. Our village. ent in our village world. To besure, upon the verge of seventy, an old maid may bepermitted to dispense with the more rigid punctilio ofher class, but Mrs. Sally had always been so tenaciouson the score of character, so very a prude, so determinedan avoider of the men folk (as she was wontcontemptuously to call them), that we all were con-scious of something like astonishment, on finding thatshe and her little handmaid had taken up their abodein one end of a spacious farmhouse belonging to thebluff old bachelor, George Robinson, of the Lea. NowFarmer Robinson was quite as notori
. Our village. ent in our village world. To besure, upon the verge of seventy, an old maid may bepermitted to dispense with the more rigid punctilio ofher class, but Mrs. Sally had always been so tenaciouson the score of character, so very a prude, so determinedan avoider of the men folk (as she was wontcontemptuously to call them), that we all were con-scious of something like astonishment, on finding thatshe and her little handmaid had taken up their abodein one end of a spacious farmhouse belonging to thebluff old bachelor, George Robinson, of the Lea. NowFarmer Robinson was quite as notorious for his aversionto petticoated things, as Mrs. Sally for her hatred tothe unfeathered bipeds who wear doublet and hose, sothat there was a little astonishment in (luarler loo, S4 OUR VILLAGE and plenty of jests, which the honest farmer speedilysilenced, b) telling all who joked on the subject thathe had given his lodger fair warning, that, let peoplesa)- whai they would, he was quite determined not to. Giving his lodger fair ivaiiiing. Copyright 1893 iy Macmillan &■ Co. marry her: so that if she had any views that way, itwould be better for her to go elsewhere. This declara-tion, which must be admitted to have been more re-markable for frankness than civility, made, however, noill impression on Mrs. Sally. To the farmers she went,and at his house she lives still, with her little maid, her THE COPSE 85 tabby cat, a decrepit sheep-dog, and much of thelumber of Court Farm, which she could not find in herheart to part from. There she follows her old waysand her old hours, untempted by matrimony, and un-assailed (as far as I hear) by love or by scandal, withno other grievance than an occasional dearth of em-ployment for herself and her young lass (even pewterdishes do not always want scouring), and now and thena twinge of the rheumatism. Here she is, that good relique of the olden time—for, in spite of her whims and prejudices, a better anda kinder woman never lived—
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Keywords: ., bookauthorritchieannethackeray1, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890
