prayle, get out of the way ! " 
 
 Arthur Prayle frowned and went aft. 
 
 Lady Scarlett made a supreme effort to be 
 calm; while Aunt Sophia, with her lips pressed 
 tightly together, knelt there, watchful and 
 ready, as the doctor toiled on. She it was who, 
 unasked, passed him the cushions which he laid 
 beneath the apparently drowned man, and, at a 
 word, was the first to strip away the coverings 
 fi'om his feet and apply friction, while Scales 
 was hard at work trying to produce artificial
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 1 65 
 
 respiratiou by movements of his patient's 
 arras. 
 
 " Don't be down-liearted," ho said ; " only 
 work. We want warmtli and friction to 
 induce the circulation to leturn. Throw 
 plenty of hope into your efforts, and, witli 
 God's help, we'll have him back to life." 
 
 Naomi Raleigli would have helped had there 
 been room, but there was none, and she could 
 only sit with starting eyes watching the eftorts 
 that were made, while Prayle tried hard with 
 the oar to hastcni the progress of the boat. 
 
 There was no sign of life in the figure tliat 
 lay there inert and motionless ; but no heed 
 was paid to that. Animated by the doctor's 
 example, aunt and niece laboured on in silence, 
 while the boat rocked from their efforts, and 
 the water that had streamed from the garments
 
 1 66 THE TJOSERY FOLK. 
 
 of the doctor and his patient washed to and 
 fio. 
 
 It was a stra7ig-c frci<^ht for a pleasure boat 
 as it floated swiftly down Avith the stream, 
 passing no one on that solitary portion of 
 the river ; though had they encountered scores 
 no further help could have been rendered than 
 that which friend was giving to friend. 
 
 For the doctor's face was ])urplc with his 
 exertions, and the great drops of perspiration 
 stood now side by side with the water that still 
 trickled from his crisp hair. 
 
 "Don't slacken," he cried cheerily. "I've 
 hi-ought fellows to, after being four or five 
 times as long under water, in the depth of 
 winter too. Wc shall have a flicker of life 
 before h)ng, I'll be sworn. Is he still as cold? 
 1 can't stop to feel."
 
 THE ROSERT FOLK. 1 67 
 
 Aunt Sophia laid her hand upon the bare 
 white chest of her nephew in the region of his 
 heart ; and then, as her eyes met the doctor's 
 her lips tightened just a little — that was all. 
 
 " Too soon to expect it yet. — Don't be de- 
 spondent, Lady Scarlett. Be a brave, true 
 little Avife. That's right." He nodded at her 
 so encouragingly, that, in the face of what he 
 was doing, Lady Scarlett felt that all little 
 distance between them was for ever at an end, 
 and that she had a sister's love for this gallant, 
 earnest man. 
 
 " Where are we ? " he said at last, toiling 
 more slowly now, from sheer exhaustion. 
 
 ** Yery nearly down to the cottage," replied 
 Prayle ; and the doctor muttered an inaudible 
 " Thank God ! " It was not loud enough for 
 wife or aunt to hear, or it would have carried
 
 1 68 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 with it a despair far greater than that they 
 felt. 
 
 " Can you run her into the landing-place ? " 
 
 "I'll try," said Praylc, but in so doubting a 
 tone, that the doctor uttered a low ejaculation, 
 full of impatient anger, and Kate Scarlett 
 looked up. 
 
 "Naomi! Quick! Here !" she cried. "Kneel 
 down, and take my place." 
 
 "Yes; warmth is life," panted the doctor, 
 who was hoarse now and faint. "Poor woman! 
 she's fagged," he thought ; " but still she is 
 his wife." There was a feeling of annoyance 
 in his breast as he thought this — a sensation of 
 anger against Kate Scarlett, who ought to have 
 died at her post, he felt, sooner than give it up 
 to another. But the next moment he gave a 
 sigh of satisfaction and relief, as he saw her
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 1 69 
 
 rise and step liglitly to where Prayle was 
 fumbling with the oar. 
 
 " Sit down I " she said in a quick, imperious 
 manner ; and, slipping the oar over the stern, 
 she cleverly sculled with it, as her husband had 
 taught her in happier times, so that she sent 
 the ffisr nearer and nearer to the shore. But in 
 spite of her efforts, they would have been swept 
 beyond, had not the old gardener, waiting their 
 return, waded in to get hold of the bows of 
 the gig and haul it to the side. As it grated 
 ao-ainst the landing-stage, the doctor summoned 
 all the strength that he had left, to bend down, 
 lift his friend over his shoulder, and then 
 stagger to the house.
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 A HARD NIGHT S WORK. 
 
 " Yes," said Scales excitedly, as lie bent over 
 his patient, whom he had placed upon the floor of 
 
 the study, after ordering fresh medical help 
 to be fetched at once — " yes — there is hope." 
 
 As ho spoke, Kate Scarlett uttered a low wail, 
 and Aunt Sophia caught her in her arms ; but 
 the stricken wife struggled to get free. " No, 
 no ; I shall not give way," she panted ; " I will 
 be brave, and help." For, as the doctor slowly 
 continued his efforts to restore the circulation, 
 there came at last a faint gasp ; and soon after, 
 the medical man from the village came in, cool
 
 THE EOSERT FOLK. I7I 
 
 and calm, to take in the situation at a 
 glance. 
 
 By this time, Scarlett was breathing with 
 some approach to the normal strength, and 
 Scales turned to the new-comer. " Will yon " 
 
 he began. He could say no more, from 
 
 utter exhaustion and excitement, but sank over 
 sidewise, fainting dead away, leaving the new 
 comer to complete his task. 
 
 It was not a long one now, for almost together 
 James Scarlett and his friend opened their eyes 
 and gazed about wildly. 
 
 The doctor was the first to recover himself, 
 and he drank eagerly of the spirit and water 
 held to his lips, and then rose and walked to 
 the open window. 
 
 "I'm better now," he said, returning to 
 where his fellow professional was leaning over
 
 172 THE ROSERT FOLK. 
 
 Scarlett, to whose wiindering- eyes the light ot" 
 reason hud not yet returned. " How is he 
 now ? " 
 
 " Coming round fast," said the other. 
 
 " He's dying ? " moaned Lady Scarlett, as 
 she saw her husband's eyes slowly close once 
 more. 
 
 " No, no," said Scales quietly. " It is ex- 
 haustion and sleep. He'll go oif soundly now 
 for many hours, and wake up nearly 
 well." 
 
 " Are you saying this to deceive me ? " 
 cried Lady Scarlett. 
 
 " Indeed, no ; ask our friend here." 
 
 Lady Scarlett looked at the other appealingly, 
 and he confirmed his confrere's words. But 
 still she was not convinced, so pale and motion- 
 less Sir James lay, till the doctor signed to
 
 THE KOSERY FOLK. I 73 
 
 lier to bend over and place her ear against her 
 husband's breast. 
 
 Then, as she heard the regular heavy pulsa- 
 tion of his heart, she uttered a low, sobbing, 
 hysterical cry, turned to Scales, caught his hand 
 in hers, kissed it again and again, and then 
 crouched lower upon her knees at her husband's 
 side, weeping and praying during his heavy 
 sleep. 
 
 The local doctor stayed for a couple of hours, 
 and then, after a short consultation with Scales, 
 shook hands. " You have done wonders," he 
 said on leaving. 
 
 " No," said Scales quietly ; "I only per- 
 severed." 
 
 He found Aunt Sophia kneeling by Lady 
 Scarlett's side, pressing her to rise and partake 
 of some tea which the old lady had ready for
 
 174 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 her, but only to obtain negative motions of the 
 sufferin<^ little woman's bead, till Scales bent 
 down ami whispered, 
 
 " Yes, you must take it, Lady Scarlett ; you 
 will want all your strength perhaps when your 
 husband wakes." 
 
 His voice roused her and she rose at once, 
 caught his hand in hers and kissed it again 
 before going to a side table and eating and 
 drinking whatever Aunt Sophia placed in her 
 hands. 
 
 " She'd make a splendid nurse," said the 
 doctor to himself, " so obedient and patient. I 
 didn't think she had it in her, but somehow I 
 don't quitC'like her and her ways." 
 
 Just then he turned and met Prayle's eyes 
 fixed upon him rather curiously, and it seemed 
 to him, in his own rather excited state, that his
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 175 
 
 friend's cousin was watching him in no very 
 amiable way. 
 
 The thought passed off on the moment and 
 he went down on one knee by Scarlett's extem- 
 porised couch. For by this time the patient 
 had been made comfortable where he lay with 
 blankets and cushions. The doctor too had 
 found time to change, and had prescribed 
 for himself what he told Aunt Sophia was 
 the tip- top of recuperators in such a case, 
 a strong cup of tea with a tablespoonful of 
 brandy. 
 
 " Poor old boy ! " he said tenderly, as he laid 
 his hand upon Scarlett's breast. "Yes, your 
 old heart's doing its duty once again, and, and 
 — confound it ! what a weak fool I am." 
 
 He remained very still for some minutes, so 
 that no one should see the big hot tears that
 
 176 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 dropped iu u most unprofessional fasliion upon 
 the blankets and glistened there. But it was a 
 failure as far as one person was concerned, and 
 he might just as well have taken out his hand- 
 kerchief, Aviped liis eyes, and had one of those 
 good sonorous bhnNs of the nose indulged in 
 by Englishmen when they feel affected ; for 
 under the most painful circiunstances, however 
 natural, it is of course exceedingly unmanly of 
 the first made human being to cry. That 
 luxury and relief of an overladen spirit is 
 reserved for the Eves of creation. All the 
 same though, there are few men who do not 
 weep in times of intense mental agony. They 
 almost invariably, however, and by long 
 practice and custom, the result probably of 
 assistance in accordance with Darwinian laws, 
 contrive to switch the lines or rather ducts
 
 THE ROSEEY FOLK. 1 77 
 
 of their tears, shunt these saline globules 
 of bitterness, and cry through the nose. 
 
 " There ! he's going on capitally now," he 
 said, after a time. — " Mr. Prajde, you need not 
 stay." 
 
 " Oh, I would rather wait," said Prayle. 
 " He may have a relapse." 
 
 " Oh, I shall be with him," said the doctor 
 confidently. " I will ask you to leave us now, 
 Mr. Prayle. I want to keep the room quiet 
 and cool." 
 
 Arthur Prayle was disposed to resist ; but a 
 doctor is an autocrat in a sick-chamber, whom 
 no one but a patient dare disobey ; and the re- 
 sult was that Prayle unwillingly left the room. 
 
 " Got rid of him," muttered the doctor. — 
 " Now for the old maid," who, by the way, has 
 behaved like a trump. 
 
 VOL. I. N
 
 178 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 " I don't think you need stay, Miss Raleigti," 
 he whispered. " You must be very tired now." 
 
 " Yes, Doctor Scales," she said quietly ; 
 "but I will not i>o to bed. You may want a 
 little help in the niglit." 
 
 " I shall not leave my husband's side," said 
 Lady Scarlett firmly. — "Oh, Doctor Scales, 
 pray, pray, tell me the truth ; keep nothing 
 back. Is there any danger ?" 
 
 " Ujion my word, as a man, Lady Scarlett, 
 there is none." 
 
 " You are not deceiving me ?" 
 
 " Indeed, no. Here is the case for yourself : 
 lie has been nearly drowned." 
 
 " Yes, yes," sobbed Lady Scarlett. 
 
 " Well, he has his breathing apparatus in 
 order again, and is fast asleep. There is no 
 disease."
 
 THE EOSERY FOLK. 1 79 
 
 "No ; I understand that," said Lady Scarlett 
 excitedly ; " but — a relapse ?" 
 
 "RelajDse?" said the doctor in a low voice 
 and laughing quietly. " Well the only form 
 of relapse he could have would be to tumble in 
 again." 
 
 " Don't ; pray, don't laugh at me, doctor," 
 said Lady Scarlett piteously. " You cannot tell 
 what I suffer." 
 
 " yes, I can," he said kindly. " If I 
 laughed then, it was only to give you coiih- 
 dence. He will wake up with a bad nervous 
 headache, and that's all. — Now, suppose you 
 go and lie down." 
 
 " No ; I shall stay with my husband," she 
 said firmly. " I cannot go." 
 
 " Well," he said, " j^ou shall stay. — Perhaps 
 you will stay with us as well, Miss Raleigh,'
 
 l8o THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 lie added. " We can shade the light ; and he 
 is so utterly exhausted, that even if we talk, I 
 don't think he wll wake." 
 
 "And he will not he worse ?" whispered Lady- 
 Scarlett. 
 
 " People icill not have any confidence in their 
 medical man. Come, now, I think you might 
 trust me, after what I have done." 
 
 " I do trust you. Doctor Scales, and believe 
 in you as my husband's best and dearest 
 friend," cried Lady Scarlett. " Heaven bless 
 you for what you have done ! " She. hurriedly 
 kissed his hand ; and then, after a glance at 
 hei- husband's pale face, she went and sat upon 
 the floor beside Avmt Sophia's chair, laid her 
 hands \ipon the elder lady's knees, and hid hen- 
 face, sitting there so motionless that she seemed 
 to be asleep.
 
 THE rosp:ry folk. i8i 
 
 " I wish she would not do that," muttered 
 the doctor ; and then : " I hate a woman who 
 behaves in that lapdog way. I never liked her, 
 and I don't think I ever shall." 
 
 It was a chano^e indeed, the long watch 
 through that night, and it was with a sigh uf 
 relief that the doctor saw the first grey light of 
 morning stealing through the window. Only 
 a few hours before and all had been so bright 
 and suimj'^, now all was depression and gloom. 
 When they started for their water trijj trouble 
 seemed a something that could not fall upon 
 so happy a homo. Aunt Sophia's fears had 
 only been a motive for mirth, and since then, 
 with a rapidity that was like the lightning's 
 flash, this terrible shock had come upon them. 
 
 " xVh, well ! " mused the doctor, as he stood 
 at the window holding- the blind a little on one
 
 1 82 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 side so as to gaze out at the grey sky, *' it 
 mio-lit have been worse, and it will make him 
 more careful for the future. ]My Avord 
 though, it was precious lucky that I was in 
 the boat." 
 
 He yawned slightly now, for there was no 
 denying that the doctor was terribly sleepy. 
 It was bad enough to lose a night's rest, but 
 the exhaustion he had suffered from his efforts 
 made it worse, and in spite of his anxiety and 
 eagerness to save his friend, there was no con- 
 cealins: the fact that unless he had risen and 
 A\;ilked about now and then he would have 
 fallen asleep. 
 
 Just as the sky was becoming flecked with 
 liny clouds of gold and orange, the first 
 briy-htness that had been seen since the even- 
 ing before, a few muttered words and a restless
 
 THE EOSERY FOLK. I 83 
 
 movement made doctor and wife hurry to the 
 extempore couch. 
 
 " Kate ! Where's Kate ? " exclaimed Scarlett 
 in a hoarse cracked voice. 
 
 " I am here, dear — here at your side," she 
 whispered, laying her cheek to his. 
 
 " Has the boat gone over ? Save Kate ! ' ' 
 
 " We are all safe, dear husband." 
 
 " Fool ! — idiot ! — to go so near. So danger- 
 ous ! " he cried excitedly. " Jack — Jack, old 
 man — my wife — my wife ! " 
 
 " It's all right, old fellow," said the doctor 
 cheerily. " There, there ; you only had a bit 
 of a ducking — that's all." 
 
 " Scales — Jack ! — Where am I ? Where's 
 Kate?" 
 
 "Here, dear love, by your side." 
 
 " My head ! " panted the poor fellow. "I'm
 
 I 84 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 frightened. What does it mean ? Why do 
 YOU all stare at me like that ? Here ! what's 
 the matter ? Have I had a dream ? " 
 
 "lie calm, old fellow," said the doctor. 
 " You're all right now." 
 
 " Catch hold of my hand, Kate," he cried, 
 drawing in his breath with a hiss. " There's 
 something wrong with — here — the back of my 
 neck, and my head throbs terribly. Here ! 
 Have I been overboard? Why don't you 
 speak ? " 
 
 " Scarlett, old fellow, be calm," said the 
 doctor firmly. "There; that's better." 
 
 " Yes ; I'll lie still. What a frightful head- 
 ache ! But tell me what it all means. — Ah ! I 
 i-emember now. The oar broke, and I went 
 under. I was beaten down. — Jack — Kate, 
 dear — do you hear me ? "
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 1 85 
 
 "Yes, yes, dear love; yes, yes," whispered 
 Lady Scarlett, placing her arm round his neck 
 and drawing his head upon her breast. " It 
 was a nasty accident ; but you are quite safe 
 now." 
 
 "Safe? Am I safe?" he whispered hoarsely. 
 "That's right, dear; hold me — tightly now." 
 He closed his eyes and shuddered, while Lady 
 Scarlett gazed imploringly in the doctor's 
 face. 
 
 ".The shock to his nerves," he said quietly. 
 " A bit upset ; but he'll be all right soon ; " 
 and as he spoke, the doctor laid his hand upon 
 his friend's pidse. 
 
 Scarlett uttered a piercing cry, starting and 
 gazing wildly at his old companion. " Oh I 
 It was you," he panted, and he closed his eyes 
 again, clinging tightly to his wife, as he
 
 1 86 THE EOSEEY FOLK. 
 
 whispered softly, " Don't leave me, dear — don't 
 leave me." 
 
 He seemed to calm down then and lay quite 
 still muttering about the boat — the oar break- 
 ing — and the black water. 
 
 " It kept me down," he said with another 
 shudder, and speaking as if to himself. "It 
 kept me dowTi till I felt that I was drowning. 
 Jack Scales," he said aloud, " how does a man 
 feel when he is drowned ? " 
 
 " Don't know, old fellow. Never was 
 drowned," said the doctor cheerily. — "Now, 
 look here; it's only just sunrise, so you'd 
 better go to sleep again, and then you'll wake 
 up as lively as a cricket." 
 
 " Sunrise ? — sunrise ? " said Scarlett ex- 
 citedly — "sunrise?" And as he spoke he 
 looked round from one to the other. " Why,
 
 THE EOSERY FOLK. 1 87 
 
 3'ou've been sitting up all night ! Of 
 course, I'm down here. Have T been very 
 bad ? " 
 
 The doctor hesitated for a few moments, 
 and then, deeming it best to tell him all, he 
 said quietly : 
 
 " Well, pretty bad, old fellow, but we brought 
 j^ou to again, and it's all right now." 
 
 " Yes, it's all right now. It's all right now," 
 muttered Scarlett, looking from one to the 
 other, and then clinging tightly to his Avife's 
 hand he closed his eyes once more, lay mutter- 
 ins; for a time, and then scorned to be fast 
 asleep." 
 
 Lady Scarlett kept following the doctor's 
 every movement with her wistful eyes till lie 
 said in a whisper: "Let him sleep, and Til 
 come back presently."
 
 1 88 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 " Don't you leave me, Kate," cried Scarlett, 
 shuddering." 
 
 " No, no, dear," she said tenderly ; and the 
 poor fellow uttered a low sigh, and remained 
 with his eyes closed, as the doctor softly left 
 the room, beckoning to Aunt Sophia to follow 
 him. 
 
 " I'm going to get a prescription made up," 
 he said. " I'll send off the groom on one of the 
 horses ; there will be a place open in the town 
 by the time he gets there." 
 
 " Stop a moment," said xlunt Sophia, clutch- 
 ing at his arm. " Tell me what this means. 
 Why is he like this?" 
 
 "Oh, it is only the reaction — the shock to 
 his nerves. Poor fellow ! " he muttered to 
 himself, " he has been face to face with death." 
 
 " Doctor Scales," said Aunt Sophia, with her
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 1 89 
 
 hand tightening upon liis arm — " shock to his 
 nerves ! lie is not going to be like that patient 
 of yours you spoke of the other day ?" 
 
 The suu was up, and streaming in upon them 
 where they stood in the plant-bedecked hall, 
 and it seemed as if its light had sent a flash 
 into the soul of John Scales, M.l)., as he gazed 
 sharply into his querist's eyes and then shud- 
 dered. For in these moments he seemed to see 
 the o-s^Tier of that delightful English home, him 
 who, but a few hours before, had been all that 
 was perfect in manly vigour andmental strength, 
 changed into a stricken, nerveless, helpless 
 man, clinging to his wife in the extremity of 
 liis child-like dread. 
 
 For the time being he coidd not speak, then 
 struggling against the spell that seemed to hold 
 him fast, he cried angrilv —
 
 I go THE ILOSEllY FOLK. 
 
 "No, no! Absurd, absurd! Only a few 
 hours' rest, and he'll be hmiself." 
 
 He hurried into the study, and hastily wrote 
 his prescription, taking it out directly to where 
 the groom was just unfastening the stable- 
 doors. 
 
 "Ride over to the town, sir? Yes, sir. — 
 But, beg pardon, sir — Sir James, sir? Ts he 
 all right?" 
 
 "Oh, getting over it nicely, my man. Be 
 quick. 
 
 " I'll be off in five minutes, sir," cried the 
 groom ; and within the specified time the 
 horse's hoofs were clattering over the stable- 
 yard as the man rode off. 
 
 "Like my patient of whom I spoke!" said 
 the doctor to himself. " Oh, it would be too 
 horrible ! Bah ! What an idiot I am, thinking
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. I9I 
 
 like that weak old lady there. What nonsense, 
 to be sure ! " 
 
 But as he re-entered the room softly, and 
 saw the shrinking, horror-stricken look with 
 which at the very sKght sound he made his 
 friend started up, he asked himself whether it 
 was possible that such a terrible change could 
 have taken place, and the more he tried to drive 
 the thought away the stronger it seemed to grow, 
 shadowing him like some black mental cloud 
 till he hardly dared to meet the young wife's 
 questioning eyes, as she besought him silently 
 to help her in this time of need.
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 AFTER THE MISHAP. 
 
 SrcH an accident could not occur without 
 the news spreading pretty quickly ; and in the 
 course of the morning several of the neigh- 
 bours drove over to make inquiries, the trouble 
 having been so far magnified that, as it 
 travelled in different directions, the number of 
 drowned had varied from one to half-a-dozen ; 
 the most sensational report having it that the 
 [)leasure-boat had been sunk as well, and that 
 men Ave re busy at AA'ork trying to recover it up 
 by the weir. 
 
 The groom had returned ; the patient had
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 1 93 
 
 partaken of his sedative draught and sunk into 
 a heavy sleep, watched by his wife ; while the 
 doctor had gone to lie down for a few hours' 
 rest, for, as he said, the excitement was at an 
 end, and till that was needful now was plenty 
 of sleep. Arthur Prayle had betaken himself 
 to the garden, where he read, moralised, and 
 watched John Monnick, who in his turn dug, 
 moralised, and watched the visitor from beneath 
 his overhanging brows. 
 
 Aunt Sophia and Naomi were in the draw- 
 ing-room reading and answering letters ; the 
 former doing the reading, the latter the 
 answering from dictation ; for there was a 
 cessation from the visiting that had gone on all 
 the morning. 
 
 " Now I do hope they will leave us at peace," 
 said Aunt Sophia. "Talk, talk, talk, and 
 
 VOL. I. o
 
 194 "I'HE ROSETIY FOLK. 
 
 always in the same strain. I do hate country- 
 visiting- calls ; and I will not luive my corre- 
 spondence get behind. — Now then, my dear, 
 where were we ? " 
 
 " East Boodle silver-lead mines," said Naomi. 
 
 " Ah, of course. Expect to pay a dividend 
 of twelve and a half per cent ? " 
 
 " Yes, aunt dear," said the girl, referring to 
 a prospectus. 
 
 " Humph ! That's very different from 
 consols. I think I shall have some of those 
 shares, Naomi." 
 
 " Do you, aunt ? " 
 
 "Do I, child? Why, of course. It's like 
 throwing money in the gutter, to be content 
 with three per cent, when you can have twelve 
 and a half. Write and tell Mr. Saxby to buy 
 me fifty shares."
 
 THE EOSERY FOLK. 1 95 
 
 " Yes, aunt dear. But do you tliiuk it would 
 be safe?" 
 
 " Safe, cliild ? Yes, of course. You read 
 what all those captains said — Captain l*en- 
 gummon and Captain Trehum and Captain 
 Polwhiddle." 
 
 "But Mr. Saxbj said, aunt, that some of 
 these Cornish mines were very risky specula- 
 tions ; don't you remember ? " 
 
 "No, my dear; I don't. I wonder that 1 
 remember anything, after yesterday's shock." 
 
 " But I remember, aunt dear," said the girl. 
 " He said that if these mines would pa}' siu-h 
 enormous dividends, was it likely that the 
 shares would go begging, and the OAvners be 
 obliged to advertise to get them taken up." 
 
 " Yes ; and Captain Polwhiddle in his 
 printed Report says that there is a lode of
 
 196 THE TIOSERY FOLK. 
 
 unexampled ricliness not yet tapped; though 
 
 i)uc would think the silver-lead was in a melted 
 
 slate, for tliem to have to tap it." 
 
 "Yes, aunt dear; but J\lr. Saxby said that 
 
 these people always have a hit of rich ore on 
 
 purpose to make a show." 
 
 "I don't believe people would be so dis- 
 
 lionest, my dear ; and as for Mr. Saxby — he's a 
 "oose. No more courage or speculation in him 
 tluin a frog. Not so much. A frog will travel 
 about and investigate things ; while Mr. Saxby 
 sits boxed up in his oflice all day long, and as 
 soon as a good opportunity occurs, he spoils it. 
 I might have made a large fortune by now, if 
 it had not been for him. Write and tell him to 
 buy me a hundred twenty-pound shares." 
 
 The letter was written, read over by Aunt 
 Sophia, in a very judicial nuinner, through her
 
 THE IIOSERY FOLK. 1 97 
 
 gold- rimmed eyeglass, approved, and Lad just 
 been addressed and stamped, when there was 
 the sound of wheels once more, and the servant 
 shortly after announced Lady Martlett. 
 
 At the same moment the visitor and Doctor 
 Scales entered the drawing-room from opposite 
 doors, the latter feeling bright and refreshed 
 by his nap ; and Aunt Sophia and Naomi 
 looked on wonderingly as Lady Martlett 
 stopped short and the doctor smiled. 
 
 Her Ladyship was the first to recover herself, 
 and walked towards Aunt Sophia with stately 
 carriage and extended hand. " I have only 
 just heard of the accident," she said in a sweet 
 rich voice. "My dear Miss Raleigh, I am 
 indeed deeply grieved." She bent forward and 
 kissed Aunt Sophia, and then embraced Naomi, 
 before drawing herself up in a stately statnes(]ue
 
 198 THE ROSERT FOLK. 
 
 manner, darting- a quick flash of her fine eyes 
 at the doctor and haughtily waiting to be 
 introduced. 
 
 " It's very kind of you, my dear Lady 
 ^lartlett," said Aunt Sophia — " very kind 
 indeed ; and I'm glad to say that, thanks to 
 I )octor Scales here, my poor nephew has nearly 
 recovered from the shock. — -But I forgot ; you 
 have not been introduced. Lady Martlett ; 
 Doctor Scales." 
 
 " Doctor Scales and I have had the pleasure 
 of meeting before," said Lady Martlett coldly. 
 
 " Yes," said the doctor ; " I had the pleasure 
 oi being of a little assistance to her Ladyship ;" 
 and as he spoke he took a sixpence out of his 
 pocket, turned it over, advanced a step with the 
 coin between his finger and thumb, as if about 
 to hand it to its former owner ; but instead of
 
 THE ROSERT FOLK. 1 99 
 
 doing so, he replaced it in his pocket and 
 smiled. 
 
 Lady Martlett apparently paid no heed to 
 this movement, but bowed and turned to Aunt 
 Sophia ; while the doctor said to himself : 
 " Now, that was very w^eak, and decidedly 
 impertinent. I deserved a snub." 
 
 " Doctor Scales and I met last week — the 
 day before — really, I hardly recollect," said 
 Lady Martlett. " It was while I was out for a 
 morning ride. He was polite enough to open 
 a gate for me." 
 
 " Oh, indeed ! " said Aunt Sophia quietly ; 
 and she wondered why the visitor should bo 
 so impressive about so trifling a matter. 
 
 "And now, tell me all about the accident," 
 said Lady Martlett ; "I am so fond of the 
 water, and it seems so shocking for such an
 
 200 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 innocent amusement to be attended with so 
 niucli risk." 
 
 "I was always afraid of the water," said 
 Aunt Sophia; "and not without reason," she. 
 added severely; "but against my own convic- 
 tions I went." 
 
 " But Sir James is in no danger ? " 
 
 " dear, no," said the doctoi- quicldy. 
 
 " I am glad of that," said the visitor, Avith- 
 out turning her head, and taking the an- 
 nouncement as if it had conic from Aunt 
 Sophia. 
 
 " Thanks to Doctor Scales's bravery and able 
 treatment," said Aunt Sophia. 
 
 "Pray, spare me," said the doctor, laughing. 
 " I am so accustomed to blame, that I cannot 
 bear praise." 
 
 "I am not praising you," said Aunt Sophia,
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 20I 
 
 " but telling the simple truth. — What do you 
 say, Naomi ? " 
 
 " I did not speak, aunt," replied the girl. 
 
 "Tut! child; who said you did?" cried 
 Aunt Sophia pettishly. "You know that the 
 doctor saved your cousin's life." 
 
 " O yes, indeed," cried Naomi, blushing, and 
 looking up brightly and gratefully ; and then 
 shrinking and seeming conscious, as her eyes 
 met those of their visitor gazing at her with an 
 aspect mingled of contempt and anger — a look 
 that made gentle, little, quiet Naomi retire as it 
 were within herself, closing ujj her petals like 
 some sensitive bud attacked by sun or rain. 
 
 The doctor saw it, and had his thoughts upon 
 the matter, as, vipon his threatening to beat a 
 retreat, Aunt Sophia said : " Well, never mind ; 
 I can think what I please."
 
 202 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 "Think, then, by all means," he said raer- 
 Tiiy. — " Flattery is hard to bear. Lady Mart- 
 lett." 
 
 " I am not accustomed to flattery," said the 
 visitor coldly, and she turned away her head. 
 
 " That is a fib," said the doctor to himself, as 
 he watched the handsome woman intently. 
 " You are used to flattery — thick, slab, coarse 
 flattery — to be told that you are extremely 
 beautiful, and to receive adulation of the most 
 abject kind. You are very rich, and people 
 make themselves your slaves, till you think and 
 look and move in that imperious way ; and yet, 
 some of these days, ma holle damo, you will be 
 prostrate, and weak, and humble, and ready 
 to implore Doctor somebody or another to 
 restore you to health. Let's see, though. T 
 called you belle dame. Rather suggestive, when
 
 THE EOSERY FOLK. 20$ 
 
 shortened and pronounced after the old English 
 fashion. — Well, Miss Raleigh, of what are you 
 thinking ? " he said aloud, as he turned and 
 found Naomi watching him ; Lady Martlett 
 having risen and walked with Aunt Sophia 
 into the conservatory. 
 
 " I— I " 
 
 "Ah, ah!" said the doctor, laughing. 
 " Come, confess ; no evasions. You must always 
 be frank with a medical man. Now then ? " 
 
 " You would be angry with me if I were to 
 tell you," said Naomi. 
 
 "Indeed, no. Come, I'll help you." 
 
 " Oh, thank you — do," cried the girl with a 
 sisrh of relief, which seemed to mean: "You 
 will never guess." 
 
 "You were thinking that I admired Lady 
 Martlett."
 
 204 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 "Yes I How did you know •' " cried the girl, 
 starting. 
 
 "Diagnosed it, of course!" said the doctor, 
 hiughing. " Ah, you don't know how easily 
 we medical men read sensitive young faces like 
 yours, and Oh, here they come back." 
 
 In effect. Lady Martlett and Aunt Sophia 
 returned to the drawing-room, the former lady 
 entirely ignoring the presence of the doctor till 
 she left, which she did soon afterwards, leaving 
 the kindest of messages for Lad)'' Scarlett, all full 
 of condolence, and quite accepting the apolo- 
 gies for her non-appearance. Then there was 
 the warmest of partings, while the doctor stood 
 back, wondering whether he was to be noticed 
 or passed over, the latter seeming to be likely ; 
 wlicn, just as she reached the door. Lady Mart- 
 lett turned and bowed in the most distant way.
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 205 
 
 Then Jolin Scales, M.D., stood alone in the 
 drawing-room, listening to the voices in the 
 hall as the door swung to. 
 
 " Humph ! " he said to himself. " What a 
 woman ! She's glorious ! I like her pride 
 and that cool haughty way of hers ! And 
 what a voice ! 
 
 "No; it won't do," he muttered, after a 
 short pause. " I'm not a marrying man — not 
 likely to be a marrj-ing man ; and if I were, 
 her Ladyship would say, with all reason upon 
 her side : ' The fellow must be mad I His in- 
 solence and assumption are not to be borne.' 
 
 " I wish I had not shown her the sixpence, 
 she will think me quite contemptible." 
 
 " Talking to yourself, doctor ? " said Lady 
 Scarlett, entering the room, looking very pale 
 and anxious.
 
 206 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 " Yes, Lady Scarlett ; it is one of my bad 
 habits. — How is my patient ? " 
 
 "Sleeping pretty easily," sbe said. "I came 
 to ask 3'ou to come and look at liim, thoiigh." 
 
 " What's the matter ? " cried the doctor 
 sharply ; and he was half-way to the door as 
 he spoke. 
 
 "JSTothing, I hope," exclaimed Lady Scarlett, 
 trembling ; " but he alarms me. I — I am 
 afraid that I am quite unnerved." 
 
 The doctor did not make any comment till 
 he had been and examined the patient for a 
 few minutes. Lady Scarlett hardly daring to 
 breathe the while ; then he turned to her with 
 a satisfied nod : " Only the sedative. You are 
 over-anxious, and must have some rest." 
 
 This she refused to take, and the doctor had 
 to give way.
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 MR. SAXBY COMES DOWN ON BUSINESS. 
 
 The next day and next, Sir James Scarlett 
 seemed to be better. He was pale and suffer- 
 ing from the shock, speaking gravely to all 
 about him, but evidently trying to make the 
 visitors feel at their ease. He pressed them to 
 stay ; but the doctor had to get back to town ; 
 so had Prayle, though the latter acknowledged 
 the fact with great reluctance ; and it was 
 arranged that they were to be driven over to 
 the station together. 
 
 That morning at breakfast, however, a visitor
 
 208 THE ROSEEY FOLK. 
 
 was annouuced iu the person of Mr. Frederick 
 Saxby. 
 
 " Saxby ? What does he want ? " said Scar- 
 lett. " AVTiy, he must have come down from 
 town this morning. Here, I'll fetch him in." 
 He rose and left the room, and the doctor 
 noted that his manner was a good deal 
 changed. 
 
 "Unpleasant business, perhaps," he thought ; 
 and then, as his eyes met Lady Scarlett's : 
 " Slie's thinking the same." 
 
 -Just then Scarlett returned, ushering in a 
 good-looking rather florid man of about thirty- 
 five, over-dressed, and giving the impression, 
 from his glossy coat to his dapper patent- 
 leather boots, that he was something in the 
 City. 
 
 " Saxby has come down on purpose to see
 
 THE EOSERY FOLK. 20g 
 
 you, aunt," said Scarlett. '' Trusted to our 
 giving him some breakfast, so let's go on, and 
 you people can afterwards discuss news." 
 
 Mr. Saxby was extremely polite to all before 
 he took his place, bowing deferentially to the 
 ladies, most reverentially to Naomi, and apolo- 
 getically to the gentlemen ; though, as soon as 
 the constraint caused by his coming in as he 
 did had passed, he proved that he really was 
 something in the City, displaying all the sharp 
 dogmatic way of business men, the laying- 
 doAvn-the-law stjde of speech, and general 
 lielicf that all the world's inhabitants are fools 
 — mere children in everything connected with 
 V)usiness — ahvays excepting the speaker, who 
 seemed to assume a kind of hidden knowledge 
 concerning all matters connected with sterling 
 coin. He chatted a good deal upon subjects 
 
 VOL. I. p
 
 2IO THE EOSERY FOLK. 
 
 that he assumed to be likely to interest his 
 audience — how Egyptians were down, Turkish 
 were up, and Hudson's Bays were slashing, an 
 expression likely to confuse an unversed per- 
 sonage, who might have taken Hudson's Bays 
 for some celebrated regiment of horse. He 
 several times over tried to meet Aunt Sophia's 
 (>yes ; but that lady rigidly kept them upon her 
 coffee-cup ; and not only looked very stern and 
 uncompromising, but gave vent to an occasional 
 sniff, that made Mr, Saxby start, as though he 
 looked upon it as a kind of challenge to the 
 fight to come. 
 
 Despite the disturbing influences of Aunt 
 Sophia's sniffs and the proximate presence of 
 Naomi, by whom ho was seated, and to whom, 
 in spite of his assumption, he found himself 
 utterly unable to say a dozen sensible words,
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 2 I I 
 
 Mr. Frederick Saxby, of the Stock Exchange, 
 managed to partake of a most excellent break- 
 fast — such a meal, in fact, as made Dr. Scales 
 glance inquiringly at him, and ask himself 
 questions respecting digestion and the state of 
 his general health. 
 
 It was now, as the breakfast party separated, 
 some to enter the conservatory, others to stroll 
 round the garden, that Aunt Sophia met Mr. 
 Saxby's eye, and nodding towards the drawing- 
 room, said shortly : " Go in there ! — Naomi, 
 you can come too." 
 
 Mr. Saxby heard the first part of Aunt 
 Sophia's speech as if it were an adverse sen- 
 tence, the latter part as if it were a reprieve ; 
 and after drawing back, to allow the ladies to 
 pass, he found that he was expected to go first, 
 and did so, feeling extremely uncomfortable,
 
 2 I 2 THE ROSEKY FOLK. 
 
 and as if Naomi must be criticising liis back — 
 ■d very unpleasant feeling, by the way, to a 
 sensitive man, especially if he be one wbo is ex- 
 ceedingly particular about his personal appear- 
 ance, and wonders whether his coat fits, and the 
 aforesaid back has been properly brushed. 
 
 Naomi noted Mr. Saxby's uneasiness, and 
 she also became aware of the fact that Arthur 
 Prayle strolled slowly off into the conservatory, 
 where he became deeply interested in the 
 flowers, taking off a dead leaf here and there, 
 and picking up fallen petals, accidentally 
 getting near the open window the while. 
 
 " Now, Mr. Saxby," said Aunt Sophia sharply, 
 " you have brought me down those shares? " 
 
 " Well, no, Miss Ealeigh," he said, businessr. 
 like now at once. " I did not buy them 
 because "
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 213 
 
 " You did not buy tliem ? " 
 
 " No, iiia'am. You see, shares of that 
 kind " 
 
 " Pay twelve and fifteen per cent., and 1 
 only get a pitiful tliree." 
 
 " Every year, ma'am, regularly. Shares like 
 those 3'ou want me to buy generally promise 
 lifteen, pay at tlie rate of ten on the first half- 
 year " 
 
 " Well, ten per cent., then," cried Aunt 
 Sophia. 
 
 "Don't paj" any dividend the second half- 
 year, and the shares remain upon the buj^er's 
 hands. No one will take them at any price." 
 
 " Oh, this is all stuff and nonsense, Mr, 
 S;!xby ! " cried Aunt Sophia angril3^ 
 
 "!Not a bit of it, ma'am," cried the stock- 
 b)-(iker firmly.
 
 2 14 THE EOSERY FOLK. 
 
 " Biit I say it is ! " cried Aunt Sophia, with 
 a stamp of her foot. *' I had set my mind upon 
 having those shares." 
 
 " And I had set my mind upon stopping you, 
 ma'am. Thai's why I got up at six o'clock 
 this morning and came down." 
 
 " Mr. Saxby ! " 
 
 " No use for you to he cross ma'am. 
 Fighting against my own interest in the 
 present ; hut A\hile I have your business to 
 transact, ma'am, I won't see your little fortune 
 frittered away." 
 
 " jVIr. Saxby ! " exclaimed Aunt Sophia 
 again. 
 
 " T can't help it, ma'am ; and of course you 
 are perfectly at liberty to take your business 
 elsewhere. I want to make all I can out of 
 you by commission and brokerage, etcetera ; but
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 215 
 
 I never allow a client of mine to go head- 
 long, and run timself, or herself, down a 
 Cornisli mine, ^\dthout trying to skid tlie 
 wheels." 
 
 " You forget that you are addressing ladies, 
 Mr. Saxby." 
 
 "Beg pardon; yes," said the stockbroker, 
 trying hard to recall what he had said. " Very 
 sorrj' ; but those are my principles, ma'am. — 
 I'm twenty pounds out of pocket. Miss 
 Ealeigh," he continued, " by not doing this 
 bit of business of your aunt's." 
 
 " And I think it is a verj^ great piece of pre- 
 sumption on your part, Mr. Saxby. You need 
 not address my niece, sir ; she does not under- 
 stand these matters at all. Am I to imderstand 
 then, that you refuse to buy these shares for 
 me?"
 
 2l6 THE ROSERY EOLK. 
 
 "Yes, ma'am, most distinctly. I wouldn't 
 buy 'em for a client on any considera- 
 tion." 
 
 "Very well, sir; tliat will do," said Aunt 
 Sophia shortly. " Good morning." 
 
 "But, my dear madam" 
 
 " I said tliat will do, Mr. Saxbj^," said Aunt 
 Sophia stiffly. " Good-morning." 
 
 Mr. Saxby's lips moved, and he seemed to be 
 trying to say something in his own defence, 
 and he also turned towards Naomi, as if seeking 
 for sympathy ; but she only cast down her eyes. 
 
 " Perhaps jVIr. Saxby would like to walk 
 round the garden before he goes away," con- 
 tinued Aunt Sophia, looking at a statuette 
 beneath a glass shade as she spoke. " lie will 
 hnd my nephew and the doctor there. — Naomi, 
 my dear, come with me."
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 217 
 
 " Really inaduui " beg-au tlie stock- 
 broker. 
 
 " Of course you will charge your expenses 
 for this visit to mc, Mr. Saxby," said Aunt 
 Sophia coldly ; and without another word she 
 swept out of the room. 
 
 " Well, if ever I " Mr. Saxby did not 
 
 finish his sentence as he stood in the hall, 
 but delivered a tremendous blow right into 
 his hat, checking it in time to prevent 
 injury to the glossj'- fabric ; and then, 
 sticking it sideways upon his head, and his 
 hands beneath his coat-tails, he strolled out 
 into the garden. 
 
 Ten minutes later, Aunt Sophia returned into 
 the drawing-room, and as she did so, a tall dark 
 figure rose from where it was bending over a 
 book.
 
 2l8 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 " Bless the man ! how you made me jump," 
 cried Aunt Sophia. 
 
 " I beg your pardon — I'm extremely sorry. 
 Miss Raleigh," said Prayle softly. " I was just 
 looking through that little work." 
 
 " Oh ! " said Aunt Sophia shortly. 
 
 " By the way, Miss Raleigh — I am sure you 
 will excuse me ? " 
 
 "Certainly, Mr. Prayle, certainly," said 
 Aunt Sophia, who evidently supposed that the 
 speaker was about to leave the room. 
 
 " Thank you," he said softly. " I only 
 wanted to observe that I am engaged a great 
 deal in the City, and — er — it often falls to my 
 lot — cr — to be aware of good opportunities for 
 making investments." 
 
 " Indeed," said Aunt Sophia. 
 
 " Yes ; not always, but at times," continued
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 219 
 
 Prayle. " I thought I woukl name it to you, 
 as you might perhaps feel disposed to take 
 shares, say, in some object of philanthropic 
 design. I find that these affairs generally pay 
 good dividends, while the shareholders are per- 
 fectly safe." 
 
 " Thank you, Mr. Pra3'le," said Aunt Sophia 
 shortly. "I don't know that I have any 
 money to invest." 
 
 " Exactly so," exclaimed Prayle. " Of course 
 I did not for a moment suppose that for the 
 present you would have ; but still I thought 
 I would name the matter to you. There is 
 some difficulty in obtaining shares of this 
 class. They are apportioned amongst a very 
 few." 
 
 " And do they pay a high percentage ? " 
 "Yery, very high. The shareholders have
 
 2 20 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 been known to divide as miicli as twenty per 
 cent, amongst them." 
 
 " Indeed, Mr. Prayle." 
 
 "Yes, madam, indeed," said the young man, 
 as solemnly as if it had been some religious 
 question. 
 
 "That settles it then," said Aunt Sophia 
 cheerfully. 
 
 " My dear madam ? " 
 
 " If the}^ pay twenty per cent., the thing is 
 not honest." 
 
 " My dear madam, I am speaking of no 
 special undertaking," said Prayle ; " only 
 generally." 
 
 "Special or general," said Aunt Sophia dog- 
 matically, " an}^ undertaking that pays more 
 than five per cent, is either exceptionally for- 
 tunate or exccptionall}'' dishonest. Take my
 
 THE EOSERY FOLK. 22 1 
 
 advice, Mr. Prayle, and if ever you have any 
 spare cash to invest, put it in consols. The 
 interest is low, but it is sure, and whenever you 
 want your money j'ou can get it in an hour 
 without waiting for settling days. There, as 
 you are so soon going, I will say good morn- 
 ing and good-bye." 
 
 She held out her hand, which was taken with 
 a great show of respect, and then they parted. 
 
 " The old girl is cunning," said Arthur 
 Prayle to himself; "but she will bite, and I 
 shall land her yet." 
 
 "Ugh! HoAv I do hate that smooth, dark, 
 unpleasant man I " said Aunt Sophia, hurrying 
 up to her bedroom. " He always puts me in 
 mind of a slimy snake." 
 
 Moved by tliis idea, Aunt Sophia carefully 
 washed her hands in two different waters, and
 
 222 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 even went so far as to smell her right hand 
 afterwards, in happy ignorance of the fact that 
 snakes are not slim}'-, but have skins that are 
 tolerably dry and clean. So she sniffed in an 
 angry kind of way at the hand she washed, 
 though its scent was only that of old brown 
 Windsor soap, wdiich had for the time being, 
 in her prejudiced mind, become an odour sym- 
 bolical of deceit and all that was base 
 and bad. 
 
 " Ah ! " she exclaimed, after another good 
 rub, and another sniff ; " that's better now." 
 
 An hour later, the doctor, Prayle, and Mr. 
 Saxby had taken their leave, the last fully 
 under the impression that he had lost a very 
 excellent client. 
 
 " Most pragmatical old lady," he said to the 
 doctor.
 
 THE EOSERY FOLK. 2 2^^ 
 
 " Well, she has all the crotchets of an old 
 maid," said Scales. " Ought to have married 
 thirty or forty years ago. I don't dislike her 
 though." 
 
 " Humph ! I didn't, yesterday, Doctor 
 Scales," said Saxby ; " to-day, I'm afraid I do. 
 How she could ever have had such a niece ! " 
 
 Prayle looked up quickly. 
 
 " Ah, it does seem curious," said the doctor 
 with a dry look of amusement on his counte- 
 nance. " Would it not be more correct to say, 
 one wonders that the young lady could ever 
 have had such an amit ? " 
 
 " Eh ? Yes ! Of course you are right," said 
 ^[r. Saxby, nodding. " Or, no I Oh, no I That 
 won't do, you know. Impossible. I was right. 
 Eh ? No ; I was not. Tut — tut ! how confusing 
 these relationships arc."
 
 2 24 '^^^ ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 Mr. Saxby discoursed upon stocks right 
 through the journey up ; and Mr. Prayle 
 either assumed to, or really did go to sleep, 
 only awakening to take an effusive farewell of 
 his companions at the terminus ; while Saxby, 
 to the doctor's discomposure, took his arm, 
 saying, " I'm going j'our way," and walked by 
 his side, talking of the weather, till, turning 
 suddenly, he said : " I say : fair play's a jewel, 
 doctor. Are we both — eh ? — Miss Naomi ? " 
 
 "What, I?— thinking of her? My dear sir, 
 no ! " 
 
 " Thank you, doctor. First time I'm ill, I'll 
 come to you. That's a load off my mind ! " 
 
 "lUit really, Mr. Saxby, you should have 
 asked Mr. Prayle that question." 
 
 " Eh ? ^Miat ? You don't think so, do you ? " 
 
 " I should be sorry to pass any judgment
 
 THE EOSERY FOLK. 2 25 
 
 upon the matter, Mr. Saxby," said the doctor 
 quietly; " and now we part. Good-day." 
 
 " Prayle, eh ? " said Saxby. " Well, I never 
 
 thought of liini, and Ah, she's about the 
 
 nicest, simplest, and sweetest girl I ever saw ! 
 But, Prayle 1 " 
 
 People wondered why the smartly dressed 
 City man stopped short and removed his glossy 
 hat to rub one ear. 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 A wife's appeal. 
 
 Two montlis of the life of John Scales passed 
 away, during which he had Ihixc opportunities 
 of gaining good additions to his practice, but 
 in each case he set himself so thoroughly in 
 opposition to the medical men with whom he 
 was to he associated, that thej" one and all 
 combined against him ; and the heterodox 
 professor of strange ideas of his own had the 
 satisfaction of learning that his services would 
 be dispensed with. 
 
 " It doesn't matter," he said to himself. 
 " I'm a deal happier as I am. Strange I
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 haven't heard from James Scarlett, by the way. 
 I'll give him a look in at his chambers. That 
 Rosery is a paradise of a place ! I wonder 
 how the Diana is that I met — Lady Martlett. 
 If I were an artist, I should go mad to paint 
 her. As I'm a doctor," he added reflectively, 
 " I should like her as a patient." 
 
 "I shall be ready to believe in being in- 
 fluenced, if this sort of thing goes on," said 
 the doctor, a couple of hours later, as he read 
 a letter from Lady Scarlett, giving him a long 
 and painful account of his friend's state of 
 health. 
 
 " Had four difierent doctors down," read 
 Scales. "Hum — ha, of course — would have 
 asked me to come too, but they refused to 
 meet me. Ha ! I'm getting a nice character, 
 somehow. Say they can do no more, Ilunipli !
 
 2 28 THE EOSERY FOLK. 
 
 AVonder at that. Growing moral, I suppose. 
 Might have made a twelvemonth's job of it. 
 Humph ! Cousin, Mr. Arthur Prayle, been so 
 kind. Given up everything to attend to dear 
 James's affairs. I shouldn't like him to have 
 anything to do with mine. Will I come down 
 at once ? James wishes it. Well, I suppose 
 I must, poor old chap. They've been dosing 
 him to death. Poor old boy ! the shock of 
 that drowning could hardly have kept up till 
 now." The upshot of it was that the doctor 
 ran down that afternoon. 
 
 Next morning, on entering the study, he 
 found Lady Scarlett and Prayle seated at the 
 table, the latter leaning towards his cousin's 
 wife, and apparently pointing to something, in 
 a small clasped book, with the very sharply 
 pointed pencil that he held in his hand.
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 Prayle started, and shifted his position 
 quickly. Lady Scarlett did not move, beyond 
 looking up at the doctor anxiously, as his stem 
 face was turned towards her. 
 
 " I beg your pardon," he said ; " I did not 
 know that you were engaged." 
 
 "Mr. Prayle was explaining some business 
 matters to me," said Lady Scarlett. " Don't 
 go away. You said you should like to talk to 
 me this morning." 
 
 " Yes," replied the doctor coldly ; " but the 
 business will keep." 
 
 " Oh no ; I beg you will not go," said Lady 
 Scarlett anxiously. 
 
 "Perhaps I shall be de trop," said Prayle 
 smoothly, and his voice and looks forbade the 
 idea that they were in the slightest degree 
 malicious.
 
 230 THE IIOSERY FOLK. 
 
 *' Well, as my remarks are for Lady Scarlett 
 alone, Mr. Prayle, perhaps you would kindly 
 give me half an hour." 
 
 " Certainly," cried Prayle, with a great 
 assumption of frankness. — " Lady Scarlett will 
 tell me, perhaps, when she would like to go on 
 with these accounts ? " 
 
 " Oh, at any time, Arthur," said Lady Scar- 
 lett anxiously. " Pray, do not think I am 
 slighting them ; but this seems of so much 
 more importance now." 
 
 " When and where you please," said Prayle 
 softly. " Don't study me. I have only my 
 cousin's interest at heart." He rose, smiling, 
 and left the room ; but the smile passed off 
 Prayle's countenance as the door closed ; and 
 he went out angry-looking and biting his lip, 
 to walk up and down the garden, turning from
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 time to time to the book he held in his 
 hand. 
 
 The doctor was very quiet and grave, as he 
 took the chair pointed to by Lady Scarlett ; 
 and as he gazed at her rather fixedly, his face 
 seemed to harden. 
 
 "I am very glad you have come," she said. 
 *' James seems to be more restful and confi- 
 dent now you are here. He always thought 
 80 much of you." 
 
 " We were such old companions : perhaps 
 that is it." 
 
 " Well, you have seen him again this morn- 
 ing. You said I was to give you time. Now, 
 tell me what you think. You find him 
 better ? " 
 
 " I must be frank with you, Lady Scarlett," 
 said the doctor. " No ; I do not."
 
 2^2 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 " And I was so hopeful ! " said the poor 
 woman piteously. 
 
 " It would be folly for me not to speak 
 plainly — I think cruelty. I find him worse." 
 
 Lady Scarlett let her head go down upon 
 her hands, covering her face, and the doctor 
 thought that she was weeping ; but at the end 
 of a minute she raised her head again, and 
 looked at her visitor, dry-eyed and pale. " Go 
 on," she said in a voice full of suppressed pain. 
 
 "I cannot help telling you plainly what I 
 think." 
 
 " No ; of course not. Pray, hide nothing 
 from me." 
 
 " Well, it seems to me," he continued, 
 " that in bringing him back as it were to life, 
 I left part of my work undone." 
 
 " (J no ! " cried Lady Scarlett.
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 233 
 
 " Yes : I brought back his body to life and 
 activity, but I seem to have left behind much 
 of his brain. That seems half dead. He is no 
 longer the man he was." 
 
 "No," sighed Lady Scarlett. "What you 
 say is true ; but surely," she cried, "you can 
 cure him now." 
 
 The doctor remained silent and thoughtful 
 for a few minutes. " I think when I was 
 down here — at the time of the accident — I 
 told you at the table about a patient I was 
 attending — a gentleman suffering from a 
 peculiar nervous ailment." 
 
 " yes, yes ! " cried Lady Scarlett. " I 
 remember. It seems to be burned into my 
 brain, and I've lain awake night after night, 
 thinking it was almost prophetic." 
 
 "I've thought so too," said the doctor drilv,
 
 234 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 " though. I never fancied that I was going to 
 join the prophets," 
 
 ** But you cured your patient ? " cried Lady 
 Scarlett anxiously. 
 
 " No ; I am sorry to say that my ejQForts. 
 have been vain. It is one of my failures ; and 
 I think it would be a pity for me to take up 
 poor Scarlett's case." 
 
 " But he wishes it — I wish it." 
 
 " You have quite ceased going to Sir Morton 
 Laurent ? " 
 
 " yes. He did my husband no good ; and 
 the excitement of going up to town — the train 
 — the carriage — and the cab — and then seeing 
 the doctor, always upset him dreadfully. I 
 am sure the visits did him a great deal of 
 harm." 
 
 " Perhaps so, in his nervous state. Maybe,
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 235 
 
 under tlio circumstances, you were wise to give 
 them up." 
 
 "I am sure I was," responded Lady Scarlett. 
 
 " And the local doctors ? " 
 
 " He will not see them ; he says they 
 aggravate him w'ith their stupid ques- 
 tions. And yet he must have medical ad- 
 vice." 
 
 " How would it be if you took him abroad — 
 say to some one or other of the baths ? There 
 you would get change of air, scene, the tonic 
 waters for him to drink, and medical atten- 
 dance on the spot." 
 
 " No, no ; no, no ; it is impossible ! You 
 shall judge for yourself," cried Lady Scarlett. 
 " He would never bear the change. You will 
 find that he is only satisfied when he is here at 
 home — safe, he calls it, within the garden
 
 236 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 fence. lie will not stir outside, and trembles 
 even here at the sKghtest sound." 
 
 "But surely we could hit \ipon some clever 
 medical man who would be able to manage his 
 case with skill, and in whom my poor friend 
 would feel confidence." 
 
 " Whom could I find ? How could I find 
 one ? " exclaimed Lady Scarlett. " There is 
 no one but you to w^hom I can appeal." 
 
 " Is this truth, or acting ? " thought Scales. 
 " Why does she want me here ? " 
 
 " I have thought it all out so carefully,'' 
 continued Lady Scarlett. "You see he is 
 alarmed at the very idea of a doctor coming 
 near him." 
 
 " And yet you bring me here." 
 
 " Yes ; you are his old schoolfellow, 
 and he will welcome you as a friend. The
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 237 
 
 fact of your being a doctor will not trouble 
 him." 
 
 " I see," said Scales. 
 
 "Then, while being constantly in his com- 
 pany, you can watch every change." 
 
 " Nice treacherous plan, eh, Lady Scarlett ! " 
 said the doctor, laughing. 
 
 " Don't call it that," she said pitifully. " It 
 is for his good." 
 
 " Yes, yes ; of course — of course. It's only 
 giving him his powder in jam after all. But, 
 tell me, if I agree to take his case in hand" — 
 
 " Which you will ? " interrupted Lady Scar- 
 lett. 
 
 "I don't know yet," he replied drily. 
 " But supposing I do : how often would you 
 want me to come down here ? " 
 
 " How often ? " echoed the lady, with her
 
 238 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 eyes dilating. " I meant for you to come and 
 live here until lie is well." 
 
 " Phee-ew ! " whistled the doctor, and he 
 sat back in his chair thinking and biting his 
 nuils. *' What does she mean ? " he thought. 
 ** Am I too hard upon her ? Is my dislike 
 prejudice, or am I justified in thinking her a 
 woman as deceitful as she is had ? If I am 
 right, I am wanted down here to help some 
 one or other of her plans. I won't stop. I'm 
 sorry for poor Scarlett, and I might do him 
 good, but " 
 
 "You have considered the matter, and you 
 will stay, doctor, will you not ? " said Lady 
 Scarlett sweetly. 
 
 " Xo, madam ; I do not think it would be 
 fair to any of the parties concerned." 
 
 " Doctor ! " she cried appealingly, " oh.
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 239 
 
 pray, don't say that. Forgive me if I speak 
 plainly. Is it a question of money ? If it is, 
 pray, speak. I'd give up half of what we 
 have for my husband to be restored." 
 
 " 'No, madam," said the doctor bluntly ; " it 
 is not a question of money. Several things 
 combine to make me decline this offer ; princi- 
 pally, I find a want of confidence in under- 
 taking so grave a responsibility." 
 
 " Doctor ! " cried Lady Scarlett, rising and 
 standing before him, with one hand resting 
 upon the table, "you are trying to deceive 
 me." 
 
 " Indeed, madam " 
 
 " You never liked me, doctor, from the hour 
 I was engaged ; you have never liked me 
 since." 
 
 " My dear Lady Scarlett ! "
 
 240 THE EOSERY FOLK. 
 
 " Listen to me, doctor. A woman is never 
 deceived upon such points as this; she as 
 readily notes the fact when a rnan dislikes as 
 when he admires her. It is one of the gifts of 
 her sex." 
 
 "I was not aware of it," said the doctor 
 coldly, " but I will take it that it is so." 
 " I have never injured you, doctor." 
 " Never, madam." 
 
 " I have, for my dear husband's sake, always 
 louffed to be your friend ; but — be frank with 
 me, doctor, as I am with you — you never gave 
 me a place in j^our esteem." 
 The doctor was silent. 
 
 " I don't know why," continued Lady Scar- 
 lett, with tears in her eyes, " for I have 
 always tried to win you to my side ; but you 
 have repelled me. You have been friendly
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 24 I 
 
 and spoken kindly ; but there was always a 
 
 something behind. Doctor, why is all this 
 
 No ; stop ! Don't speak to me — don't say a 
 word. What are my poor troubles, or your 
 likes and dislikes, in the face of this terrible 
 calamitj'- ? You dislike me, Doctor Scales. I 
 do not dislike you ; for I believe you to be an 
 honourable man. Let us sink all our differ- 
 ences. No, I beg — I pray of you to stop here — 
 to give up everything else to the study of ray 
 poor husband's case. My only hope is in you." 
 
 As she made this appeal with an intensity 
 of earnestness that was almost dramatic in its 
 tone and action, the doctor imitated her move- 
 ment and rose to his feet. 
 
 "Lady Scarlett," he said coldly, "you are 
 excited now, and you have said several things 
 that perhaps would have been as well left unsaid. 
 
 VOL. 1. R
 
 242 THE EOSERY FOLK. 
 
 I -will not reply to them ; for I agree witli you 
 that the question of Sir James Scarlett's health 
 and restoration is one that should sweep away 
 all petty differences. I trust that I have 
 always treated my poor friend's wife with the 
 greatest respect and deference, and that I 
 always shall." 
 
 " Yes, yes," replied Lady Scarlett sadly ; 
 " deference and respect ; " and as she gazed 
 at him, there was a pained and wistful look 
 in her suflPused eyes that seemed to make him 
 hesitate for the moment ; hut as she added, 
 rather hitterly — "that is all," the way to his 
 heart, that was beginning to open a little, 
 Teelosed, and he said sternly : 
 
 "No; I feel certain that it would he far 
 better that I shoidd not monopolise the treat- 
 ment of my friend's case, and that "
 
 THE ROSERY FOLF. 243 
 
 " Hush. ! '* exclaimed Lady Scarlett quickly, 
 for the door opened, and the object of their 
 conversation, looking thin, pale, and with a 
 scared and anxious expression on his counte- 
 nance, came quickly into the room. 
 
 " Ah, Jack, here you are, then ! " he ex- 
 claimed. " I've been looking for you every- 
 where. Here, come and sit and talk to me." 
 
 "All right," said the doctor, in his blunt 
 way. " What do you say to having out the 
 ponies and giving me a drive ? " 
 
 " Drive ? — a drive ? " repeated Scarlett un- 
 easily. "No, no. It is not fine enough." 
 
 " Lovely, my dear fellow, as soon as you get 
 outside." 
 
 " No ; not to-day, Jack. Don't ask me," 
 said Scarlett excitedly, as his wife sat down 
 and took up a piece of work. " The ponies
 
 2 44 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 are too fresli. They've done nothiug lately, 
 and one of them has developed a frightfully 
 vicious temper. I shall have to sell them." 
 
 " Let's go on the water, then ; a row would 
 do you good." 
 
 Lady Scarlett darted an imploring look at 
 the doctor ; but if intended to stay his speech 
 it came too late. 
 
 " Row ? No ! " said Scarlett with a shudder. 
 " T never go on the water now. My left wrist 
 is so weak, I am afraid I have somehow sprained 
 one of the tendons. Don't ask me to row." 
 
 Lady Scarlett darted a second imploring look 
 at the doctor, and he read it, as it seemed to him, 
 to say : " Pray, don't allude to the water ; " 
 but it was part of his endeavour to probe his 
 friend's mental wound to the quick, and he 
 went on : " Laziness, you sybaritish old
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 245 
 
 humbug ! Very well, then ; I'll give up the 
 rowing, and we'll have the punt, and go and 
 fish." 
 
 " Impossible ; the water is too thick, 
 and I don't think there are any baits 
 ready." 
 
 " How tiresome ! " said the doctor. " I had 
 made up my mind for a try at the barbel 
 before I went back." 
 
 " Before you went back ? " cried Scarlett ex- 
 citedly ; and he caught his friend by the arm 
 — "before you went back! What do you 
 mean i 
 
 " Mean, old fellow ? Why, before I went 
 back to London." 
 
 " Why, you're not thinking of going back — 
 of leaving me here alone — of leaving me — me 
 — er " He trailed off, leaving his sentence
 
 246 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 unfinislied, and stood looking appealingly at 
 his friend. 
 
 " Why, my dear boy, what nonsense you are 
 talking," replied Scales. " Leave you — alone? 
 Why, man, you've your aunt and j'our relatives. 
 There's your cousin out there now." 
 
 "Yes, yes — of course — I know. But don't 
 go. Jack. I'm — I'm ill. I — I want you to 
 set — to set me right. Don't — don't go and 
 leave me. Jack." 
 
 " Now, there's a wicked old impostor for 
 you. Lady Scarlett ! " cried the doctor, going 
 close up to his friend, catching him by both 
 shoulders, giving him a bit of a shake, and 
 then patting him on the chest and back. 
 " Not so stout as he was, but sound as a roach. 
 Lungs without a weak spot. Heart pumping 
 like a stcara-engiue — eyes clear — skin as fresh
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 247 
 
 as a daisy — 'and tongue as clean. Get out, 
 you sham Abram ! pretending a pain to get 
 me to stay ! " 
 
 " Yes, of course I'm quite well — quite well. 
 Jack ; but a trifle — just a trifle low. I 
 tliougbt you'd stop with me, and take — take 
 care of me a bit and put me right. I'm — I'm 
 so lonely down here now." 
 
 Lady Scarlett did not speak ; but there was 
 a quiver of the lip, and a look in her eyes as 
 she turned them upon the doctor, that disarmed 
 him. 
 
 *' She does care for him," he said to himself. 
 " She must care for him." 
 
 " I tell you what it is," he said aloud ; 
 " you've been overdoing it in those confounded 
 greenhouses of yours. Too much hot air, 
 moist carbonic acid gas, and that sort of thing.
 
 248 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 — Lady Scarlett, he has been thinking a deal 
 more of his melons than of his health." 
 
 " Yes ; he does devote a very, very great 
 deal of attention to them," assented Lady 
 Scarlett eagerly. 
 
 "To be sure, and it is not good for him. — 
 You must go up to town more and attend to 
 business." 
 
 " Yes, of course ; I mean to — soon," said 
 Scarlett, with his eyes wandering from one to 
 the other. 
 
 " Here, you must beg off with Lady Scarlett, 
 and come up with me." 
 
 " AVith you ? What ! to town ? " 
 
 "To be sure ; and we'll have a regular 
 round of dissipation : Monday pops ; the 
 opera ; and Saturday concerts at the Crystal 
 Palace. What do you say ? "
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 249 
 
 " No ! " said Scarlett, in a sharp, harsh, 
 peremptory way. " I am not going to town 
 again — at pi"esent." 
 
 " Nonsense, man ! — Tell him he may come. 
 Lady Scarlett." 
 
 " Oh yes, yes ; I should be glad for him to 
 go ! " cried Lady Scarlett eagerly ; and then 
 she shrank and coloured as she saw the doctor's 
 searching look. 
 
 " There, you hear." 
 
 " Yes, I hear ; but I cannot go. The glass- 
 houses could not be left now." 
 
 " What, not to our old friend Monnick ? " 
 
 " No ; certainly not ; no," cried Scarlett 
 hastily. " Come out now — in the garden, 
 Jack. I'll show you. — Are you very busy in 
 town — much practice ? " 
 
 " Practice ? " cried Scales, laughing, and
 
 250 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 thoroughly off his guard as to himself. " Not 
 a bit, my dear boy. I'm a regular outcast 
 from professional circles. No practice for 
 me. 
 
 " Then there is nothing to take you back," 
 cried Scarlett quickW, " and you must stay. — 
 Kate, do you hear ? I say he must stay ! " 
 
 There was an intense irritation in his manner 
 as he said these words, and his wife looked up 
 in a frightened way. 
 
 " Yes, yes, dear. Of course Doctor Scales 
 will stay." 
 
 " Then why don't you ask him ? " he con- 
 tinued in the same irritable manner. " A man 
 won't stop if the mistress of the house slights 
 him." 
 
 " But, my dear James," cried Lady Scarlett, 
 with the tears in her eyes, " I have not
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 25 I 
 
 slighted Doctor Scales. On the contrary, I 
 was begging that he would stay when you 
 came in." 
 
 " "Why ? — why ? " exclaimed Scarlett, with 
 increasing excitement. " You must have had 
 some reason. Do you hear ? Why did you 
 ask him to stay ? " 
 
 "Because I knew you wished it," said Lady 
 Scarlett meekly ; " and I thought it would do 
 you good to have him with you for a time, 
 dear." 
 
 " Do me good ! Such sickly nonsense ! 
 Just as if I were ill. You put me out of 
 patience, Kate ; you do indeed. How can you 
 be so childish ! — Come into the garden. Jack. 
 I'll be back directly I've got my cigar-case." 
 
 " Shall I fetch it, dear ?" asked Lady Scar- 
 lett eagerly.
 
 252 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 " No ; of course not. Any one would think 
 I was an invalid ; " and he left the room. 
 
 " Lady Scarlett," said the doctor, as soon as 
 they were alone, " I will stay." 
 
 " God bless you ! " she cried, with a burst of 
 sobbing ; and she hurried away.
 
 CHAPTEE XYI. 
 
 BROTHER WILLIAM AT HOME. 
 
 Brother William went very regularly to the 
 Scarletts, and took Fanny's magazines, hand- 
 ing them to her always with an air of disgust, 
 which resulted in their being snatched angrily 
 away. Then he would sit down, and in due 
 time partake of tea, dwelling over it, as it 
 were, in a very bovine manner — the resem- 
 blance being the stronger whenever there was 
 watercress or lettuce upon the table. In fact, 
 there was something remarkably ruminative in 
 Brother William's slow, deliberate, contemp- 
 lative way ; while, to carry on the simile, there
 
 2 54 THE ROSEEY FOLK. 
 
 was a something' almost in keeping in tlie 
 inanners of Martha Betts — a something that 
 while you looked at the well-nurtured, smooth, 
 pleasant, quiet woman, set the observer think- 
 ing of Lady Scarlett's gentle Jersey cows, that 
 came uj), dewy lipped and sweet breathed, to 
 blink and have their necks patted and ears 
 pulled by those they knew. 
 
 Injustice to Martha Betts, it must be said 
 that she never allowed her neck to be patted 
 nor her ears pulled by Brother William ; 
 and what was moi'c, that stout yeoman farmer 
 would never for a moment have thought of 
 presuming to behave so to the lady of his 
 choice ; for that she was the lady of his 
 choice he one day showed. It was a pleasant 
 afternoon, and Brother "William had been 
 greatly enjoying a delicious full-hearted lettuce
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 255 
 
 that John Monnick had brought in expressly 
 for the servants' tea. Perhaps it was the 
 lettuce which inspired the proposal that was 
 made during the temporary absence of Fanny 
 from the tea-table. 
 
 "Pretty girl, Fanny ; ain't she, Martha ? " 
 
 " Yery ; but I would not tell her so. She 
 knows it quite enough." 
 
 "She do," said Brother William ; "and it's 
 a pity ; but I'm used to it. She always was 
 like that, from quite a little mi ; and it frets 
 me a bit when I get thinking about her taking 
 up with any one. You don't know of any one, 
 do you ? " 
 
 " Not that she's taken with," said Martha, in 
 the quietest way. " There's the ironmonger's 
 young man, and Colonel Sturt's Scotch 
 gardener ; but Fanny won't notice them."
 
 256 THE EOSERY FOLK. 
 
 " No," said Brother William, biting a great 
 half- moon out of a slice of bread-and-butter, 
 and then looking at it regretfully, as much as 
 to say : " See what havoc I have made." — 
 " No, she wouldn't. I don't expect she'll have 
 any one at all." 
 
 *' Oh, there's no knowing," said Martha, re- 
 filling the visitor's cup. 
 
 " No ; there's no knowing," assented Brother 
 William ; and there was silence for a few 
 minutes. 
 
 " You've never been over to see my farm, 
 Martha Betts," said Brother William, then. 
 
 " No ; I have never been," assented Martha 
 in her quiet way. 
 
 " I should like you to come over alone, and 
 see it," said Brother William ; " but I know 
 you wouldn't."
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK". 257 
 
 "No; I would not," said Martha. — "Was 
 your last cup sweet enough ? " 
 
 "Just right," said Brother William thought- 
 fully. — " But you would come along with 
 Fanny, and have tea, and look round at the 
 beasts and the crops ? " 
 
 " Yes," said Martha, in the most matter-of- 
 fact manner, as if the proposal had not the least 
 interest for her. " But Fanny would not care 
 to come." 
 
 "I'll make her," said Brother William 
 quietly ; and he went on ruminating and 
 gazing sleepily at the presiding genius of the 
 tea-table. Then Fann}^ came back, took a 
 magazine from her pocket, and went on read- 
 ing and partaking of her tea at the same time, 
 till Brother William said suddenly: "Fanny, 
 I've asked Martha Betts and you to come over 
 
 VOL. I. s
 
 ;8 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 to tea o' Friday, at the farm. Be in good time. 
 I'll walk back with you both." 
 
 Fanny looked up shaiply, and was about to 
 decline the honour, when a thought that made 
 her foolish little heart beat, and a quiet but 
 tinn look from her bi'other's eye, altered her 
 intention, and she, to Martha's surprise, said 
 calmly : " Oh, very well. We will be over by 
 four — if we can get leave." 
 
 There was no difficulty about getting leave, 
 foi- Fanny took the first opportunity of asking 
 her mistress, and that first opportunity was one 
 day when Lady Scarlett was busy in the study 
 with Arthur Prayle. 
 
 Tiady Scarlett looked up as the girl paused 
 and hesitated, after taking in a letter ; and 
 Arthur Prayle also looked up and gazed calmly 
 at the changing colour in the handsome face.
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 259 
 
 " What is it, Fanny ? " said Lady Scarlett. 
 
 " I was going to ask, ma'am, if I might go 
 with Martha — on Friday — to my brother's 
 farm — to tea. My brother would bring us 
 back by ten ; or if you liked, ma'am, I could 
 come back alone much sooner, if you wanted 
 me." 
 
 " Oh, certainly, Fanny. You can go. I 
 like you to have a change sometimes." 
 
 " And shall I come back, ma'am — about 
 nine ? " said the girl eagerly. 
 
 "0 no; certainly not," replied Lady Scarlett. 
 " Come back with Martha, under your brother's 
 charge. I don't think you ought to come back 
 alone." 
 
 Lady Scarlett inadvertently turned her face 
 in the direction of Prayle, as she spoke, and 
 found his eyes fixed upon her gravely, as he
 
 26o THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 rested his elbows on the table and kept his 
 
 linger-tips together. 
 
 " Certainly not," he said sof tl}'. " You are 
 
 quite right, I think ; " and he bowed his head 
 
 in a quiet serious manner, as if giving the 
 
 matter his entire approval. 
 
 Fanny said, " Thank you, ma'am ; " and it 
 
 might have been supposed that this extension 
 
 of time would have afforded her gratification ; 
 
 but an analyst of the human countenance would 
 have said that there was something almost 
 spiteful in the look which she bestowed upon 
 Arthur Prayle, as she was about to leave the 
 room. 
 
 In due time the visit was paid, Fanny and 
 Martha bestowing no little attention on their 
 outward appearance ; and upon crossing the 
 bridge and taking the meadow-path, they were
 
 THE EOSEEY FOLK. 26 1 
 
 some little distance from the farm, when 
 Brother William encountered them, with a 
 very shiny face, as if polished for the occasion, 
 and a rose in the button-hole of his velveteen 
 coat. 
 
 " How are you, Martha Betts ? " he said, 
 with a very bountiful smile ; and he shook 
 hands almost too heartily to be pleasant, even 
 to one whose fingers were pretty well hardened 
 with work. — "How are you, Fanny, lassP" 
 he continued ; and he was about to bestow 
 upon the graceful well-dressed little body a 
 fraternal hug and a kiss, but she repelled him. 
 
 " No ; don't, William. There that will do. 
 I'm very glad to see you ; but I wish you 
 wouldn't be such a bear." 
 
 " Bear, eh ? " said Brother William, with a 
 disappointed look. " Why, I was only going to
 
 262 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 kiss you, lass. All riglit," he said, smiling 
 a<i:ain. " But she mustn't think of havino: a 
 sweetheart, Martha Betts, or he'll he wanting 
 to hug her too." 
 
 Brother William's face was a study as he let 
 off this, to his way of thinking, very facetious 
 remark. His bountiful smile expanded into an 
 extremely broad grin, and he looked to Martha 
 Betts for approval, but only to encounter so 
 stern and grave a look, that his smile grew stiff, 
 then hard, then faded away into an expression 
 of pain, which in turn gave way to one that 
 was stolid solemnity frozen hard. 
 
 " It's a nice day, ain't it ? " he said at last, 
 to break the unpleasant silence that had fallen 
 upon the little group, as they walked on between 
 hedges bright with wild-roses, and over which 
 the; briony twined its long strands and spread
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 263 
 
 its arrowy leaves. There was tlie scent of the 
 sweet meadow-plant as it raised its creamy 
 blossoms from every moist ditch ; and borne on 
 the breeze came the low sweet music of the weir. 
 
 But somehow these various scents, sights, 
 and sounds had grown common to the little 
 party, or else their thoughts were on other 
 matters, for Fanny the pretty seemed to be 
 looking eagerly across the meadow towards 
 the river and down every lane, as if expecting 
 to see some one on the way towards them. 
 From time to time she hung back, to pick and 
 make little bouquets of wild-flowers, but only 
 to throw them pettishly away, as she found that 
 her brother and fellow- servant kept coming to 
 a full stop till she rejoined them, when they 
 went on once more. 
 
 As for Brother William and Martha, they
 
 264 THE EOSERY FOLK. 
 
 diligently avoided looking at one another, 
 A\'hile their conversation was confined to a few 
 words, and those were mostly from Brother 
 William, who said on each of these occasions : 
 " Hadn't we best wait for Fanny ? " 
 
 To which Martha Betts responded : " Well, 
 I suppose we had." 
 
 Martha seemed in nowise delighted with the 
 appearance of the pretty cottage farm, with its 
 low thick thatch and dense ivy, which covered 
 tlie walls like a cloak. Neither was she excited 
 by the sight of the old-fashioned garden, gay 
 with homely flowers ; but she did accept a rose- 
 bud, and a sprig of that pleasant herbaceous 
 plant which Brother William called '' Old 
 ]Man," pinning them tightly at the top of her 
 dress with a very large pin, which her host 
 took out of the edire of his waistcoat.
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 265 
 
 " That is a pretty dress," lie said admiringly. 
 " One o' my favourite colours. There's nowt 
 
 like laylock and plum." 
 
 " I'm glad you like it," said Martha quietly ; 
 and she then followed Brother William into 
 the clean, homely keeping-room, where Joe's 
 wife — Joe being one of Brother William's 
 labourers — who did for him, as he expressed it, 
 had prepared the tea, which was spread upon 
 one of the whitest of cloths. Beside the 
 ordinary preparations for the infusion of the 
 Chinese leaf, there was an abundance of country 
 delicacies — ham of the host's own growing and 
 curing ; rich moist radishes ; the yellowest of 
 butter, so sweetly fresh as to be scented ; 
 the brownest of loaves, and the thickest of 
 cream. 
 
 Martha looked round at the bright homely
 
 266 THE ROSEEY FOLK. 
 
 furniture of the room, tlie bees' -waxed chairs, 
 the polished bureau of wahiut inlaid with brass, 
 the ancient eight-day clock, and the side- table 
 with its gray-and-red check cotton cover, 
 highly decorated tea-tray, set up picture-fashionj 
 and a few books. 
 
 " Ah," said Brother William, seeing the 
 direction of his visitor's eyes, " I haven't got 
 many books. That's the owd Bible. Got mine 
 and Fanny's birthdays in. That's mother's 
 owd hymn-book ; and here's a book here, if you 
 like. If Fanny would lay that up by heart, 
 'stead o' reading them penny gimcracks, she'd 
 be a-doing herself some good." As he spoke, 
 he took up a well- used old book in a brown 
 cover, which opened easily in his hand. " That's 
 Bowxroft's Fartiier's Compendium, that is. I'll 
 lend it to you, if you like. Stodge-full of
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 267 
 
 receipts for cattle-drinks and sheep-dressings ; 
 and there's a gardener's calendar in it too. I 
 wouldn't take fi' pound for that book, Martha. 
 There ain't many like it, even up at Sir James 
 Scarlett's, I'll be bound. That's litrichur, 
 that is." 
 
 Fanny did not enter with them. She pre- 
 ferred to have a good look at the garden, she 
 said ; and she lingered there for some time, her 
 "good look at the garden" taking in a great 
 many protracted looks up and down the lane, 
 each of which was followed by a disappointed 
 frown and a sigh. 
 
 " Won't }'ou take off your bonnet and jacket, 
 Martha Betts?" said Brother William. "You 
 can go up to Fanny's old bedroom, or j^ou 
 can hang 'em up behind the door on the 
 peg-
 
 268 THE EOSERY FOLK. 
 
 Martha thought she would hang them up on 
 the peg that was behind the door ; and Brother 
 "William looked stolidly on, but in an admiring 
 way, as he saw the quick deft manner in which 
 his visitor divested herself of these oiitdoor 
 articles of garb, made her hair smooth with a 
 touch, and then brought out an apron from her 
 pocket, unrolled it, and from within, neatly 
 folded so that it should not crease, one of those 
 natty little scraps of lace that are pinned upon 
 the top of the head and called by courtesy a 
 cap. 
 
 " Hah ! " said Brother William, as the cap 
 was adjusted and the apron fastened on ; " the 
 kettle is byling, but we may as well look round 
 before you make the tea." 
 
 " Thank you," said Martha calmly. 
 
 " This is the washus," said Brother "William,
 
 THE ROSEHY FOLK. 269 
 
 opening a door to display a particularly 
 clean whitewashed place, with red - brick 
 floor. There was a copper in one corner ; 
 at one side, a great old-fashioned open fire- 
 place with clumsy iron dogs, and within 
 this fireplace, in what should have been the 
 chimney corner, an iron door, nearly breast 
 high. 
 
 " That's the brick oven," said Brother 
 William, noticing the bent of his visitor's eyes. 
 " We burn fuzz in it mostly ; but any wood 
 does. Them hooks is when we kill a pig. 
 The water in that there pump over the sink's 
 soft : there's a big tank outside. That other 
 pump you see through the window's the drink- 
 ing-water. It never gets dry. Nice convenient 
 washus ; isn't it ? " 
 
 " Very," said Martha quietly ; " only there
 
 270 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 ouobt to be a board put down front of the siuk, 
 for a body to stand on." 
 
 "There is one outside. Mrs Badley must 
 ha' leff it there when she cleaned up," cried 
 Brother William eagerly; and Martha said 
 "Ob!" 
 
 Then he led the way back into the keeping- 
 room, and opened a second door, while Martha's 
 quick eyes were taking in everything, not an 
 article of furniture escaping her gaze ; not that 
 she was admiring or calculating their quality 
 or value, but as if she were in search of some 
 particular thing that so far she had found 
 absent ; this object being a spot of dirt. 
 
 "This here's the dairy," said Brother 
 William, entering, and holding open the 
 double doors of the cool, dark, shady place — 
 brick-floored, like the washhouse, but with a
 
 THE EOSERY FOLK. 27 I 
 
 broad erection of red brick all round like a 
 rough dresser, upon which stood rows of 
 white-lined pans, with a large white table in 
 the middle, and the churn, scales, and beaters, 
 and other utensils used in the preparation of 
 the butter, along with the milk-pails at one 
 end. 
 
 Martha's wandering eyes were as badly off 
 as Noah's dove in the early days after the 
 flood ; they could find no j)lace to rest, for 
 everything was scrupulously clean. The cream 
 looked thick and heavy and almost tawny in 
 its yellowness ; and upon two large dishes were 
 a couple of dozen rolls of delicious-looking 
 butter, reposing beneath a piece of white 
 muslin, ready for taking to market on the 
 following day. 
 
 "Myste and cool, isn't it?" said Brother
 
 272 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 William. "You see it's torst the north, and 
 I've trot elder-trees to shade the window as 
 well." 
 
 Martha nodded, and continued her search 
 for that spot of dirt which her reason told her 
 must be somewhere; but certainly it was not 
 hiding there. 
 
 "There's four cows in full milk now, 
 Martha. Cream's rich; isn't it? Wait a 
 moment." 
 
 " Where do you get your hot water to scald 
 the churn and things ? " said Martha sharply, 
 checking Brother William as he was mo\ang 
 towards the open door. 
 
 "There's a big byler in the kitchen," said 
 Brother William, eager to make the best of 
 things ; and then, as Martha said no more, but 
 went on with her dirt quest, he left the dairy,
 
 THE EOSERY FOLK. 273 
 
 and came back directly after with an old- 
 fashioned, mucli worn, silver tablespoon. 
 
 "I tliouglit you wouldn't mind tasting the 
 cream, Martha. This here is 'bout the 
 freshest," he said, going to one of the broad 
 shallow pans, inserting the spoon, which, Martha 
 had seen at a glance, was beautifully clean, and 
 gently drawing the cream sidewise, so that it 
 crinkled all over, so thick was it and rich, and 
 the spoon came out piled uj) as it were with 
 the luscious produce of the little farm. 
 
 Martha's face was perfectly solemn, as she 
 watched Brother William's acts, and she did 
 not move a muscle till he spoke. 
 
 "Open your mouth," he said seriously — 
 "Wide." 
 
 Martha obeyed, and did open her mouth — 
 wide, for it was rather a large mouth ; but the 
 
 VOL. I. T
 
 2 74 '^HE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 lips were well shaped and red, and tlie teetli 
 within were even and white. 
 
 Brother William carefully placed the spoon- 
 ful of cream within ; and Martha closed her 
 lips, solemnlj^ inbibing the luscious spoonful, 
 when, as a small portion was left visible at one 
 corner, Brother William carefully removed it 
 with an orange silk pocket-handkerchief ; and 
 Martha quietly said : " Thank you." 
 
 "Would you like to look at the cows now, 
 or have tea ? " said Brother William ; where- 
 upon Martha opined that it would be better to 
 have tea, as Fanny would be expecting them. 
 
 But Fanny was evidently not expecting 
 them, and did not come in until Martha had 
 made the tea and cut the bread-and-butter, 
 Brother William leaning his arms on the back 
 of the big, well bees'-waxed Windsor chair, and
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 275 
 
 gazing at her busy fingers, as she spread the 
 yellow butter and cut a plateful of slices. 
 
 "Seems just as if you were doing it at 
 home," said Brother William ; " only it looks 
 nicer here." 
 
 Then Fanny was summoned, and Martha 
 made way for her to preside at the tea-tray. 
 
 "No; you'd better pour out," the girl 
 said absently. "I'd rather sit here." 
 
 "Here" was where she could see through 
 the open window out into the road ; and there 
 she sat while the meal was discussed, little 
 attention being paid to her by her brother, 
 who divided his time between eating heartily 
 himself, and pressing slices of ham upon 
 Martha, who took her place in the most 
 matter-of-fact way, and supplied her host's 
 wants, which Avere frequent, as the teacuj^s
 
 2 76 THE EOSERY FOLK. 
 
 were very small. In fact, so occupied with 
 their meal were Brother William and Martha, 
 that they did not notice a slow, deliberate step 
 in the road, passing evidently down the lane ; 
 neither did they see that Fanny's face, as she 
 bent lower over her cup, became deeply suffused, 
 and that she did not look up till the step had 
 died away, when she uttered a low sigh, as if a 
 burden had been removed from her breast. 
 
 After that, though, they did notice that she 
 became brio^hter and more willinor to enter into 
 conversation, seeming at last to take quite an 
 interest in her brother's account of the loss of a 
 sheep through its getting upside down in a 
 ditch ; and she also expressed a feeling of satis- 
 faction upon hearing that hay would fetch a 
 good price in the autumn, so many people 
 having had theirs spoiled.
 
 THE EOSERY FOLK. 
 
 " Never mind me," said Fanny, as soon as, 
 between them, she and Martha had put awa}- 
 the tea-things ; "I shall go into the garden and 
 look round." 
 
 Brother William evidently did not mind her, 
 for, in his slow deliberate way, he took off 
 Martha to introduce her to the cows ; after 
 which she had to scrape acquaintance with the 
 pigs, visit the j)oultry, who were somewhat dis- 
 turbed, inasmuch as they were settling them- 
 selves in the positions that they were to occup}^ 
 for the night, and made no little outcry in 
 consequence. Then there were the sheep ; and 
 there was last year's haystack, and this year's, 
 both of which had to be smelt, Brother William 
 pulling out a good handful from each, to show 
 Martha that there was not a trace of damp in 
 either. This done, a happy thought seemed to
 
 278 TIIE EOSERY FOLK. 
 
 strike Brother William, wlio turned to Martha 
 and exclaimed : " I wonder whether you coidd 
 churn ? " 
 
 " Let's try," said Martha, with the air of one 
 who would have made the same answer if it 
 had been the question of making a steam-engine 
 01' a watch. 
 
 Brother "William gave one of his legs a 
 vigorous slap, and marched Martha back into the 
 house, through into the dairy. Then he fetched 
 a can of hot water to rinse out and warm the 
 churn. There was a pot of lumpy cream 
 already waiting, and this was carefully poured 
 in, the lid duly replaced, with the addition of a 
 cloth, to keep the cream from splashing out, 
 and then he stood and watched Martha, who 
 was busily pinning up her dress all round. 
 She then turned up her sleeves and took out a
 
 THE R0SERY FOLK. 279 
 
 clean pocket-handkerchief, which she folded by- 
 laying one corner across to the other, and then 
 tied it over her head and under her chin, 
 making her pleasant comely face look so pro- 
 vocative, that Brother "William drew a long 
 breath, took a step forward, and was going to 
 catch Martha in his arms ; but he recollected 
 himself in time, gave a slew round, and caught 
 hold of the chvirn handle instead, and this he 
 began to turn steadily round and round, as if 
 intending to play a tune. 
 
 " I thought / was to make it," said Martha 
 quietly. 
 
 " Oh, ah, yes, of course," he said, resigning 
 the handle ; and then he drew back, as if it 
 was not safe for him to stand there and watch, 
 while Martha steadily turned and turned, and 
 the cream within the snowy white sycamore
 
 28o THE ROSEEY FOLK. 
 
 box went " wisli-wash, wisli-wasli, wish-wasli,' 
 playing, after all, a very delicious tune in the 
 young farmer's ears, for it suggested yellow 
 butter, and yellow butter suggested sovereigns, 
 and sovereigns suggested home comforts and 
 savings, and above all, tbe turning of that 
 handle suggested the winning of just the very 
 wife to occupy that home. 
 
 Five minutes, and there was a glow of colour 
 in Martha's cheeks. Five minutes more, and 
 the colour was in her brow as well. 
 
 " You are tired now," said Brother William. 
 " Let me turn." 
 
 " No ; I mean to make it," she replied, 
 tightening her lips and turning steadily 
 away. 
 
 Another five minutes, and there was a very 
 red spot on Martha's chin, and her lips were
 
 THE ROSEEY FOLK. 251 
 
 apart; but she turned away, with Brother 
 William quite rapt iu admiration at the patient 
 perseverance displayed ; and in fact, if it had 
 been a question of another hour, Martha would 
 have kept on turning till she dropped. She 
 did not speak, neither did Brother William ; 
 but his admiration increased. Their eyes never 
 met, for Martha's were fixed steadfastly upon 
 one particidar red brick ; not that it was dirty, 
 for it was of a brighter red than the others ; 
 and she turned and turned, first with one hand, 
 then with the other, till there was a change in 
 the " wish-wash, wish-wash " in the churn, 
 and then Brother William exclaimed : " That's 
 done it ! Butter ! " 
 
 " Hah ! " ejaculated Martha, with a heavy 
 sigh, and her breath came all the faster for the 
 exertion.
 
 282 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 " Look at it ! " cried Brotlier William, taking 
 the lid off the churn. " Can you see ? " 
 
 Martha was rather short ; hence, perhaps, it 
 was that Brother William placed his arm round 
 her Avaist to raise her slightly ; and he was not 
 looking at the butter, and Martha was not 
 looking at it either, but up at him, as he bent 
 down a little lower, and somehow, without 
 having had the slightest intention of doing so 
 the moment before. Brother William gave 
 Martha a very long and solemn kiss. 
 
 She shrank away from him the next moment, 
 and looked up at him reproachfully. " You 
 shouldn't," she said. " It's so wrong." 
 
 " Is it ? " ho said dolefully. " I'm verj- 
 sorry. I couldn't help it, Martha. You made 
 the butter so beautifully. Don't be cross." 
 
 " I'm not cross," she said, untying the hand-
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 283 
 
 kerchief, and then proceeding to take out the 
 pins from her dress, holding them between her 
 lips, points outwards ; " only you mustn't do so 
 again." 
 
 Brother William said : " Well, I won't ; " 
 and then, as the pins were taken from Martha's 
 red lips — so great is the falsity of man — he 
 bent down and let his lips take the place of the 
 pins, and Martha said never a word. 
 
 " Joe's wife said yesterday that she didn't 
 mean to come and do for me much longer," 
 said Brother William suddenly. 
 
 " Why not ? " said Martha. 
 
 " Because she said I'd best ask you." 
 
 " And are you going to ask me, William ? " 
 
 " Yes. When will you come altogether ? " 
 he said softly. 
 
 Martha glanced round once more, as if in
 
 284 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 search of tliat spot of dirt which would keep 
 eluding her search. Then she raised her eyes 
 to Brother William's shirt front with a 
 triumphant flash, feeling sure that she would 
 see a button oif, or a worn hole ; but there was 
 neither ; and when she turned her eyes upon 
 his hands, the wristbands were not a bit 
 frayed. 
 
 " I don't know," she said dubiously. " Do 
 you want me to come ? " 
 
 He nodded, and they went out of the dairy 
 into the sitting I'oora. 
 
 " I'll tell Fanny," he said. " I hope she'll 
 be pleased." 
 
 But Fanny was not there ; and when they 
 went into the garden, she was not there either, 
 nor yet in the orchard. 
 
 " She must have gone down the lane," said
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 285 
 
 Brother William —" down towards the river. 
 Let's go and see." 
 
 They went out together, with Martha making 
 no scruple now about holding on by Brother 
 William's sturdy arm. But though they 
 walked nearl}- down to the river, Fanny was 
 not there. 
 
 " She'll be cross, and think we neglected her," 
 said Martha. " I am sorry we went away." 
 
 " I'm not," said Brother William, trying to 
 be facetious for the second time that evening. 
 "We've made half a dozen pounds o' butter, 
 and a match." 
 
 Martha shook her head. 
 
 " Let's go back and see if she went up to the 
 wood," cried Brother William. 
 
 " She's reading somewhere," said Martha as 
 they walked back, to find Fanny standing by
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 the gate, looking slightly flushed and very 
 pretty, read}'- to smile and banter them for 
 being away so long. 
 
 They soon ended the visit to the farm ; for, 
 after jsartaking of supper^ and eating one of 
 Brother William's own carefully grown lettuces, 
 they walked slowly back, in the soft moist 
 evening air, to the E,oscry, when, durmg the 
 leave-takings, Brother William said : " Fanny, 
 Martha's going to be my wife." 
 
 " Is she ? " said Fanny indifferently. " Oh ! " 
 And then to herself : " Poor things ! AVhat 
 a common, ordinary-looking woman Martha is." 
 And Brother William Ah, what a degrad- 
 ing life this is ! " 
 
 The degradation did not seem to affect the 
 others, for Brother William's cheeks quite 
 shone, and the high lights on Martha's two
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 287 
 
 glossy smooth, bands of hair seemed to be 
 brighter than ever. 
 
 " Good-night," said Brother William. 
 " Good-night, Martha." 
 " Good-night, William." 
 " You'll keep a sharp eye on Fanny till I 
 fetch you away ; won't you ? " 
 
 " I always do, William ; but I'm afraid her 
 eyes are sharper than mine." 
 
 " What do you mean ? " he said quietly. 
 " I'm afraid she's got a sweetheart." 
 "Who is it?" said Brother WilKam sternly. 
 " I don't know yet. Sometimes I think it's 
 a real one, and sometimes I think it's all sham 
 — only one out of her magazines that she talks 
 about ; but I'm not sure." 
 
 " Then look here, Martha : you've got to be 
 sure," said Brother William, who was as busi-
 
 THE ROSERY FOLK. 
 
 ness-like now as if he had been selling his hay 
 "You've got to make sure, and tell me, for 
 I'm not going to have anybody play the fool 
 with her. If any one does, there'll be some- 
 thing the matter somewhere ; " and shaking 
 his head very fiercely, Brother WilKam strode 
 away, gi^dng a thump with his stick at every 
 step along the road. 
 
 END OF VOL. 1. 
 
 I'KINTEU BY J. S. VIRTL'B AND CO., LIHITEU, OITV ItOAD, LONDO>'. 
 
 v"
 
 DATE DUE 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 GAYLORD 
 
 
 
 PRINTED IN USA.
 
 UC SOUTHERN RtGIUNAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 AA 000 759 475