This solution of the difficulty seemed satisfactory to Mrs Beer. “The good Lord bless ’em!” she said.
Then she also prepared to sleep; but a hideous din in her ear awoke her. A bellowing as of a thousand bulls came up from the road. It woke Mr Beer, as it was meant to do, and with his wife he hastened to peep into the dawn. Jane then told her husband what she had already seen, and this, combined with the spectacle now before them, roused both effectually. In another moment the publican was pulling on his clothes.
CHAPTER XIX
MR SIM TELLS THE TRUTH
Titus Sim returned home with the spirit of a conqueror. The long struggle was over and the battle won. Minnie Sweetland had promised to marry him, if only by so doing her late husband could be proved innocent; and he well knew there was no alternative. She would keep her word: that he also knew.
At supper in the servants’ hall of Middlecott Court, Titus, who arrived as the others were finishing their meal, showed such evident lightness of heart that Mr Hockaday, the butler, inquired the cause. Sim ate and spoke together. He announced his approaching marriage with the widow of Daniel Sweetland; and Dan, who sat smoking his pipe in a corner of the kitchen by the fire, heard his friend’s news and witnessed his joy.
“At last!” said Mr Hockaday. “Well, she have taken her time, no doubt; but you can’t wonder at that. It had to be; an’ she was worth waiting for. So there’ll be more changes, and you’ll leave Middlecott, no doubt? When’s the nupshalls?”
“I don’t know. That’s for her to say. Soon, I hope. I can’t believe it, Hockaday; ’tis almost too good to be true. My cup’s full.”