登陆注册
15492300000019

第19章 CHAPTER VIII: THEY DANCE MORE WILDLY(1)

Dick had at length secured Fancy for that most delightful of country-dances, opening with six-hands-round.

"Before we begin," said the tranter, "my proposal is, that 'twould be a right and proper plan for every mortal man in the dance to pull off his jacket, considering the heat."

"Such low notions as you have, Reuben! Nothing but strip will go down with you when you are a-dancing. Such a hot man as he is!"

"Well, now, look here, my sonnies," he argued to his wife, whom he often addressed in the plural masculine for economy of epithet merely; "I don't see that. You dance and get hot as fire; therefore you lighten your clothes. Isn't that nature and reason for gentle and simple? If I strip by myself and not necessary, 'tis rather pot-housey I own; but if we stout chaps strip one and all, why, 'tis the native manners of the country, which no man can gainsay? Hey--what did you say, my sonnies?"

"Strip we will!" said the three other heavy men who were in the dance; and their coats were accordingly taken off and hung in the passage, whence the four sufferers from heat soon reappeared, marching in close column, with flapping shirt-sleeves, and having, as common to them all, a general glance of being now a match for any man or dancer in England or Ireland. Dick, fearing to lose ground in Fancy's good opinion, retained his coat like the rest of the thinner men; and Mr. Shiner did the same from superior knowledge.

And now a further phase of revelry had disclosed itself. It was the time of night when a guest may write his name in the dust upon the tables and chairs, and a bluish mist pervades the atmosphere, becoming a distinct halo round the candles; when people's nostrils, wrinkles, and crevices in general, seem to be getting gradually plastered up; when the very fiddlers as well as the dancers get red in the face, the dancers having advanced further still towards incandescence, and entered the cadaverous phase; the fiddlers no longer sit down, but kick back their chairs and saw madly at the strings, with legs firmly spread and eyes closed, regardless of the visible world. Again and again did Dick share his Love's hand with another man, and wheel round; then, more delightfully, promenade in a circle with her all to himself, his arm holding her waist more firmly each time, and his elbow getting further and further behind her back, till the distance reached was rather noticeable; and, most blissful, swinging to places shoulder to shoulder, her breath curling round his neck like a summer zephyr that had strayed from its proper date. Threading the couples one by one they reached the bottom, when there arose in Dick's mind a minor misery lest the tune should end before they could work their way to the top again, and have anew the same exciting run down through. Dick's feelings on actually reaching the top in spite of his doubts were supplemented by a mortal fear that the fiddling might even stop at this supreme moment; which prompted him to convey a stealthy whisper to the far-gone musicians, to the effect that they were not to leave off till he and his partner had reached the bottom of the dance once more, which remark was replied to by the nearest of those convulsed and quivering men by a private nod to the anxious young man between two semiquavers of the tune, and a simultaneous "All right, ay, ay," without opening the eyes. Fancy was now held so closely that Dick and she were practically one person. The room became to Dick like a picture in a dream; all that he could remember of it afterwards being the look of the fiddlers going to sleep, as humming-tops sleep, by increasing their motion and hum, together with the figures of grandfather James and old Simon Crumpler sitting by the chimney-corner, talking and nodding in dumb-show, and beating the air to their emphatic sentences like people near a threshing machine.

The dance ended. "Piph-h-h-h!" said tranter Dewy, blowing out his breath in the very finest stream of vapour that a man's lips could form. "A regular tightener, that one, sonnies!" He wiped his forehead, and went to the cider and ale mugs on the table.

"Well!" said Mrs. Penny, flopping into a chair, "my heart haven't been in such a thumping state of uproar since I used to sit up on old Midsummer-eves to see who my husband was going to be."

"And that's getting on for a good few years ago now, from what I've heard you tell," said the tranter, without lifting his eyes from the cup he was filling. Being now engaged in the business of handing round refreshments, he was warranted in keeping his coat off still, though the other heavy men had resumed theirs.

"And a thing I never expected would come to pass, if you'll believe me, came to pass then," continued Mrs. Penny. "Ah, the first spirit ever I see on a Midsummer-eve was a puzzle to me when he appeared, a hard puzzle, so say I!"

"So I should have fancied," said Elias Spinks.

"Yes," said Mrs. Penny, throwing her glance into past times, and talking on in a running tone of complacent abstraction, as if a listener were not a necessity. "Yes; never was I in such a taking as on that Midsummer-eve! I sat up, quite determined to see if John Wildway was going to marry me or no. I put the bread-and-cheese and beer quite ready, as the witch's book ordered, and I opened the door, and I waited till the clock struck twelve, my nerves all alive and so strained that I could feel every one of 'em twitching like bell-wires. Yes, sure! and when the clock had struck, ho and behold, I could see through the door a LITTLE SMALL man in the lane wi' a shoemaker's apron on."

Here Mr. Penny stealthily enlarged himself half an inch.

"Now, John Wildway," Mrs. Penny continued, "who courted me at that time, was a shoemaker, you see, but he was a very fair-sized man, and I couldn't believe that any such a little small man had anything to do wi' me, as anybody might. But on he came, and crossed the threshold--not John, but actually the same little small man in the shoemaker's apron--"

同类推荐
  • Bramble-bees and Others

    Bramble-bees and Others

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 阴符经玄解正义

    阴符经玄解正义

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 摩登女解形中六事经

    摩登女解形中六事经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 疡医大全

    疡医大全

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • The Red Acorn

    The Red Acorn

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 逆天神炎

    逆天神炎

    在车祸中重生的张杰发现他的身体也跟着发生了神奇的变化。从此,他的命运开始的改变,人生一步步走向巅峰;一个张杰从未想到过的精彩纷呈的世界呈现在他眼前,然后他竖起了中指……
  • 鬼眼灵魂人

    鬼眼灵魂人

    鬼怪密云,一桩桩案件的背后,到底有什么样的隐情?
  • 灵耀三界

    灵耀三界

    千百年来,被视为“恶”之源的无妄之力一直被禁锢在无尽荒古之中。时命难测,轮回辗转间,无妄之力重现人间,却是封印在一个少年体内。十年后,厄运再临,满眼血与火,生死咫尺间。不甘命运摆布,遂奋起而抗。从此三界征伐,从此百战环生。历经雷霆霹雳,独闯幽冥生死,最终,灵耀三界。故事很长,很热血。用别具一格的方式,温柔地讲故事,讲三界沉浮,讲热血激斗,讲爱情,讲友情,讲这么一个,略有不同的玄幻故事……
  • 一梦江山几年

    一梦江山几年

    她穿越千年的时空,不想却被卷入了群雄逐鹿的风云乱世。孤城已是残垣断壁,枯骨遍野。流年逝,芳华尽,霸王已不在。他是楚霸王,她却不是虞美人。一场邂逅,是该叹息故事的无奈还是命运的作弄?
  • 回首青山在

    回首青山在

    天上掉下了一个馅饼,砸在了苏安安的头上,从此麻雀变凤凰,从小镇上撒丫子乱跑的灰姑娘到众星捧月的安氏小公主。霸气的老爸,帅气的哥哥,漂亮的姐姐,优秀的男朋友,眼看着苏安安一路绿灯屌丝逆袭,就要成为玛丽苏女王,谁料剧情突然反转,一夜之间,恍惚如梦……“如果说蜜糖是最蚀心的毒药,那么我庆幸自己曾经拥有过甜蜜。”诚如苏安安所说,每个人的心中都有一杆秤,称量着人情长短与是非对错。所以,没有什么放不下,也没有什么过不去,不信你看——又是一年三月,草初长,莺始飞,蓦然回首处,青山依旧在。
  • 网游之涅槃重生

    网游之涅槃重生

    游戏的第一人,遭爱人背叛,被敌对工会追杀,一代天王落幕!然而就此谢幕吗?不不不,时间的飞逝,由青涩走向成熟!新游戏带来全名游戏的浪潮!让我们笑看男主角如何在新游戏中掀起血雨腥风!兄弟在旁!美女做伴!这才是生活!
  • 荆棘之蜜

    荆棘之蜜

    一介心狠手辣的暴君被迫穿梭于各绝色小攻床笫之间的故事。小虐怡情,大虐伤身。一切只为小受的NP,一切只为大家的“性”福,贯彻小受是用来虐的宗旨,切记各小攻是渣渣的思想,脚踏实地的迈向NP界的大堂。深入,深入,再深入。(黑篮同人,火神总受,奇迹的渣渣。)
  • 孽龙神传奇

    孽龙神传奇

    孽龙因为是那万古宝地的得主,注定的神王之命,其一成形时便遭到了天庭原始天主的残杀。孽龙大怒之下分洋造海打死水母,却赢得了原始天主的女儿和龙祖的女儿的倾心相爱。而后又奇迹般的征服了当时仙境那两个“刀剑合璧三界无敌的旷世奇魔”。原始天主在无可耐何之下,便用他女儿与孽龙的关系将孽龙招安上天去征剿那几股恶煞割据势力,以将孽龙与那几个割据魔头同时一网打尽。孽龙却在他两个女友的帮助下茁壮的成长起来铲除了那几股恶煞割据势力,一统三界。
  • 幸福的追求

    幸福的追求

    没有想到自己会穿越了时空,经历过了相爱,痛苦,折磨,当回到现代的时候却发现再次遇到了他,真的是那时候的他吗?最后要做什么样的选择呢。。。。。。
  • 快穿之女配的逆袭路

    快穿之女配的逆袭路

    苏湄是一个恶毒女配专业户,从影三年来就没有饰演过一个正面角色,形象之恶毒深入人心,结局之凄惨大快人心,网络上的黑粉已经为她设计了250种死法,也许是民怨太深的原因,苏湄终于在万众期待之下被掉下来的悬挂式摄像机砸到了头,于是她悲催地发现,自己一次又一次地穿越到了不把她写死就对不起人民对不起党的剧本当中……其实这是一个女配踹倒女神,推到男神的励志故事!