Man-woman relationships -- Fiction; Nature -- Fiction; Triangles (Interpersonal relations) -- Fiction; Wales -- Fiction; Women -- Fiction
At last the traction engine appeared, and Mrs. Marston was hoisted into
the trailer--a large truck with scarlet-painted sides, and about half
full of stone. This had been shovelled away from the front to make room
for Mrs. Marston and Hazel. A flap in the scarlet side was let down,
and with the help of one of the traction men Edward and Martha got her
safely settled. She really was a very splendid old lady. Her hat, a
kind of spoon-shape, was trimmed lavishly with black glass grapes, that
clashed together softly when she moved. There was also a veil with
white chenille spots. The hat was tied under her chin with black
ribbons, and her kind old face, very pink and plump and charming,
looked out pleasantly upon, the world. She wore her best mantle,
heavily trimmed with jet bugles, and her alpaca skirt was looped up
uncompromisingly with an old-fashioned skirt-hook made like a
butterfly. Hung on one arm was her umbrella, and she carried her
reticule in both hands for safety. So, with all her accoutrements on,
she sat, pleasantly aware that she was at once self-respecting and
adventurous.
They started in a whirl of good-byes, shrieks of delight from Hazel,
and advice of Mrs. Marston to the driver to put the brake on and keep
it on. Hazel was perched on the side of the truck near her. They
rounded a turn with great dignity, the trailer, with Mrs. Marston
as its figure-head--wearing an expression of pride, fear, and
resignation--swinging along majestically.
'Please, Mrs. Marston, can I buy a green silk gown wi' yellow roses
on?'
'Certainly not, my dear. It would be most unsuitable. So very far from
quiet.'
'What's quiet matter?'
'Quietness is the secret of good manners. The quieter you are, the more
of a lady you'll be thought. All truly good people are quiet in
manners, dress, and speech, just as all the best horses are advertised
as quiet to ride and drive, but few are really so.'
'Han you got to be ever and ever so quiet to be a lady?'
'Yes.'
'What for have you?'
'Because, dear, it is the proper thing. Now my poor husband was quiet,
so quiet that you never knew if he was there or not. And Edward is
quiet too,--as quiet as--'
'Oh! dunna, dunna!' wailed Hazel.
'Is a pin sticking into you dear?'
'No. Dunna say Ed'ard's quiet!'
Mrs. Marston looked amicably over her spectacles.
'My dear, why not?' she asked.
'I dunna like that sort.'
'Could you explain a little, dear?'
'I dunna like quiet men--nor quiet horses. My mam was quiet when she
was dead. Everybody's quiet when they're dead.'
'Very, very quiet,' crooned Mrs. Marston. 'Yes, we all fall asleep in
our turn.'
'I like,' went on Hazel in her rather crude voice, harsh with youth
like a young blackbird's--'I like things as go quick and men as talk
loud and stare hard and drive like the devil!'
She broke off, flushing at Mrs. Marston's expression, and at the sudden
knowledge that she had been describing Reddin.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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