A little shyness on Caleb’s part was quickly overcome. He entered the cottage, and was presently seated at the same table with Pansy. He was amply compensated for all that he had suffered on account of yielding to Madge’s request that he should take the Ringsford harvest in hand.
The gardener, since he had settled in the south, had, like many of his countrymen, considerably loosened the Puritanical stays which he had been accustomed to wear in the north. Indeed, it was said that he had been discovered in the greenhouse on a Sabbath, when he ought to have been in church. He still, however, felt the influence of old habits, and so he said grace in this fashion:
‘Fa’ tae, fa’ tae, and thank the Lord for a guid supper.’
When the meal was finished, Sam took his guest out to see a new geranium which he was cultivating; and then he revealed to him a fancy which he had been cultivating as largely as his geranium.
‘I was thinking, Kersey, that you have been getting on bravely with the harvest. Noo, if you could just manage to cut the last stook on the day of Mr Philip’s dinner, it would be a real surprise to the folk at the house, and a grand feather in your cap.’
‘I think it can be done,’ said Caleb quietly.
And it was done. On the evening fixed for the festival, the last sheaf of the Ringsford grain was placed on the lawn in front of the Manor. Whilst the guests were arriving, Madge had been told by Sam Culver that this was to be done; so she went out with Uncle Dick and Mr Hadleigh to congratulate Caleb on the good harvest he had gathered in, and to thank him on her own part for having undertaken the task.
‘It’s the best job you have ever done, Caleb,’ cried Uncle Dick, giving him a hearty slap on the shoulder. ‘Stick to this kind of thing, my lad, and leave speechifying to them that cannot do any better.’
‘I am always ready to work,’ replied Caleb, avoiding the second part of his well-wisher’s speech.
‘I offer you my sincere thanks, Kersey,’ said Mr Hadleigh in his reserved way; ‘and it would please me to hear of anything I could do for you.’