第31章 Chirp the Third(11)

The whole party would have experienced great difficulty in findingwords for their astonishment, even if they had had ample time toseek them.But they had none at all; for the messenger hadscarcely shut the door behind him, when there came another tap, andTackleton himself walked in.

'Mrs.Peerybingle!' said the Toy-merchant, hat in hand.'I'msorry.I'm more sorry than I was this morning.I have had time tothink of it.John Peerybingle! I'm sour by disposition; but Ican't help being sweetened, more or less, by coming face to facewith such a man as you.Caleb! This unconscious little nurse gaveme a broken hint last night, of which I have found the thread.Iblush to think how easily I might have bound you and your daughterto me, and what a miserable idiot I was, when I took her for one!

Friends, one and all, my house is very lonely to-night.I have notso much as a Cricket on my Hearth.I have scared them all away.

Be gracious to me; let me join this happy party!'

He was at home in five minutes.You never saw such a fellow.WhatHAD he been doing with himself all his life, never to have known,before, his great capacity of being jovial! Or what had theFairies been doing with him, to have effected such a change!

'John! you won't send me home this evening; will you?' whisperedDot.

He had been very near it though!

There wanted but one living creature to make the party complete;and, in the twinkling of an eye, there he was, very thirsty withhard running, and engaged in hopeless endeavours to squeeze hishead into a narrow pitcher.He had gone with the cart to itsjourney's end, very much disgusted with the absence of his master,and stupendously rebellious to the Deputy.After lingering aboutthe stable for some little time, vainly attempting to incite theold horse to the mutinous act of returning on his own account, hehad walked into the tap-room and laid himself down before the fire.

But suddenly yielding to the conviction that the Deputy was ahumbug, and must be abandoned, he had got up again, turned tail,and come home.

There was a dance in the evening.With which general mention ofthat recreation, I should have left it alone, if I had not somereason to suppose that it was quite an original dance, and one of amost uncommon figure.It was formed in an odd way; in this way.

Edward, that sailor-fellow - a good free dashing sort of a fellowhe was - had been telling them various marvels concerning parrots,and mines, and Mexicans, and gold dust, when all at once he took itin his head to jump up from his seat and propose a dance; forBertha's harp was there, and she had such a hand upon it as youseldom hear.Dot (sly little piece of affectation when she chose)said her dancing days were over; I think because the Carrier wassmoking his pipe, and she liked sitting by him, best.Mrs.

Fielding had no choice, of course, but to say HER dancing days wereover, after that; and everybody said the same, except May; May wasready.

So, May and Edward got up, amid great applause, to dance alone; andBertha plays her liveliest tune.

Well! if you'll believe me, they have not been dancing fiveminutes, when suddenly the Carrier flings his pipe away, takes Dotround the waist, dashes out into the room, and starts off with her,toe and heel, quite wonderfully.Tackleton no sooner sees this,than he skims across to Mrs.Fielding, takes her round the waist,and follows suit.Old Dot no sooner sees this, than up he is, allalive, whisks off Mrs.Dot in the middle of the dance, and is theforemost there.Caleb no sooner sees this, than he clutches TillySlowboy by both hands and goes off at score; Miss Slowboy, firm inthe belief that diving hotly in among the other couples, andeffecting any number of concussions with them, is your onlyprinciple of footing it.

Hark! how the Cricket joins the music with its Chirp, Chirp, Chirp;and how the kettle hums!

But what is this! Even as I listen to them, blithely, and turntowards Dot, for one last glimpse of a little figure very pleasantto me, she and the rest have vanished into air, and I am leftalone.A Cricket sings upon the Hearth; a broken child's-toy liesupon the ground; and nothing else remains.

End