A British Islander | Page 5

"Here are four generations," says Mrs. Gunning--"grandmother, mother,
daughter, and grandchild." And on she went, tracing their lineage
through blooded stock for more than half an hour. She was enthusiastic,
too, and got between the doctor and the door, and emphasized all her
points with the parasol. Her back kept ripping until I ought to have told
her, but I knew the man was too mad to look at her, and she was so
happy herself, I said, "I will let her alone."
I had forgotten all about my half-breed driver, sitting on the
parade-ground in the waiting carriage. But he was enjoying himself too,
when we climbed to the fort again, with a soldier lounging on the front
wheel.
Well, as soon as I entered the little parlor that Mrs. Gunning called her
drawing-room--ornamented with the movable knickknacks that an army
woman carries around with her, you know--I saw that Captain Markley
had asserted himself. If he hadn't asserted himself on that occasion, I do
believe Mrs. Gunning would have been done with him forever. I never
saw a man so anxious to show that he was accepted. Of course he
couldn't announce the engagement until it had been sanctioned by the
girl's foster-parents. But he put Juliana through the engaged drill like a

veteran, and she was wonderfully meek.
I suppose one British woman knows another better than an American
can. But I felt sorry for Dr. McCurdy when he saw the state of things
and took his leave, and Mrs. Gunning rubbed his defeat on the raw.
"Ah, my dear friend," says she, shaking his hand, "we see that buds will
match with buds. I could never find it in my heart to wed a bud to a
full-blown rose."
I don't doubt that the full-blown rose, as he went down the fort hill,
cursed Mrs. Gunning's cow's tail and all her cows' pedigrees. But she
looked as serene as if he had pledged the young couple's health (instead
of going off and leaving his wine half tasted), and took me to see her
chickens' cupboard.
There were shelves with rows of cans and bottles, each can or bottle
labelled "Molly," or "Lucy," or "Speckie," and so on.
"I have discovered," Mrs. Gunning says to me, "that one hen's food
may be another hen's poison, so I mix and prepare for each fowl what
that fowl seems to need. For instance, Lucy can bear more meal than
Speckie, and the Shanghai cock had to be strongly encouraged. Though
it sometimes happens," says she, casting her eye back towards the
drawing-room, "that such a fellow gets pampered, and has to have his
diet reduced and his spirit cooled down again."

End of Project Gutenberg's A British Islander, by Mary Hartwell
Catherwood
*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A BRITISH
ISLANDER ***
***** This file should be named 23255.txt or 23255.zip ***** This
and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/2/5/23255/

Produced by David Widger
Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will be
renamed.
Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set
forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to copying
and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the
PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project
Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you charge
for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you do not
charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the rules is
very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as
creation of derivative works, reports, performances and research. They
may be modified and printed and given away--you may do practically
ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is subject to
the trademark license, especially commercial redistribution.

*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE PLEASE READ
THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work (or
any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
http://gutenberg.org/license).
Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic works
1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm

electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by