The Wanderer; or, Female Difficulties (Volume 4 of 5)Burney, Fanny
History
The Wanderer; or, Female Difficulties (Volume 4 of 5)
Burney, Fanny
France -- History -- Revolution, 1789-1799 -- Refugees -- Fiction; Historical fiction; Refugees -- Fiction; War stories
'O, belike I do no' know Deb. Dyson?' cried the carter. 'Why I zee her,
at five of the clock, at her own door, in that seame bonnet. And I do
know her bonnet of old, for t' be none so new; for I was by when Johnny
Ascot gin it her, at our fair, two years agone. I know un well enough, I
va'nt me! A can make herself fat or lean as a wull, can Debby. A be a
funny wench, be Debby. But a shall peay me for this trick, I van't me, a
jeade!'
Juliet, in the utmost alarm to find herself thus recognised by the
carter, though still supposed to be another, hastily glided back to the
wood; cruelly vexed that the very disguise which had hitherto saved her
from personal discovery, exposed her but additionally to another species
of peril. She might easily, indeed, by speaking, or by suffering herself
to be looked at, shew the carter his mistake in conceiving her to be of
his acquaintance; but there would still remain a dangerous appearance of
intimacy with a young woman who was evidently held in light estimation.
She quickened, therefore, her pace, and determined to relinquish her
suspicious bonnet by the first opportunity.
In a short time the cackling of fowls, and other sounds of rural
animation, announced the vicinity of some inhabited spot. She pursued
this unerring direction, and soon saw, and entered, a small hut; in
which, though the whole dimensions might have stood in a corner of any
large hall, without being in the way, she found a father, mother, and
seven young children at supper.
Their looks, upon her entrance, were by no means auspicious; the woman
scowled at her with an eye of ill will; the man harshly asked what she
wanted; the children, who seemed ravenous, squalled and squabbled for
food; and a fierce dog, quitting a half-gnawn bone, to bark
vociferously, seemed panting for a sign to leap at and bite her; as a
species of order to which he was accustomed upon the intrusion of a
stranger.
Juliet told them that she was going to a neighbouring village; but that
she had missed her road, and, as it was growing dark, had stopt to beg a
night's lodging.
They answered morosely that they had neither bed nor room for
travellers.
Was there any house in the neighbourhood where she could be
accommodated?
Aye, there was one, they answered, not afar off, where an old man and
his wife had a spare bed, belonging to their son: but the direction
which they gave was so intricate that, in the fear of losing her way, or
again encountering the carter, she entreated permission to sit up in the
kitchen.
They went on with their supper, now helping, and now scolding their
children, and one another, without taking any notice of this request.
To quicken their attention she put half-a-crown upon the table.
The man and woman both rose, bowing and courtsying, and each offering
her their place, and their repast; saying it should go hard but they
would find something upon which she might take a little rest.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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