'Don't ye bide about long upon the road, Margery. You can be back
again by skimming-time.'
The rough voice of Dairyman Tucker was the vehicle of this remark.
The barton-gate slammed again, and in two or three minutes a
something became visible, rising out of the fog in that quarter.
The shape revealed itself as that of a woman having a young and agile
gait. The colours and other details of her dress were then
disclosed--a bright pink cotton frock (because winter was over); a
small woollen shawl of shepherd's plaid (because summer was not
come); a white handkerchief tied over her head-gear, because it was
so foggy, so damp, and so early; and a straw bonnet and ribbons
peeping from under the handkerchief, because it was likely to be a
sunny May day.
Her face was of the hereditary type among families down in these
parts: sweet in expression, perfect in hue, and somewhat irregular
in feature. Her eyes were of a liquid brown. On her arm she carried
a withy basket, in which lay several butter-rolls in a nest of wet
cabbage-leaves. She was the 'Margery' who had been told not to 'bide
about long upon the road.'
She went on her way across the fields, sometimes above the fog,
sometimes below it, not much perplexed by its presence except when
the track was so indefinite that it ceased to be a guide to the next
stile.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25