“Didn’t I say so, saucy! The poor young gentleman’s quite out of his senses. Here is Mr. Gladden coming down the stairs; he’s good at persuading them as are not wanted, to go.”
But Bess did not wait for Peter Gladden’s advent. She turned away suddenly from Mrs. Barbara, and went down out of the porch with a look as of pain upon her face.
XXI
Bess passed back in her red cloak between the cedars with Mrs. Barbara’s taunts still sounding in her ears. She felt benumbed at heart, baffled and very miserable, not knowing whither to turn for shelter now that Jeffray’s promise could have no fulfilment. Mrs. Gladden’s insolence had not hurt her so much as the thought of Richard stricken down so suddenly by this disease. Had but two days passed since he had talked with her in Holy Cross, and gazed with such earnestness upon her face? As she crossed the park Bess looked back wistfully at the great house where Jeffray lay sick of the fever. Her heart waxed very tender towards the man, despite her wounded pride and Mrs. Barbara’s insolence. If only it had been her lot to wait on Jeffray and spend her desire in such sweet service! If he had only fallen sick in Ursula’s cottage and lain there to be nursed by her as she had tended him that night not long ago! She felt desperate enough for her own sake as she thought of Dan. Ursula would have discovered her flight by now, and doubtless the whole hamlet was as wise as Ursula.
Passing under the yews and out by the lodge gates, she leaned against the park walls to rest and think. She had little money in her pocket, and knew next to nothing of the world. Where should she go, and how should she come by food and shelter? The very thought of returning to Pevensel was an utter abhorrence to her soul, and now at Rodenham Priory she could win no welcome. To hide herself from Dan and Isaac, that was her whole desire. She would beg, slave, feed pigs to escape their treachery until Jeffray was recovered of his disease.
Much beset by her dreads and her dilemmas, she took the road for Rodenham village after a last look at the priory half hidden amid its trees. She felt tired and hungry, having forgotten to take even a loaf with her in her fever to be gone. Her shoes were dusty, her mouth dry, for she had not drunk since dawn, when she had taken water in her palms from a brook that ran through the woods. She would go down to the village to buy food, despite the danger that the boors might set Dan on her track if he hunted her by way of Rodenham. Then, with her strength refreshed, she could trudge on towards Rookhurst, and perhaps find refuge as a servant in some farm-house.
As Bess was passing the garden gate of the rectory above the church, she saw a fat gentleman in his shirt-sleeves weeding the gravel path that wound up to the house. The place looked very peaceful in the morning light, with its tiled gables showing above chestnuts, yews, and hollies, and a single trail of smoke ascending from one tall chimney-stack. Bess conjectured that it was the parsonage, and that the stout gentleman was the incumbent. She knew nothing much of parsons save that they preached on the ten commandments, made wedlock honest, and baptized babies. Dr. Sugg’s red face was turned towards her as she stood outside the gate looking wistfully in. The rector had a garden-trug beside him and a hoe in his right hand. He was proud of his flowers and fruit trees, and was more severe on weeds than he was on sinners.
Bess was looking at Dr. Sugg very steadfastly. Surely the old gentleman had a good-tempered face and a pair of kindly eyes that were inclined to twinkle. Why should she not lay the burden of her distress before his broad, buckled shoes, and, being a man of God, he should be able to advise her. She turned in suddenly at the gate, purposing to try the sincerity of the old gentleman’s profession.
“May I speak with you, sir?”
Dr. Sugg stood up with several daisy roots in his hand, and stared at Bess with his shrewd and genial eyes. At the first glance, with her black hair and ruddy face, she might have been taken for a gypsy. A closer scrutiny suggested a more romantic and interesting vagrant. The girl was strangely handsome, with a fine carriage and almost the air of a great lady, and Dr. Sugg always had an appreciative smile for a comely woman.