God's Good Man - Marie Corelli (i want to read a book .txt) š
- Author: Marie Corelli
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āNever mind!āweāll have a tussle for the trees!ā said John to himself, as after his cold tubbing he swung his dumb-bells to and fro with the athletic lightness and grace of long practice; āIf the villagers are prepared to contest Leachās right to destroy the Five Sisters, Iāll back them up in it! I will! And Iāll speak my mind to Miss Vancourt too! She is no doubt as apathetic and indifferent to sentiment as all her āset,ā but if I can prick her through her pachydermatous society skin, Iāll do it!ā
Having got himself into a great heat and glow with this mental resolve and his physical exertions combined, he hastily donned his clothes, took his stoutest walking-stick, and sallied forth into the cool dim air of the as yet undeclared morning, the faithful Nebbie accompanying him. Scarcely, however, had he shut his garden gate behind him when Bainton confronted him.
āMarninā, Passon!ā
āOh, there you are!ā said WaldenāāWell, now whatās going to be done?ā
āNothinās goinā to be done;ā rejoined Bainton stolidly, with his usual inscrutable smile; āUnless māappen Spruce is āavinā every bone broke in his body āfore we gets there. Ye see, he aināt got no written orders like,āand mebbe Leach āull tell him heās a liar and that Miss Vancourtās instructions is all my eye!ā
āMiss Vancourtās instructions?ā echoed Walden; āHas she given any?ā
āOf coorse she has!ā replied Bainton, triumphantly; āWhich is that the trees is not to be touched on no account. And sheās told Spruce, through me,āwhich I bellowed it all into his ear,āto go and meet Leach this marninā up by the Five Sisters and give him āer message straight from the shoulder!ā
Waldenās face cleared and brightened visibly.
āIām gladāIām very glad!ā he said; āI hardly thought she could sanction such an outrageābut, tell me, how did you manage to give her my message?ā
āāTwornāt your message at all, Passon, donāt you think it!ā said Bainton; āYou aināt got so fur as that. Sheās not the sort oā lady to take a message from no one, whether passon, pope or empārur. Not she! It was old Josey Letherbarrow as done it.ā And he related the incidents of the past evening in a style peculiar to himself, laying considerable weight on his own remarkable intelligence and foresight in having secured the āoldest ānāabitantā of the village to act as representative and ambassador for the majority.
Walden listened with keen interest.
āYes,āLeach is likely to be quarrelsome,ā he said, at its conclusion; āThereās no doubt about that. We mustnāt leave Spruce to bear the brunt of his black rage all alone. Come along, Bainton!āI will enforce Miss Vancourtās orders myself if necessary.ā
This was just what Bainton wanted,āand master and man started off at a swinging pace for the scene of action, Bainton pouring forth as he went a glowing description of the wonderful and unexpected charm of the new mistress of the Manor.
āThere aināt been nothinā like her in our neighbourhood iver at all, so fur as I can remember,ā he declared. āAā coorse I must haā seed her when I worked for thā owld Squire at whiles, but she was a child then, anā I aināt a good hand at rememberinā like Josey be, besides I never takes much ācount of childern runninā round. But āere was we all a-thinkinā sheād be a āigh anā mighty fashion-plate, and she aināt nothinā of the sort, onny jest like a little sugar figure on, a weddinācake wot looks sweet at ye and smiles pleasant,-though sheās got a flash in them eyes of her which minds me of a pony wot aināt altogether broke in. Josey, he sez them eyes is a-goinā to finish up Leach,āwhich mebbe they will and mebbe they wonāt;āall the same theyās eyes you wonāt see twice in a lifetime! Lord love ye, Passon, aināt it strange āow the Almighty puts eyes in the āeads of women wot aināt a bit like wot he puts in the āeads of men! We gets the sight all right, but somehow we misses the beauty. Anā thereās plenty of women wot has eyes correct in stock and colour, as we sez of the flowers,ābut theyāre like pāison berries, shininā anā black anā false-like,āanā if ye touch āem yeāre a dead man. Howsomever when ye sees eyes like them that was smilinā at old Josey last night, why itās jest a wonderful thing; and it donāt make me sāprised no more at the Penny Poltry-books wotās got such a lot about blue eyes in āem. Blueās the colourāthereās no doubt about it;āthere aināt no eye to beat a blue one!ā
Walden heard all this disjointed talk with a certain impatience. Swinging along at a rapid stride, and glad in a sense that the old trees were to be saved, he was nevertheless conscious of annoyance,- -though by whom, or at what he was annoyed, he could not have told. Plunging into the dewy woods, with all the pungent odours of moss and violets about his feet, he walked swiftly on, Bainton having some difficulty to keep up with him. The wakening birds were beginning to pipe their earliest carols; gorgeously-winged insects, shaken by the passing of human footsteps from their slumbers in the cups of flowers, soared into the air like jewels suddenly loosened from the floating robes of Aurora,āand the gentle stir of rousing life sent a pulsing wave through the long grass. Every now and again Bainton glanced up at the āPassonāsā face and murmured under his breath,āāBlueās the colourāthere aināt nowt to beat it!ā possibly inspired thereto by the very decided blue sparkle in the eyes of the āman of Godā who was marching steadily along in the āOnward Christian Soldiersā style, with his shoulders well back, his head well poised, and his whole bearing expressive of both decision and command.
Out of the woods they passed into an open clearing, where the meadows, tenderly green and wet with dew, sloped upwards into small hillocks, sinking again into deep dingles, adorned with may-trees that were showing their white buds like little pellets of snow among the green, and where numerous clusters of blackthorn spread out lovely lavish tangles of blossom as fine as shreds of bleached wool or thread-lace upon its jet-like stems. Across these fields dotted with opening buttercups and daisies, Walden and his āhead man about the placeā made quick way, and climbing the highest portion of the rising ground just in front of them, arrived at a wide stretch of peaceful pastoral landscape comprising a fine view of the river in all its devious windings through fields and pastures, overhung at many corners with ancient willows, and clasping the village of St. Rest round about as with a girdle of silver and blue. Here on a slight eminence stood the venerable sentinels of the fair scene,ā the glorious old āFive Sistersā beeches which on this very morning had been doomed to bid farewell for ever to the kind sky. Noble creatures were they in their splendid girth and broadly-stretching branches, which were now all alive with the palest and prettiest young green,āand as Walden sprang up the thyme-scented turfy ascent which lifted them proudly above all their compeers, his heart beat with mingled indignation and gladness,āindignation that such grand creations of a bountiful Providence should ever have been so much as threatened with annihilation by a destructive, ill-conditioned human pigmy like Oliver Leach,āand gladness, that at the last moment their safety was assured through the intervention of old Josey Letherbarrow. For, of course Miss Vancourt herself would never have troubled about them. Walden made himself inwardly positive on that score. She could have no particular care or taste for trees, John thought. It was the pathetic pleading of Josey,āhis quaint appearance, his extreme ageāand his touching feebleness, which taken all together had softened the callous heart of the mistress of the Manor, and had persuaded her to stay the intended outrage.
āIf Josey had asked her to spare a gooseberry bush, she would probably have consented,ā said Walden to himself; āHe is so old and frail,āshe could hardly have refused his appeal without seeming to be almost inhuman.ā
Here his reflections were abruptly terminated by a clamour of angry voices, and hastening his steps up the knoll, he there confronted a group of rough rustic lads gathered in a defensive half-circle round Spruce who, white and breathless, was bleeding profusely from a deep cut across his forehead. Opposite him stood Oliver Leach, livid with rage, grasping a heavy dog-whip.
āYou damned, deaf liar!ā he shouted; āDo you think Iām going to take YOUR word? How dare you disobey my orders! Iāll have you kicked off the place, you and your loud-tongued wife and the whole kit of you! What dāye mean by bringing these louts up from the village to bull- bait me, eh? What dāye mean by it? Iāll have you all locked up in Riversford jail before the dayās much older! You whining cur!ā And he raised his whip threateningly. āIāve given you one, and Iāll give you anotherāā
āNoa, ye woanāt!ā said a huge, raw-boned lad, standing out from the rest. āYou woanāt strike āim no more, if ye wants a hull skin! Me anā my mates āull take care oā that! You go whoam, Mister Leach!ā you go whoam!āyouāve āeerd plain as the trees is to be left stannināāthemās the orders of the new Missis,āand you aināt no call to be swearinā yerself black in the face, ācos you canāt get yer own way for once. Youāre none so prutty lookinā that we woanāt know āow to make ye a bit pruttier if ye stays āere enny longer!ā
And he grinned suggestively, doubling a portentous fist, and beginning to roll up his shirt sleeves slowly with an ominous air of business.
Leach looked at the group of threatening faces, and pulled from his pocket a notebook and pencil.
āI know you all, and I shall take down your names,ā he said, with vindictive sharpness, though his lips trembledāāYou, Spruce, are under my authority, and you have deliberately disobeyed my ordersāā
āAnd you, Leach, are under Miss Vancourtās authority and you are deliberately refusing to obey your employerās orders!ā said Walden, suddenly emerging from the shadow east by one of the great trees, āAnd you have assaulted and wounded Spruce who brought you those orders. Shame on you, man! Riversford jail is more likely to receive YOU as a tenant than any of these lads!ā Here he turned to the young men who on seeing their minister had somewhat sheepishly retreated, lifting their caps and trampling backward on each otherās toes; āGo home, boys,ā he said peremptorily, yet kindly; āThereās nothing for you to do here. Go home to your breakfasts and your work. The trees wonāt be touchedāā
āOh, wonāt they!ā sneered Leach, now perfectly white with passion; āWhoās going to pay me for the breaking of my contract, I should like to know? The trees are soldāthey were sold as they stand a fortnight ago,āand down they come to-day, orders or no orders; Iāll have my own men up here at
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