But the hackman was gratified by Mrs. Hungerford’s interest and a chance for his own garrulity, and promptly informed them:
“’Tain’t never fair to judge no town by its water-front. Course not. Stands to reason that shipyards and docks and sailorses’ saloons ain’t laid out for beauty. But just you wait till we get up the hill a speck and then you’ll see somethin’ worth seein’. True. There ain’t a nicer town in the whole Province o’ Novy Scoshy ’an Ya’mouth is. Now we’re a gettin’. Now! See there?”
“Ah! how lovely!” “Oh! Auntie Lu!” “Oh! my heart, my heart! If only darling Father John could see that hedge? What is it, Auntie Lu, can you tell?” cried Dorothy in rapture; for, indeed, the hedges of this old town by the sea are famous everywhere the name of Yarmouth is heard.
The driver didn’t wait for Mrs. Hungerford to reply, even if she could have done so. He received every question and exclamation as personal and proudly answered:
“Ha’tho’n, them are, this side. Then yonder is spruce. And our gardens! If you women-folks love posies as most females does, you’d ought to be here a spell later. Roses ain’t out yet but cherries is in flower.”
“Roses not in bloom? Why, they’re past it with us!” responded Auntie Lu, surprised.
“Hmm, ma’am. And where might that be, if I c’n make so bold?”
“The vicinity of New York, I was recalling.”
“Hmm. Exactly. A poor kind of country, New York is, even though they do call it the ‘Empire State’ and try to bolster up its failin’s with a lot of fine talk. Now our Province o’ Novy Scoshy, and this Ya’mouth, don’t need to do no talkin’. All’s necessary for us and them is just to—BE! Once a feller comes and gets a good square look at us—no water-front way—” he interpolated, with a shrewd glance toward Miss Isobel’s averted face and an absurd wink to Mrs. Hungerford—“he just sets right down and quits talkin’ of his own places. Fact. I’ve lived here all my life and that’s the reason I know it.”
The man’s good nature and self-satisfaction were vastly amusing to Aunt Lucretia, who ignored what seemed impertinence to the more formal Miss Greatorex, while the former inwardly delighted in this to her “new type” of liveryman, and was already anticipating the Judge’s entertainment when the story of this ride was told him.