As we drove back through Norton Bury,I saw that while her mother and Lady Oldtower conversed,Maud sat opposite rather more silent than her wont;but when the ladies dismounted for shopping,she was again the lively independent Miss Halifax,"Standing with reluctant feet,Where womanhood and childhood meet;"and assuming at once the prerogatives and immunities of both.
Her girlish ladyship at last got tired of silks and ribbons,and stood with me at the shop-door,amusing herself with commenting on the passers-by.
These were not so plentiful as I once remembered,though still the old town wore its old face--appearing fairer than ever,as I myself grew older.The same Coltham coach stopped at the Lamb Inn,and the same group of idle loungers took an interest in its disemboguing of its contents.But railways had done an ill turn to the coach and to poor Norton Bury:where there used to be six inside passengers,to-day was turned out only one.
"What a queer-looking little woman!Uncle Phineas,people shouldn't dress so fine as that when they are old."Maud's criticism was scarcely unjust.The light-coloured flimsy gown,shorter than even Coltham fashionables would have esteemed decent,the fluttering bonnet,the abundance of flaunting curls--no wonder that the stranger attracted considerable notice in quiet Norton Bury.As she tripped mincingly along,in her silk stockings and light shoes,a smothered jeer arose.
"People should not laugh at an old woman,however conceited she may be,"said Maud,indignantly.
"Is she old?"
"Just look."
And surely when,as she turned from side to side,I caught her full face--what a face it was!withered,thin,sallow almost to deathliness,with a bright rouge-spot on each cheek,a broad smile on the ghastly mouth.
"Is she crazy,Uncle Phineas?"
"Possibly.Do not look at her."For I was sure this must be the wreck of such a life as womanhood does sometimes sink to--a life,the mere knowledge of which had never yet entered our Maud's pure world.
She seemed surprised,but obeyed me and went in.I stood at the shop-door,watching the increasing crowd,and pitying,with that pity mixed with shame that every honest man must feel towards a degraded woman,the wretched object of their jeers.Half-frightened,she still kept up that set smile,skipping daintily from side to side of the pavement,darting at and peering into every carriage that passed.
Miserable creature as she looked,there was a certain grace and ease in her movements,as if she had fallen from some far higher estate.
At that moment,the Mythe carriage,with Mr.Brithwood in it,dozing his daily drive away,his gouty foot propped up before him--slowly lumbered up the street.The woman made a dart at it,but was held back.
"Canaille!I always hated your Norton Bury!Call my carriage.Iwill go home."
Through its coarse discordance,its insane rage,I thought I knew the voice.Especially when,assuming a tone of command,she addressed the old coachman:
"Draw up,Peter;you are very late.People,give way!Don't you see my carriage?"There was a roar of laughter,so loud that even Mr.Brithwood opened his dull,drunken eyes and stared about him.