"Well, one day, a girl whom I will call Beryl Denver, came to stay with
me. Beryl was extremely pretty and horribly spoilt. She had gone on the
stage against her parents' wishes and had been an immediate success. At
the time I am speaking of she had just had an offer of marriage from a
duke, and it was to hear what I had to say about it--for I am, I think,
the only person from whom she ever asks advice--that she was paying
me this visit. After being with me three days, however, and changing
her mind with regard to the duke's offer at least a dozen times, she
suddenly announced that she must seek some more countrified place to
stay in. 'I want to go right away from everywhere,' she said, 'so that
I can forget--forget that there is such a place as London. Don't you
know of any pretty cottage or picturesque old farm, near here, that I
could stay at?'
"I suggested the Gyp Mill, and she started off at once to look at it.
"She came back full of enthusiasm. 'It's a delightful spot,' she said.
'I'm glad I went to see it--the flowers are lovely, and the old woman's
a dear--but I couldn't stay there. I couldn't stand that hunchback son
of hers. His white face and big dark eyes alarmed me horribly. I don't
think it's at all right he should be at large.'
"'Poor Davy,' I remarked. 'His appearance is certainly against him, but
I can assure you he is absolutely harmless. I know him well.'
"Beryl shook her head. 'You know my views, Aunty,' she said (she always
calls me Aunty although I am not related to her in any way). 'All
ugly people have a kink of badness in them somewhere. They must be
either cruel, or spiteful, or treacherous, or, in some way or other,
evilly disposed. I am quite certain that looks reflect the mind. No, I
couldn't endure that boy. I can't stay there.'
"In the morning, however, as I had fully anticipated, she changed her
mind. A fly was sent for, and she drove off to the Gyp Mill, taking all
her luggage with her. How Mrs. Dyer ever got it up her narrow staircase
I can't think, but she must have managed it somehow, for Beryl stayed
and, contrary to my expectations, for more than one night.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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