'Fro Masholme,' he said, looking at her full, so that she could see
all the dark, richly coloured face she had had a curiosity to see;
then he added abruptly, 'We're bound Kinder way wi t' sheep--reet
t'other side o' t' Scout.'
The woman nodded. 'Aye, I know a good mony o' your Kinder foak.
They've coom by here a mony year passt. But I doan't know as I've
seen yo afoor. Yo're nobbut a yoong 'un. Eh, but we get sich a
sight of strangers here now, the yan fairly drives the tother out
of a body's mind.'
'Doos foak coom for t' summer?' asked David, lifting his eyebrows a
little, and looking round on the bleak and straggling village.
'Noa, they coom to see the church. Lor' bless ye!' said the good
woman, following his eyes towards the edifice and breaking into a
laugh, ''taint becos the church is onything much to look at. 'Taint
nowt out o' t' common that I knows on. Noa--but they coom along
o't' monument, an' Miss Bronte--Mrs. Nicholls, as should be, poor
thing--rayder.'
There was no light of understanding in David's face, but his
penetrating eyes, the size and beauty of which she could not help
observing, seemed to invite her to go on.
'You niver heerd on our Miss Bronte?' said the woman, mildly.
'Well, I spose not. She was just a bit quiet body. Nobbody
hereabouts saw mich in her. But she wrote bukes--tales, yo
know--tales about t' foak roun here; an they do say, them as has
read 'em, 'at they're terr'ble good. Mr. Watson, at t' Post Office,
he's read 'em, and he's allus promised to lend 'em me. But soomhow
I doan't get th' time. An in gineral I've naw moor use for a book
nor a coo has for clogs. But she's terr'ble famous, is Miss Bronte,
now--an her sisters too, pore young women. Yo should see t'
visitors' book in th' church. Aw t' grand foak as iver wor. They
cooms fro Lunnon a purpose, soom ov 'em, an they just takes a look
roun t' place, an writes their names, an goos away. Would yo like
to see th' church?' said the good-natured creature--looking at the
tall lad beside her with an admiring scrutiny such as every woman
knows she may apply to any male. 'I'm goin that way, an it's my
brother 'at has th' keys.'
David accompanied her with an alacrity which would have astonished
his usual travelling companions, and they mounted the straggling
village street together towards the church. As they neared it the
woman stopped and, shading her eyes against the sunlight, pointed
up to it and the parsonage.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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