Stranica 248 [248]
188
and lame from the unaccustomed exercise,
turned down the hill by the church of the
quiet village, and plodding along the little
street, crept into a small public-house,
whose scanty light had guarded them to
the spot. There was a fire in the tap¬
room, and some country labourers were
drinking before it. ‘They made room for
the stranger, but he sat down in the far¬
thest corner, and eat and drank alone, or
rather with his dog, to whom he cast a
morsel of food from time to time.
The conversation of the men assembled
here turned upon the neighbouring land
and farmers, and when these topics were
exhausted, upon the age of some old man
who had been buried on the previous Sun¬
day; the young men present considering
him very old, and the old men present
declaring him to have been quite young—
not older, one white-haired grandfather
said, than he was, with ten or fifteen
years of life in him at least—if he had
taken care; if he had taken care.
There was nothing to attract attention
or excite alarm in this. The robber,
after paying his reckoning, sat silent and
unnoticed in his corner, and had almost
dropped asleep, when he was half waken¬
ed by the noisy entrance of a new-comer.
and half mountebank, who travelled about
the country on foot to vend hones, strops,
razors, washballs, harness-paste, medi¬
cines for dogs and horses, cheap per¬
fumery, cosmetics, and such-like wares,
which he carried in a case slung to his
back. His entrance was the signal for
various homely jokes with the country¬
men, which slackened not until he had
made his supper and opened his box of
treasures, when he ingeniously contrived
to unite business with amusement.
“ And what be that stoof—good to eat,
Harry?” asked a grinning countryman,
pointing to some composition cakes in one
corner.
‘'This”—said the fellow, producing
one, s this is the infallible and invaluable
composition for removing all sorts of
stain, rust, dirt, mildew, spick, speck,
spot, or spatter, from silk, satin, linen
cambric, cloth, crape, stuff, carpet, me¬
rino, muslin, bombazeen, or woollen stuff.
Wine-stains, fruit-stains, beer-stains, wa¬
ter-stains, paint-stains, pitch-stains, any
stains—all comes out at one rub with the
infallible and invaluable composition.
a lady stains her honour, she has on!
cured at once—for it’s poison. Ifa gen¬
tlernan wants to prove his, he has only
=z,
need to bolt one little square and he has
put it beyond question—for it’s quite as
satisfactory as a pistol-bullet, and a great
deal nastier in the flavour, consequently
the more credit in taking it. One penny
a square. With all these virtues, one
penny a square.”
There were two buyers directly, and
more of the listeners plainly hesitated.
The vender observing this, increased in
loquacity.
“It’s all bought up as fast as it can be
made,” said the fellow. “ There are four¬
teen water-mills, six steam-engines, and
a galvanic battery, always working upon
though the men work so hard that they
die off, and the widows is pensioned
directly with twenty pounds a year for
each of the children, and a premium of
fifty for twins. One penny a square, two
half-pence are all the same, and four far¬
things is received with joy. One penny
a square. Wine-stains, fruit-stains, beer¬
stains, water-stains, paint-stains, pitch¬
stains, mud-stains, blood-stains—here is a
stain upon the hat of a gentleman in com¬
pany that I’ll take clean out before he
can order me a pint of ale.”
“Ha!” cried Sikes, starting up, “ give
that back !”
6 [911 take it clean out, sir,” replied the
man, winking to the company, “ before
you can come across the room to get it.
Gentlemen, all, observe the dark stain
upon this gentleman’s hat, no wider than
a shilling, but thicker than a half-crown.
Whether it is a wine-stam, fruit-stain,
beer-stain, water-stain, paint-stain, pitch¬
stain, mud-stain, or blood-stain 2
The man got no further, for Sikes, with
a hideous imprecation, overthrew the
table, and, tearing the hat from him, burst
out of the house.
With the same perversity of feeling
and irresolution that had fastened upon
him despite himself, all day, the murderer
finding that he was not followed, and that
they most probably considered him some
drunken sullen fellow, turned back up the
town, and getting out of the glare of the
lamps of a stage-coach that was standing.
in the street, was walking past, when he
recognised the mail from London, and saw
that it was standing at the little post¬
ofice. He almost knew what was to
come, but he crossed over and listened.
The guard was standing at the door
waiting for the letter-bag. A man dressed
like a game-keeper came up at the mo¬
ment, and he handed him a basket which
lay ready on the pavement.