“Such things should not be mentioned at all,” Kate replied, having been
angered at the insinuation that the nature of Captain Bellfield’s footing could
be a matter of any moment to her.
“No, they shouldn’t; and therefore I know that I’m quite safe with you, Miss
Vavasor. He’s a very pleasant fellow, very; and has seen the world — uncommon;
but he’s better for eating and drinking with than he is for buying and selling
with, as we say in Norfolk. Do you like Norfolk, Miss Vavasor?”
“I never was in it before, and now I’ve only seen Yarmouth.”
“A nice place, Yarmouth, very; but you should come up and see our lands. I
suppose you don’t know that we feed one-third of England during the winter
months.”
“Dear me!”
“We do, though; nobody knows what a county Norfolk is. Taking it altogether,
including the game you know, and Lord Nelson, and its watering-places and the
rest of it, I don’t think there’s a county in England to beat it. Fancy feeding
one-third of all England and Wales!”
“With bread and cheese, do you mean, and those sort of things?”
“Beef!” said Mr Cheesacre, and in his patriotic energy he repeated the word
aloud. “Beef! Yes indeed; but if you were to tell them that in London they
wouldn’t believe you. Ah! you should certainly come down and see our lands. The
7.45 A.M. train would take you through Norwich to my door, as one may say, and
you would be back by the 6.22 P.M.” In this way he brought himself back again
into good humour, feeling, that in the absence of the widow, he could not do
better than make progress with the niece.
In the mean time Mrs Greenow and the Captain were getting on very comfortably
in the other boat. “Take an oar, Captain,” one of the men had said to him as
soon as he had placed the ladies. “Not today, Jack,” he had answered. “I’ll
content myself with being bo’san this morning.”
“The best thing as the bo’san does is to pipe all hands to grog,” said the
man. “I won’t be behind in that either,” said the Captain; and so they all went
on swimmingly.
“What a fine generous fellow your friend, Mr Cheesacre, is!” said the
widow.
“Yes, he is; he’s a capital fellow in his way. Some of these Norfolk farmers
are no end of good fellows.”
“And I suppose he’s something more than a common farmer. He’s visited by the
people about where he lives, isn’t he?”
“Oh, yes, in a sort of a way. The county people, you know, keep themselves
very much to themselves.”
“That’s of course. But his house — he has a good sort of place, hasn’t
he?”
“Yes, yes — a very good house — a little too near to the horse-pond for my
taste. But when a man gets his money out of the till, he musn’t be ashamed of
the counter — must he, Mrs Greenow?”
“But he could live like a gentleman if he let his own land, couldn’t he?”
“That depends upon how a gentleman wishes to live.” Here the privacy of their
conversation was interrupted by an exclamation from a young lady to the effect
that Charlie Fairstairs was becoming sick. This Charlie stoutly denied, and
proved the truth of her assertion by her behaviour. Soon after this they
completed their marine adventures, and prepared to land close to the spot at
which the banquet was prepared,
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