United States or Niger ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
They had passed on out of the water, and instead of them there sat Festus Derriman alone on his horse, and in plain clothes, the water reaching up to the animal's belly, and Festus' heels elevated over the saddle to keep them out of the stream, which threatened to wash rider and horse into the deep mill-head just below.
'But your nephew had better think twice before he lets his enmity take that colour. Receding from the window, he took the candle to a back part of the room and soon reappeared with the tin box. 'I won't trouble ye to dress, said Derriman considerately; 'let en down by anything you have at hand. The box was lowered by a cord, and the old man clasped it in his arms.
'What stock has uncle lost this year, Cripplestraw? 'Well, let's see, sir. I can call to mind that we've lost three chickens, a tom-pigeon, and a weakly sucking-pig, one of a fare of ten. I can't think of no more, Maister Derriman. 'H'm, not a large quantity of cattle. The old rascal! 'No, 'tis not a large quantity. Old what did you say, sir? 'O nothing.
'No, she said, 'I have changed my mind. I cannot accept you, Mr. Derriman. 'That's how you play with me! he exclaimed, stamping. "Yes," one moment; "No," the next. Come, you don't know what you refuse. That old hall is my uncle's own, and he has nobody else to leave it to. As soon as he's dead I shall throw up farming and start as a squire.
He disliked the sight of it. Hearing voices in the other room, he entered and found Anne and her mother there, talking to Cripplestraw, who had just come in with a message from Squire Derriman, requesting Miss Garland, as she valued the peace of mind of an old and troubled man, to go at once and see him. 'I cannot go, she said, not liking the risk that such a visit involved.
'Thought 'twas my son! faltered the miller, sinking back upon the toes of the neighbours who had closely followed him into the entry. 'Well, come in, Mr. Derriman, and make yerself at home. Why, you haven't been here for years! Whatever has made you come now, sir, of all times in the world? 'Is he in there with ye? whispered the farmer with misgiving. 'Who?
How far are we from Overcombe? 'About a mile. But tell me, somebody has been hurting you frightening you. I know who it was; it was Derriman, and that was his horse. Now do you tell me all. Anne reflected. 'Then if I tell you, she said, 'will you discuss with me what I had better do, and not for the present let my mother and your father know?
On the bridge Festus joined a shadowy female form, and they went along the road together, followed for some distance by Bob, lest they should meet with and harm the old man. But the precaution was unnecessary: nowhere on the road was there any sign of Farmer Derriman, or of the box that belonged to him. When Bob re-entered the house Anne and Mrs.
Believing that he had missed them by following the highway, Derriman turned back into a lane along which they might have chosen to journey for privacy's sake, notwithstanding the badness and uncertainty of its track.
While the trumpet-major looked, a young woman, niece of Anthony Cripplestraw, and one of Uncle Benjy's servants, was called in by one of the crew, and much against her will a fiddle was placed in her hands, from which they made her produce discordant screeches. The absence of Uncle Benjy had, in fact, been contrived by young Derriman that he might make use of the hall on his own account.
Word Of The Day