JOHN HAS HOPE OF LORNA
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Much as I longed to know more about Lorna, and though
all my heart was yearning, I could not reconcile it
yet with my duty to mother and Annie, to leave them
on the following day, which happened to be a Sunday.
For lo, before breakfast was out of our mouths, there
came all the men of the farm, and their wives, and
even the two crow-boys, dressed as if going to Barnstaple
fair, to inquire how Master John was, and whether
it was true that the King had made him one of his body-guard;
and if so, what was to be done with the belt for the
championship of the West-Counties wrestling, which
I had held now for a year or more, and none were ready
to challenge it. Strange to say, this last point
seemed the most important of all to them; and none
asked who was to manage the farm, or answer for their
wages; but all asked who was to wear the belt.
To this I replied, after shaking hands twice over
all round with all of them, that I meant to wear the
belt myself, for the honour of Oare parish, so long
as ever God gave me strength and health to meet all-comers;
for I had never been asked to be body-guard, and if
asked I would never have done it. Some of them
cried that the King must be mazed, not to keep me
for his protection, in these violent times of Popery.
I could have told them that the King was not in the
least afraid of Papists, but on the contrary, very
fond of them; however, I held my tongue, remembering
what Judge Jeffreys bade me.
In church, the whole congregation, man, woman, and
child (except, indeed, the Snowe girls, who only looked
when I was not watching), turned on me with one accord,
and stared so steadfastly, to get some reflection
of the King from me, that they forgot the time to kneel
down and the parson was forced to speak to them.
If I coughed, or moved my book, or bowed, or even
said “Amen,” glances were exchanged which
meant—“That he hath learned in London
town, and most likely from His Majesty.”
However, all this went off in time, and people became
even angry with me for not being sharper (as they
said), or smarter, or a whit more fashionable, for
all the great company I had seen, and all the wondrous
things wasted upon me.
But though I may have been none the wiser by reason
of my stay in London, at any rate I was much the better
in virtue of coming home again. For now I had
learned the joy of quiet, and the gratitude for good
things round us, and the love we owe to others (even
those who must be kind), for their indulgence to us.
All this, before my journey, had been too much as
a matter of course to me; but having missed it now
I knew that it was a gift, and might be lost.
Moreover, I had pined so much, in the dust and heat
of that great town, for trees, and fields, and running
waters, and the sounds of country life, and the air
of country winds, that never more could I grow weary
of those soft enjoyments; or at least I thought so
then.
