"Sit ye there, my lamb, and never mind nobody. Lor'! You be
a-shiverin' an' shakin' like a little asp, I declare. Poor child!"
sighed she, gustily commiserate, and patting my head with her great
plump hand. "Pore little soul--never mind, then!"
"Madam," said I, somewhat overwhelmed by her solicitude, "I am not so
very--so extreme youthful as you deem me."
"Ain't you, lovey?"
"Indeed, no! I am nineteen."
"Nineteen, dearie--lor', an' you s' small an' all--"
"I am five feet three--almost!"
"Are ye, dearie--lor'! But then I'm s' big, most other folks seems
small to me--'specially men--men is all children--'specially my man.
Which do mind me. Sammy," she called, "go into the wash'us an' let
Susie pump on ye. Susie, jest you pump water on your master's
'ead--this moment."
"Yes, ma'm!" And presently sure enough, from somewhere adjacent rose
the clank of a pump to the accompaniment of much splashing and
gasping.
"That'll do, Susie!"
"Yes, ma'm."
"Now you, Sammy, go an' lie down--this moment. 'E'll be all right
arter this, dearie. Susie!"
"Yes, ma'm."
"Go light a fire for this young genelman in Number Four. This moment."
"Yes, ma'm."
"The best chamber but one, dearie. And a feather bed!" All this as she
bustled to and fro, and very quietly despite her size, while I sat
gazing into the fire and hearkening to the patter of rain on the
windows and the wind that howled dismally without and rumbled in the
wide chimney so that I must needs wonder how it fared with the
travellers and if I should ever see either of them again.
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