Aunt Rachel / A Rustic Sentimental Comedy

raction decreased with distance, after the established rule. Beside the church-yard, and separated from it by a high brick wall, was a garden, fronted by half a dozen slim and lofty poplars. Within t

guisher apparatus which is still to be found suspended above the pulpit in some old-fashioned country churches. All the windows of the old house were of diamond panes, and those of the upper story projected from

in the midst of which was a well with rope and windlass above it, and thence continued to the door, which led to an antique, low-browed kitchen. A small dark passage led from the kitchen to a front room with a great

ozen or more green baize bags which hung upon the walls, each half defining, in the same vague way as all the others, the outline of the object it contained. Each green baize bag was closely tied at the neck, and suspended at

him, and he to be in harmony with them. His eyes were open, and alighted now and again with an air of recognition on some familiar object, but otherwise he might have seemed asleep. On the central table was a great p

tling nearness and distinctness, broke into a peal. He made a slight movement when the

accustomed than his own. He had lived there all his life, and scarcely noticed the noise which would almost have deafened a stranger. The sound he had heard

s lost for his nephew in the noise which shook the air.

uted, with unnecessary force. "You spoke

f-humorous gesture put

an's head off," he an

t the room together, and came out upon the back garden. The sound of the bells was

"They're making noise enough f

his uncle. "Young Eld? Is

is minute. Old Sennacherib disapproves of the match, and we've ha

th a look of a man long imprisoned, to whom outside

is arm, waves a braggart handkerchief at the oldster, and out walks papa, plants himself straight in front of the company, and brings all to a halt. 'I s

sly; "dear me! And what answ

He lugs out a leather bag, finds a shilling, bites it to make sure of its value, hands it to the young bull-dog, and at the 'Goat' they actually pull up together, and young Snac spends the money then and there. 'Bring out six pints,' cries Snac the younger. 'Fo'penny ale's a

hing matter. Drollery of a sort theer is in it, to be sure; but what Sennache

d of old Bite-and-Hold-Fast in him, and if the old man keeps

the bells cease

an. "I'll do no less than wish 'em happiness, though t

in that respect, I su

that most of 'em fancy, and thereby it grows the saddest to look at

dows of the sitting-room. Ezra took his old seat, an

peak to me, uncle," said

he topmost book of the great pile of music-"this has never seen the light for a good five-and-twenty year. Theer's some of it forgot, notwithstanding that it's all main good music. But theer's no room i' the w

said Reuben. "You are

rds. And if it shouldn't turn out to have been worth t

bish on your shelves, uncle." He began to turn over the leaves of the topmost book. "'études?" he read,

nged altogether, and fell into a dreamy and retrospective tone. He laid a hand

sked Reuben. "D

nd smiling as he spoke, "I never knew him. What should brin

ke as if you knew

book with his fingers and then closed it as he spoke)-"I left that open on my table when I was called away on business to London. I found it open when I came home again, and I cl

it, uncle," said Reuben. "What coul

ssage i' the Book o' Job, where 'tis said as 'twas the dead o' night when deep sleep falleth upon men, and a vision passed afore his face, and the hair of his flesh stood up. It was like the winter tempest i' the trees, and a little brook

im often?" a

man to hear too often. 'Twas a thing to know and to carry away. A glory to have looked at once

," said Reuben. "But there are just a

his music. 'Twas partly the man's own sufferin' and triumphin' as had such a power over me. It is with music as th' other passions. % Theer's love, for example. A lad picks out a wench, and spends his heart and natur' in her behalf as free as if there'd niver been a wench i'

er it, and if he values beauty his soul will cry after that. I never heard Paganini, but he was

his habitual manner, "the man was a player. Thee can

ver, and he might sit and talk, if he would, from then till evening, an

lf with a mere nod in answer, he took up the old-fashioned oblong folio, tucked it under his arm, and shook hands with the donor. "This

this clash and brilliance, as if they existed because of her, and were a part of her presence, appeared Ruth Fuller in the act of passing Ezra's house. Ruth had brightness, but it was rather of the twilight sort than this; and

e goddess as

st touching the eyebrows, which were of a slightly darker brown, faintly arched on the lower outline, and more prominently arched on the upper. Below the brows brown eyes, as honest as the day, and with a frank smile always ready to break through the dream which pretty often filled them. A short upper lip, delicately curved and curiously mobile, a full lower lip, a chin expressive of great firmness, but softened by a dimpled hollow in the very middle of its roundness, a nose neither Grecian nor tilted, but betwixt the two, and deli

y shook hands. They walked away together, for they were bound in the same directio

hion of men who spend much of their time alone, "theert beauty

fted it from its nail, and having untied the string that fastened it, he drew forth with great tenderness an unstrung violin, and, carrying it to the light, sat do

ind to let thee have a song now, but I doubt thee couldst do naught but screech at me. I've forgotten how to ask a lady of t

m he made shift to lay down the violin with perfect tenderness. When the fit was over he lay back in h