In the yard of a third-rate inn, in a large market town of one of the Midland counties, stood a carrier's cart, ready to start for home. In large letters on its side was painted 'John Sparks, Carrier to Parker's Due and Stoney Gates.' Some of the passengers were seated; others were busy arranging their goods ready for transit; some were resting on their empty baskets, till the carrier appeared, talking over the events of the market, and comparing prices. The landlord was in and out perpetually, with a glass for one and a joke for another, looking with anxious (and, of course, benevolent) solicitude around, lest a customer should escape through want of care.
'Will John Sparks go to-night?' asked an old woman peevishly. Her question was not addressed to any one in particular; but the ostler, who was passing, answered, 'He's not in the best company for making haste at this present,' and nodded to a group of men standing at the entrance of the yard, to which group the busy landlord had made frequent visits, never going empty-handed.
A general murmur arose as this speech circulated among the passengers. 'Go and tell him to come, granny,' said one; 'he'll mind you; if he stays drinking there, we shall be upset, depend upon it.'
'And what's the use of my telling him?' replied the old woman. 'It's hard work I have to make him mind when he's sober; he'll only sauce me now he's the worse for liquor.'
'You should get him to take the pledge,' said the ostler; 'carriers' work is full of temptations, 'specially if a man's got a taste that way.'
While Granny Sparks was considering how to get John away from his companions, the thing was done by the arrival of a fish-basket, followed by a smart-looking maid-servant.
'Oh, not gone! that's well. Where's Mr. Sparks? I was kept so long, I was quite afraid of being too late. Put the fish in under that seat. Things there? oh, they must come out then; the fish must go in safe. Where's Mr. Sparks, I say? I should think the fish for the Hall is to have the proper place.'
It was soon made known to the speaker that Mr. Sparks was not far off, and, almost as soon, he was seen hurrying from his companions, with a somewhat blustering manner, which people are apt to put on when they expect a deserved rebuke, and want to get out of it.
'We'd a' ought to a' been on the road this half-hour, John,' muttered his granny.
'We're all right, Mr. Sparks,' cried those from inside. 'You may do what you like with my basket,' said several, who would not attempt to arrange themselves till the maid from the Hall had chosen her seat. 'I hope you will start at once,' said that damsel, who looked with superiority on those around; 'the fish is for dinner, and we are never later than eight.'
'Off at once, miss, when you're seated,' said John in as sober a tone as he could assume, and looking a thundering look at his granny, who imprudently kept up a low grumbling remonstrance on his behaviour. The luggage was soon settled, in defiance of all opposition, so that the fish had honourable stowage; and the Hall maiden, declaring, as she stepped jauntily up, that she could not abide the van, but it was a great convenience, took the seat at the front, and all was ready.
Sparks, a little steadied, was mounting, and the horse, which through the whole hurried scene had stood motionless, his head hanging down, as if dreaming of his own particular interests and affairs, awoke up and prepared to step forward. But patience was to be tried that day. In the entrance of the yard appeared a tall thin individual, dressed in sober and somewhat shabby clothes. He had his arms full of packages of all sorts and sizes, and an urchin followed, bearing a large basket.
'Deary me!' said Sparks, dropping the reins; 'if there isn't Shady Eggs. Well, to think of his being so late! Folks ought to be more considerate.'
'How excessive troublesome!' said the Hall servant, who had herself wasted so much time in the town that she had lost the early carrier, and run the risk of being too late with the fish for the second.
Meantime, 'Shady Eggs' advanced. 'I rejoice, Mr. Sparks, that you are yet here; be so good as to accommodate these articles. Young man,' he continued, to the boy with the basket, 'you can return; there is a small remuneration for your trouble.' The lad grinned, pocketed the remuneration, and the basket, etc., were with some difficulty placed in the van. Miss from the Hall kept up a continual series of shruggings: her dress was invaded in some way by every package that was put in, and there was as much vinegar in her expression as beer in that of Sparks.
'If you'd a' knowed of coming, Mr. Eggs, it's a pity you wasn't more for'ard,' she said tartly.
'It is a pity—I sit corrected,' he replied meekly, trying to put his long legs into the least inconvenient place.
'Nobody never quarrels with Mr. Eggs,' said the carrier good-humouredly. The maid looked scornful; but Shady acknowledged the courtesy by a bland smile. They had cleared the town, and were advancing at a reasonable pace up the road, pleasant hedges on either side, and green fields around and before them, when again they were brought to a halt. A traveller, who, sitting on a milestone, was apparently awaiting their arrival, stood up as they advanced, and cried out, 'Room?'
Sparks looked dubious; the maid said 'No;' but Shady Eggs, with a complacent look, suggested that with management room might be found. All the company, except the one objector, seemed willing to accommodate; they took their packages on their knees, and sat closer.
'How excessive awk'ard!' said the angry servant; 'I really cannot carry more than this; I must have room for this parcel on the seat.'
'Allow me to convey it for you, ma'am,' said the imperturbable Shady; and, taking it from her as gently as if it had been a baby, he placed it on his knees and encompassed it with his arms. It was indeed a fragile thing—enveloped in paper, like a light-brown cloud, and bearing a printed declaration that it came from Mrs. Davy's fashionable millinery establishment.
'It's our cook's bonnet,' condescended the maid, not vouchsafing to thank Shady any further. Shady looked affectionately at his delicate burden, as if the whole van should perish before it should come to grief, and the stranger was installed a passenger.
It was not very hard to read the characters of his fellow-passengers. On faces worn by labour and bronzed by exposure might be chiefly read family cares—questionings of mind, perchance, as to whether the 'second-handed shoes' would fit Tommy, or whether Eliza would like her new place. Some were enjoying the opportunity of canvassing village matters, and others slept through all the joggings of the van. Such as they were, he scrutinized all, and then fixed his keen grey eyes on Shady. An amused expression passed over his face as he noticed the grave care he bestowed on his charge. Turning to the driver, he began to question him as to the surrounding objects. Not a building escaped; he would know everything, and John was as communicative as any questioner could wish.
'That building in the distance, among trees,' said the stranger; 'it looks well—what is it?'
'What! you?' said Sparks. 'Why, that's the Jew, sir; we shall pass it—it's one of my places I stop at.'
'The Jew?' said the stranger.
'The Dew, sir,' interposed Shady, with a look of benevolent pity for Sparks' ignorance,—'Parker's Dew, as it is commonly, but erroneously called.' This was added with solemn importance.
'And what is the proper name?' asked the stranger.
Shady, with a conscious look round the van, that betrayed his self-satisfaction, replied, rather pompously, 'Par grâce de Dieu, sir, which, if, as I suppose, you are a French scholar' (another glance at the passengers), 'you are aware means, "By the grace of God."' The stranger nodded. 'Originally, sir,' continued Shady, drawing up his back to its full length, 'it was given by the Norman William to the founder of the family of De la Mark, in whose possession it has ever since continued. There were strange ideas of right in those days, as you, sir, if a student of history, must know, and that which men got by the violence of the sword they considered to be theirs by the grace of God. But whether the name was invented by the Conqueror, or given to the place by Mark de la Mark, the first lord of the manor, and founder of the distinguished line, I have not been able to discover.'
'What! have you ever tried?' said the stranger, laughing. The laugh was infectious; Sparks laughed, the Hall maid laughed, with something like scorn, and all the van grinned, though those at the back had not heard the conversation. Shady's equanimity was not broken; he surveyed all with a surprised—perhaps a little injured—but forgiving air, an............