Children of the Dear Cotswolds

she seemed specially created to

and kind blue eyes beaming behind steel-rimmed spectacles. On Sunda

too easily pleased. If neither the vicar, the doctor, nor the squire could guarantee your integrity and personal pleasantnes

mantelpiece-"I always clears all my own things off of it except the clock"-and they smoked peaceably till they went to bed. "Now, ladies"-it was clear that Mrs. Cushion was not partial to ladies-"they did stay indoors if there cum so much as a spot of rain." And they rang their bells at all sorts of awkward tim

une or the first part of July. Those months were sacred to the fishers; but as a fa

would not want to alter everything in my bedroom (one lady lodger had done this, and Mrs. Cushion never forgot or forgave the "'ubbub" that ensued), that I was in search of perfect

two rooms in "Snig's Cottage." The cottage stands about half a mile from Redmarley itself, hig

so far, has never been willing to sell, though, as Mrs. Cushion remarked scornfully, "Artises an' sich do often come after it, an' one, an American gentleman 'e was, wanted to buy 'un and build out at the back all over my bit o' garden and kip the

or did any ornament cling to a plush bracket on the walls. Jacob and Rachel were there, and the infant Samuel, and on either side of the clock was a red-and-white china spaniel and a Toby jug. Mrs. Cushion frankly owned that she h

to lift everything off the top to get inside. Now, my sideboard 'as doors and shelves all convenient one si

than hint her disapproval. And by calling every form of alcohol "a beverage" I'm certain she felt that in some inexplicable way she

y modest half-flagon of Burgundy, reposing in meek solitude in all the roomy glory of the "cellaret," grieved her far more than when that same cellaret was filled by the varied and m

in their public capacity-but did such an one become Mrs. Cushion's lodger she instantly felt called upon to stand between him and every discomfort, to condone his vagaries,

d. It crops up different in different sorts, but it's there all the same in all of 'em. And when it crops up-no matter if 'e be hever so majestical an' say nothing to nob

rring to my spinsterhood-"it does make a great difference.... First you know your hus

he said hastily. "He weren't an overly good 'usban' to me ... but the children..." Here Mrs. Cushion be

years, I could not discover that either had ever been home. They were not, I gathered, particularly good correspondents, nor did they seem to assist their mother in any way financially, or send presents home. All the same, they were a source of pride and joy

as certainly graphic and vivid in her descriptions as a rule. She would nev

r "gentlemen." I felt that I knew them intimately, both as to th

e and considerate you'd never know he was there except that he did lose his things so, and

'igh-class newspaper like that once a week. It do make me feel like a real lady just to read the rents of them 'ouses on the back page, a

her have a pictur

what Mr. Lancaster reads his-self, an' it's the kind thought I values far more tha

en send you paper

for them, and I dare say the papers in those parts

ancaster

e between them as is married and them as isn't. I'm sure you see it yourself, miss, though, to be sure, you're nothing like so set in your ways as some. If I was you, miss," said Mrs. Cushion, suddenly beaming upon me like a rosy sun in s

ld like a bedridden h

led out with the tray, leaving me to the rather rueful reflection that her last

ver to Winstone" were hospitable and kind, the villagers were friendly as only peasant folk in the remote Cotswolds still are; the vicar I always look upon as one of the most understanding an

r, bringing with him his guests, a visiting parson and his wife, to see the church

us, mentally mediocre type of parson, with much energy and no imagination; and luncheon seemed a very long meal. There appeared a curious dearth of topics of conversation, and for lack of something bett

's Caroline Cushion, she did live in our parish, and she certainly wasn't 'Mrs.' then, but a middle-aged single woman. She left soo

t can't be our Mrs. Cushion, for not only is she married, b

nheriting property at a distance. The matter should be looked into, for certainly with us she passed always as a single woman

id the vicar, looking at me for help. "But I

have been living a double life all these years. As I said before, the matter

e determination that Mrs. Robinson should not see Mrs. Cushion. We had reached the walnut stage, and I

in these lax days-who acts up to his convictions.... Now, about this Mrs. Cushion...." Mrs. Robinson by this time was seated beside me on the vicar's chesterfield. "I feel quite anxious. What can be her reason for masq

red, "and isn't Cushion quite a

why I remember it so distinctly-and to think

very one here has the greatest respect for her. She's probably a cousin of your one-who doubtless wa

g to turn her thoughts down other paths. It was Mrs. Cushion's sons that seemed to annoy her most, and I had the queer, wholly illogical feeling that Mrs. Robinson would, unless prevented, snatch them away from Mrs. Cushion, and that it was up to me

y. "Now, why," he demanded, "should Vernon have brought those people to me? I suppose he was

" asked Mrs. Cushion an hour or s

wife from your old home, Mrs. Cushion. I wonder

name me, miss?" Mrs. Cushion ask

n't, but the

d Mrs. Robinson se

s. Cushion, but it couldn't have been you

miss, as to ask exact

she knew, who left soon afte

ny as would have gone, too, if they'd had the chanst. If it's not

ouldn't get on with her at all.

ld customs. They wasn't like the Reverend 'ere-he's all for 'live and let live'-but they was all for making every one live as

"I've no business gossiping h

tion that she had neither contradicted

er for my comfort-everything was just as well done, and meals as punctual, and rooms spick and span as before; but I missed something. I missed the interest she

ost office. I met the vicar on his way to call on me, and he turned back and walked with me, and I speedily perceived that something worried him. The vicar is stout and gouty,

e came to the dahlias and exclaimed, "

Robi

t read he

that I might make searching inquiries as to where Caroline Cushion had lived before she left for Redmarley, where I understand she was left a cottage by her uncle, her mother's brother. Mrs. Bayley remembered her perfectly well, and, I must say, spoke highly of her. But she was as astonished as I was to hear she was posing as a married woman with a family, for she had lived in this parish from her youth up. I grieve much t

s sin

M. ROB

to the vicar and involuntarily I s

mpatiently, "what

ing of it. The whol

ever since: of how unhappy it made me, and how cordially I detested Mrs. Robinson and wished her far furthe

f the finger upon Mrs. Robinson's envelope, "Mrs. Cushion is as honest and straightforward a woman

s a painful subject, so I never mentioned him

ow a stone through her window." As he spoke I was reminded of Mrs. Cushion's remark, "There's something in men-folks as seems to stop growin' when they be about ten year old": for although the vicar

expect an answer by return because you've g

n't do it to my worst enemy, but when it's a decent, kindly body who has been my right hand in every good thing that's been done in this village ever since

y best. I walked back to Snig's as fast as I could, for I was

he looked cold and depressed, and she had no news for me either of the fashions in the "Ziren" shop windows o

ing so incessantly that I got up and went across to her room. It had turned very cold, and in spite of her protests, I lit a fire and did wha

ented to stay in bed, and I sent a note to

that morning and a woman to do for me. If a trained nurse should be necessary, he'd get one, but he thought if I could stay for a day

that she was no cook did not seem to matter, for so much more than Mrs. Cushion could eat was sent in by sympathetic neighbours that we lived on the fat of

en the door, front or back, before the visitor could rap-you rap with your knuckles in Redmarley, wh

. It seemed to me that every male being under thirty that I had ever seen in Redmarley, man or boy, or hobbledehoy, came to get news of M

ure went down, she remained heartrendingly weak, and at the end of six days the doctor asked me if I thought "

wistful, weighing expression that was full of dumb pain and pathos; but naturally all exciting topics were taboo, and I had never again, since that first afternoon, referred to Mrs. Robinson and her disturbing revelations. One evening about nine o'clock, when Mrs. Cushion had been in bed eight who

at her. She was very pale, and had put on the spe

no longer; that there Mrs. Robinson was right-I

er eyes never left my face for a single minute. I seized one of th

ost respectable 'e were-but I couldn't seem to fancy 'im: and t'other, 'e were a hundertaker, and I couldn't fancy 'is trade-so there it was. An' as time went on I did get thinkin' about the lit

, dear Mrs

a hold maid, or do I look like a comf

ried," I exclaimed quite t

I didn't trouble my 'ead about a 'usban'-I 'adn't never thought about 'im. So when folks asked me-like you yourself, miss-I just prims up my mouth and shakes my 'ead, and they sees as 'e weren't up to much, and they says no more. Sometimes I'

o reason why

end as that there Mrs. Robinson 'll never let it alone. What'll 'e say? An' if 'e says as I've got to tell every one I ain't no married woman

let me tell Mr. Molyneux

o far off and all-an' I will say this, miss, they've give me a sort of 'old over young growin' chaps I wouldn't 'ave 'ad without 'em. Many's the young chap as 'ave listened to a word from me about

d an occasional rabbit-how come by it were perhaps better not to inquire-and the inarticulate lingering, the waiting

went on, "if I may say so, you looks unmarri

do, Mrs.

han me. An' there I've been and gone and done it myself. But I ain't going to own it!" Mrs. Cushi

re, and I had to tell her she mustn't talk any more, but

more regular breathing showed me she had dr

us young men, and by ten o'clock he was in my sitting-room, whil

d been sitting at the table facing the light, suddenly got up and stood by the fireplace, his

her children, she won't

keep her children,"

about Mrs.

f all over his face, and then turned o

say and thought you'd like to see it. I'm glad I wrote before you told me this. There's a de

hat he ha

lways was, as you charitably supposed, an entirely respectable woman. The confusion arose with Miss Legh and me, and I apologise

. MOL

uite straight, Miss Legh, and the doctor said yesterd

reath. Mrs. Cushion was sitting up in bed, propped up with pillows. Sh

all that dwell in it," said

edroom door

ily downstairs again, I went an

Elia?" And more to himself than to me he murmured, "And yet they are not