DOI Artikel:
Grahame, Kenneth: The Headswoman
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27812#0032
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The Headswoman
There was a touch of scorn in her hne contralto voice as she
finished speaking ; the Mayor himself beamed approval. He was
not wealthy, and had a large family of daughters; so Jeanne's
sentiments seemed to him entirely right and laudable.
"Well, gentlemen," he began, briskly, "then all we've got to
do, is to-"
" Beg pardon, your worship," put in Master Robinet, the
tanner, who had been sitting with a petrified, Bill-the-Lizard sort
of expression during the speechifying; " but are we to understand
as how this here young lady is going to be the public
executioner ? "
" Really, neighbour Robinet," said the Mayor somewhat
pettishly, "you've got ears like the rest of us, I suppose; and
you know the contents of the deed ; and you've had my assurance
that it's—er—quite in order ; and as it's getting towards lunch-
time-"
" But it's unheard-of," protested honest Robinet. " There
hasn't ever been no such thing—leastways not as I've heard
tell."
"Well, well, well," said the Mayor, "everything must have a
beginning, I suppose. Times are different now, you know.
There's the march of intellect, and—er—all that sort of thing.
We must advance with the times—don't you see, Robinet ?—
advance with the times ! "
"Well I'm-" began the tanner.
But no one heard, on this occasion, the tanner's opinion as to
his condition, physical or spiritual; for the clear contralto cut
short his obtestations.
" If there's really nothing more to be said, Mr. Mayor," she
remarked, " I need not trespass longer on your valuable time. I
propose to take up the duties of my ofHce to-morrow morning, at
the
The Headswoman
There was a touch of scorn in her hne contralto voice as she
finished speaking ; the Mayor himself beamed approval. He was
not wealthy, and had a large family of daughters; so Jeanne's
sentiments seemed to him entirely right and laudable.
"Well, gentlemen," he began, briskly, "then all we've got to
do, is to-"
" Beg pardon, your worship," put in Master Robinet, the
tanner, who had been sitting with a petrified, Bill-the-Lizard sort
of expression during the speechifying; " but are we to understand
as how this here young lady is going to be the public
executioner ? "
" Really, neighbour Robinet," said the Mayor somewhat
pettishly, "you've got ears like the rest of us, I suppose; and
you know the contents of the deed ; and you've had my assurance
that it's—er—quite in order ; and as it's getting towards lunch-
time-"
" But it's unheard-of," protested honest Robinet. " There
hasn't ever been no such thing—leastways not as I've heard
tell."
"Well, well, well," said the Mayor, "everything must have a
beginning, I suppose. Times are different now, you know.
There's the march of intellect, and—er—all that sort of thing.
We must advance with the times—don't you see, Robinet ?—
advance with the times ! "
"Well I'm-" began the tanner.
But no one heard, on this occasion, the tanner's opinion as to
his condition, physical or spiritual; for the clear contralto cut
short his obtestations.
" If there's really nothing more to be said, Mr. Mayor," she
remarked, " I need not trespass longer on your valuable time. I
propose to take up the duties of my ofHce to-morrow morning, at
the