Mary Anerley: A Yorkshire Tale

s of the sun upon the sky-and then there was pushing, and probing, and tossing, and pulling, and thumping, and kneading of knuckles, till the rib of every feather was aching; a

f his pipe, and drawing a vapory dream of ease. He had fared many stony miles afoot that morning; and feet, legs, and body were now less young than they used to be once upon a time. Looking up sleepily, the captain had idea o

he weary man ordered, drowsily. "Mattie, o

," the soft voice continued, "because I told you su

not let the captain rest. Go round and look for eggs this very moment. You will want to be playin

e of the service must snatch a wink whenever we can, but with one

er second-best Sunday cap, in honor of a real officer; and she looked very nice indeed, especi

the time at them! It comes of the foreign war experience, going on so long that in the end we shall all

h-Flamborough, yes! It i

hrow a guinea on the crossroads in the night, and have it back from Dr. Upandown any time with

and the devil himself-I beg your pardon, mad

the sky with one another, but close as the grave to all the worl

rd can I get out of them. The name of the king-Go

And that is how I come to know more about them than almost any body else outside. My master can scarcely win a word of them even, kind as he is, and w

ave heard that name. Do they

f which was to put every body upon guard against him. For this was a man of no subtlety, but str

bank-tokens. Banking came up in her parts like dog-madness, as it might have done here, if our farmers were the fools to handle their cash with gloves on. And Joan became robbed by the fault of her trustees, the very best bakers in Scarborough, though Robin never married her for it, thank God! Still it was very sad, and scarcely bears describing of, and pulled them in the crook of this world's swing to a lower pitch than if they had robbed the folk

erved them right. Master Anerley kn

have framed my mind to tell you about them; and I will do it truly, if I am not interrupted. Two

wife. She asks me a question,

le and quiet ways of Joan-for he never had heard of her money, mind-put his oar into the sea and rowed from Flamborough all the way to Filey Brigg, with thirty-five fishermen after him; for the Flamborough people make a point of seeing one another through their troubles. And Robin was known for the handsomest man and the uttermost fisher of the landing, with three boats of his own, and good birth, and long sea-lines. And there at once they found my cousin Joan, with her trustees, come overland, four w

denly there came to them a shocking piece of news. All his wife's bit of money, and his own as well, which he had been putting by from year to year, was lost in a new-fangled Bank, supposed as faithful as the Bible. Joan was very nearly crazed abou

ard, but loved all the little things the Lord has made, as if with a foreknowledge of going early home to Him. Their father came back very tired one morning, and went up the hill to his breakfast, and the children got into the boat and pushed off, in imitation of their daddy. It came on to blow, as it does down there, without a single whiff of warning; and when Robin awoke for his middle-day meal, the bodies of his little ones were lying on the table. And from that ve

re to you, I can not tell what I should be like. And to lose them all at once, and as his own wife perhaps would say, because he was thinking of

well-"you would never have the heart to destroy that poor old couple by striking the last prop from under them. By the will of the Lord the

m a brute and inhuman? Madam, I have no less th

u will deserve them all, for promising so

We shot at him to-day; we shall shoot at him again; and before very long we must hit him. Ma'am, i

ut for generations. And for it you will have to take three

faction. It is just my luck, when my duty was

ead of a hundred pounds for killing Robin Lyth, you may get a thousand for preserving him

hat he was. But now I must really beg to know all about him, and what makes you think such things of him. Why should that excellent old couple hang upon

ing, as the common people say. I must be off now; I have fifty things to see to. And on Sunday my master has his best things on, and loves no better than to sit with his legs up, and a long clay pipe lying on him down below his waist (or, to speak more correctly, where it used to be, as he might, indeed, almost say the very same to me), and then not to speak a word

ok at any slice of victuals until one o'clo

he poor lieutenant, at the best of times, had as much as he could do to make both ends meet; and his

r good lady would

igilance; "we thank you most truly; but I must say 'no.' She would jump at the chance; but a husband must consider.

uld not so have spoken. But wi

blow them away, 'Tush,' I say, 'tush, Sir; at the rate we now are fighting, and exhausting all Briti

true it is also that our country should do mor

have taken very long to count, but he added to their score by not counting them, and by the self-same process diminished that of troubles. And thus, upon the whole, he deserved his Sunday dinner, and the tale of his hostess after it, not a word of which Mary was allowed to hear, for some subtle reason of her mother's. But the farmer heard it all, and kept interrupting so, when his noddings and the joggings of his pipe allowed, or, perhaps one should say, compelled him, that merely for the courtesy of saving common time it is better now to set it down without them. Moreover, there are many things well worthy of production which she did not produce, for reasons

encourage free-trading, but did their very utmost to protect themselves; and if they had produced the ve