Uncle Silas J. Sheridan Le Fanu (good books to read for beginners .TXT) đ
- Author: J. Sheridan Le Fanu
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âNo, Madame, I will not go with you,â I said, disengaging my hand with a violent effort, receding two or three steps.
âNot enter the churchyard! Ma foiâ âwat mauvais goĂ»t! But see, we are already in shade. The sun he is setting soonâ âwhere weel you remain, cheaile? I will not stay long.â
âIâll stay here,â I said, a little angrilyâ âfor I was angry as well as nervous; and through my fear was that indignation at her extravagances which mimicked lunacy so unpleasantly, and were, I knew, designed to frighten me.
Over the stepping-stones, pulling up her dress, she skipped with her long, lank legs, like a witch joining a Walpurgis. Over the stile she strode, and I saw her head wagging, and heard her sing some of her ill-omened rhymes, as she capered solemnly, with many a grin and courtesy, among the graves and headstones, towards the ruin.
VIII The SmokerThree years later I learnedâ âin a way she probably little expected, and then did not much care aboutâ âwhat really occurred there. I learned even phrases and looksâ âfor the story was related by one who had heard it toldâ âand therefore I venture to narrate what at the moment I neither saw nor suspected. While I sat, flushed and nervous, upon a flat stone by the bank of the little stream, Madame looked over her shoulder, and perceiving that I was out of sight, she abated her pace, and turned sharply towards the ruin which lay at her left. It was her first visit, and she was merely exploring; but now, with a perfectly shrewd and businesslike air, turning the corner of the building, she saw, seated upon the edge of a gravestone, a rather fat and flashily-equipped young man, with large, light whiskers, a jerry hat, green cutaway coat with gilt buttons, and waistcoat and trousers rather striking than elegant in pattern. He was smoking a short pipe, and made a nod to Madame, without either removing it from his lips or rising, but with his brown and rather good-looking face turned up, he eyed her with something of the impudent and sulky expression that was habitual to it.
âHa, Deedle, you are there! anâ look so well. I am here, too, quite alon; but my friend, she wait outside the churchyard, by-side the leetle river, for she must not think I know youâ âso I am come alon.â
âYouâre a quarter late, and I lost a fight by you, old girl, this morning,â said the gay man, and spat on the ground; âand I wish you would not call me Diddle. Iâll call you Granny if you do.â
âEh, bien! Dud, then. She is vary niceâ âwat you like. Slim waist, wite teeth, vary nice eyesâ âdarkâ âwat you say is bestâ âand nice leetle foot and ankle.â
Madame smiled leeringly. Dud smoked on.
âGo on,â said Dud, with a nod of command.
âI am teach her to sing and playâ âshe has such sweet voice!â
There was another interval here.
âWell, that isnât much good. I hate womenâs screechinâ about fairies and flowers. Hang her! thereâs a scarecrow as sings at Curlâs Divan. Such a caterwauling upon a stage! Iâd like to put my two barrels into her.â
By this time Dudâs pipe was out, and he could afford to converse.
âYou shall see her and decide. You will walk down the river, and pass her by.â
âThatâs as may be; howsoever, it would not do, nohow, to buy a pig in a poke, you know. And sâpose I shouldnât like her, arter all?â
Madame sneered, with a patois ejaculation of derision.
âVary good! Then someone else will not be so âard to pleaseâ âas you will soon find.â
âSomeoneâs bin a-lookinâ arter her, you mean?â said the young man, with a shrewd uneasy glance on the cunning face of the French lady.
âI mean preciselyâ âthat which I mean,â replied the lady, with a teasing pause at the break I have marked.
âCome, old âun, none of your dâ âžș old chaff, if you want me to stay here listening to you. Speak out, canât you? Thereâs any chap as has bin a-lookinâ arter herâ âis there?â
âEh, bien; I suppose some.â
âWell, you suppose, and I supposeâ âwe may all suppose, I guess; but that does not make a thing be, as wasnât before; and you tell me as how the lass is kepâ private up there, and will be till youâre done educating herâ âa precious good âun that is!â And he laughed a little lazily, with the ivory handle of his cane on his lip, and eyeing Madame with indolent derision.
Madame laughed, but looked rather dangerous.
âIâm only chaffinâ, you know, old girl. Youâve bin chaffinââ âwây shouldnât I? But I donât see why she canât wait a bit; and whatâs all the dâ âžșâ d hurry for? Iâm in no hurry. I donât want a wife on my back for a while. Thereâs no fellow marries till heâs took his bit oâ fun, and seen lifeâ âis there! And why should I be driving with her to fairs, or to church, or to meeting, by jingo!â âfor they say sheâs a Quakerâ âwith a babby on each knee, only to please them as will be dead and rotten when Iâm only beginning?â
âAh, you are such charming fellow; always the sameâ âalways sensible. So I and my friend we will walk home again, and you go see Maggie Hawkes. Good-a-by, Dudâ âgood-a-by.â
âQuiet, you fool!â âcanât ye?â said the young gentleman, with the sort of grin that made his face vicious when a horse vexed him. âWho ever said I wouldnât go look at the girl? Why, you know thatâs just what I come here forâ âdonât you? Only when I think a bit, and a notion comes across me, why shouldnât I speak out? Iâm not one oâ them shilly-shallies. If I like the girl, Iâll not be mug in and mug out about it. Only mind ye,
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