第75章 A FEW CRUSTED CHARACTERS(20)

"But the absconder changed clothes with Farmer Jollice,and took his horse;and this man has 'em,d'ye see!""'Tis not our man,"said the soldiers."He's a tall young fellow with a mole on his right cheek,and a military bearing,which this man decidedly has not.""I told the two officers of justice that 'twas the other!"pleaded Georgy."But they wouldn't believe me."'And so it became clear that the missing dragoon was the tall young farmer,and not Georgy Crookhill--a fact which Farmer Jollice himself corroborated when he arrived on the scene.As Georgy had only robbed the robber,his sentence was comparatively light.The deserter from the Dragoons was never traced:his double shift of clothing having been of the greatest advantage to him in getting off;though he left Georgy's horse behind him a few miles ahead,having found the poor creature more hindrance than aid.'

The man from abroad seemed to be less interested in the questionable characters of Longpuddle and their strange adventures than in the ordinary inhabitants and the ordinary events,though his local fellow-travellers preferred the former as subjects of discussion.He now for the first time asked concerning young persons of the opposite sex--or rather those who had been young when he left his native land.

His informants,adhering to their own opinion that the remarkable was better worth telling than the ordinary,would not allow him to dwell upon the simple chronicles of those who had merely come and gone.

They asked him if he remembered Netty Sargent.

'Netty Sargent--I do,just remember her.She was a young woman living with her uncle when I left,if my childish recollection may be trusted.'

'That was the maid.She was a oneyer,if you like,sir.Not any harm in her,you know,but up to everything.You ought to hear how she got the copyhold of her house extended.Oughtn't he,Mr.Day?'

'He ought,'replied the world-ignored old painter.

'Tell him,Mr.Day.Nobody can do it better than you,and you know the legal part better than some of us.'

Day apologized,and began:-

NETTY SARGENT'S COPYHOLD

'She continued to live with her uncle,in the lonely house by the copse,just as at the time you knew her;a tall spry young woman.

Ah,how well one can remember her black hair and dancing eyes at that time,and her sly way of screwing up her mouth when she meant to tease ye!Well,she was hardly out of short frocks before the chaps were after her,and by long and by late she was courted by a young man whom perhaps you did not know--Jasper Cliff was his name--and,though she might have had many a better fellow,he so greatly took her fancy that 'twas Jasper or nobody for her.He was a selfish customer,always thinking less of what he was going to do than of what he was going to gain by his doings.Jasper's eyes might have been fixed upon Netty,but his mind was upon her uncle's house;though he was fond of her in his way--I admit that.

'This house,built by her great-great-grandfather,with its garden and little field,was copyhold--granted upon lives in the old way,and had been so granted for generations.Her uncle's was the last life upon the property;so that at his death,if there was no admittance of new lives,it would all fall into the hands of the lord of the manor.But 'twas easy to admit--a slight "fine,"as 'twas called,of a few pounds,was enough to entitle him to a new deed o'grant by the custom of the manor;and the lord could not hinder it.

'Now there could be no better provision for his niece and only relative than a sure house over her head,and Netty's uncle should have seen to the renewal in time,owing to the peculiar custom of forfeiture by the dropping of the last life before the new fine was paid;for the Squire was very anxious to get hold of the house and land;and every Sunday when the old man came into the church and passed the Squire's pew,the Squire would say,"A little weaker in his knees,a little crookeder in his back--and the readmittance not applied for:ha!ha!I shall be able to make a complete clearing of that corner of the manor some day!"''Twas extraordinary,now we look back upon it,that old Sargent should have been so dilatory;yet some people are like it;and he put off calling at the Squire's agent's office with the fine week after week,saying to himself,"I shall have more time next market-day than I have now."One unfortunate hindrance was that he didn't very well like Jasper Cliff;and as Jasper kept urging Netty,and Netty on that account kept urging her uncle,the old man was inclined to postpone the re-liveing as long as he could,to spite the selfish young lover.

At last old Mr.Sargent fell ill,and then Jasper could bear it no longer:he produced the fine-money himself,and handed it to Netty,and spoke to her plainly.

"You and your uncle ought to know better.You should press him more.There's the money.If you let the house and ground slip between ye,I won't marry;hang me if I will!For folks won't deserve a husband that can do such things."'The worried girl took the money and went home,and told her uncle that it was no house no husband for her.Old Mr.Sargent pooh-poohed the money,for the amount was not worth consideration,but he did now bestir himself;for he saw she was bent upon marrying Jasper,and he did not wish to make her unhappy,since she was so determined.It was much to the Squire's annoyance that he found Sargent had moved in the matter at last;but he could not gainsay it,and the documents were prepared (for on this manor the copy-holders had writings with their holdings,though on some manors they had none).Old Sargent being now too feeble to go to the agent's house,the deed was to be brought to his house signed,and handed over as a receipt for the money;the counterpart to be signed by Sargent,and sent back to the Squire.