England -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Fiction; Short stories, English
"It will be doing her a good turn, you see," he ran on; "and when
we leave I dare say she'll find other people ready to go in. Let's
see"--picking up the letter to refer to the address--"No. 6, Seaboard
Terrace, Montpellier-by-Sea. Whereabouts is Montpellier-by-Sea?"
"Never heard of it in my life," cried Tod. "Don't believe there is such
a place."
"Be quiet, Joe. I fancy it lies somewhere towards Saltwater."
Tod flung back his head. "Saltwater! A nice common place that is!"
"Hold your tongue, sir. Johnny, fetch me the railway guide."
Upon looking at the guide, it was found there; "Montpellier-by-Sea;" the
last station before getting to Saltwater. As to Saltwater, it might be
common, as Tod said; for it was crowded with all sorts of people, but it
was lively and healthy.
Not on the next day, Friday, for it was impossible to get ready in such
a heap of a hurry, but on the following Tuesday we started. Tod had left
on the Saturday for Gloucestershire. His own mother's relatives lived
there, and they were always inviting him.
"Montpellier-by-Sea?" cried the railway clerk in a doubting tone as we
were getting the tickets. "Let's see? Where is that?"
Of course that set the Squire exploding. What right had clerks to
pretend to issue tickets unless they knew their business? The clerk in
question coolly ran his finger down the railway list he had turned to,
and then gave us the tickets.
"It is a station not much frequented, you see," he civilly observed.
"Travellers mostly go on to Saltwater."
But for the train being due, and our having to make a rush for the
platform, the Squire would have waited to give the young man a piece of
his mind. "Saltwater, indeed!" said he. "I wonder the fellow does not
issue his edict as to where people shall go and where they shan't go."
We arrived in due time at our destination. It was written up as large as
life on a white board, "Montpellier-by-Sea." A small roadside station,
open to the country around; no signs of sea or of houses to be seen; a
broad rural district, apparently given over entirely to agriculture.
On went the whistling train, leaving the group of us standing by our
luggage on the platform. The Squire was staring about him doubtfully.
"Can you tell me where Seaboard Terrace is?"
"Seaboard Terrace?" repeated the station-master. "No, sir, I don't know
it. There's no terrace of that name hereabouts. For that matter there
are no terraces at all--no houses in fact."
The Squire's face was a picture. He saw that (save a solitary farm
homestead or two) the country was bare of dwelling-places.
"This is Montpellier-by-Sea?" he questioned at last.
"Sure enough it is, sir. Munpler, it's called down here."
"Then Seaboard Terrace must be _somewhere_ in it--somewhere about. What
a strange thing!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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