DOI article:
D'Arcy, Ella: Poor cousin Louis
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21215#0041
By Ella D'Arcy 37
to thc heroine of a farce. The silence too was shattered as the
new comer's foot feil upon the stones. An unseen dog began
to mouth a joyous welcome, and the fowls, lifting their thin,
apprehensive faces towards her, flopped into a clumsy run as
though their last hour were visible.
The visitor meanwhile turned familiär Steps to a door in the
wall on the left, and raising the latch, entered the flower garden of
Les Calais. This garden, lying to the south, consisted then, and
perhaps does still, of two Square grass-plots with a broad gravel
path running round them and up to the centre of the house.
In marked contrast with the neglect of the farmyard was this-
exquisitely kept garden, brilliant and fragrant with flowers. From
a raised bed in the centre of each plot Standard rose-trees shed out
gorgeous perfume from chalices of every shade of loveliness, and
thousands of white pinks justled Shoulder to Shoulder in narrow
bands cut within the borders of the grass.
Busy over these, his back towards her, was an elderly man,
braces hanging, in coloured cotton shirt. " Good afternoon,
Tourtel," cried the lady, advancing. Thus addressed, hestraight-
ened himself slowly and turned round. Leaning on his hoe, he
shaded his eyes with his hand. "Eh den! it's you, Missis
Pedvinn," said he ; " but we didn't expec' you tili to-morrow ? "
" No, it's true," said Mrs. Poidevin, " that I wrote I would
come Saturday, but Pedvinn expects some friends by the English
boat, and wants me to receive them. Yet as they may be stay-
ing the week, I did not like to put poor Cousin Louis off so long
without a visit, so thought I had better come up to-day."
Almost unconsciously, her phrases assumed apologetic form.
She had an uneasy feeling Tourtel's wife might resent her un-
expected advent; although why Mrs. Tourtel should object, or
why she herseif should stand in any awe of the Tourtels, she
could
to thc heroine of a farce. The silence too was shattered as the
new comer's foot feil upon the stones. An unseen dog began
to mouth a joyous welcome, and the fowls, lifting their thin,
apprehensive faces towards her, flopped into a clumsy run as
though their last hour were visible.
The visitor meanwhile turned familiär Steps to a door in the
wall on the left, and raising the latch, entered the flower garden of
Les Calais. This garden, lying to the south, consisted then, and
perhaps does still, of two Square grass-plots with a broad gravel
path running round them and up to the centre of the house.
In marked contrast with the neglect of the farmyard was this-
exquisitely kept garden, brilliant and fragrant with flowers. From
a raised bed in the centre of each plot Standard rose-trees shed out
gorgeous perfume from chalices of every shade of loveliness, and
thousands of white pinks justled Shoulder to Shoulder in narrow
bands cut within the borders of the grass.
Busy over these, his back towards her, was an elderly man,
braces hanging, in coloured cotton shirt. " Good afternoon,
Tourtel," cried the lady, advancing. Thus addressed, hestraight-
ened himself slowly and turned round. Leaning on his hoe, he
shaded his eyes with his hand. "Eh den! it's you, Missis
Pedvinn," said he ; " but we didn't expec' you tili to-morrow ? "
" No, it's true," said Mrs. Poidevin, " that I wrote I would
come Saturday, but Pedvinn expects some friends by the English
boat, and wants me to receive them. Yet as they may be stay-
ing the week, I did not like to put poor Cousin Louis off so long
without a visit, so thought I had better come up to-day."
Almost unconsciously, her phrases assumed apologetic form.
She had an uneasy feeling Tourtel's wife might resent her un-
expected advent; although why Mrs. Tourtel should object, or
why she herseif should stand in any awe of the Tourtels, she
could