Aunt Deborah | Page 8

ever at home in the month of
October in these days of fashionable enterprise? They were gone to
visit the temples of Thebes, or the ruins of Carthage, the Fountains of
the Nile or the Falls of Niagara, St. Sophia, or the Kremlin, or some
such pretty little excursion, which ladies and gentlemen now talk of as
familiarly "as maids of puppy dogs." They were away. But enough of
the household remained at Chalcott, to compose, with a few visiters, a
sufficiently numerous and animated group.
The first person whom Mrs. Deborah espied, (and it is remarkable that
we always see first those whom we had rather not see at all,) was her
old enemy the miller,--a fisherman of so much experience and celebrity,
that his presence might have been reckoned upon as certain--busily

engaged, together with some half-dozen stout and active coadjutors, in
dragging the net ashore, amidst a chorus of exclamations and cautions
from the various assistants, and the breathless expectation of the
spectators on the bank, amongst whom were Mrs. Thornly and Cicely,
accompanied by a tall, athletic young man of dark complexion, with
peculiarly bright eyes and curling hair, whom his aunt immediately
recognised as Edward.
"How improved he is!" was the thought that flashed across her mind, as
with an air of respectful alacrity he stepped forward to meet her; but the
miller, in tugging at his nets, happened to look towards them, and
ashamed that he of all men should see her change of feeling, she turned
away abruptly, without acknowledging his salutation, and walked off to
the other side with her attendant, Mr. Adolphus.
"Drat the perverse old jade!" exclaimed John Stokes, involuntarily, as
he gave a mighty tug, which brought half the net ashore.
"She's heavy, my good sir!" observed the pompous butler, conceiving
that the honest miller's exclamation had reference to the sport; "only
see how full she is! We shall have a magnificent hawl!"
And the spectators, male and female, crowded round, and the fishermen
exerted themselves so efficiently, that in two minutes the net was on
dry land.
"Nothing but weeds and rubbish!" ejaculated the disappointed butler, a
peculiarly blank look taking the place of his usual self-importance.
"What can have become of the fish?"
"The net has been improperly drawn," observed Mr. Adolphus; "I
myself saw four or five large carp just before it was dragged ashore!"
"Better fling you in, master 'Dolphus, by way of bait!" ejaculated our
friend the miller; "I've seen jacks in this pond that would make no more
bones of swallowing a leg or an arm of such an atomy as you, if they
did not have a try at the whole body, than a shark would of bolting
down Punch in the show; as to carp, everybody that ever fished a pond

knows their tricks. Catch them in a net if you can. They swim round
and round, just to let you look at 'em, and then they drop plump into the
mud, and lie as still and as close as so many stones. But come, Mr.
Tomkins," continued honest John, addressing the butler, "we'll try
again. I'm minded that we shall have better luck this time. Here are
some brave large tench, which never move till the water is disturbed;
we shall have a good chance for them as well as for the jacks. Now,
steady there, you in the boat Throw her in, boys, and mind you don't
draw too fast!" So to work they all went again.
All was proceeding prosperously, and the net, evidently well filled with
fish, was dragging slowly to land, when John Stokes shouted suddenly
from the other side of the pond--"Dang it, if that unlucky chap, master
'Dolphus there, has not got hold of the top of the net! He'll pull it over.
See, that great jack has got out already. Take the net from him, Tom!
He'll let all the fish loose, and tumble in himself, and the water at that
part is deep enough to drown twenty such mannikins. Not that I think
drowning likely to be his fate--witness that petition business," muttered
John to himself in a sort of parenthesis. "Let go, I say, or you will be in.
Let go, can't ye?" added he, in his loudest tone.
And with the word, Mr. Adolphus, still struggling to retain his hold of
the net, lost his balance and fell in, and catching at the person next him,
who happened to be Mrs. Deborah, with the hope of saving himself,
dragged her in after him.
Both sank, and amidst the confusion that ensued, the shrieks and sobs
of the women, the oaths and exclamations of the men, the danger was
so imminent that both might have been drowned, had not Edward
Thornly, hastily flinging