'Ho, ho; what a shame of me. My wig, I won't do any such thing for the world,' said the repentant yeoman. 'Haw, haw; why, I thought your "go away" meant "come on," as it does with so many of the women I meet, especially in these clothes. Who was to know you were so confoundedly serious?'
As he did not go Anne stood still and said nothing.
'I see you have a deal more caution and a deal less good-nature than I ever thought you had,' he continued emphatically.
'No, sir; it is not any planned manner of mine at all,' she said earnestly. 'But you will see, I am sure, that I could not go down to the hall with you without putting myself in a wrong light.'
'Yes; that's it, that's it. I am only a fellow in the yeomanry cavalry--a plain soldier, I may say; and we know what women think of such. that they are a bad lot--men you mustn't speak to for fear of losing your character--chaps you avoid in the roads--chaps that come into a house like oxen, daub the stairs wi' their boots, stain the furniture wi' their drink, talk rubbish to the servants, abuse all that's holy and righteous, and are only saved from being carried off by Old Nick because they are wanted for Boney.'
'Indeed, I didn't know you were thought so bad of as that,' said she simply.
'What! don't my uncle complain to you of me. You are a favourite of that handsome, nice old gaffer's, I know.'
'Never.'
'Well, what do we think of our nice trumpet-major, hey?'
Anne closed her mouth up tight, built it up, in fact, to show that no answer was coming to that question.
'O now, come, seriously, Loveday is a good fellow, and so is his father.'
'I don't know.'
'What a close little rogue you are. There is no getting anything out of you. I believe you would say "I don't know," to every mortal question, so very discreet as you are. Upon my heart, there are some women who would say "I don't know," to "Will ye marry me?"'
The brightness upon Anne's cheek and in her eyes during this remark showed that there was a fair quantity of life and warmth beneath the discretion he complained of. Having spoken thus, he drew aside that she might pass, and bowed very low. Anne formally inclined herself and went on.
She had been at vexation point all the time that he was present, from a haunting sense that he would not have spoken to her so freely had she been a young woman with thriving male relatives to keep forward admirers in check. But she had been struck, now as at their previous meeting, with the power she possessed of working him up either to irritation or to complacency at will; and this consciousness of being able to play upon him as upon an instrument disposed her to a humorous considerateness, and made her tolerate even while she rebuffed him.
When Anne got to the hall the farmer, as usual, insisted upon her reading what he had been unable to get through, and held the paper tightly in his skinny hand till she had agreed. He sent her to a hard chair that she could not possibly injure to the extent of a pennyworth by sitting in it a twelvemonth, and watched her from the outer angle of his near eye while she bent over the paper. His look might have been suggested by the sight that he had witnessed from his window on the last occasion of her visit, for it partook of the nature of concern. The old man was afraid of his nephew, physically and morally, and he began to regard Anne as a fellow-sufferer under the same despot. After this sly and curious gaze at her he withdrew his eye again, so that when she casually lifted her own there was nothing visible but his keen bluish profile as before.
When the reading was about half-way through, the door behind them opened, and footsteps crossed the threshold. The farmer diminished perceptibly in his chair, and looked fearful, but pretended to be absorbed in the reading, and quite unconscious of an intruder. Anne felt the presence of the swashing Festus, and stopped her reading.
'Please go on, Miss Anne,' he said, 'I am not going to speak a word.. He withdrew to the mantelpiece and leaned against it at his ease.
'Go on, do ye, maidy Anne,' said Uncle Benjy, keeping down his tremblings by a great effort to half their natural extent.