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"The question could only be asked," said Charles, "by one who has not the advantage of knowing Master Wheatman." He laid a hand on my arm and drew me nearer. "My lord Duke," he went on, "I present to you the latest addition to my army, Mr. Oliver Wheatman of the Hanyards, the first-fruit, I am convinced, of a rich harvest from the gentry of his shire."
I remembered the reticencies of her statement at the Hanyards, and began to see dimly some of the connecting links in her story. My Lord Brocton's character was well enough known to be the subject of common talk at our market ordinaries.
I could see her in the house-place at the Hanyards, her calm eyes fixed in sorrow on my empty chair. A man shall leave father and mother, yes, for one particular cause, but the only son of a widowed mother for no cause whatsoever. Christ, I said to myself, would not have raised the young man of Nain merely to get married.
It was opposite the highest part of our bank the Hanyards was bounded by the river in this direction and the bridge was about one hundred yards down-stream to my left. In a few minutes a fine dace was swimming in the gap as merrily as the tackle would let him. For an hour or more I took short turns up and down the bank, just far enough from the edge to keep my cork in view.
Here her sweet voice trailed off into a dainty snuffle: "'My dear lord, since out of the mouths of babes and sucklings proceedeth wisdom, hearken, I pray you, unto me, Oliver Wheatman, to wit of the Hanyards, and amend ye your ways lest I hit you over your cockscomb again, and very much harder than before.
Suddenly she lifted her eyes up to mine and said, almost sharply, "Then what did happen to you between the Hanyards and Leek to change you?" It was clean, swift hitting, and made me gasp, but I managed to escape. "Madam," said I, "I set out with you from the Hanyards to serve you and for no other purpose whatsoever.
I bowed to Margaret, dug my heels into Sultan, and was off like a flash. Sultan was a horse for a man, long and regular in his stride, perfect in action, quick to obey, cat-like at need. I might have ridden him from the day on which the blacksmith drank his colt-ale, for we understood each other exactly, and I was as comfortable on his back as in my bed at the Hanyards.
I pushed my hand down for it, and then laughed louder than ever, as I drew forth my dumpy little Virgil. "Item," I concluded, "the works of the divine master, P. Vergilius Maro, hidden in my pocket by that mischievous minx and monkey, Kate Wheatman of the Hanyards." And I told the story. "Then if Kate had not hidden your beloved Virgil, you would not have gone fishing?" "I'm sure I shouldn't."
The girl is bringing up the tea, and I'm positively dying for a cup and a sit-down. Of course this" turning gaily round on me, standing there like a great gawk, volubly cursing my shirt-sleeves under my breath "is the incomparable Oliver! Charmed to meet you, sir!" I bowed, and Margaret said staidly, "Yes, my lady. This is Master Oliver Wheatman of the Hanyards.
Many tales I told of him that had been handed down from one generation of us to another, and how so greatly was he taken with his incomparable lord-general that he had named his first-born son Oliver, and ever since there had been an Oliver Wheatman of the Hanyards.
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