The Return of the Native | Page 8

like others been
called to the heights by the rising flames, was not really the mere nose
and chin that it appeared to be, but an appreciable quantity of human
countenance. He stood complacently sunning himself in the heat. With
a speaker, or stake, he tossed the outlying scraps of fuel into the
conflagration, looking at the midst of the pile, occasionally lifting his
eyes to measure the height of the flame, or to follow the great sparks
which rose with it and sailed away into darkness. The beaming sight,
and the penetrating warmth, seemed to breed in him a cumulative
cheerfulness, which soon amounted to delight. With his stick in his
hand he began to jig a private minuet, a bunch of copper seals shining
and swinging like a pendulum from under his waistcoat: he also began
to sing, in the voice of a bee up a flue--
"The king´ call'd down´ his no-bles all´, By one´, by two´, by three´;
Earl Mar´-shal, I'll´ go shrive´-the queen´, And thou´ shalt wend´ with
me´.
"A boon´, a boon´, quoth Earl´ Mar-shal´, And fell´ on his bend´-ded
knee´, That what´-so-e'er´ the queen´ shall say´, No harm´ there-of´
may be´."
Want of breath prevented a continuance of the song; and the breakdown
attracted the attention of a firm-standing man of middle age, who kept
each corner of his crescent-shaped mouth rigorously drawn back into
his cheek, as if to do away with any suspicion of mirthfulness which
might erroneously have attached to him.

"A fair stave, Grandfer Cantle; but I am afeard 'tis too much for the
mouldy weasand of such a old man as you," he said to the wrinkled
reveller. "Dostn't wish th' wast three sixes again, Grandfer, as you was
when you first learnt to sing it?"
"Hey?" said Grandfer Cantle, stopping in his dance.
"Dostn't wish wast young again, I say? There's a hole in thy poor
bellows nowadays seemingly."
"But there's good art in me? If I couldn't make a little wind go a long
ways I should seem no younger than the most aged man, should I,
Timothy?"
"And how about the new-married folks down there at the Quiet Woman
Inn?" the other inquired, pointing towards a dim light in the direction of
the distant highway, but considerably apart from where the reddleman
was at that moment resting. "What's the rights of the matter about 'em?
You ought to know, being an understanding man."
"But a little rakish, hey? I own to it. Master Cantle is that, or he's
nothing. Yet 'tis a gay fault, neighbour Fairway, that age will cure."
"I heard that they were coming home to-night. By this time they must
have come. What besides?"
"The next thing is for us to go and wish 'em joy, I suppose?"
"Well, no."
"No? Now, I thought we must. I must, or 'twould be very unlike
me--the first in every spree that's going!
"Do thou´ put on´ a fri´-ar's coat´, And I'll´ put on´ a-no´-ther, And we´
will to´ Queen Ele´anor go´, Like Fri´ar and´ his bro´ther.
"I met Mis'ess Yeobright, the young bride's aunt, last night, and she
told me that her son Clym was coming home a' Christmas. Wonderful
clever, 'a believe--ah, I should like to have all that's under that young

man's hair. Well, then, I spoke to her in my well-known merry way,
and she said, 'O that what's shaped so venerable should talk like a
fool!'--that's what she said to me. I don't care for her, be jowned if I do,
and so I told her. 'Be jowned if I care for 'ee,' I said. I had her
there--hey?"
"I rather think she had you," said Fairway.
"No," said Grandfer Cantle, his countenance slightly flagging. "'Tisn't
so bad as that with me?"
"Seemingly 'tis, however, is it because of the wedding that Clym is
coming home a' Christmas--to make a new arrangement because his
mother is now left in the house alone?"
"Yes, yes--that's it. But, Timothy, hearken to me," said the Grandfer
earnestly. "Though known as such a joker, I be an understanding man if
you catch me serious, and I am serious now. I can tell 'ee lots about the
married couple. Yes, this morning at six o'clock they went up the
country to do the job, and neither vell nor mark have been seen of 'em
since, though I reckon that this afternoon has brought 'em home again
man and woman--wife, that is. Isn't it spoke like a man, Timothy, and
wasn't Mis'ess Yeobright wrong about me?"
"Yes, it will do. I didn't know the two had walked together since last
fall, when her aunt forbad the banns. How long has this new set-to been
mangling then? Do you know, Humphrey?"
"Yes, how long?" said Grandfer Cantle smartly, likewise