Tales of the Wonder Club Volume II Part 3

"Done," said the farmer, and turning suddenly upon me, accosted me thus:--

"Oi zay, governor, you bes a doctor, b'aint ye?"

I drew myself up with an air of dignity, and said with a frown, and in a feigned voice: "Did you address _me_, sir?"

"Ees," said the b.u.mpkin, unawed by my a.s.sumption of dignity; "and Oi axes ye if ye b'aint a doctor."

"Well, sir," I said; "and if I am!"

"Ha! ha! ha!" he laughed coa.r.s.ely. "Oi knowed ye was. Oi thought Oi knowed the breed. Vell, you doctors has made a pretty harvest of late, Oi reckon," said the farmer, bluntly.

"How so, sir," I asked. "I do not understand you."

"Vhy, vith the patients as has died in this here hepidemic," said he.

"They must have brought grist to your mill, if Oi'm not mistook."

"What epidemic?" I asked, feigning surprise. "I am a stranger in these parts, and know nothing of the epidemic."

"Vhy, ye doan't mane to zay that ye never heard of th' epidemic as all th' vorld is a talking of," said he.

"All the world!" I cried, in astonishment. "All your little village, I suppose you mean--no, I am entirely ignorant of this malady."

"Vell then, doctor," said the boor, "if ye'd only set up in our village, there's a snug little business going on for the loikes of you."

"Humph!" I grunted, not deigning to make other reply.

"Yes, indeed, sir," said a man in the opposite corner of the coach, joining in the conversation, but more respectfully than my friend the farmer. "I a.s.sure you that a doctor's services are very much needed in these parts. They say the malady is spreading."

The last speaker was a man I knew as well as I know my own face in a looking-gla.s.s, and whom I had served to innumerable pints of our home-brewed ale--a crony of mine, in fact, yet he failed to see through my disguise.

"Dear me!" said I. "I hope it will be nothing very serious. I regret not being able to make myself useful, as I have several important cases to attend to a long distance off."

"Oh, it has been very bad indeed, sir, hereabouts," said the same man.

"Most cases have been fatal. The death that has been most talked of in the village is that of poor Jack Hearty, a lad of nineteen, as strong and as good looking a young fellow as any in the village. He was took bad, as it might be, yesterday, and struck down to-day in the very flower of his youth."

"You don't say so?" said I.

"Yes, sir," he resumed; "and I'll be bound to say you wouldn't find a finer young fellow in all England."

"Really!" said I, inwardly feeling flattered.

"Ah!" said another, with a sly wink. "I think I could tell you what hastened Jack's death as much as anything."

"What was that?" I asked.

"There was a young woman in the case, they say," said the man, whom I also knew intimately.

"Well, sir," said I, with a well-feigned innocence; "and this young woman----?"

"Well, I believe he died pining for her, and folks say as how it was the hepidemic."

"Ah!" I said with a sigh. "That is an epidemic we all catch some time or other, but most folks get over it, I fancy."

"Well, yes," said the man; "most folks, as you say, do, but poor Jack was very hard hit indeed, sir. I happen to know the young woman, too--as fine a wench as you'll meet with in the whole kingdom."

"Ah! indeed," I said. "They would have been well matched then, had they married?"

"They would indeed, sir," was the reply. "They'd have made a pair as you wouldn't meet every day. Well, well," he sighed; "he's gone now, poor fellow, so the wench must look out for someone else."

"Did the girl take it much to heart, think you?" said I.

"Aye, I'll warrant she did, sir," said he, "though I can't say for certain, seeing as how her father sent her away from home to get her out of Jack's way. But she'll have heard all about it by this time. Poor girl! I am sorry for her. She'll have to wait a long time before she finds another like Jack."

"Perhaps she may never marry," I suggested; "that is if she really loved him."

"Can't say I'm sure, sir. You see the maid is quite young yet, and has got lots of admirers; what with one and what with another, she may in time forget Jack and take to someone else," said my friend.

"You have heard no rumours as yet, I suppose, of her showing any partiality towards anyone," I demanded, timidly.

"No, sir, I can't say that exactly, but then it is so shortly after Jack's death, that it isn't likely she would just yet. Still there's a young fellow, the son of a squire, as is very sweet upon her, and is always following of her about. If she could manage to catch him, she'd do well, but the young gent's father don't approve of it, and is like to cut him off to a shilling if he marries her. Folks say that the young squire is a bit of a scamp, and don't mean marriage. It'll be a pity if the maid goes wrong, for she is a good girl, and no mistake."

Now this was gall and wormwood to me. I knew that that rascal young Rashly had been hovering about Molly's house for some time. He had often crossed me in my walks with Molly, and we hated each other like poison, but I also knew that Molly couldn't bear the sight of him, for she was really and truly in love with me, yet the very mention of his name coupled with hers made my blood boil. Mastering my emotion, however, I asked with as much apparent indifference as possible, "And this young gentleman, where is he now?"

"Oh, up to his larks, I'll warrant," said the man, with a laugh. "The girl's father has sent her away to live with her aunt, to get her out of Jack's way, as he is not friends with Jack's father, and I guess out of the way of the young squire, too; but young Rashly has been absent now some time from the village, and I'll be bound he has found her out by this time. Now that poor Jack's dead he'll have the way all clear before him."

"The devil take him," I muttered to myself. I was bursting with rage, and to conceal my emotion, I affected to stare out of the window at some object, while my heart beat underneath my borrowed waistcoat, and must have been audible but for the coach wheels. I appeared again absorbed in my book while the rest of the pa.s.sengers discoursed upon general topics.

"Give us the halfpenny," I heard my bluff fellow-traveller say to his friend; "it's been fairly von." His friend's hand was buried for an instant, and the coin was transferred from his to the farmer's breeches pocket.

"That's zum business, onyrate," said the countryman, receiving the payment of the bet with a chuckle.

The stage then rolled on for some distance further, till some pa.s.senger called out:

"There is H----, any pa.s.senger for H----?"

"Yes, sir," said I; "I am for H----."

The stage stopped, and with trembling hands and beating heart I squeezed past the other pa.s.sengers.

"Good morning, gentlemen," said I, as I walked off.

The stage was set in motion again. There was no other pa.s.senger but myself for the village of H----, so I strolled off with light step to the nearest inn.

Having refreshed myself with a light luncheon, I strolled about the country a bit until I came across--you may be surprised, gentlemen--but I actually came across the very same house with the very identical country round about it, including the wood, that appeared in my dream. I certainly _was_ startled.

"Yonder, then, is the house of Molly's aunt," I thought, and I walked towards it, thinking all the while how I should introduce myself.

Before I reached the house, however, two figures in the distance under the trees of the wood attracted my gaze. I looked again. One of the figures, I was sure, could be no other than Molly herself, and the other I was equally certain was young Rashly.