Martin Pippin in the Apple Orchard Part 66

"Gillian," said Martin Pippin, "the Squire did not come himself to fetch her away because he was a young fool. There was no eighth floret on the gra.s.s-blade, so the rime stayed at the seventh. The letter I threw with the Lady-peel was a G. There are apples all round your silver ring because it was once my ring. I do, you dear, I do, I do.

And now I have answered your many questions, answer me one. Why did you sit six months in the Well-House weeping for love?"

"Oh, Martin," said Gillian softly, "could you tell my friends so much they did not know, and not know this?--girls do not weep for love, they weep for want of it." And she lifted her heavenly eyes, and out of the last of the sunlight looked at him without thinking. And Martin, like a drowning man catching at straws, caught her corn-colored plaits one in either hand, and drawing himself to her by them, whispered, "Do girls do that? But they are so much too good for us, Gillian."

"I know they are," whispered Gillian, "but if all men were like Robin Rue, what would become of us? Must we be punished for what we can't help?"

And she put her little finger on his mouth, and he kissed it.

Then Martin himself sat down on the barrel where there was only room for one; but it was Martin who sat on it. And after a while he said, "You mightn't think it, but I have got a cottage, and there is nothing whatever in it but a table which I made myself, and I think that is enough to begin with. On the way to it we shall pa.s.s Hardham, where in the Priory Ruins lives a Hermit who is sometimes in the mood. Beyond Hardham is the sunken bed of the old ca.n.a.l that is a secret not known to everybody; all flowering reeds and plants that love water grow there, and you have to push your way between water-loving trees under which gra.s.s and nettles in their season grow taller than children; but at other times, when the p.u.s.s.y-willows bloom with gray and golden bees, the way is clear. Beyond this presently is a little glade, the loveliest in Suss.e.x; in spring it is patterned with primroses, and windflowers shake their fragile bells and show their silver stars above them. Some are pure and colorless, like maidens who know nothing of love, and others are faintly stained with streaks of purple-rose. So exquisite is the beauty of these earthly flowers that it is like a heavenly dream, but it is a dream come true; and you will never pa.s.s it in April without longing to turn aside and, kneeling among all that pallid gold and silver, offer up a prayer to the fairies. And I shall always kneel there with you. But beyond this is a land of bracken and undiscovered forests that hides a special secret. And you may run round it on all sides within fifty yards, yet never find it; unless you happen to light upon a land where gra.s.s springs under your feet among deep cart-ruts, and blackberry branches scramble on the ground from the flowery sides. The lane is called Sh.e.l.ley's Lane, for a reason too beautiful to be told; since all the most beautiful reasons in the world are kept secrets. And this is why, dear Gillian, the world never knows, and cannot for the life of it imagine, what this man sees in that maid and that maid in this man. The world cannot think why they fell in love with each other. But they have their reason, their beautiful secret, that never gets told to more than one person; and what they see in each other is what they show to each other; and it is the truth. Only they kept it hidden in their hearts until the time came. And though you and I may never know why this lane is called Sh.e.l.ley's, to us both it will always be the greenest lane in Suss.e.x, because it leads to the special secret I spoke of. At the end of it is an old gate, clambered with blue periwinkle, and the gate opens into a garden in the midst of the forest, a garden so gay and so scented, so full of b.u.t.terflies and bees and flower-borders and gra.s.s-plots with fruit-trees on them, that it might be Eden grown tiny. The garden runs down a slope, and is divided from a wild meadow by a brook crossed by a plank, fringed with young hazel and alder and, at the right time, thick-set with primroses.

Behind the meadow, in a glimpse of the distance full of soft blue shadows and pale yellow lights, lie the lovely sides of the Downs, rounded and dimpled like human beings, dimpled like babies, rounded like women. The flow of their lines is like the breathing of a sleeper; you can almost see the tranquil heaving of a bosom. All about and around the garden are the trees of the forest. Crouched in one of the hollows is my cottage with the table in it. And the brook at the bottom of the garden is the Murray River."

Gillian looked up from his shoulder. "I always meant to find that some day," she said, "with some one to help me."

"I'll help you," said Martin.

"Do children play there now?"

"Children with names as lovely as Sylvia, who are even lovelier than their names. They are the only spirits who haunt it. And at the source of it is a mystery so beautiful that one day, when you and I have discovered it together, we shall never come back again. But this will be after long years of gladness, and a life kept always young, not only by our children, but by the child which each will continually rediscover in the other's heart."

"What is this you are telling me?" whispered Gillian, hiding her face again.

"The Seventh Story."

"I'm glad it ends happily," said Gillian. "But somehow, all the time, I thought it would."

"I rather thought so too," said Martin Pippin. "For what does furniture matter as long as Suss.e.x grows bedstraw for ladies to sleep on?"

And tuning his lute he sang her his very last song.

My Lady sha'n't lie between linen, My Lady sha'n't lie upon down, She shall not have blankets to cover her feet Or a pillow put under her crown; But my Lady shall lie on the sweetest of beds That ever a lady saw, For my Lady, my beautiful Lady, My Lady shall lie upon straw.

Strew the sweet white straw, he said, Strew the straw for my Lady's bed-- Two ells wide from foot to head, Strew my Lady's bedstraw.

My Lady sha'n't sleep in a castle, My Lady sha'n't sleep in a hall, She shall not be sheltered away from the stars By curtain or cas.e.m.e.nt or wall; But my lady shall sleep in the gra.s.siest mead That ever a Lady saw, Where my Lady, my beautiful Lady, My Lady shall lie upon straw.

Strew the warm white straw, said he, My arms shall all her shelter be, Her castle-walls and her own roof-tree-- Strew my Lady's bedstraw.

When he had done Martin Said, "Will you go traveling, Gillian?"

And Gillian answered, "With joy, Martin. But before I go traveling, I will sing to you."

And taking the lute from him she sang him her very first song.

I saw an Old Man by the wayside Sit down with his crutch to rest, Like the smoke of an angry kettle Was the beard puffed over his breast.

But when I tugged at the Old Man's beard He turned to a beardless boy, And the boy and myself went traveling, Traveling wild with joy.

With eyes that twinkled and hearts that danced And feet that skipped as they ran-- Now welcome, you blithe young Traveler!

And fare you well, Old Man!

When she had done Martin caught her in his arms and kissed her on the mouth and on the eyes and on both cheeks and on her two hands, and on the back of the neck where babies are kissed; and standing her up on the barrel and himself on the ground, he kissed her feet, one after the other. Then he cried, "Jump, la.s.s! jump when I tell you!" and Gillian jumped. And as happy as children they ran hand-in-hand out of the Malthouse and down the road to Hardham.

Overhead the sun was running away from the clouds with all his might, and they were trying to catch hold of him one by one, in vain; for he rolled through their soft grasp, leaving their hands bright with gold-dust.