The Scouring of the White Horse; Or, The Long Vacation Ramble of a London ClerkHughes, Thomas
General
The Scouring of the White Horse; Or, The Long Vacation Ramble of a London Clerk
Hughes, Thomas
White Horse, Vale of (England)
“It’s the other hand the gypsy ought to see. Ah, well, then, never
mind,” she went on, as the lady looked quietly in her face, without
moving a muscle, “the old Norwood gypsy can read it all in your eyes.
There’s a dark gentleman, and a light gentleman, who’ll both be coming
before long; there’ll be sore hearts over it, but the richest will win
before a year’s out--” Here the girls clapped their hands, and burst
into shouts, and the lady showed her other hand with a wedding-ring on,
and went on quietly with her lunch.
“Ah! I never said she wasn’t married!” said the gipsy to the girls,
who only laughed the more. I had got quite close up to the carriage,
and at this moment caught the eye of the lady, who was laughing too;
then I felt awkward all at once, and as if I was where I had no right
to be. But she didn’t look the least annoyed, and I was passing on,
when I saw that Mr. Warton was amongst the gentlemen on the other side
of the carriage. “Ah,” thought I, “I wonder if he’ll know me now he’s
with his fine friends?” But the next minute I was ashamed of myself
for doubting, for I heard him wish them good-bye, and before I was ten
yards from the carriage, he put his arm in mine.
“Well, you never rode after all,” he began.
“No, Sir,” said I. “But where are they? I haven’t seen Joe this two
hours.”
“Oh, not far off,” said he; “feeding, like the rest of us.”
And further down the line we found Joe, and Miss Lucy, and several
friends of theirs, lunching on the turf by the four-wheel. So we sat
down with them, but I didn’t half like the way in which Miss Lucy was
running on with two young farmers, one on each side of her. She told
me afterwards that she had known them ever since they were children
together, but somehow that didn’t seem to me to mend the matter much.
And then again, when Joe got up, and said it was time to move, for the
sports would be just beginning, nothing would serve her but to walk
off to Wayland Smith’s cave. I wonder whether she did it a little bit
to provoke me; for she knew that I had been to see it the day before,
and that I wanted particularly to see all the sports. But I don’t think
it could have been that after all, for when I said I should stay with
Joe, she was just as pleasant as ever, and didn’t seem to mind a bit
whether I or any one else went with her or not.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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