CHAPTER XX
THE GLEANERS
When Bessie and Robert returned to Highfield; when the people discovered how the light railway, which originally had been a matter of electricity, and then had degenerated into an affair of steam, was in fact a proposal of gas entirely; when Windward House remained empty and unswept, with the giant tortoise lord of the manor; and when the niggardly Dyer was attacked on all sides as the confederate of the public enemy—there unfortunately existed no genius of the lamp competent to continue the parochial record from the point where Captain Drake had closed it. Genii of the lantern undoubtedly did exist, and these made another story, a kind of fairy tale, which was not told outside the village. All the water was spilt near the pump. Nobody took part in the revolution which followed, causing an alteration in the landscape; at least nobody in particular; but there was not a man, woman, or child of destructive age who did not give a hand towards the general rubbing of the lamp. When the furniture failed to arrive at the banks of the Drivel, and inquiry elicited the fact that all had passed into the hands of dealers, Kezia fell into a state of melancholy which not even her favourite Sunday walk around the cemetery was able to relieve; and when the cruel truth of George's unassailable title to Windward House was broken gently room by room, despondency increased upon her to such an extent that she actually paid a visit to the electric theatre.
Miss Yard laughed merrily at the humorous idea of buying new furniture, and told everybody about her provincial escape from the fire which had destroyed everything she possessed, and how a young gentleman called Sidney had rescued her from the flames at great personal risk. She was so grateful that she suggested he might become engaged to Nellie, and he had done so at once; which showed how absurd it was to say that young men of the present day were rude and disobedient. Of course it was understood that the engagement was only to continue during her lifetime. As for Nellie, she breathed a great sigh of relief. The loss of the furniture might be a serious matter, so far as Kezia's future and Miss Yard's banking account were concerned; but it meant the total eclipse of George. He could not show his face either in Highfield or Drivelford; he had done for himself completely. She refused to listen to Sidney's proposal of instructing Hunter to institute proceedings.
"By doing nothing we get rid of him for ever," she said.
"Anyhow, we can take action against the people who bought the things," he urged.
"We shall do nothing of the kind. It would worry the old lady into her grave; and I believe that's your object."
"I want to punish the brute for bullying you and preaching at me."
"You can't make a thick-skinned creature like George feel anything," she answered. "If he were put in prison, he would congratulate himself upon living free of expense. And if he refunded the money, he would insist upon coming here and living with Miss Sophy. It would be no use turning him out. He would come back like a cat and make us all miserable. Leave him alone, and we shall hear no more of him."
She prophesied truly. Those who had been honoured by the society, and somewhat doubtful friendship, of George Drake were not privileged to look upon him—or on his like—again. After gathering in his harvest, he retired into the privacy of lodgings, having a sum of sixteen hundred pounds to his credit, and spent a couple of years drinking tea, smoking cigars, and trying to make up his mind whether his landlady's daughter "would do."