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The House by the Church-Yard

Chapter 4 The Fair-Green of Palmerstown

Word Count: 3379    |    Released on: 18/11/2017

ry band, rousing all the echoes round with harmonious and exhilarating thunder, within - an occasional crack of a 'Brown Bess,' with a puff of white smoke over the hedge, being heard, and the cheers o

ourted, turned to his right, and so found himse

ome armed with muskets and some with fowling pieces - for they were not particular - and with bunches of ribbons fluttering in their three-cornered hats, and sprigs of gay flowers in their breasts, stood in the foreground, in an i

pink silk linings - and flashing buckles - and courtly wigs - or becoming powder - went pleasantly with the brilliant costume of the stately dames and smiling lasses. The

- sometimes five - sometimes as many as seven - and his hearty voice was heard bawling at them by name, as he sauntered through the town of a morning, and theirs occasionally in short screec

he'll oust Nutter at last, and get the agency; that's what he's driving at - always undermining somebody.' Doctor Sturk and Lord Castlemallard were talking apart on

ion it - had an instinctive notion that Sturk had an eye upon the civil practice of the neigh

ot to blame; and Sturk called him 'that drunken little apothecary'- for Toole had a boy who compounded, under the rose, his draughts, pills, and powders in the back parlour - and sometimes, 'that smutty little ballad singer,' or 'that wh

tiffly from his hips upward - his great cue playing all the time up and down his back, and sometimes so near the ground when he stood erect and thr

es had quite a pretty little pink colour - perfectly genuine - in her cheeks; command sat in her eye and energy on her lip - but though it was imperious and restless, there

little stupid, did not remember that such a remark was not likely to pleasure the charming Magnoli

that think so,' said Mag, with

a pipe of claret she's something to the bac

, who might more truly have told that tale of herself. 'Who's that pretty young man my Lord Castlem

ed. 'Why that's Mr. Mervyn, that's stopping at the Phoenix. A

a firmity kettle,' s

two livery footmen behind them,' threw in O'Flaherty,

sequence,' Toole rattled on; 'M

n her mouth, but I warrant cheese won't chok

ing, good-natured, cunning, foolish Mrs. Macnamara, t

er - though Magnolia's stature and activity did not always render that easy. To-day, for instance, when the firing was brisk, and some of the ladies uttered pretty little timid squalls, Miss Magnolia not only stood fire like brick, but with her own fair hands cracked off a firelock, and was more complimented and applauded than all the marksmen beside, although she shot most dangerously wide, and was much nearer hitting old Arthur Slowe than that respectable gentlema

tupidity. Over the fire-place in large black letters, was the legend, 'BETTER LATE THAN NEVER!' and out came the horn-books and spectacles, and to it they went with their A-B ab, etc., and plenty of wheezing and coughing. Aunt Becky kept good fires, and served out a mess of bread and broth, along with some pungent ethics, to each of her hopeful old girls. In winter she further encouraged them with a flannel petticoat apiece, and there was besides a monthly dole. So that although after a year there was, perhaps, on the whole, no progress in learning, the affair wore a tolerably encouraging aspect; for the academy had increased in numbers, and two old fellows, liking the notion of the broth and the 6d. a month - one a ba

s sister or niece - and so he made up to Mrs. Macnamara, who arrested a narrative in which she was demonstrating to O'Flaherty the general's lineal descent from old Chattesworth - an army tailor in Queen Anne's time - and his cousinship to a live butter dealer in Co

ed, and glanced uneasily out of the corner of his shrewd little eye at the unsuspicious general and on to Aunt Rebecca; for it was very important to Dr. Toole to stand well at Belmont. So, seeing that Miss M

r this sort of offence, like Chinese treason, is not visited on the arch offender only, but according to a scale of consanguinity, upon his kith and kin. The criminal is minced - his sons lashed - his nephews reduced to cutlets - his cousins to joints - and so on - none of the family quite escapes;

interest, stepped into the fair-green, the dark blue glance of poor Nan Glynn, of Palmerstown, from under her red Sunday riding-hood, followed the tall, dashing, graceful appariti

h, true lady - I never saw the pleasant crayon sketch that my mother used to speak of, but the tradition of thee has come to me - so bright and tender, with its rose and

etter, but I'm such a weak coxcomb - a father-confessor might keep me nearer to my duty - some one to scold

dy; for she had never heard anything worse of him - very young ladies sel

tend her school in Martin's Row, with "better late than never" over her chimneypiece: there are two

just the least bit in the world piqued; 'I know she would do it zealously; but ne

rily,' five years ago, when I was a little girl, you once calle

poor little joke, and how much the handsome lieutenant would have given, at

w; won't you forget my old impertinences, and allow me to m

t - but you know I can't he

reproof. Yes, you shall lecture me - I'll bear it from none but you,

sant to you, 'tis a certain

, with an honest and very peculiar light in his dark, strange eyes; and after a little pause, 'I'll tell

y business to ma

rhaps happy, that is to say, better. I thi

gh a little unconscious sigh. The old man did not hear her - he was too absorbed in his talk - he only felt the pressure of his darling's little hand, and returned it, after his wont, with a gentle squeeze of his cassocked arm, while he continued the learned essay he was addressing to

y should I? How is it that she interests me, and yet repels me so easily? And - and when I came here first,' he continued aloud, 'you were, oh dear! how mere a child, hardly eleven years old. How long I've known you, Miss Lilias, and yet how formal you are with me.' There was reproach almost fie

nds with him, and only bowed the lower, and answered her grave smile, which seemed to say

that I can't be happy away from her. I'll let her see I can

ed, walked with them to the gate of the fair-green. As he passed he bowed low to good Parson Walsingham, who returned his salute, n

ow and a blight follow him not into this place.' The rector murm

, what could have darkened it with a look so sad and anxious; and then her eyes also followed the r

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1 A Prologue - Being a dish of village chat2 The Rector's Night-Walk to His Church3 Chapter 2 The Nameless Coffin4 Chapter 3 Mr. Mervyn in His Inn5 Chapter 4 The Fair-Green of Palmerstown6 Chapter 5 How the Royal Irish Artillery Entertained Some of t7 Chapter 6 In which the Minstrelsy Proceeds8 Chapter 7 Showing How Two Gentlemen May Misunderstand One Ano9 Chapter 8 Relating How Doctor Toole and Captain Devereux Went10 Chapter 9 How a Squire was Found for the Knight of the Rueful11 Chaptear 10 The Dead Secret, Showing How the Fireworker Prove12 Chapter 11 Some Talk About the Haunted House - Being, as I 13 Chapter 12 Some Odd Facts About the Tiled House - Being an 14 Chapter 13 In which the Rector Visits the Tiled House, and Do15 Chaptear 14 Relating How Puddock Purged O'flaherty's Head16 Chaptear 15 Sculapius to the Rescue17 Chapter 16 The Ordeal by Battle18 Chapter 17 Lieutenant Puddock Receives an Invitation and a Ra19 Chapter 18 Relating How the Gentlemen Sat Over Their Claret, 20 Chapter 19 In which the Gentlemen Follow the Ladies21 Chapter 20 In which Mr. Dangerfield Visits the Church of Chap22 Chapter 21 Relating Among Other Things How Doctor Toole Walke23 Chapter 22 Telling How Mr. Mervyn Fared at Belmont, and of a 24 Chapter 23 Which Concerns the Grand Dinner at the King's Ho25 Chapter 24 In which Two Young Persons Understand One Another 26 Chaptear 25 In which the Sun Sets, and the Merry-Making is Ke27 Chapter 26 Relating How the Band of the Royal Irish Artillery28 Chapter 27 Concerning the Troubles and the Shapes that Began 29 Chapter 28 In which Mr. Irons Recounts Some Old Recollections30 Chapter 29 Showing How Poor Mrs. Macnamara was Troubled and H31 Chapter 30 Concerning a Certain Woman in Black32 Chapter 31 Being a Short History of the Great Battle of Belmo33 Chapter 32 Narrating How Lieutenant Puddock and Captain Dever34 Chapter 33 In which Captain Devereux's Fiddle Plays a Prelu35 Chapter 34 In which Lilias Hears a Stave of an Old Song and T36 Chaptear 35 In which Aunt Becky and Doctor Toole, in Full Blo37 Chapter 36 Narrating How Miss Lilias Visited Belmont, and Saw38 Chapter 37 Showing How Some of the Feuds in Chapelizod Waxed 39 Chapter 38 Dreams and Troubles, and a Dark Look-Out40 Chapter 39 Telling How Lilias Walsingham Found Two Ladies Awa41 Chapter 40 Of a Messenger from Chapelizod Vault who Waited in42 Chaptear 41 In which the Rector Comes Home, and Lily Speaks H43 Chapter 42 In which Dr. Sturk Tries this Way and that for a R44 Chapter 43 Showing How Charles Nutter's Blow Descended, and45 Chapter 44 Relating How, in the Watches of the Night, a Visio46 Chapter 45 Concerning a Little Rehearsal in Captain Cluffe'47 Chapter 46 The Closet Scene, with the Part of Polonius Omitte48 Chapter 47 In which Pale Hecate Visits the Mills, and Charles49 Chapter 48 Swans on the Water50 Chapter 49 Swans in the Water51 Chapter 50 Treating of Some Confusion, in Consequence, in the52 Chapter 51 How Charles Nutter's Tea, Pipe, and Tobacco-Box 53 Chapter 52 Concerning a Rouleau of Guineas and the Crack of a54 Chapter 53 Relating After what Fashion Dr. Sturk Came Home55 Chapter 54 In which Miss Magnolia Macnamara and Dr. Toole, in56 Chapter 55 In which Dr. Toole, in Full Costume, Stands Upon t57 Chapter 56 Doctor Walsingham and the Chapelizod Christians Me58 Chapter 57 In which Dr. Toole and Mr. Lowe Make a Visit at th59 Chapter 58 In which One of Little Bopeep's Sheep Comes Home60 Chapter 59 Telling How a Coach Drew up at the Elms, and Two F61 Chapter 60 Being a Chapter of Hoops, Feathers, and Brilliants62 Chapter 61 In which the Ghosts of a by-Gone Sin Keep Tryst63 Chapter 62 Of a Solemn Resolution which Captain Devereux Regi64 Chapter 63 In which a Liberty is Taken with Mr. Nutter's Na65 Chapter 64 Being a Night Scene, in which Miss Gertrude Chatte66 Chapter 65 Relating Some Awful News that Reached the Village,67 Chapter 66 Of a Certain Tempest that Arose and Shook the Capt68 Chapter 67 In which a Certain Troubled Spirit Walks69 Chapter 68 How an Evening Passes at the Elms, and Dr. Toole M70 Chapter 69 Concerning a Second Hurricane that Raged in Captai71 Chapter 70 In which an Unexpected Visitor is Seen. In the Ced72 Chapter 71 In which Mr. Irons's Narrative Reaches Merton Mo73 Chaptear 72 In which the Apparition of Mr. Irons is Swallowed74 Chapter 73 Concerning a Certain Gentleman, with a Black Patch75 Chapter 74 In which Doctor Toole, in His Boots, Visits Mr. Ga76 Chapter 75 How a Gentleman Paid a Visit at the Brass Castle, 77 Chapter 76 Relating How the Castle was Taken, and How Mistres78 Chapter 77 In which Irish Melody Prevails79 Chapter 7880 Chapter 79 Showing How Little Lily's Life Began to Change i81 Chapter 8082 Chapter 81 In which Mr. Dangerfield Receives a Visitor, and M83 Chapter 8284 Chapter 8385 Chapter 84 In which Christiana Goes Over; and Dan Loftus Come86 Chapter 8587 Chapter 8688 Chapter 8789 Chapter 88 In which Mr. Moore the Barber Arrives, and the Med90 Chapter 8991 Chapter 9092 Chapter 9193 Chapter 92 The Wher-Wolf94 Chapter 93 In which Doctor Toole and Dirty Davy Confer in the95 Chapter 94 What Doctor Sturk Brought to Mind, and All that Do96 Chapter 95 In which Doctor Pell Declines a Fee, and Doctor St97 Chapter 96 About the Rightful Mrs. Nutter of the Mills, and H98 Chapter 97 In which Obediah Arrives99 Chapter 98 In which Charles Archer Puts Himself Upon the Coun100 Chapter 99 The Story Ends