The Flight of Georgiana: A Story of Love and Peril in England in 1746Stephens, Robert Neilson
History
The Flight of Georgiana: A Story of Love and Peril in England in 1746
Stephens, Robert Neilson
Great Britain -- History -- George II, 1727-1760 -- Fiction
The dog transferred his attentions to Everell on perceiving him to be an
approved visitor, while the poacher opened the door and lighted a candle
within. Entering, Everell found a combination of kitchen,
sleeping-chamber, and living-room, the whole giving an impression of
comfort far exceeding that of the bothy he had for a time inhabited in
Scotland.
“So this is your castle,” said Everell, looking around with approbation.
“Ay, sir, with the gorse for wall and the brook for moat. And I don’t
lack a postern to escape by, if so be I was ever hard pressed in front.”
He opened a small square shutter in the back of the room. “’Tis all
gorse out there, sir, and only me and the dog knows the path through to
the rocks.”
There was at one end of the room a pallet bed, which Tarby assigned to
his guest, saying he would shake down some heather for his own use at
the opposite end. He went out, and returned with a sackful of this,
having borrowed from the reserve supply of his cow, which he housed in a
shed on the other side of the stream. He informed Everell that he kept a
few fowls also, though the great part of his clearing was made to serve
as a vegetable-garden. He asked what Everell would like for supper, and
named three or four possibilities besides the rabbit he drew from his
large pocket. But Everell had supped at the ale-house, and, as he was
now quite fatigued, he went to bed, leaving his host to partake of bread
and cheese, while the dog munched a cold bone in the corner.
When Everell awoke, bright day was shining in through the single window
and the open doorway, and John Tarby was preparing a breakfast of eggs
and bacon. Everell, despite his now eager appetite and his impatience to
be about his purpose, dressed himself with care, performing his toilet
with the aid of the stream, and putting on fresh linen and stockings. He
then ate heartily, and, having given his host a sufficient idea of where
he wished to spend his day, set forth in Tarby’s company, that the
poacher might show him the way by daylight. Taking care to note every
landmark, Everell arrived finally in that portion of the Foxwell park
which lay near the mansion. Tarby here took his leave, to attend to his
own affairs, making a rendezvous with his guest in case the latter
should not have returned to the cottage by nightfall—for it was not
certain that he could find his way after dark at the first attempt.
Everell strolled on till the gables of Foxwell Court appeared through
the trees. He found a convenient spot where he could sit and observe the
terrace that stretched between the house and the park. His highest hope
was that the young lady would, sooner or later, come to take the air
upon the terrace and extend her walk into the park.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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