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Page 26
The squire's field was busy as a fair; and the idle young people sat
under the oaks, or walked slowly in the shadow of the hedges, pulling
poppies and wild flowers, and realizing all the poetry of a pastoral
life, without any of its hard labor or its vulgar cares. Mrs. Sandal had
given them a basket with berries and cake and cream in it. They were all
young enough to get pleasantly hungry in the open air, all young enough
to look upon berries and cake and cream as a distinct addition to
happiness. They set out a little feast under the trees, and called the
squire to come and taste their dainties.
He was standing, without his coat and vest, on the top of a loaded wain,
the very embodiment of a jovial, handsome, country gentleman. The reins
were in his hand; he was going to drive home the wealthy wagon; but he
stopped and stooped, and Charlotte, standing on tip-toes, handed him a
glass of cream. "God love thy bonny face," he said, with a beaming
smile, as he handed her back the empty glass. Then off went the great
horses with their towering load, treading carefully between the hedges
of the narrow lane, and leaving upon the hawthorns many a stray ear for
the birds gleaning.
When the squire returned he called to Julius and his daughters, "What
idle-backs you are! Come, and bind a sheaf with me." And they rose with
a merry laugh, and followed him down the field, working a little, and
resting a little; and towards the close of the afternoon, listening to
the singing of an old man who had brought his fiddle to the field in
order to be ready to play at the squire's "harvest-home." He was a thin,
crooked, old man, very spare and ruddy. "Eighty-three years old, young
sir," he said to Julius; and then, in a trembling, cracked voice, he
quavered out,--
"Says t' auld man to t' auld oak-tree,
Young and lusty was I when I kenned thee:
I was young and lusty, I was fair and clear,
Young and lusty was I, many a long year.
But sair failed is I, sair failed now;
Sair failed is I, since I kenned thou.
Sair failed, honey,
Sair failed now;
Sair failed, honey,
Since I kenned thou."
It was the appeal of tottering age to happy, handsome youth, and Julius
could not resist it. With a royal grace he laid a guinea in the old
man's open palm, and felt fully rewarded by his look of wonder and
delight.
"God give you love and luck, young sir. I am eighty-three now, and sair
failed; but I was once twenty-three, and young and lusty as you be. But
life is at the fag end with me now. God save us all!" Then, with a
meaning look at the two pretty girls watching him, he went slowly off,
droning out to a monotonous accompaniment, an old love ballad:--
"Picking of lilies the other day,
Picking of lilies both fresh and gay,
Picking of lilies, red, white, and blue,
Little I thought what love could do."
"'_Little I thought what love could do_,'" Julius repeated; and he sang
the doleful refrain over and over, as they strolled back to the oak
under which they had had their little feast. Then Sophia, who had a
natural love of neatness and order, began to collect the plates and
napkins, and arrange them in the basket; and this being done, she looked
around for the housemaid in order to put it in her charge. The girl was
at the other end of the field, and she went to her.
Charlotte had scarcely perceived what was going on. The old man's
singing had made her a little sad. She, too, was thinking of "what love
could do." She was standing under the tree, leaning against the great
mossy trunk. Her brown hair had fallen loose, her cheeks were flushed,
her lips crimson, her whole form a glowing picture of youth in its
perfect beauty and freshness. Sophia was out of hearing. Julius stepped
close to her. His soul was in his face; he spoke like a man who was no
longer master of himself.
"Charlotte, I love you. I love you with all my heart."
She looked at him steadily. Her eyes flashed. She threw downward her
hands with a deprecating motion.
"You have no right to say such words to me, Julius. I have done all a
woman could do to prevent, them. I have never given you any
encouragement. A gentleman does not speak without it."
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