L I B R.AR.Y 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UN IVER.5ITY 
 
 Of ILLl NOIS 
 
 8^3 
 
 v.l 
 
 p
 
 Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2010 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/pigskinwillowwit01webb
 
 PIGSKIN AND WILLOW.
 
 PIGSKIN AND WILLOW, 
 
 Mitlj ot^tr .S-prntins Stories. 
 
 BY 
 
 BYRON WEBBE E 
 
 IN THREE VOLUMES. 
 VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 TINSLRY BROTHERS, 8, CATHEEINE STREET, STEAND. 
 1879. 
 
 lEight of Translation reserved.']
 
 •ALLANTVNE AND HANSON, EDINBUKGIi 
 CHANDOS STREET, LONDON
 
 
 i 
 
 t 
 
 
 8^5 
 /. J. 
 
 I ^ijbicate 
 
 THIS COLLECTION OF STORIES 
 
 TO MY FRIEND, 
 
 JOSEPH DODDS, Esq., M.P., 
 
 A3 A SLIGHT MARK OF MT HEARTY APPRECIATION 
 
 OF HIS VERY MANY EXCILLKNT QUALITIES, 
 
 NOT THE LEAST CONSPICUOl S OF WHICH IS THE CORDIAL 
 
 SUPPORT GIVEN BY HIM 
 
 TO ALL DESCRIPTIONS OF WHOLESOME ENGLISH SPORT 
 
 IN THAT PART OF THE BORDERLAND WHERE 
 
 " HEATHERTHORP"' IS SITUATE. 
 
 THE AUTHOR.
 
 [The Author lias to lliarik Mr. A. H. Baily, Pro- 
 prietor ol' Bailu's Magazine, ibr jjerniission to re-pub- 
 lish two of the stories -whicli are included in tliis 
 collection.]
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 THE F I E 8 T V L L^ M E 
 
 PIGSKIN AND WILLOW. 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 TREATS SLIGHTLY OF THE TOWX, AND INTRODUCES THE 
 BARBER, THE DOCTOR. AND THE DOCTOR'S MAN ; ALSO 
 DESCRIBES AN IRREGULAR MATCH ACROSS COUNTRY. 
 
 pp. 1— •2^> 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 TREATS OF CERTAIN PRELIMINARIES TO A MEMORABLE GAME 
 
 AT CRICKET, CONCERNING WH I CH CLUB SCORE-BOOKS AND 
 
 • LOCAL REPORTERS ARE SILENT ; AND SHOWS THAT IF 
 
 DOCTOR SUTTON HAS AVON HIS " MATCH FOR LIFE." HE 
 
 HAS YET TO RECEIVE THE STAKES .... pp. 30 — 47 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 SHOWS HOW MATTHEW CRISP PLAYED THE PART OF A 
 TOUT, ADEQUATELY ACCOUNTS FOR DR. SUTTON's SUDDEN 
 DEPARTURE FROM HEATHERTHORP, AND STEALS SUNDRY 
 LEAVES FROM THE EPISTOLARY CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 MISS WILSON pp. 48 — 69 
 
 CHAPTER lY. 
 
 RECOUNTS THE FIRST PART OF AN ENGAGEMENT WHICH, 
 FOR THE HEROISM THEREIN DISPLAYED, MIGHT HAVE 
 BEEN RELATED IN THE CHRONICLES OF FROISSART 
 RATHER THAN HERE ; AND WHETS THE CURIOSITY OF 
 THE READER, IT IS HOPED, AS TO WHAT EXCITING 
 CIRCUMSTANCE THE NEXT CHAPTER WILL UNFOLD. 
 
 pp. 70—98
 
 viii . Contents. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 FURNISHES A FAITHFUL ACCOUNT OF THE SECOND AND 
 FINAL PART OF THE GLORIOUS ENGAGEMENT BETWEEN 
 HEATHERTHORP AND SHIPLET ; AND SHOWS HOW THE 
 DOCTOR FARED WITH HIS WAGER ... pp. 99 — 120 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 PORTRAYS A PASSAGE IN THE ANCIENT COURSE ''WHICH 
 NEVER DID RUN SMOOTH ;" EXHIBITS THAT AWFUL 
 PERSON, THE BRITISH FATHER, WITH HIS BACK UP ; 
 AND ILLUSTRATES THE WONDERFUL CAPACITY FOR CON- 
 SPIRACY WHICH A summer's EVENING MAY EXCITE 
 IN TWO YOUNG LADIES, WHEN ONE OF THEM IS IN 
 LOVE AND THE OTHER INCENSED . . pp. 127 — 158 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 DEALS WITH A TRIANGULAR DUEL, A PATERNAL EBULLI- 
 TION, A SENTENCE OF DOMESTIC EXPATRIATION, AND A 
 SHOWER OF TEARS ; DESCRIBES HOW THE DOCTOR CUN- 
 NINGLY BLENDED THE EXERCISE OF ONE GENTLE CRAFT 
 WITH THAT OF ANOTHER, AND AFFORDS A PROSPECT 
 OF THE RETURN MATCH BETWEEN HIM AND MR. 
 REGINALD WOODRIDGE pp. 154 — 184 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 CONTAINS NOTES OF THE VISIT TO SCARBOROUGH ; RE- 
 NEWS CHEERFUL INTERCOURSE WITH SOME EARLY 
 FRIENDS ; ENDEAVOURS TO DEPICT A REMARKABLE 
 MARKET-DINNER AT THE SURSINGLE ARMS; AND DE- 
 SCRIBES THE DRAWTNG-UP OF ARTICLES FOR THE 
 RETURN MATCH BETWEEN GREEK AND GREEK — OTHER- 
 WISE DOCTOR AND IRONMASTER ... pp. 185 — 212 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 CBI8P TASTES THE SWEETS OF RIGHTEOUS RETRIBUTION ; 
 KATE AND SYLVIA LAY THEIR HEADS TOGETHER ; BUR- 
 ROUGHS EXECUTES ANOTHER COMMISSION, AND THE 
 DOCTOR RECEIVES A MYSTERIOUS PARCEL, TOGETHER 
 WITH A BIT OF A DEVOUT YOUNG PERSON's MIND. 
 
 pp. 213—246
 
 PIGSKIN AND WILLOW, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 TREATS SLIGHTLY OF THE TOWN, AND DTTRODUCES THE 
 BARBER, THE DOCTOR, AND THE DOCTOR's MAN ; ALSO 
 DESCRIBES AN IRREGULAR MATCH ACROSS COUNTRY. 
 
 Let us begin in what may be termed the 
 Hibernian manner, and say that at Heather- 
 thorp Progress stands still. A many- 
 gabled old town in one of the Hidings of 
 Yorkshire, it had fallen into utter nothing- 
 ness, when the locomotive hissed down 
 The Coach, but for the love of wholesome 
 sport which most of the year kept the in- 
 habitants from rusting. Heitherthorp was 
 a racing and cricketing town in that hot 
 time when the shibboleth of the Radicals 
 VOL. I. 1
 
 PigsMn and Willow, 
 
 was " Old Sarum !" it is a sporting town, 
 pur et simple, at this present writing, 
 Manchester and manhood suffrage notwith- 
 standing. 
 
 Yet, as may be diyined, politics and 
 polemics have never been altogether absent 
 from Heatherthorp. Its tone, as beseems 
 an old-world settlement which grows most 
 of the eatables that are requisite for its 
 sustenance, and confines its manufactures 
 to articles easily " consumed on the 
 premises," is Tory out-and-out. The few 
 Quakers who abide in pretty semi-detached 
 villas at Heatherthorp, for the sake of its 
 salubrity, are a mild disturbance to its 
 quiet — but so mild that their most violent 
 demonstrations blend, so to speak, with the 
 habitually calm demeanour of the place, just 
 as a cawing rookery adds to the serenity 
 of a summer s eve. Those same Quakers 
 cause awakening tracts to be distributed at
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 the races which are held once a year on the 
 adjacent moor ; thej suffer annually (or did) 
 in their goods and chattels, at the shrine 
 of Mother Church ; and they take the 
 chair, in the person of their great gun — 
 may you call a follower of Greorge Fox a great 
 gun ? — at certain anti-capital punishment 
 and irrepressible nigger meetings which are 
 periodically held in a conventicle, the like of 
 which for downright ugliness was perhaps 
 never beheld. Their great gun, prim and 
 precise Nathan Barjona, is not a Conserva- 
 tive save in the matter of his wine. With 
 those fortunate creatures who have made 
 the acquaintance of the unparalleled liquor, 
 his port is a proverb. A former Chancellor 
 of the Exchequer is one of Nathan's idols, 
 but there is a limit to all idolatry. 
 Nathan's is Gladstonian claret. 
 
 Progress, like poverty, meets with strange 
 bedfellows. The person who daily takes 
 
 1-3
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 Heathertliorp by the nose, and keeps its 
 locks fashionably trimmed, is "Mr. Daniel 
 Essom, Hairdresser and Hatter — Schools 
 contracted for." He is variously known as 
 " Mr, Essom," " Friend Daniel,^' and " Little 
 Dan," and is a marvel. He is a barber of 
 the conventional type, in so far that he is 
 brisk, dapper, oily, pragmatical — but he is 
 Yorkshire — has dwelt in cities — and he 
 enunciates his opinions without fear or 
 favour. He loves a bit of racing ; he revels 
 in the study of a complicated handicap ; he 
 has strong views on the breeding of blood 
 stock and greyhounds ; he bets ; — but why 
 attempt the vain task of enumerating his 
 many other characteristics ? By dint of 
 attending the Fleet-street forums an entire 
 season, when he was a very young man, he 
 picked up Eadicalism, learnt to talk politi- 
 cal economy, and to rail against church 
 rates. Queer things to shake hands — Eacing
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 and Radicalism ; but in Daniel Essom's 
 regard they were equal, and their community 
 produced an eccentric result. His shop has 
 always been the Tattersall's of Heatherthorp, 
 thither flocking a racing clientele, to rub 
 shoulders with the parochially disaffected, 
 the hungerers and thirsters after political 
 emancipation, and the putters-down of 
 church rates. 
 
 One of his sturdiest friends was Barjona, 
 and yet the two opponents (the poles were 
 not wider asunder) seldom parted com- 
 pany without breaking a lance on the 
 subject of sport. When Sir Harry Sur- 
 single's bay colt Lightning (by Meteor out 
 of Electricity) won the Derby — Sir Harry 
 is Tory Member for the Riding of which 
 Heatherthorp is a not unimportant parlia- 
 mentary morsel — the vicar, who, it was 
 subsequently whispered, smelt a rat, was 
 quietly got out of the way, " to visit a
 
 Pigshin and Willow. 
 
 distant parishioner," and a celebrated society 
 of cliange-ringers, hurriedly bidden to Hea- 
 therthorp to startle hill and dale with 
 clanging, if unmelodious, news of the colt's 
 victory. The grey steeple of St. Martin- 
 the-Less fairly shook again as the ringers, 
 specially primed for the occasion, " rang a 
 peal of grandsire trebles consisting of 1867 
 changes'' — for so the jolly clamour was 
 described in the succeeding Saturday's 
 *' Bell" — and " the grandsire trebles" were 
 at their very loudest when Nathan Barjona 
 entered the shop of Mr. Daniel Essom. He 
 was on his way to Meeting. It is 
 perhaps unnecessary to observe that 
 Essom had almost abjured suds that day, 
 for the most part in favour, of sherry and 
 Lightning. 
 
 *' Daniel," said Nathan, "I'll trouble 
 thee to shave me, if" — looking the 
 operator's unusually bland and rosy visage
 
 Pig shin and Willow. 
 
 curiously over — "thy feelings will permit 
 thee." 
 
 " D , that is, never mind my feelings, 
 
 Mr. Barjona," brusquely replied Daniel, 
 somewhat nettled at the quiet tone of 
 sarcasm used by the querist, " I can shave, 
 sir," tying a cloth somewhat roughly 
 round his patient's throat, "I can shave, 
 sir, and, what is more, I have a nerve of 
 iron — of i-ron, sir," giving the cloth an 
 additional twist. 
 
 " Doubtless," replied the Quaker, who was 
 nearly choking, " thy muscles resemble the 
 metal in question ; but, unless thou desirest 
 to be guilty of strangulation, exercise more 
 care." 
 
 " Oh ! it's all right,'' rejoined Dan. 
 
 He began the saponaceous process. 
 Presently the dialogue was resumed. 
 
 " Art thou aware of the meaning of this 
 unseemly clamour up at the steeple-house ?"
 
 8 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 " Well, not exactly." 
 
 *' Has the parson been made a bishop ?" 
 
 '' Not that I know of." 
 
 " Is — do b-be less lavish of thy lather, 
 Daniel — is the vicar about to journey to 
 another portion of the vineyard, where the 
 grapes hang in thicker clusters ?" 
 
 " Can^t say," replied Daniel, shortly, be- 
 ginning to strop a razor with ominous 
 fury. 
 
 '^ Thou art strangely obtuse this evening, 
 friend Daniel !" 
 
 " Well, then,'' observed Daniel, speaking 
 with great deliberation, as he proceeded to 
 scrape his pertinacious interrogator's chin, 
 " you remember, I dare say, that your prin- 
 cipal objection to the rates. last year was — 
 pray don't speak, or I shall cut you — was 
 about the money paid to the ringers. You 
 properly contended it was an illegal outlay, 
 or, if legal, not fairly earned. Very good ;
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 those musicians are afraid you may repeat 
 your objection at the next vestry meet- 
 ing, and they have met to-night to rattle 
 off arrears. They don't expect to get 
 through till midnight! You reside near 
 the church " 
 
 The Quaker could stand it no longer. 
 Hastily wiping his face, he rushed from 
 the shop. 
 
 " I think I had him there," soliloquized 
 Dan, as he watched Nathan on his way to 
 Meeting. " The old codger is sound enough 
 on some points ; but he never will under- 
 stand what it is to land a 50 to 1 chance. 
 Lightning, my boy, I never fancied your 
 owner, hui—^oirre a beauty !" 
 
 Our former doctor was a comely yet 
 majestic specimen of an old-fashioned medi- 
 cal man. Mr. John Blake, M.D., had 
 managed, during many years' residence 
 amongst us, to accumulate a handsome for-
 
 10 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 tune. Wearying of harness towards the close 
 of a quiet and comfortable career, he, after 
 holding solemn conferences with his two 
 maiden sisters daily for something like 
 twelve months, arrived at the conclusion 
 that it was high time for him to retire. It 
 cost the genial old gentleman no little regret 
 to abandon patients who, with some rare 
 exceptions, were personal friends; and, on 
 the other hand, the patients themselves 
 were nearly inconsolable when they heard 
 of his approaching departure. For he was 
 not only about to give up the practice, 
 but to leave the town " for good." A 
 wish to renew amicable intercourse with 
 a hitherto alienated branch of his family, 
 and a desire to extend his researches in 
 entomology (he was a mighty hunter of 
 beetles and butterflies), caused him to select 
 for his future home a cosy little cottage 
 on the borders of the New Forest. Yet, the
 
 Pig shin and Willow. 11 
 
 question passed from lip to lip, Why leave 
 Heatherthorp at all ? It is possible that but 
 for old Barjona's beeswing, the principal 
 reason for his bidding adieu to a place so 
 dear to him would have for ever remained 
 a mystery. Over the mahogany of that 
 worthy member of the Society of Friends, 
 Doctor Blake revealed the secret. 
 
 " You see," observed he, after a silent 
 space in their serious after-dinner chat, '' my 
 ways are rusty and old-fashioned. I have 
 led the humdrum life of a mill horse for 
 too many years to alter my pace now ; and 
 what is more, I cannot complacently brook 
 the rapid rate at which people travel nowa- 
 days. I long for mental as well as bodily 
 rest. The age is too much in a hurry, 
 Barjona, and I grieve to say that the 
 honourable profession to which I belong is 
 to some extent under its demoralising in- 
 fluence ; therefore "
 
 12 Pigshin and Willow. 
 
 "But what has all this rigmarole to do 
 with thy leaving Heathertnorp ? thou has' 
 some bee i' thy bonnet, John Blake," sharply 
 interrupted the Quaker. 
 
 "No bee at all, no bee at all, I assure 
 you ; but I am troubled." 
 
 " And thy concern is about " 
 
 " My successor, Barjona, There, you 
 know all! It is needful he be a young man 
 — for Eobson, my assistant, who stipulates 
 to be turned over with the practice, is getting 
 rather tottery, — and being a youngster, he 
 is sure to have theories. / know ; they all 
 have. Why, Barjona, if I remained, his 
 new-fangled notions would be the death of 
 me. Fancy a mesmerist, or a spirit-rapper, 
 or a teetotaller, or a believer, in odic force^ or 
 a dabbler in hom-oeopathy filling my shoes ! 
 The idea is horrible. There is no help for it. 
 I must go." After another brief period of 
 silence, which the Quaker sedately abstained
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 13 
 
 from disturbing, the Doctor, in tones of 
 resignation, resumed — 
 
 '' I have arranged to be fairly away before 
 
 he arrives ; yet, if " and a gleam of 
 
 comfort irradiated the old gentleman's coun- 
 tenance, '' as my London agents inform me, 
 he has sporting tendencies, all may yet be 
 well." 
 
 " Sporting tendencies, John Blake !'' ex- 
 claimed the Quaker, " thou art surely mad l" 
 
 " No, I am not ; I am very sane indeed. 
 Not a great sportsman myself, I have sense 
 enough to know that a man who can go 
 tolerably straight across country, handle a 
 gun, or take his part in the cricket-field, 
 will not waste his time over moonshine 
 theories. Heatherthorp is safe, if my suc- 
 cessor — whom I am credibly informed is a 
 man of undoubted ability — be likewise a 
 sportsman." 
 
 It is unnecessary to observe that Nathan
 
 14 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 Barjona was horrified ; but that mattered 
 little to the Doctor, who, in due time, took 
 his departure, and, as the practice of pre- 
 senting testimonials obtained not with 
 us, we refrained from claret jugs, tea 
 services, and ormolu clocks. When he was 
 gone, the name of his successor was imparted 
 unto Heatherthorp, and, as gossips in little 
 country towns have a wonderful knack of 
 putting this and that together, a great many 
 airy castles of conjecture thereupon sprang 
 into existence. At the bar-parlour of the 
 Sursingle Arms, one cold night towards the 
 end of March, there was a general compari- 
 son of notes, and the decision arrived at, 
 after a copious consumption of ardent 
 spirits, was startling indeed. 
 
 Doctor Sutton, the new doctor, /lad 
 " sporting tendencies." He had written to 
 Martin Sillery, the landlord, and had en- 
 gaged two loose boxes ; he had corresponded
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 1 5 
 
 with Daniel Essom with a view to beinof 
 enrolled a member of the H. C. C. without 
 loss of time ; and, it was further ill- 
 naturedly said, although he was now a very 
 capable medical man, he had, before a cloud 
 overcast the fortunes of his family in 
 Smokelandshire, been the most extravagant 
 and rackety scamp of his college. He was 
 expected at Heatherthorp on the following 
 day. 
 
 According to the railway guide, Heather- 
 thorp Station is geographically identical 
 with the town of that name. In reality, it 
 is four miles distant. On the afternoon 
 succeeding the evening just mentioned, two 
 passengers alighted from the only express 
 train which stops at the station. The 
 younger and taller was Doctor Sutton ; the 
 elder and shorter, his man, Matthew Crisp. 
 "While Crisp attended to his master's lug- 
 gage, the Doctor himself sauntered to a
 
 16 Pigskin and Willo 
 
 w. 
 
 siding where a couple of nags were being 
 released from a horse-box. 
 
 Doctor Sutton, the hero of this story (for 
 we may as well make a clean breast about 
 that), would have been considered handsome 
 in a crowd of good-looking fellows of the 
 grey-eyed, fair-haired type of British gentle- 
 men, albeit there was nothing about him '^'^ 
 that suggested either an antique Apollo or 
 a modern Guardsman. Standing upwards 
 of five feet ten, and riding something like 
 eleven stone, he looked, from the crown of a 
 head, well set upon serviceable shoulders, to 
 the sole of a true-shaped, useful foot, as rare 
 a man as one need wish to meet. 
 
 " I shall ride Kelpie into the town, 
 Matthew (I presume the im.aginative inha- 
 bitants call it a town ?), and when you have 
 seen to the disposition of the luggage, 
 follow with the mare." 
 
 " All right, Mr. Arthur." replied Matthew,
 
 PigsJdn and Willow. 17 
 
 in the confidently familiar tones of a 
 favourite dependent. 
 
 Kelpie, a splendid bay gelding, with 
 black points, looked, after Matthew had 
 removed his travelling gear and put him 
 through a hasty toilet, the picture of what 
 he really was — 
 
 A hunter from Erin's turf and gorse, 
 A regular thoroughbred Irish horse, 
 
 one that a lady might guide with a thread 
 of silk, or a Jack Mytton put at " anything 
 in reason" — or out of it. 
 
 Doctor Sutton leaped into the saddle, and 
 Kelpie trotted off in the direction of the town. 
 
 " Nice bit of blood, that !" sententiously 
 observed the porter, as he assisted Crisp 
 with the luggage. 
 
 " Which ?" 
 
 " Why, either, for the matter o' that," 
 replied the porter, gratefully recollecting the 
 Doctor's liberality. 
 
 VOL. I. 2
 
 18 Pigshin and Willow, 
 
 " Young man," said Crisp, gravely put- 
 ting down a heavy portmanteau, to add to 
 the impressiveness of his remarks, " mak' no 
 mistake about that. Bit o' blood 1 I 
 should think they were ! They're equal ; 
 hoss and rider. IVe known 'em — Look 
 here, I've known 'em ever since they wos 
 foals ! Bless your 'art, there's no more vice 
 
 in 'em than there's civility in the driver 
 
 of this 'ere 'bus." 
 
 A somewhat cutting figure of speech, pro- 
 voked by the driver's impatiently "wishing to 
 know when he was to get back to He'thorp ?'» 
 
 Crisp mounted the mare, and went off at 
 a gentle canter in pursuit of his master. One 
 of those sunsets which sometimes grace the 
 lamblike temper of March was flooding the 
 heathy moor with rosy light. Crisp, how- 
 ever, had no eye for the beautiful, and his 
 habitually sour nature was decidedly not 
 mollified by his wordj^ encounter with
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 19 
 
 the driver of the Sursingle 'bus. So he rode 
 on moodily. In time, this cross mood gave 
 place to another, rather more complaisant. 
 He was hungry — anger may be provocative 
 of peckishness — and a glimpse of the sinuous 
 Wimple, gleaming like a fiery serpent from 
 amid the dun-green verdure, oddly enough, 
 chimed with his humour. His thoughts 
 wandered to " March browns " and a dish of 
 savoury trout. When he reached the brow 
 of a hill which commanded a view of a con- 
 siderable portion of Sir Harry Sursingle's 
 demesne, his amiability, intensified no doubt 
 by his gradual approach to Heatherthorp, 
 and the consequently nearer neighbourhood 
 of dinner, had increased to such an extent, 
 that he broke out into a soliloquy. Like 
 all such exercises in real life, and none 
 on the stage, it was divertingly incoherent. 
 
 " Should not care to drive a machine along 
 this road at night in the middle of winter ; 
 
 2—3
 
 20 Pigshn and Willow. 
 
 rum line of country to hunt, Mr. Arthur, if 
 you have time to put on pink again, my lad, 
 and if you ha nt, you'll make time I'll bet ; 
 breeding will be served. There's nowt sae 
 
 true as that — breeding will be served. 
 
 Sir Harry's place, I suppose : lots of cover 
 under them red roofs for a fellow gov'ment 
 wanted to shorten by a head; shouldn't 
 wonder but it's been used for cover too, in 
 the jolly old days when a Christian couldn't 
 call his life his own for ten minutes together. 
 Pine grounds and lots of timber, and some- 
 thing like a slope to the river side; but, 
 Lord ! everywhere else the banks are deuced 
 ugly — ^like cliffs a'most." 
 
 He then glanced in the opposite direction. 
 
 " New place — wonder who lives there ? — 
 Sir Harry's neighbour, old Wilson, I sup- 
 pose. I heard he was living about here, 
 worth a sight o' money ; but when he first 
 came into Smokelandshire . Well, Mr.
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 21 
 
 Arthur, if so be you have to doctor the 
 whole country-side, it won't be Widow 
 Malone that '11 stand the work. Will it, 
 old lady ?'' 
 
 As the old lady did not vouchsafe a reply, 
 Crisp was about to resume his journey, when, 
 looking forward, he suddenly pulled up, and 
 in an agitated tone gave vent to an ejacula- 
 tion which would not look pretty in print. 
 
 Only near the two mansions which had 
 attracted Crisp's attention had any attempt 
 been made to carry the grace of landscape 
 gardening down to the river's brink ; 
 elsewhere, as he had forcibly put it, the 
 sides of the moorland stream were " deuced 
 ugly." 
 
 At the foot of the hill stood a bridge 
 which spanned the Wimple ; beyond this, 
 winding away to the left, stretched the road 
 to Heatherthorp, engirt on each side with a 
 wall of loose stones. But one portion of
 
 22 Pigshin and Willow, 
 
 the hard-featured turnpike, from tlie bridge 
 to a point about a quarter of a mile beyond, 
 was relieved by trees, a clump of Scotch firs. 
 Thence, to the visible extremity of the road, 
 there was nothing but the naked stone wall, 
 the boundary of a huge piece of moorland, 
 almost as destitute of vegetation as the wall 
 itself About a mile to the right of the road 
 stood a second stone wall, which, parallel with 
 the first, terminated at the roughest, steepest, 
 and most dangerous part of the Wimple side, 
 a cliff-like bank, shaggy at the top as a 
 lion's mane, perforated with rabbit-holes, 
 and patched here and there with bunches of 
 whins and bracken. 
 
 Well might Matthew Crisp be terrified 
 out of his habitual stolidity ! Well might 
 he wriggle nervously in the saddle, breathe 
 short, talk to himself in hoarse whispers, 
 and otherwise act like one possest ! Well 
 might he shift his glance hurriedly from the
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 23 
 
 furthermost point of the road to the grim 
 bit of bankside ! He saw a young lady, 
 mounted on a chestnut horse, charge the 
 stone wall, and then tear along at a fearful 
 pace, and as straight as a gun -barrel in the 
 direction of the bank just mentioned. She 
 was evidently a clever horsewoman, but mere 
 skill could avail her little with a steed that 
 was superior to all control. Only the remote 
 chance of the maddened horse's shying again, 
 and swerving out of the course he was then 
 taking, would save her from being dashed 
 over the bank. 
 
 She held on bravely, and poor Matthew, 
 apparently the sole spectator of her peril, 
 broke into a cold sweat. His silent horror 
 changed to the wildest excitement as he 
 caught sight of another equestrian, who, 
 likewise leaping the stone wall a little 
 beyond the firs, swept on in the same 
 direction as the runaway.
 
 24 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 "Mr. Arthur, by Gr — !" he ejaculated, in 
 a sort of subdued shriek. " And going it 
 like a house a fire. Haud on, man — baud 
 on ! Kelpie's short of work. He'll niver 
 stay at that pace. My dear boy, nobbut be 
 careful ! But it is a pound to a penny that 
 Kelp outstrides that chestnut. Pick your 
 ground, Mr. Arthur, and " 
 
 Matthew Crisp, out of breath with agony, 
 said no more. The crisis of that terribly 
 earnest match was at hand. By leaping the 
 obstacle at the point which he had chosen, 
 the Doctor had secured the best of the going. 
 Kelpie and the frightened chestnut were 
 lying wide of each other, each converging 
 to the same point, and the Doctor improving 
 his position at every stride. 
 
 It was a splendid struggle across country, 
 and the prize — a woman^s life ! The 
 Doctor had a briefer distance to travel 
 than his companion in peril ; but that ad-
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 25 
 
 vantage was neutralised by the nature of 
 the ground. Whilst the chestnut was 
 thundering away down-hill, he for a few 
 strides had to pound along against the 
 collar. Here the splendid powers of 
 Kelpie were made manifest. The gallant 
 gelding charged the hill with a resolu- 
 tion that might have been human, and 
 Crisp's prediction that he Tvould " out- 
 stride that chestnut" seemed more than 
 probable. 
 
 The sun, setting redly behind Sursingle 
 Manor, shed its last rays on the exciting 
 scene. More apparent to the Doctor than 
 to Mathew (often and often the Doctor 
 talked of it afterwards) was the white 
 rigidity of the girl's face ; and striking 
 to him, notwithstanding the awful whirl 
 of the moment, was the grace of her 
 seat, as horse and rider, clear and sharp 
 as a silhouette against the warm sky were
 
 26 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 lit up by the farewell rajs of the March 
 sun. 
 
 On went the two horses stride for stride, 
 until they came to a point where the 
 chestnut must either take the second stone 
 wall or be hurled over the bank. Crisp 
 ground his teeth in the agony of his 
 suspense. 
 
 A shout ran through the air — it was his 
 master's voice ; he saw the Doctor lift his 
 whip — once, twice, thrice — he was intuitively 
 conscious, although he could not make it 
 out, that the persuaders were being simul- 
 taneously applied ; he saw that Kelpie re- 
 sponded gamely to the cruel but necessary 
 punishment ; and, in one moment more, he 
 knew that the experiment had been triumph- 
 antly successful, the chestnut, swerving, had 
 safely charged the wall, with Kelpie by his 
 side. 
 
 " Lord ! Lord 1" groaned Crisp, with a
 
 Pigskin and Willow, 27 
 
 great sigh of relief ; " they had precious 
 little to spare." 
 
 Doctor Sutton had won the match. But 
 did the victory bring no ache with it ? He 
 had saved the life of lovely Kate Wilson, 
 sole daughter of the retired ironmaster. He, 
 journeying soberly to Heatherthorp, on 
 quietly professional thoughts intent, had 
 probably met his fate. 
 
 The reader has surely filled in the sketch. 
 If he has failed, /cannot hope to do justice 
 to Kate Wilson's portrait. Who could? 
 It is left to us both then to dimly imagine 
 the graceful abandon of her beauty when 
 the Doctor received her — sunny hair dis- 
 hevelled and hazel eyes closed — fainting in 
 his arms. To imagine the quiet charm of 
 the ride home in the gloaming, We can do 
 no more. There was that in the picture 
 which neither pen nor pencil could express. 
 
 That night, while Mathew, who would
 
 28 PigsUn and Willow, 
 
 never trust tlie awful responsibility to 
 meaner hands, did up the horses, he gave 
 vent to his feeb'ngs. 
 
 "Sssss— it's all over, Kelpie, old boy. 
 You have got a Mistress. Mr. Arthur is 
 settled for good and all. Sssss — when a big 
 fellow of thirty-two speaks soft to a woman, 
 and blushes and looks awkward like a school- 
 boy — Sssss — it don't require a horacle to 
 tell how the wind blows. Sssss — and she — 
 ssss — she's a beauty, a picter, but, by 
 Greorge, she's artful ! I heard her — over hoss 
 —I heard her. * You call him Kelpie, Mr. 
 Sutton. Kelpie's a kind of fairy, is it not ? 
 What a pretty name for a hoss.' — Sssss — 
 'Dear old Kelpie!' If ever Mr. Arthur 
 wished hisself a hoss it was then. ' Dear 
 old Kelpie !' says she, ' you helped to save 
 my life, and we must be friends !' And 
 THEY WILL. And he, poor fellow, looked 
 delighted; he could not see she was
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 29 
 
 sentencing him to transportation for life wi' 
 that rosy neb of hers. Ah ! well, it might 
 be a deal worse — over hoss.'" 
 
 Dr. Sutton had won his first match 
 across country. And — had not she ?
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 TREATS OF CEUCAIN PRELIMINARIES TO A MEMORABLE GAME 
 AT CRICKET, CONCERNING WHICH CLUB SCORE-BOOKS AND 
 LOCAL REPORTERS ARE SILENT; AND SHOWS THAT IF 
 DOCTOR SUTTON HAS WON HIS " MATCH FOR LIFE," HE 
 HAlS YET TO RECEIVE THE STAKES. 
 
 Summer reaches us so late in the year we 
 can generally depend upon gracing the Feast 
 of St. Grouse with the last of the strawberries. 
 A dainty privilege this, and one which 
 should have long since stirred the lyre of 
 the Heatherthorp Anacreon. Owing to this 
 condition of things our cricket campaign 
 seldom begins until at least a month after 
 that in the sunny south. The season of 
 the Doctor's arrival was capricious, and he 
 therefore abode several weeks amongst us 
 before he got the chance of scandalising his 
 patients by a display of sporting tastes. He
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 31 
 
 could not hunt ; lie did not care to angle ; 
 it was early for otters ; and goody sports 
 came not his way. Indeed, female archery 
 was still a long way off being a Fine Art at 
 Heatherthorp, and a rage for croquetry 
 (which everybody knows is a muscular 
 form of coquetry of the deadliest description) 
 had not yet revolutionized our little corner 
 of the Eiding. Meanwhile he was pro- 
 gressing famously with his practice, and 
 Molly Malone continued in constant work ; 
 while correspondingly Matthew Crisp was 
 kept fully employed, and had scarcely any 
 leisure for practising on Ids account — at the 
 bar of the " Sursingle Arms." 
 
 Not that the Doctor's path was all rose- 
 leaves. There was a thorn here and there, 
 and bonny Kate Wilson was the sharpest of 
 these. Her clear hazel eyes, ingenuous 
 countenance, lithe figure, and deliciously 
 fresh manner, were seldom absent from his
 
 32 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 memory for long together. He was in love; 
 and although an indefinable something whis- 
 pered that she rather looked upon his silent 
 devotion with an eye of indulgence, he 
 longed, like a gushing boy of eighteen, for 
 a more satisfying proof of her favour. 
 
 He had never been a shunner of drawing- 
 rooms, and he knew, or fancied he knew, 
 much of woman's ways ; but Kate perplexed 
 him. This lovely Yorkshire lass, so brimful 
 of bounding life, had a spice of devil in her, 
 which, while it gave her an air of charming 
 piquantry far removed from vulgar fastness, 
 kept her from betraying herself, and him at 
 arm's length. Alas ! he was blind — and for 
 stone-blindness commend us to your lover 
 who, ere his affliction, was remarkable for 
 more than an ordinary share of common 
 sense. An album-filling lover is not blind 
 at all, but cross-eyed, because, for every 
 admiring glance he vouchsafes the object of
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 33 
 
 his adoration, he bestows another on him- 
 self. 
 
 Had Kelpie been gifted with Christian 
 speech, he could have let his master into a 
 secret worth knowing. It was to him " the 
 sweetest Kate in Christendom" symbolically 
 told her love, making no more account of 
 Matthew Crisp, who was the dumb sharer 
 of the girl's eccentric confidence "than," as he 
 afterwards put it, " a lump of wood." These 
 almost one-sided interviews came about in 
 this wise : — The mare did all the " doc- 
 toring," and therefore Crisp was ordered to 
 see that Kelpie did not become " as big as 
 a bullock" for want of exercise. Whene'er 
 he took his rides abroad he was sure to meet 
 Miss Wilson mounted upon a bay four- 
 year-old, which, by the Doctor's extra pro- 
 fessional advice, had supplanted the runaway 
 chestnut. 
 
 *' Good morning, Matthew," said she to 
 VOL. I. , 3
 
 34 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 him, in a cheery voice, as they " accident- 
 ally " encountered each other on the ever-to- 
 be-remembered road to the railway station 
 one brisk forenoon in May, "and good 
 morning to t/ou, old fellow," addressing 
 Kelpie in endearing tones. " I hope they 
 use you well at Doctor Sutton's. By-the- 
 by, how is the Doctor?" — then without 
 waiting for a reply, she rattled along — " Did 
 dear old Kelpie recollect this road then? 
 Bid he remember the day when he — and his 
 master, saved somebody's life ? eh, old dar- 
 ling? Good-bye, old Kelp," touching his 
 patient Eoman nose with her pretty pouting 
 rosy lips — " Good-bye," twisting some wild 
 flowers about his ears — " I think, Matthew, 
 you said Doctor Sutton was quite well. He . 
 will not have forgotten, I dare say, that we 
 — that is papa, expects him at dinner this 
 evening. Adieu, old Kelpie !'' and off she 
 cantered.
 
 Pig shin and Willow. 35 
 
 If she could only have heard Matthew's 
 comments now ! Listen to them, and ima- 
 gine you see him watching her disappear in 
 the distance. 
 
 " Of all the artful ones I evei' see, she is 
 the artfullest. She doubles like a hare : and 
 seems to go so straight, too. Will it be a 
 long run I wonder ?" 
 
 " Now for the rest o' the farce. Mr. 
 Arthur 11 hear me come into the yard : 
 absent-like, thinking nobody sees him, he'll 
 collar these flowers. Then he'll ask, quite 
 off-hand and in a don't- careish sort of voice 
 where I've been. Very good ; I tell him 
 I've met hei' ; he will say, still gammonin' 
 he don't care twopence, ' Oh indeed !' — and, 
 to finish up, he'll order Kelpie to be saddled 
 this evenin', and off he'll bolt to dine at 
 Wimpledale Place. Oh ! Mr. Arthur ! Mr. 
 Arthur, what ivill it end in ?" 
 
 There was a touch of real sadness in his 
 
 3—2
 
 36 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 voice as lie uttered these words. Matthew 
 might have been Adam and Dr. Sutton Or- 
 lando for the affection which the old man- 
 servant bore his young master. 
 
 " What would Tim Wilson say to all this 
 if he knew ? Happen he would not like it." 
 
 This query, the conclusion of his audible 
 remarks addressed to vacancy, was more 
 pregnant than even Crisp supposed. Like 
 many men who had risen from nothing, 
 Timothy Wilson, Esq., in early life an in- 
 dustrious puddler, was inordinately proud ; 
 and his pride was that of the parvenu. In- 
 capable himself of advancing to a loftier 
 position in society, for free and independent 
 constituencies had yet to awaken to the 
 high parliamentary claims of Iron, the dar- 
 ling of his household, his only daughter 
 Katherine, was the mainspring of his schemes 
 of ambition. 
 
 He would have rejoiced at the opportunity
 
 Pig shin and Willow. 37 
 
 of selling his daughter — at the altar — to a 
 gentleman of good family. He had not 
 shown his hand yet, but it came to pass to- 
 wards the end of May that both Kate and 
 the Doctor saw it. 
 
 Early one Wednesday morning (Wednes- 
 day I should remark is the market day at 
 Heatherthorp) there might have been ob- 
 served assembled in front of Daniel Essom's 
 shop a group of townsfolk eagerly reading a 
 handbill purporting to have been issued by 
 the H.C.C. and bearing the signature of the 
 honorary secretary of that celebrated club. 
 It was proposed to inaugurate the season — 
 set forth the bill — with a home-and-home 
 match between the Heatherthorp eleven and 
 a crack team selected from Shipley-on- 
 Wimple and its district. Admirers of the 
 noble game who have gained their experience 
 at Lord's or the Oval have no conception of 
 the fervid animosities which pervade a
 
 38 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 home-and-home match in and about our 
 Eiding. For tlie nonce the cricket ground 
 is changed into an Ashby-de-la-Zouch and 
 the opposing elevens into companies of 
 fierce knights, thirsting for each other's 
 — wickets. Such matches are worth any 
 number of those bloodless trials of skill 
 played on " scientific " grounds. 
 
 On the afternoon of the day Miss Wilson 
 told Crisp his master was expected to dine 
 at Wimpledale Place, Doctor Sutton was 
 returning home from his rounds, when, to 
 his surprise, he was accosted by Daniel 
 Essom, who with a face of preternatural 
 gravity begged him " step into the shop." 
 
 " You will pardon me, Doctor," said 
 Daniel when he had summarily dismissed 
 the boy and carefully closed the shop-door, 
 " for stopping you so suddenly on your way 
 home. No: it's nothing to do with my 
 pulse. I am quite well, thank you. The
 
 PigsJcin and Willow, 39 
 
 fact is we have a committee meeting of the 
 club to-night, and — I am a bad hand at 
 beating about the bush, Doctor, — have I 
 your consent to tell them you will play with 
 us in our match against Shipley ?" 
 
 *' I — Mr. Essom !" why, cannot you com- 
 plete your eleven without me ? I have not 
 touched a bat for goodness knows how long. 
 Besides how do you know I play at all ?" 
 
 " Never heed that now, Doctor," rejoined 
 Daniel, smiling, "we want you to play !" 
 
 "I expect that old ass Crisp has been 
 wagging his long tongue," muttered the 
 Doctor, and then he added aloud — " I per- 
 ceive you at any rate are determined that I 
 shall shock the sensibilities of my serious 
 patients. Well, tell your committee I won't 
 see them in a dilemma. If they want a 
 stop-gap I will play." 
 
 Daniel, as delighted as though one of his 
 long shots had come down to evens, warmly
 
 40 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 thanked the Doctor, and the latter departed, 
 speculating as he went as to what his 
 patients would think when they saw him in 
 his new character. 
 
 On reaching home he duly enacted the 
 farce as Crisp had foretold, and leaving word 
 he was not to be troubled except in a case 
 of unusual importance, turned Kelpie's nose 
 towards Wimpledale Place. 
 
 Another guest had been bidden to the 
 mahogany tree of Timothy Wilson, Esq., in 
 the person of Mr. Eeginald Woodridge, 
 the ambitious cadet of a family that had 
 recently espoused the mining interest. With 
 the help of the remnant of a respectable 
 patrimony he had been thrown into old 
 Wilson's way, and he now appeared before 
 the world in the novel character of iron- 
 master's apprentice. He was a conventional 
 "swell," but by no means a bad specimen 
 of the class. Kate liked him. He rode
 
 Pigskin and WillovT. 41 
 
 fairly, played at reading some of her favourite 
 authors, and, though his method was 
 neither as polished as Mario's, nor as pure 
 as Reeves's, he could sing with taste. She 
 always looked forward to his coming with 
 pleasure, for he brightened up their dull 
 drawing-room wonderfully ; but she dreamt 
 not that he had been selected by her 
 father for her husband, and that he himself 
 was anything but averse to the arrange- 
 ment. 
 
 She shone resplendently that evening, for 
 she was happy. In all her airy hadinagi^ 
 Woodridge was with her, for he was cunning 
 at most kinds of verbal fence ; but the 
 Doctor, slower of speech, and lacking utterly 
 that conversational small change so useful 
 in society, was ill at ease. He began to 
 dislike fluent Mr. Woodridge, especially as 
 there arose, with his dislike, a suspicion that 
 he was being talked down.
 
 42 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 For some time the discomposure of Doctor 
 Sutton was unobserved by Kate, but when 
 she saw it she flushed with genuine anger, 
 and her anger at length concentrated itself 
 on the Doctor, "for being such a fool." 
 Anomalously enough her thought assumed 
 this shape because she loved the man. 
 When she left the room, Mr. Wood- 
 ridge attending her to the door, the Doctor 
 took wine freely, and felt equal to any- 
 thing. 
 
 " By the way, Doctor," observed the host, 
 after Kate had gone, " you are a cricketer, I 
 believe ? Do you play with Heatherthorp 
 against Shipley on the first of next 
 month ?" 
 
 " I have not decided whether I shall or 
 not," replied the Doctor. " Essom, the 
 secretary, asked me this very evening if I 
 would play, and I gave him a conditional 
 promise."
 
 Pigskin and Willow, 43 
 
 " Ah ! you a cricketer, Doctor !" inter- 
 posed Woodridge ; " really, I should hardly 
 have given you credit for enjoying such a 
 game." 
 
 " Nevertheless, I play," shortly rejoined 
 the Doctor. 
 
 " Averages good ?" inquired Woodridge. 
 
 " Moderate," replied the Doctor. 
 
 ** Come, come, Doctor ! he careful, you 
 know ; we have heard a far different story 
 of your abilities," put in the host. 
 
 "Ha, ha, ha! This is delightful!" 
 laughed Woodridge ; " we shall he antago- 
 nists. A Montague and a Capulet. — Our 
 smelting furnaces are near Shipley, Doctor, 
 as you may know, and I, like yourself, have 
 been asked to play." 
 
 " I see nothing in the subject to excite 
 such hilarity," said the Doctor, with extra- 
 ordinary stiffness, " unless" — his manner 
 hardening as he went on — " unless you
 
 44 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 would like to make it a Montague and 
 Capulet affair in right down earnest." 
 
 " Agreed !" promptly replied Woodridge, 
 slightly nettled at the Doctor's tone ; " no- 
 thing would give me greater pleasure : my 
 score beats yours — for a pony." 
 
 " For a hundred, if you choose !" ex- 
 claimed the Doctor. 
 
 " For a hundred be it, then," quietly re- 
 plied Woodridge, and the bet was booked. 
 
 '' I think we might now rejoin Miss 
 "Wilson," suggested the host, who had a 
 holy horror of all kinds of gambling, whist 
 at sixpenny points excepted. 
 
 " Immediately, Mr. Wilson," said the 
 Doctor. " How are we to decide ? On the 
 match, if it be played out ; on the first 
 innings if it be drawn ?" 
 
 " Precisely," replied Woodridge. ''And 
 now, if you please, Mr. Wilson, let us join 
 Kate."
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 45 
 
 " Kate !" muttered the Doctor, with set 
 teeth. " How ready he has got her name. 
 He could not use it more familiarly if he 
 were her brother or her " 
 
 Clearly our hero was in a bad way. 
 
 The rest of the evening passed like a 
 dream, so far as he was concerned. Old 
 Wilson droned out his platitudes about the 
 bad state of trade, the foreign policy of the 
 country, the parish rates, and similar lively 
 topics, until the Doctor, through making 
 believe to listen, fell into a state of coma, 
 and the other inhabitants of the room 
 seemed miles away. He had a vague con- 
 sciousness after he had bidden some me- 
 chanical adieux, and was thundering along 
 the road to Heatherthorp with the cold 
 night wind blowing upon his face, that 
 Kate^s manner had been chillily distant ; 
 that Woodridge had treated him with into- 
 lerable hauteur ; and that he, Arthur
 
 46 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 Basinghall Sutton, was a well-developed 
 fool. 
 
 Kelpie's coat steamed like the witches' 
 caldron in " Macbeth" when the Doctor 
 reached home. Throwing the reins to Crisp, 
 he said to that patient functionary — 
 
 " Do up the horse smartly. Mat, and then 
 come to me." 
 
 " All right, Mr. Arthur !" replied Mat- 
 thew, wondering what the deuce was in the 
 wind. 
 
 In half an hour the pair were closeted 
 together, and ten minutes subsequently 
 Matthew was crossing the yard with a 
 lantern, to his dormitory over the stable. 
 
 " Whew !" he whistled, pralonging the 
 note in a most expressive manner. " What 
 can the boy be drivin at ? I've touted a 
 hoss in my time, but never a cricketer. 
 Never mind, I'll do it. 
 
 That night Doctor Sutton dreamt that he
 
 Figskin and Willow. 47 
 
 was playing a brilliant innings, and had but a 
 single run to obtain to win his wager, when, 
 putting '' one up/' it was taken by Kate 
 Wilson, who was fielding point !
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 SHOWS HOW MATTHEW CRISP PLAYED THE PART OF A TOUT, 
 ADEQUATELY ACCOUNTS POR DR. SUTTON's SUDDEN DE- 
 PARTURE PROM HEATHERTHORP, AND STEALS SUNDRY 
 LEAVES FROM THE EPISTOLARY CORRESPONDENCE OF MISS 
 WILSON. 
 
 It goes against the grain to own that one's 
 hero is sometimes mean ; but a stern regard 
 for truth demands such an admission. Even 
 the sturdy old fellow who in days gone 
 by had officiated as a kind of sporting nurse 
 to the Doctor, and who, because he had 
 taught him the A B C of woodcraft, horse- 
 manship, and cricket, was prouder of him 
 and loved him better than aught else on 
 earth, — even Crisp was of this opinion, having 
 detected him in the commission of what he 
 considered was an act of meanness. Not 
 that he would have hinted as much to a
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 49 
 
 living soul. Nay, he would liave felt ex- 
 cessively disposed to knock tliat man down 
 who had dared to suggest anything of the 
 sort within his hearing. As it was, he went 
 to bed oppressed with serious misgivings, and 
 rose next dawn with a face too long almost 
 for the bit of cracked mirror he shaved by. 
 He could not drive the previous night's con- 
 versation out of his mind, and, his frequent 
 wont when Kelpie was out of the way, he set 
 about talking the matter over with himself. 
 
 " What need he fash hissel about this 
 Woodridge ; is it for him to care about the 
 jackanape's style, I'd like to know ? If any- 
 body had told me Mr. Arthur would ha' 
 done it — why I'd ha' said they lied, that's 
 all. What's a hundred sovereigns ? — well : 
 may be plenty to lose— yet, hang it — I have 
 put something away for my keep when I am 
 thrown up and not able to earn it — and I'd 
 ha' stood half the bet mysel.' 
 
 VOL. I. 4
 
 50 Pig shin and Willow. 
 
 " There's a woman at the bottom of this ; 
 a woman with ways that'd make a Methody 
 parson forget his class ; and Mr. Arthur's 
 just mad. He tramped the room last night 
 like a tragedy-actor. 
 
 " Then all this lang- winded rigmarole ! As 
 if I could not see through it. It's the 
 knotted end o' the lash that maks the whip 
 crack ; he kept back his orders about this 
 Woodridge chap to the last." 
 
 Crisp's stable duties terminated, he de- 
 parted on his mission, designedly lingering 
 on his way at Essom's. He found that 
 brisk little sportsman in the best of spirits. 
 
 " Ah ! Crisp, is that you ? Odd ; I have 
 just this moment had the honour of a call 
 from your master, who has promised to play 
 in the match. What do you think of that, 
 eh?" 
 
 " H'rn," inarticulately replied Crisp. 
 
 " We shall have a glorious battle," con-
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 51 
 
 tinued the glowing Hon. Sec, — " an en- 
 gagement worthy of heroes ; and, by Jove, 
 we must beat them, too. We are ancient 
 enemies — Shipley and Heatherthorp, and 
 have fought for supremacy for, let me see — 
 six years running. Up to the present it's 
 a tie." 
 
 " H'm," remarked Crisp. 
 
 " Sir Harry Sursingle has given his pat- 
 ronage — which is pretty good as far as it 
 goes — and has promised to bring a numerous 
 party from the Manor — which is consider- 
 ably better. Old Wilson is sure to come, 
 for one of the Shipleyites, a rather clever 
 gentleman player called Woodridge is 
 visiting at the Place. And it's any odds on 
 old Tim's pretty daughter coming to see the 
 young fellow distinguish himself." 
 
 " H'm," grimly observed Crisp. 
 
 " But I say, Matthew," queried Essom 
 with a merry chuckle, '' what will the cor- 

 
 52 PigsJcin and Willow. 
 
 rect people say when they behold the Doctor 
 performing in flannels ?" 
 
 "And who are the cor-rect people, pray?" 
 inquired Crisp. 
 
 " Why, you know,— -the saints, the phari- 
 sees, — the brethren. Old Barjona told me 
 no longer since than yesterday ' that he con- 
 sidered Doctor Sutton to be a notably dis- 
 creet member of his profession, — a youth who 
 was by no means prone to indulge in the 
 sports of the profane.' (Which was a dig at 
 me, you see, Crisp — ha! ha !) Miss Priscilla 
 Cardmums, who, by-the-bye, is rising forty, 
 collector and treasurer to the dispensary, 
 manager of the soup kitchen, and the Lord 
 knows what besides " 
 
 " Well," interrupted Crisp. 
 
 " Oh, nothing," rejoined Essom, with a 
 comic air of assumed indifference — " only 
 she has informed her especial friends that 
 'Doctor Sutton's devotion to the noble
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 53 
 
 charity (meaning the dispensary) which, 
 under Providence, she so unworthily ad- 
 ministers, is a rare and beautiful instance of 
 Christian self-abnegation.' Then there's 
 Wobbleton, the pious brewer, and Bell, the 
 Wesleyan pork butcher, they " 
 
 " Psh — aw !" exclaimed Crisp, an expres- 
 sion of scorn over-spreading his features, 
 " Doctor Sutton is yabble to stand it all, 
 Mr. Essom, and have an answer ready for 
 them too if it's required. But I am forgetting 
 my errand. He wants a new bat. Who 
 provides your cricket things ?" — 
 
 " The umpire, Golightly ; anybody will 
 tell you where he lives," replied Essom. 
 
 It may be questioned whether, if at that 
 moment Matthew Crisp had picked up one 
 of the most precious notes ever issued by the 
 Grovernor and Company of the Bank of Eng- 
 land, the find would have given him sincerer 
 pleasure than the information imparted by
 
 54 Pigskin and Willo 
 
 w. 
 
 Essom. Crisp and Grolightly had been cliums 
 years before : had together played in those 
 famous money matches " a pound a man/' 
 which are Tiot, alas, recorded in the Chronicles 
 of Lillywhite ; and had together emulated 
 the bibbing bouts of Tam o' Shanter and 
 Souter Johnny. 
 
 '' Jack Grolightly !" muttered Crisp when 
 fairly out of the barber's hearing. " Then 
 it's touting made easy. A strong scent, a 
 straight run, and a speedy kill.^' 
 
 The inspirer of this fervid and somewhat 
 mixed metaphor lived in the heart of a 
 tumbledown wynd accessible alike from the 
 hilly high-street and the side of the river. 
 By trade he was a shoemaker, that is to 
 say, he eked out a livelihood by cobbling 
 cricketers' shoes, sewing cricket-balls, *' lap- 
 ping " bat-handles, and repairing pads. In 
 short, he was a highly useful, if not a pre- 
 cisely ornamental artist in leather and caout-
 
 Pig shin and Willow, 55 
 
 chouc. By inclination, and annual appoint- 
 ment (to say nothing of inherited right), he 
 was umpire, almost parent, of the Heather- 
 thorp team, but when not engaged with the 
 laps tone or in the cricket ground, he was 
 either poaching, educating greyhounds, fol- 
 lowing the Hertherthorp hunt — on foot, — 
 plunging near the source of his native 
 stream in pursuit of the wily otter, or de- 
 fying snowflakes and bitter nor'-easters in 
 his search for seafowl about the sands and 
 marshes of the Wimple-mouth. Five years 
 Crisp's elder, Time had dwelt gently with 
 him. His hair was white as a gull's breast, 
 but his clear blue eyes yet possessed the 
 sparkle of youth. He was yet as straight 
 as a young larch, and though he could not 
 vault over a five-barred gate with the acti- 
 vity of his teens, his robust limbs had more 
 nimble endurance in them than those of 
 many a younger man.
 
 56 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 Gruided by a curly-headed lad, who ap- 
 peared delighted with the task (for the 
 umpire was extremely popular with the 
 juveniles — Young Heatherthorp regarding 
 him as the incarnation of cricket wisdom), 
 Crisp, after successfully avoiding painful con- 
 tact with a miscellaneous accumulation of 
 live-stock suggestive of field sports, passed 
 under a lintel ornamented with a caged sky- 
 lark that was joyously carolling upon a 
 fresh turf, and found himself face to face 
 with his old friend. 
 
 "Why, Jack !'' 
 
 " Why, Mat !" 
 
 And thereupon the floodgates of their 
 eloquence opened, and a stream of homely 
 North Eiding talk, pure and undefiled, con- 
 fluently gushed forth. The worthies had 
 not met for something like a dozen years, so 
 when each had satisfied the other of his 
 movements during that period, both must
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 57 
 
 needs revive old recollections, and, in spirit, 
 handle the bat, " and show how fields were 
 won." 1^0 more work for that day. With 
 the sun shining as it always shines in May 
 madrigals, and rarely in reality during the 
 ficklest of months — knowing there was 
 honest ale to be had " within easy walking 
 distance" (as the advertisers say), it was 
 only natural that the veterans should simul- 
 taneously fall mightily athirst. Copious 
 were the amber libations, all a-foam, which 
 they poured upon the shrine of Triendship. 
 What though the floor they trod was sanded, 
 the table they sat by nothing but naked 
 deal, the drinking vessels they lipped the 
 commonest delft, the weed they inhaled a 
 Grerman production, and the churchwardens 
 they smoked — long as a Doncaster hotel bill 
 in the Leger week — of the most primitive 
 fashion, it was an out-and-out Yorkshire 
 encounter, rough and hearty, and could not
 
 58 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 have been pleasanter had it occurred in a 
 palace. When the tales of their youth 
 began to flag, Crisp, remembering his 
 mission, considered it high time to open 
 fire. 
 
 " The Doctor," began he — " I suppose 
 you know he plays for Heath erthorp, John 
 — bade me get him a new bat : one that'll 
 drive, you know." 
 
 ''Ay," cynically answered Golightly, 
 *' and when he's got it, he'll happen want 
 a pair of arms to drive wi'." 
 
 " Bide and see," rejoined Crisp, " bide 
 and see. However, you must pick him one 
 that'll suit. And now, tell me. Jack, what 
 kind of a match is this likely to be ? Yon 
 barber fellow is up i' the skies about it, and 
 says you'll win ; but I was told i' Shipley" — 
 this, it may be remarked, was an atrociously 
 wicked fabrication — " that the public will 
 be sure to lay seven to four against you.
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 59 
 
 when they see the Shipley team take the 
 field. And the}" do likewise say i' Shipley" 
 — fabrication number two — ^' that a swell 
 colt of theirs, a Mr. Woodridge, is a 
 wonder.'' 
 
 Golightly smoked on with an expression 
 of ineffable contempt while Crisp was ro- 
 mancing, and then drily observed — 
 
 " Mat, have 3'e lived and knocked about 
 all these summers and winters 'ithout know- 
 ing that Consate is the worst player of ony 
 game that ever toed a mark. Shipley ! 
 Woodridire ! — rubbish !'■* 
 
 " But look here, Jack," interrupted Crisp, 
 deprecatingly. 
 
 "Don't talk to me," replied his crony, 
 thoroughly roused, " about their clever Mr. 
 Woodridge. /'ve seen him play. He came 
 down to the ground yesterday, and got me 
 to fetch him a bowler for an hour's practice. 
 / fettled him with a bowler — one of wj/
 
 60 Pigskin and Willow, 
 
 colts. He knocked the ball all over the 
 shop." 
 
 " Then he can hit ?" observed Crisp. 
 
 "' Hit ! a' course he can ; and so can any 
 bit lad skelp ^em when the bowling's made 
 to order," replied Golightly. " Didn't I tell 
 ye I fettled him with a bowler ? He was 
 bound to hit. He could not miss 'em. He 
 did ask me, afterwards, if this colt o' mine, 
 Ashton, was our best form !" 
 
 " And what did you say ?'' interrogated 
 Crisp. 
 
 " Say," repeated Golightly ; " why, yes, 
 a^ course. What should I say ? And the 
 lad Ashton is our best form — when he likes. 
 Only, you see, we had a conversation toge- 
 ther, and he didn't like ! I think it served 
 Mr. Woodridge right for wanting to spy 
 into the enemy's country, What think ye ?" 
 
 " Cert'nly," replied Crisp ; " but tell me, 
 how does he play ?"
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 61 
 
 " I can tell you how lie doesn't play — 
 and that's with a straight stick," responded 
 Golightly, contemptuously. -'He either 
 pulls one to leg, or steps out to a short- 
 pitched one. He's over-partial to leaving 
 home for me. I am a long way out of my 
 reckoning if he can stand before some of our 
 bowling." 
 
 Hereupon Crisp ceased from touting, and 
 the couple became affectionately convivial. 
 The shades of evening were falling over the 
 town as he trudged off in the direction of 
 the Doctor's residence. The new^s he carried 
 was of so weighty a nature that it affected 
 his legs, which moved about in a curiously 
 undecided manner. But although his brain 
 was manifestly overladen his heart was light, 
 and he lilted up his voice in song. Sinister 
 must have been the j&nal hob-nobbing of 
 John Golightly and Matthew Crisp, other- 
 wise the latter would not have informed the
 
 62 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 peaceable inhabitants of Heatlierthorp that 
 the snaring of a hare was his delight on a 
 shiny night in the season of the year. He 
 knew he was rather " gone/' and had sense 
 enongh to put his head under the pump 
 before venturing into the presence of his 
 master. 
 
 The interview was brief, for the Doctor, 
 speedily discovering the cause of Crisp's 
 unusual garrulity, possessed himself of the 
 information he brought, and dismissed 
 him for the night. 
 
 Our hero was up bright and early next 
 mornino^, and leavino^ a note for his assistant 
 Eobson, intimating that it wonld be neces- 
 sary for the writer to be absent for a few 
 days, surprised the driver of the Sursingle 
 omnibus by climbing into one of the box 
 seats of that extraordinary vehicle about 
 three-quarters of an hour before the time 
 advertised for the up-train to leave Hea-
 
 Pigskin and Willow. Qo 
 
 tlierthorp Station. The impression left with 
 Thomas, the said driver, with old Barjona, 
 who was doing his regular morning consti- 
 tutional, and with early-rising Heatherthorp 
 generally, was that Doctor Sutton had been 
 suddenly called away to assist at an impor- 
 tant consultation ; but impressions of the 
 like nature are more frequently erroneous 
 than not, and in the present instance they 
 w^ere very wide of the mark, indeed. 
 
 To what straits, and the display of what 
 eccentricities, will not love, morbid sensitive- 
 ness, and incipient jealousy reduce a Christian 
 gentleman ! He was intuitively certain that 
 his absurd wager with Woodridge had been 
 made the subject of more than one conversa- 
 tion at The Place ; he ground his teeth when 
 he thought that perchance he and his 
 vagaries had given rise to gentle laughter, 
 and — what pray? He might be wrong, 
 but he felt sure that Woodridge was his
 
 64 Pigskin and Willoio. 
 
 rival and no rival should crow over him, 
 therefore he must make a mighty effort 
 to win his wager. He was now on his way to 
 " a public trial '' of his cricket capabilities. 
 In plain English, he had induced a friend to 
 include him in an Eleven that was to play 
 at a town some hundred miles south of 
 Heatherthorp, in which contest he had 
 determined to figure incog. 
 
 And how fared it with it Kate the while ? 
 Pleas of pressing professional engagements 
 had served to excuse the Doctor from visit- 
 ing The Place, so she had not seen him since 
 the evening of the wager. This was one 
 annoyance. Crisp, too, kept out of her way, 
 which was another — for she was only a 
 woman, and Bluebeard's wife will never die. 
 Besides, her father had dropped a hint or so 
 about Mr. Woodridge which she could 
 hardly fathom, but which, nevertheless, gave 
 her a good deal of uneasiness.
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 65 
 
 This is what she wrote to her dear friend 
 and confidante, Miss Sylvia Yandervelde, 
 daughter of her father's esteemed partner, 
 who was now temporarily sojourning in the 
 busy city of Hamburgh. 
 
 " Wimpledale Place, May — , 18—. 
 
 '' My darling Syl, — I have such a budget 
 of news for you, and serious news too, not 
 gossip, that I scarcely know where to begin. 
 I wish I had your knowledge of what your 
 very German brother would call the philo- 
 sophy of the human heart — I mean the male 
 human heart of course. But I have not, so 
 its no use wishing. You remember what I 
 told you about that handsome Doctor Sutton 
 who saved my life ? Since my last letter he 
 has been a great deal with us ; papa likes 
 his society exceedingly ; they are on opposite 
 sides in politics and indulge in after-dinner 
 arguments ; and I, who am no politician, 
 
 VOL. L 5
 
 66 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 like Ills society, too. There, that's the 
 truth, Syl. I know what you will say. Your 
 dear friend, Di Yernon (or Lady Gay 
 Spanker, which am I ?) has at last met with 
 a congenial spirit. Nothing of the kind. 
 Doctor Arthur Basinghall Sutton — you see 
 I know all his name — though not quite such 
 a chevalier des dames as that consummate 
 master of the arts of conversation, and 
 charming tenor, your favourite Eeginald 
 Woodridge, is a very handsome fellow, and, 
 when he likes, his manner is exceedingly 
 captivating. And then he can be sensible 
 without being priggish ; gay without being 
 flippant. Don't say I am sketching a 
 paragon, my dear, for I am not ; I am 
 merely sketching a comely English gentle- 
 man. 
 
 " The other evening Woodridge and he 
 met, and — you will scarcely credit it, Syl, 
 but at one and the same second I knew that
 
 Pigskin and Willow, 67 
 
 lie loved me and that he ^vas jealous of 
 Eeginald ! Not that he has ever s23oken a 
 syllable to nie. I don't think he would 
 dare, unless he were sure of papa's permis- 
 sion — though mind you, my darling, a papa 
 would matter very little to me in such an 
 affair, if I were a man ! He has not even 
 presumed upon the great claim he has to my 
 regard in having saved my life. But on 
 this particular evening, when the gentlemen 
 joined me in the drawing-room, he looked as 
 savage as your brother Albrecht's mastiff. 
 I was vexed with him when I believed I 
 had divined the cause of his annoyance, for 
 I wanted Woodridge to see him at his best. 
 " Well, will you believe it, ray dear Syl, 
 we have not seen our Doctor since. I made 
 papa ask him to dinner, but the aggravating 
 thing returned a polite refusal, pleading 
 professional engagements. I had a good 
 cry when his note came. I now hear from 
 
 5 — 3
 
 68 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 my maid burroughs, who was told it by the 
 druggist, who had it from Eobson, that he 
 has left Heatherthorp to attend some stupid 
 consultation. 
 
 " From what papa told me this morning 
 at breakfast it seems that Woodridge and 
 the Doctor nearly quarrelled over their wine 
 on the evening he dined here, about a cricket 
 match; and they made a wager about it, 
 quite angrily, papa says. Is not all this 
 annoying, dear Syl? And then papa him- 
 self has been worrying my life out about 
 Woodridge. What can he mean ? At one 
 time I thought he meant marriage ; but you 
 know that would be too absurd. 
 
 " Do write soon to your affectionate, but 
 perplexed friend, 
 
 *'Katherine Wilson." 
 
 " P.S. — Is it not true that two seasons 
 ago, at Scarbro', where you first met Wood-
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 63 
 
 ridge, his ' attentions ' to you were most 
 jprononce? Tell me the truth, there's a 
 dear. And teli me what you would do if 
 you were in my position. 
 
 " When are you going to leave that horrid 
 Hamburgh ?''
 
 CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 BECOUNTS THE FIRST PART OF AN ENGAGEMENT WHICH, FOR 
 THE HEROISil THEREIN DISPLAYED, MIGHT HAVE BEEN 
 RELATED IN THE CHRONICLES OF FROISSART RATHER THAN 
 HERE; AND WHETS THE CURIOSITY OF THE READER, IT IS 
 HOPED, AS TO WHAT EXCITING CIRCUMSTANCE THE NEXT 
 CHAPTER WILL UNFOLD. 
 
 To every sportsman in Heatherthorp and 
 Shipley, and to numbers in the neighbour- 
 hood who preferred no claim to a knowledge 
 of cricket, the particular Monday in June 
 upon which the two elevens were to meet 
 seemed years in coming, so fervid was the 
 feeling of esprit de corps which prevailed. 
 Golightly alone of the Heatherthorpians (as 
 the county paper, in reports composed with 
 much pomp and circumstance, designates our 
 cricketers) managed to keep his head, but he 
 none the less went about his work as though
 
 Pigskin and Willoiv. 71 
 
 he felt that the eyes of Great Britain and 
 Ireland were upon him. The season was 
 unusually dry ; and he was pledged to pro- 
 duce " a finer wicket than had been played 
 on 'i that ground." Daily was he seen in 
 command of a detachment of horse and foot, 
 comprising a watering cart and Brobdingna- 
 gian roller, each efficiently manned ; and an 
 irregular body of excessively reprehensible 
 boys, who, from their fetching and carrying 
 propensities, were known as " old Jack's 
 retrievers." 
 
 'Twas lucky for Mr. Essom that he did 
 not, like ancient members of his craft, prac- 
 tise surgery as well as shaving, for in his 
 then excited condition an accident might 
 have happened, resulting in his standing 
 before twelve jurymen of the Eiding to 
 answer to a charge of murder,'; or of man- 
 slaughter at the ver}^ least. Even as it was, 
 although his too-nimble dexter hand had
 
 72 Pig shin and Willow. 
 
 failed to jeopardise liis neck, lie shed his 
 customers' blood freely — in the holy cause of 
 cricket — as many a smooth chin, dotted, like 
 the fine ladies' faces in Hogarth's plates, 
 picturesquely testified. 
 
 It was now publicly known that Doctor 
 Sutton would be one of the eleven, and 
 grievous was the consternation of the godly 
 thereanent. Barjona grimly kept the vials 
 of his wrath sealed till a more fitting season ; 
 but the sisterhood who followed the lead of 
 Miss Priscilla Cardmums, and fashioned 
 their harmless little lives according to the 
 example which she set, were seriously scan- 
 dalised, and chirped plaintively in concert 
 when they became aware of the downfall of 
 their idol. Doctor Sutton was soon made 
 acquainted with the attitude of the Piety of 
 the town, but what cared he? He had 
 learnt during that " important consultation " 
 of which the reader has heard, that his cricket
 
 Pigskin and Willoic. 
 
 had not left him ; and he despised the 
 askant looks of his straitlaced admirers. He 
 hated Woodridge — that is to say, he dis- 
 hked him as intensely as one gentleman who 
 has broken bread with another may — his 
 arms were as strong, his legs as active, his 
 eye as true as in the old days, and he longed 
 to meet his rival foot to foot, et cetera, 
 et cetera, that he might show Kate, et 
 cetera, et cetera ! 
 
 By a tacit understanding, politics, church 
 rates, the forthcoming Ascot Meeting, and 
 local scandal were shelved by the frequenters 
 of that exclusive snuggery, the bar-parlour 
 of the Sursingle Arms, nightly discussions 
 of the forthcoming match taking the place 
 of those topics. There was no betting, for 
 a wager, like a wedding, requires the consent 
 of at least two parties before it can be made, 
 and within the domain of Mr. Sillery there 
 w^as but one. At the instance of Mr. Daniel
 
 74 Pigskin and Willoiu. 
 
 Essom several aliens were graciously allowed 
 to sit under tlie most sacred portion of 
 Martin Sillery's rooftree, and amongst these 
 was the umpire. Now Golightly's strong 
 point was his reticence ; to his " brilliant 
 flashes of silence " he owed much of his 
 reputation for shrewdness. "Within these 
 walls he seldom spoke, except in answer to 
 an appeal to his opinion, and then he 
 generally managed to ridicule some hetero- 
 dox notion which Mr. Essom had previously 
 propounded ; for the Hon. Sec. and the um- 
 pire w^ere rather jealous of each other, and 
 when the old man had an innings he made 
 the most of it. 
 
 Besides Golightly, several members of the 
 eleven were in the habit of dropping in after 
 practice hours, to be lionised by the company. 
 Burly Joe Tadcaster, whose extraordinary 
 powers as a long-stop were known to every 
 parish in the Kiding ; Harrington, the fast
 
 Piyskin and Willow. 75 
 
 bowler ; showy, but undeniably brilliant Will 
 Cranston, the wicket-keeper ; and the profes- 
 sional, a varmint- faced, red-headed West 
 Biding man, named Leeson, were amongst 
 the accidental patrons of the room, each 
 complaisantly content to be trotted out by 
 Essom, or patronised by the umpire. 
 
 Woodridge, after practising several days 
 on the Heatherthorp ground, under the 
 cynical superintendence of Golightly — that 
 warm-hearted Christian taking especial care 
 that the batsman was ''fettled'*' with a 
 proper kind of bowler — took a temporary 
 leave of the Wilsons, and ran over to Ship- 
 ley to spend the few days prior to the match 
 with his own team. As soon as the Doctor 
 heard of this from Crisp, he gladdened the 
 eyes of old Golightly with a sight of his 
 style of handhng the willow. 
 
 Crisp, who remained on the ground to 
 look after his master's cricket jDaraphernalia,
 
 76 Pigskin and Willoic. 
 
 asked Golightly if lie thought the Doctor 
 would do ? 
 
 " Do I" replied the umpire ; " why, Mat, 
 he frames at his work as steady as though 
 — as though he wasn't a gentleman at all ! 
 See him knock that lad Ashton ahout ; and 
 I should think Leeson hasn't had such a 
 benefit for a very long time. Then the wa}^ 
 in which he handles the leather hissel', 
 puttin' on twists that fairly bothers even 
 old Leeson. Depend upon it he has a 
 nut/' 
 
 The subject discussed that night by the 
 local parliament in the Sursingle assembled 
 was a phrenological one, namely " Doctor 
 Sutton's nut !" - ' 
 
 Miss Wilson and the Doctor had met but 
 once since the night of the wager, at an 
 amateur concert, in aid of the fund for the 
 restoration of the church of St. Martin-the- 
 Less, and it chanced that his seat was next
 
 Pig shin and Willow. 77 
 
 to hers. Woodridge sang, and had the 
 Doctor been less generous, he might have 
 done his supposed rival a turn by criticising 
 his vocalism in the friendly manner which 
 obtains at evening parties. He, however, 
 did nothing of the kind ; and Kate, who by 
 this time understood him better, loved him 
 all the more for his silent magnanimity. 
 And as, after their few words of preliminary 
 conversation; she felt unspeakably overjoyed 
 to be by his side again, her manner softened, 
 and he, sunning in her mood, felt drawn 
 nearer to her in spirit than he had ever been 
 before. Kate spent a happy evening, and 
 in her frank, outspoken way, said so, at 
 which assurance the Doctor experienced 
 such a glow of pleasure that he quite re- 
 signedly left her to the care of Woodridge ; 
 and with almost filial regard bade Timothy 
 Wilson, Esq., good-night. From that 
 moment Kate wished with all her might that
 
 78 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 Heathertliorp might defeat Shipley ; and 
 from that moment, too, she discovered that 
 her toilet-table required frequent replenish- 
 ing from the stock of Mr. Daniel Essom, and 
 as Mr. Essom could talk of nothing else but 
 the match, and Burroughs had a retentive 
 memory, Kate was kept aic courant with all 
 the movements in connection with the great 
 event, hearing amongst other things that — 
 
 " Doctor Sutton, 'm, Mr. ^ Essom says, is 
 a beau-tiful cricketer, 'm ; and Mr. Essom 
 'opes there will be plenty of people on the 
 ground to see him play." 
 
 At length the eventful morning broke ; 
 the sun, " looking all over a stayer,'' rising 
 behind the breezy fells, and removing, be- 
 sides the clouds of night, a great weight 
 from the mind of Grolightly, who had risen 
 before the rooks, for the simple reason that 
 he could never sleep a wink the night before 
 a match. He sauntered down to the Sur-
 
 Fig shin and Willow, 79 
 
 single, and ascertained from the ostler that 
 "'t Shipley lads were posting it with a 
 coach and four," and leisurely proceeding 
 along the High Street, ran against Essom. 
 
 " Ha ! Golightly," exclaimed the lion, 
 sec, " you have got the start of me, then ? 
 I did think I should rise before every- 
 thing this morning, including larks, thrushes, 
 worms, milkmaids, and — umpires. A glori- 
 ous morning, thank goodness ! It puts new 
 life into one to breathe air like this." 
 
 *'Yes, I think the morning '11 do," re- 
 plied Golightl}^, who never cared to commit 
 himself too far. We shall have a blazing 
 day ;" and he cast a weather-wise glance at 
 the grey, gossamer-like clouds, which the 
 sun was rapidly dispelling — " a blazing 
 day ; and its lucky I had the wicket 
 watered last night." 
 
 ''On Sunday night?" inquired Essom, 
 with a look of consternation.
 
 80 Pigskin and Willow, 
 
 " Why, now I come to think of it, it tvas 
 Sunday," replied Golighfcly, as if the fact 
 had just presented itself to his mind. 
 
 " Eeally, you have acted very injudi- 
 ciously; you have jeopardised our position 
 most seriously," said Essom. "How can 
 we ask certain people to subscribe to the 
 England match after this ?'' 
 
 " Oh ! nobody saw me do it. Besides, 
 what's the use of complaining now, Mr. 
 Essom ?" said Golightly. " All I know is 
 that, Sunday or week day, the wicket was 
 dry, and I had it damped. I suppose our 
 boys will be on the ground in time ?" 
 
 " I fancy there is little fear," said Essom ; 
 "I saw them all but Emsden King and 
 Dale yesterday " 
 
 '^'What, on Sunday, Mr. Essom?" in- 
 quired Golightly ironically. 
 
 " Yes," quickly replied Essom, not desir- 
 ing to argue the Sabbatarian point cunningly
 
 Pigskin and Willow, 81 
 
 raised by his interlocutor ; " here are their 
 names." And drawing a paper from his 
 pocket, he read, " Cranston, Harrington, 
 Tadcaster, Leeson, Doctor Sutton, Ashton, 
 Lee, Dale, Witherington, Emsden King, and 
 Knowsley. I flatter myself that lot will 
 take some doing." 
 
 " Yes, I rather think it will myself," said 
 Golightly. " But they do tell me Shipley's 
 terribly strong this year. However, I must 
 be off." 
 
 Shipley duly arrived, announced by a 
 performer on the cornet-a-piston, who took 
 the liberty of anticipating the result of the 
 battle, and steadily trumpeted forth the 
 strains of " See the Conquering Hero comes." 
 This bit of musical audacity was too 
 much for the philosophy of Heatherthorp, 
 and some undeniable hisses mingled with 
 the melody as the coach containing the 
 
 cricketers and a strong party of friends drew 
 VOL. I. 6
 
 82 Pigskin and Willoiu. 
 
 up at the door of the Sursingle Arms. The 
 commotion caused by the arrival of the 
 Shipleyites had scarcely subsided when an 
 open barouche rattled along the high street 
 in the direction of the ground. The carriage 
 contained Sir Harry Sursingle and some of 
 the party from the Manor, the remainder 
 following on horseback. Presently the 
 family vehicle of Timothy Wilson, Esq., 
 occupied by himself and his bonny daughter, 
 appeared on the scene, and by-and-by other 
 carriages with family parties from a greater 
 distance even than The Place. The Sur- 
 single 'bus brought two large parties from 
 the railway station, the complement of 
 visitors being made up of importations from 
 the dales, either in spring-carts or on foot. 
 As the Wilsons' carriage passed the Sur- 
 single, Woodridge, who stood outside that 
 hostelry enjoying a cigar, lifted his hat, a 
 mark of courtesy deeply resented by all and
 
 Pig shin and Willow, 83^ 
 
 sundry of the juvenile population present, 
 wlio considered it high treason on the. part 
 of anybody connected with " He'thorp " to 
 fraternise with the sworn enemies of the old 
 town — and a sworn enemy Woodridge was 
 undoubtedly considered. On the other hand,, 
 when the Doctor was observed, followed by 
 Ms man, Mathew Crisp, wending his way in 
 the direction of the ground, the boys gave 
 vent to their feelings in a simultaneous 
 cheer. 
 
 Mr. Daniel Essom was one of the last to 
 leave for the ground, for two indispensable 
 members of the eleven, Dale and Emsden 
 King, had yet to arrive. Dale was head 
 gamekeeper to Sir Harry Sursingle, and 
 King, a gentleman farmer, and they lived 
 adjacent to each other, about a dozen miles 
 off. At length the former, a wiry, dark- 
 complexioned fellow, was descried by Essom 
 seated beside King in the dog-cart of the 
 
 6—2
 
 84 Pigskin and Willow, 
 
 latter, and the little man heaved a deep 
 sigh of relief. It would have been a match 
 unworthy the name had King been absent. 
 He was one of the biggest hitters in the 
 club. 
 
 The ground, situated without the town, 
 by a road which leads into the heart of the 
 Cleveland Hills, was in rare playing order, 
 and when Essom examined the wicket he 
 forgave Golightly his Sunday night's ex- 
 ploit. Having a watchful eye to the funds 
 of the club, he rejoiced that the tribute of 
 sixpence a head — '^ ladies free " — exacted at 
 the gates of the ground, had been paid by 
 several hundreds of what reporters call the 
 cognoscenti. 
 
 No time was wasted in pitching the 
 wickets; meanwhile, in the tent set apart 
 for the players, the scarcely less important 
 process of tossing for choice of innings was 
 being conducted ; and when it was known
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 85 
 
 that Woodridge for Shipley had beaten Dale 
 for Heatherthorp, and that Shipley were 
 going in, a thrill of highly- wrought expec- 
 tancy was experienced by all present, even 
 by the occupants of the outermost line of 
 carriages. Kate, whose daintily-gloved hand 
 coquetted nervously with a card of " the 
 order of going in," was perhaps the most 
 interested person there. 
 
 Matthew Crisp established himself in a 
 corner of Martin Sillery's refreshment mar- 
 quee, the centre and oracle of a group of 
 gentlemen in livery. He maintained a run= 
 ning fire of observations, laudatory or severe, 
 during the entire match, and led the cheering, 
 which, by the way, during an encounter of 
 this description, is never spared. One pro- 
 minent object of interest was Golightly; 
 another, to those who were "native and to 
 the manner born," Golightly 's hat. This 
 article of clothing, a subdued white as to
 
 86 Pig shin and Willow, 
 
 liue, and slightly antiquated as to fashion, 
 had for years been regarded in the light of 
 a barometer by the team for which the pos- 
 sessor chanced to be officiating. When the 
 game looked doubtful or unfavourable for 
 his own party, Golightly fixed his hat firmly 
 in a horizontal position ; but as soon as the 
 fortunes of war turned in favour of his own 
 party, the hat was cocked and remained de- 
 fiantly perched askew until the game was 
 over. Golightly threw the ball to Dale, who, 
 in his turn, handed it over to Leeson. The 
 professional bowled a couple of trial balls, 
 and then rolling up his sleeves and rubbing 
 his hands with a pinch of grass at once 
 opened fire. 
 
 Will Cranston stood behind the wicket, 
 which was guarded by a colt of seventeen, 
 about whose defence there had been some 
 flattering reports, and a well-known Shipley 
 stayer faced the juvenile. Emsden King
 
 Pigskin and Willow, 87 
 
 stood on tlie alert at point ; Dale was slip ; 
 Harrington coverslip ; and Doctor Sutton 
 short-leg. Joe Tadcaster occupied his old 
 place in the rear of Cranston. The opening 
 over was a maiden, the colt stopping the last 
 ball, " a real beauty," in a style which 
 elicited a loud expression of commendation 
 from Crisp. Then Harrington handled the 
 ball, and the second which he despatched, 
 with terrific force, was just snicked for 
 three. Thenceforward runs were put on 
 very slowly, and when the colt retired from 
 the wicket, with a well and carefully-earned 
 score of ten to his name. Crisp cheered him 
 incontinently, vowed he was the likeliest lad 
 he had seen for many a day, declared he was 
 a credit to his bringing up, and informed his 
 audience, in confidence, that that was exactly 
 his (Crisp's) style of playing when he was a 
 colt. The game grew slowly in interest as 
 the minutes sped, but the fourth man was
 
 88 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 dismissed — a total of sixty runs having been 
 obtained — before the enthusiasm of the be- 
 holders kindled. When, however, Mr. Eegi- 
 nald Woodridge, the captain of the Shipley 
 host, stepped confidently across the sward 
 and took his place in front of the stayer, 
 Shipley cheered, and Heatherthorp showed 
 its sense of a foeman worthy of its steel in 
 a multitude of ways fully as significant as 
 the encouraging shout of " the other side." 
 Heatherthorp, for the first time that blazing 
 summer's day, began to feel that its work 
 was cut out. 
 
 Woodridge's appearance at the wicket put 
 new energy into the field, and poor Kate, 
 who remembered the wager — in good sooth 
 she had never forgotten it — leaned forward, 
 as if fearful of losing a single feature of 
 Woodridge's exciting debut. The batsman 
 manifested the coolness of a veteran hand. 
 He took his block from Golightly with as
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 89 
 
 much scrupulous care as though his hfe 
 depended upon it ; he glanced slowly around 
 the field, and then, assuming a pose that old 
 Felix would have admired, stood, slowly 
 moving the willow in a manner that, to a 
 practised eye, showed his supple wrist, and 
 awaited Leeson's attack. 
 
 The professional's hand had either lost its 
 cunning, or he was weary of waiting for 
 results. Thus far Harrington had obtained 
 all the wickets. At all events, he dropped 
 one short, and as the pace was moderate, 
 Woodridge stepped forward, and drove the 
 ball fairly out of bounds, a splendid hit for 
 four. 
 
 Loud and long were the cheers of Shipley 
 at this marvellous exploit ; symptomatic of 
 genuine uneasiness the windy suspiration of 
 forced breath ejected from the chest of Mat- 
 thew Crisp ; intense the nervous excitement 
 of Kate, who knew enough of the game to be
 
 90 PigsTcin and Willow. 
 
 aware that this was a bad beginning for her 
 heart-elected champion ; and deep the dis- 
 pleasure of the Doctor himself, for it fretted 
 him to see a chance thrown away. It was 
 seldom Leeson lost his head ; but the recep- 
 tion of his onslaught made him savage, and he 
 overstepped the crease. " No ball !" shouted 
 the inexorable voice of Golightly. Another 
 cheer from the Shipleyites. The third ball 
 was worse than either of the formei\ It 
 diverged to leg, whereupon Woodridge put 
 it away easily for three, and the long-leg 
 buttering the ball, and returning it rashly, 
 another run was made for the overthrow. 
 Again were Shij)ley delighted, and Heather- 
 thorp correspondingly dolorous.- Wood- 
 ridge stopped the next ; and then a 
 consultation was held — Doctor Sutton 
 standing aloof — at the close of which it 
 was evident that Dale would relieve Leeson 
 at the next over.
 
 Pigshin and Willow, 91 
 
 " What is the name of the batsman, 
 Essom ?" inquired Sir Harry Sursingle of 
 that functionary, who, after patrolling the 
 ground innumerable times, was now watch- 
 ing the game from a spot contiguous to 
 that occupied by the party from the manor. 
 
 " I beg your pardon. Sir Harry," said 
 Essom, bustling obsequiously forward. 
 
 " I merely inquired the name of the 
 batsman who just now made the drive for 
 four," repeated the Baronet. 
 
 " His name is Woodridge, Sir Harry ; 
 Mr. Reginald Woodridge," replied Essom. 
 " He is resident at Shipley, not a native 
 of the place. He is in the iron trade." 
 
 " Oh — ah ! he hits well," observed the 
 Baronet. 
 
 " He does hit well, Sir Harry," echoed 
 Essom; "better considerably than I ex- 
 pected to see, for he has practised a good 
 deal on this ground ; but for the last half-
 
 92 PigsUn and Willow. 
 
 hour the bowling has been anything but 
 good. Dale should have taken Leeson off 
 long since." 
 
 "Ah — yes — true/' assented the Baronet, 
 closing the interview by replying to a re- 
 mark from my lady. 
 
 Woodridge was certainly the lion of the 
 hour ; and amongst others who were roused 
 into demonstrative animation by his prowess 
 was Timothy Wilson, Esq.; but it is not 
 requisite to remark that his enthusiasm was, 
 to put it mildly, rather distasteful to his 
 lovely daughter. 
 
 " Bravo !" he shouted ; " was not that a 
 splendid hit, Kate, my dear ?" 
 
 Kate was too deeply absorbed to 
 reply. 
 
 " And there's another !" he exclaimed. 
 " Bun again ! — three ! — four ! — very well 
 run, indeed. I think, my love, our friend 
 the Doctor will begin to quake about his
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 93 
 
 foolisli wager if this sort of thing goes on 
 much longer." 
 
 "/think, papa," Kate rejoined, slightly 
 but significantly emphasizing the personal 
 pronoun, " nothing of the kind. Doctor 
 Sutton has too much sense to make a foolish 
 wager ; that is, if wagers are ever anything 
 else but foolish. He is no empty boaster. 
 Besides, papa, we have not seen him play." 
 " Yes, I daresay you are quite right, my 
 love," not listening to a word she had said ; 
 " but, goodness ! there's Eeginald at it 
 again !" - 
 
 The last ejaculation might have been con- 
 strued into a polite — and converse — render- 
 ing of remarks not over complimentary to 
 the collective wisdom of the Heatherthorp 
 team, that instant made by Matthew to his 
 select circle of admirers. Indeed, Crisp 
 swore roundly when he saw Woodridge 
 serving Dale's first over pretty much as he
 
 94 Pigshin and Willow. 
 
 liad served Leeson's last. Even Golightly 
 could scarcely credit his own eye-sight, and 
 began to fear that Mr. Woodridge had been 
 disguising his play. 
 
 One of those panics which sometimes 
 seize an eleven swept all before it now, and 
 Woodridge, who seemed to bear a charmed 
 life, did what he pleased with the ball. In 
 vain were changes of bowli'ng called into 
 requisition; in vain did Cranston achieve 
 wonders behind the stumps, and Tadcaster 
 accomplish wonders behind him ; Woodridge 
 made runs rapidly, putting thirty together 
 with such remarkable alacrity, that the 
 stayer declared " he hadn't a leg left under 
 him l" 
 
 During a necessary interval for refresh- 
 ment, Grolightly managed to mention two 
 words ventriloquially — that is to say, without 
 stirring a muscle of his face — to Dale, and 
 the words were — '' The Dqctor."
 
 Pig shin and Willow, 95 
 
 Dale winked almost audibly in reply, and 
 presently the beholders, who, being mostly 
 connected with the opponents of Shipley, 
 were getting the least bit tired of the unin- 
 terrupted success of Shipley's champion, gave 
 vent to a shout of defiant delight when the 
 Doctor took the ball from the boy Ashton, 
 and, without a preliminary trial, continued 
 the attack. 
 
 He had thoroughly mastered Woodridge's 
 style, and he fancied he had discovered a 
 chink in the batsman's armour. Besides 
 " the nut " so heartily lauded by Golightly, 
 the Doctor had another strong point — a very 
 strong point — great skill in fielding his own 
 bowling. 
 
 There was a confident smile on the face of 
 Woodridge as he stood to receive the first 
 ball; but the smile disappeared when he 
 discovered that the ball which broke all ways, 
 and varied vexatiously in the matter of
 
 96 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 pace, wanted playing. The Doctor's first 
 over was a maiden, a circumstance by no 
 means overlooked by the critics. 
 
 Crisp was beside himself with delight, and 
 exclaimed, " Didn't I tell you ?" to one of his 
 liveried friends, in a tone which spoke 
 volumes for his previous fanfaronade. " JSTow, 
 Mr. Arthur," he ejaculated immediately 
 afterwards, '' he's on his mettle ; give him a 
 'ticer." 
 
 The Doctor bowled again, and the ball got 
 through ; Cranston handled it, and down 
 went the bails ! 
 
 "How's that?" shouted Will. 
 
 " Not out !" replied the Shipley umpire. 
 
 The bowler groaned inwardly, but said 
 never a word, satisfying himself with a sig- 
 nificant glance at Dale, who returned the 
 look with interest. There was a muttering 
 among the crowd which bespoke a gathering 
 storm.
 
 Pigskin and Willow, 97 
 
 " Try him again, Mr. Arthur/' muttered 
 Crisp. 
 
 He did try him again. He gave him a 
 'ticer of another kind, one that was straight, 
 fair, and honest, not the least suspicion 
 of a twist about it. The batsman was all 
 there — and so was the bowler. Woodridge 
 drove the ball forward ; but, alas ! its flight 
 was not lofty enough. Waiting alertly were 
 a pair of hands that seldom failed. Clap ! — 
 clap ! went two sounds, one following the 
 other so swiftly you could scarcely distin- 
 guish them, and before some of the specta- 
 tors had fairly realised the fact, Mr. Eeginald 
 Woodridge was magnificently caught and 
 bowled by Doctor Sutton ! 
 
 " Hurrah !" shouted Matthew Crisp, at the 
 top of his voice ; " I knew he would do it !" 
 "Hurrah!" roared Heatherthorp, old and 
 young ; and " hurrah !" said Pretty Kate 
 Wilson, deep down in her heart of hearts, 
 
 VOL. 1. 7
 
 98 Pig shin and Willow. 
 
 only an unusual briglitness of the merry 
 hazel eyes affording a manifestation of her 
 almost tearful emotion. 
 
 The Heatherthorp players crowded around 
 the Doctor to offer their congratulations; 
 the Shipley players crowded around Wood- 
 ridge to congratulate him ; the Doctor was 
 gratified, of course ; how could he help it ? 
 but he could not forget that his opponent 
 Woodridge had made forty-two runs, and 
 Ms runs had yet to be made.
 
 CHAPTEE V 
 
 FUENISHES A FAITHFUL ACCOUNT OF THE SECOND AND FINAL 
 PART OF THE GLORIOUS ENGAGEMENT BETWEEN HEATHEE- 
 THORP AND SHIPLEY; AND SHOWS HOW THE DOCTOR FARED 
 WITH HIS WAGER. 
 
 The happy despatch of Mr. Eegiuald Wood- 
 ridge occurred when the June sun was at 
 its hottest, and the outfielders were reduced 
 to the verge of utter exhaustion. His dis- 
 missal affected them like a miraculous 
 stimulus, and when the Doctor, at the 
 beginning of his second over, clean bowled 
 the stayer, the entire field appeared to have 
 entered upon a new lease of life, such prodi- 
 gies of superfluous strength and dexterity 
 did they exhibit with the ball! For the 
 remnant of Shipley's forces were, with a 
 single exception, " tail-end " useful in the
 
 100 Pig shin and Willow. 
 
 field, perhaps, but men of straw with the bat. 
 And Shipley's last hope ? He, Ealph Dob- 
 bison by name, an unobtrusive butcher by 
 persuasion, was held in high esteem on both 
 sides of the Wimple for his terrific hitting 
 powers ; but Ealph being- an impetuous 
 youth, was seldom sent in to do battle for 
 his side unbil some less choleric person had 
 taken the edge off the enemies' bowling. 
 Albeit since early morn he had been clothed 
 in the flannel raiment peculiar to cricketers, 
 and had further manifested his eagerness 
 for the fray by a premature padding of his 
 lower limbs, when he saw his friend the 
 stayer clean bowled by the Doctor his 
 exuberant confidence in himself underwent 
 a sudden collapse. He met the deposed 
 batsman ere the latter reached the tent, and 
 under cover of requiring the loan of a glove, 
 said — 
 
 *' What's it like, Eob ?"
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 101 
 
 " Like ?" replied the exasperated stayer, 
 *' I carina say. It looks as easy as eating — 
 but it isn't. Bide thy time, my lad, bide 
 thy time, and tak' no liberties wi' him !" 
 
 Never before had such a tremendous re- 
 sponsibility rested upon the broad shoulders 
 of honest Ealph, and he did not like it. 
 "Still," he thought, "this bowlin' mayn't be so 
 queer after all." Nevertheless there was 
 the inconvenient fact that his side wanted 
 runs, and he, with his reputation as a slogger 
 at stake, must do his utmost to get them. 
 Grimly stalked he forth, treating with a 
 smile of lofty scorn Heatherthorpian offers 
 of liberal odds against his getting twenty. 
 "P'raps some o' them would like to be 
 standin' in his shoes !" Will Cranston — 
 who always was a little too free with his 
 chaff — ventured to hope that uncomfortable 
 Ralph had taken the piecaution to have his 
 eyes skinned, for if he had not he might as
 
 102 Pigskin and Willow, 
 
 well make his will at once. This allusion 
 to the process of skinning Mr. Dobbison 
 construed into a derisive reflection on his 
 calling, and he waxed very wroth indeed. 
 But it was no use showing off thei^e, and he 
 thereupon proceeded to take his block. 
 So-o-o ! What were they laughing at ? He 
 straightened himself stiffly, ground his 
 teeth, and grasped the handle of his bat as 
 though he would have squeezed it in twain. 
 Another and a louder burst of merriment. 
 What did they mean ? Glancing at the 
 opposite end, where stood the grewsome 
 Golightly, he — familiar with Heatherthorp 
 customs — discovered the pantomimic cause 
 of the general mirth. With a rough word 
 that sounded like a grunt in two syllables, 
 irate Mr. Dobbison resumed his task, but it 
 required the aid of all his philosophy to 
 prevent his assaulting Will Cranston on the 
 spot.
 
 Pigshin and Willow. 103 
 
 The fact was, tlie time liad arrived for 
 Jolin Golightly to readjust his barometrical 
 hat. He had cocked it aside, a sign to all 
 beholders that the weather had suddenly 
 changed in favour of Heatherthorp, 
 
 "Coom, Eeafe, lad, wacken up !" shouts a 
 well-intentioned but injudicious Shipleyan ; 
 " feace him like a man !" 
 
 " Leave him aleane," growls tbe indignant 
 stayer ; " he naws what he's aboot." 
 
 Whether he did or not he was a changed 
 being. He was no long a free, fierce hitter, 
 who placed more reliance upon a good eye 
 than on scientific tact. To mend mat- 
 ters he had a partner whose sole resource 
 was an unlovely method of defence. The 
 game, despite the Doctor's sagacious bowling, 
 once more became stagnant. But our hero 
 was a true cricketer : finding that the bats- 
 men were as determined to stay at home as 
 a pair of chinchillas in the depth of winter
 
 104 Pigskin and Willow, 
 
 he took himself off and restored the ball to 
 Leeson. 
 
 Now Leeson and the bold Dobbison were 
 acquainted of old, and the change had the 
 anticipated effect. Dobbison launched out 
 right merrily, and although Leeson inquired 
 more than once " if he called that cricket ?" 
 the batsman manifested a lofty contempt for 
 West Eiding satire, and continued to make 
 runs. 
 
 But his reign was brief. The Doctor 
 again threw himself into the breach, and 
 Dc-bbison, rendered over-sure by uninter- 
 rupted success, fell an easy victim to the 
 strategy of the bowler's " nut" and the 
 readiness of Will Cranston's hands. After 
 this little episode the innings came to a 
 speedy conclusion, and Shipley were out for 
 one hundred and thirty-one runs. 
 
 While the more severely critical of the 
 spectators inspected the wicket, paced it,
 
 Pigskin and Willow, 105 
 
 surreptitiously poked their sticks into it, 
 removed stray pieces of earth from it, and 
 squinted from one end like so many car- 
 penters anxious for level results, another 
 and by far the major portion of the spec- 
 tators, including all the boys, invaded the 
 borders of the play, for the purpose of ren- 
 dering unquestioning homage to the heroes 
 of the game, as they returned to the tents 
 to refresh. Your provincial boy is your 
 only true hero-worshipper, and as a rule he 
 never chaffs. Verily the home-keeping 
 youth of a town like Heatherthorp would as 
 soon have thought of exercising their 
 homely wits upon the heroes of this famous 
 battle, as a maid of honour v/ould think of 
 deliberately sneezing in The Presence ! 
 
 " Well, Doctor," said the quicksilverish 
 little barber as he frisked up to our hero, 
 his smooth face wreathed in bland smiles, 
 " it's a great fight, as I thought it would be.
 
 106 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 Only goodness knows what we should have 
 done without you. Our bowling was cut 
 into mincemeat." 
 
 " Yes, they did take liberties, Mr. Essom, 
 and my bowling is new to Shipley. Can we 
 make the runs, think you ?" 
 
 " Sure of it, Doctor ; that is, I would be 
 sure — a word" — drawing the Doctor aside — 
 '' if it wasn't for the umpire. Unmitigated 
 old ruffian !" 
 
 " Hang him, yes," replied the Doctor ; 
 " he gave Woodridge a life." 
 
 '' Of course he did. I saw it, sir, and so 
 did scores besides. Oh, 2ve know him ; we 
 have had good and sufficient reason, only 
 the county paper gave him such a jacketing 
 (between you and me I had it done) last 
 summer, we hoped he had reformed. But 
 he'd better take care, or he'll get another 
 sort of jacketing before he leaves this 
 ground !"
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 107 
 
 " No violence, I hope, Mr. Essom," said 
 the Doctor, smiling. 
 
 " No, sir, not with my consent, for an 
 umpire's an umpire, though he knows 
 nothing about the game, and is a sharp 
 into the bargain, begging your pardon, sir. 
 But there are some roughish lads here from 
 the dales who would not be so particular." 
 
 " Do you want me, Matthew ?" asked the 
 Doctor of Crisp, who had approached during 
 the interview. 
 
 " Yes ; Mr. Arthur—" 
 
 " Thanks. Mr. Essom, T shall be ready 
 when my turn comes," said the Doctor, in 
 reply to an observation respecting the order 
 of going in ; " and now, Matthew, what is 
 it?" 
 
 " Nothing, sir, only " 
 
 " Only a very great deal. If you can put 
 it into a few words," said the Doctor, good- 
 humouredly, for he perceived that the
 
 108 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 enthusiastic Crisp had been bibulously con- 
 signing Shipley to destruction, "you may.'* 
 
 " It's nothing to me, sir," said the sturdy 
 Crisp, " but if that cheating owd rip of a 
 umpire — him know anything about cricket 1 
 Some of us has forgotten mair than iver he 
 knew ! I tell you what it is, Mr. Arthur, 
 if you don't get somebody to show him 
 t/road back to Shipley, you may just as well 
 turn it up. There, that's mi/ opinion !" 
 
 " Oh ! never mind. Mat " 
 
 " Not out, says he — not out ! with a face 
 o' brass. Why, there was eyesight in it. I 
 nobbut wish it was a two days' match ; 
 they'd ha to send for a fresh umpire !" 
 
 " What ! diX^you thirsting for his blood ?" 
 and the Doctor laughed outright. 
 
 Crisp, having satisfied the dictates of his 
 conscience, touched his hat and retired; 
 suddenly appearing to bethink himself, he 
 returned and said in a stage whisper —
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 109 
 
 " I beg your pardon, Mr. Arthur — there's 
 that bet ?" 
 
 '' Yes." 
 
 " Forty-two's a goodish score, 'specially 
 when it's made. I think you can top it ; 
 but considerin' that old varmint of a umpire 
 is playing for them, they'll appeal for every- 
 think, sir. I hope, Mr. Arthur, you'll not 
 throw a chance away." 
 
 *' Depend upon it I shall do my best," 
 said the Doctor, really touched by this proof 
 of the old fellow's solicitude. '' You must 
 promise me not to spoil their umpire, 
 though." 
 
 " All right, sir," said Crisp, determined, 
 at all events, to give the unhappy official a 
 bit of his mind if he came across him. 
 
 The Doctor had to bestow a word of 
 affable recognition on a considerable number 
 of the company, his patients, to exchange a 
 few words of conversation apropos of nothing
 
 110 Fig skin and Willow, 
 
 at all with Sir Harry Sur single and my Lady 
 — prodigious people in the Eiding, and not 
 to be neglected — and to steer clear of ad- 
 miring rustics who would retard his progress, 
 moved thereto by the remembrance of his 
 recent exploits in the cause of He'thorp. 
 Yet, while he was praise worthily particular 
 in searching for the proper recipients of his 
 highly politic but perfectly natural courtesy, 
 he kept the party from The Place steadily 
 in view. Mr. Essom had followed him, and 
 begged the honour of his company at 
 luncheon, but Mr. Essom had begged in 
 vain. So honest Martin Sillery, who had 
 anticipated a compliment from the Doctor, 
 had to content himself with the hearty ap- 
 preciation of his cuisine exhibited by the 
 players. 
 
 Since the concert in aid of the resto- 
 ration of the crumbling fane of St. Martin - 
 the-Less, a marked change had come over
 
 Pigskin and Willow. Ill 
 
 our hero. A thorough sportsman, he still 
 meant to try his best to win the wager, and 
 the stake for him was sufficiently heavy, but 
 his hopes of victory were founded on a 
 simpler basis than when, hot and angry, he 
 rode from The Place to Heatherthorp, as 
 though the Wild Horseman of the Grerman 
 legend had been close at Kelpie's heels. He 
 yet believed Woodridge to be a conceited 
 puppy, yet longed to sliow him up ; but 
 Kate — bonny peerless Kate — had surely too 
 much sense to love — bah ! to think of Jiim. 
 The idea was absurd. Now, as he lounged 
 easily towards the Wilsons' carriage, he 
 pleased himself — it was a lovely afternoon, 
 remember — with building castles in the air. 
 The penultimate stone of the roseate 
 structure was fifty runs in the match — the 
 ultimate, Kate " woo'd and married and a' !" 
 If he could have known that her manner 
 to him on the occasion of their last meeting
 
 112 Pigshin and Willow. 
 
 was inspired by the fact of her father's 
 having dropped more pregnant hints about 
 her and Woodridge, he would, perhaps, have 
 felt less elated. On the other hand; had he 
 been aware that she saw through the old 
 gentleman's clumsily-veiled praises of the 
 ironmaster, and merely waited for a definite 
 statement of his wislies to declare her repug- 
 nance for that young gentleman, he would 
 have felt consoled. In her very quiescence 
 there lay concealed a fixed determination to 
 have none of Mr. Woodridge ; her thoughts 
 flew, as it were for refuge, to the Doctor, 
 and hence her unwonted gentleness at the 
 concert. 
 
 " Ha — Doctor !" exclaimed old "Wilson 
 in a self-satisfied sort of voice ; " you are 
 just in time for luncheon. Kate and I were 
 talking about you." 
 
 " Yes, Mr. Sutton," said she, a richer 
 colour in her cheek, and an intenser meaning
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 113 
 
 in her hazel eyes testifying to her high 
 pleasure at his presence, " papa has laid the 
 usual Derby-day wager of a dozen pairs of 
 gloves against your beating Mr. Woodridge's 
 score." 
 
 '' And you, Miss Wilson ?" 
 
 " Have taken it, of course," said Kate. 
 
 *' I fear you will lose your gloves," said 
 the Doctor, smiling. 
 
 *' There, Kate ! That's yowx champion ! 
 Ha, ha, ha ! What did I say ? I knew he 
 w^ould never run them off, and he is losing 
 heart. I shall hold you to the bet, mind." 
 
 *' I am sure Mr. Sutton never loses 
 heart!" and, unconsciously to herself, she 
 spoke with unusual fervour. " He is too 
 excellent a cricketer. And besides, he must 
 recollect that / am on his side." 
 
 " I shall do my very utmost, Miss 
 Wilson," replied the Doctor, and he could 
 not have spoken with deeper earnestness if 
 
 VOL. I. 8
 
 114 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 her life at that moment had depended on 
 the exercise of his medical skill. 
 
 " It was once the fashion for a champion 
 to wear his lady's favour ; but all the pretty 
 customs are dying out. Never mind ; you 
 are my champion, you know ; and besides, 
 please to recollect that I have a mercenary 
 interest in 3^our success." 
 
 Was it all good-natured banter ? He 
 wondered thus, as, obedient to the summons 
 of the bell, he put an abrupt termination to 
 his. delightful half-hour's chat, and repaired 
 to the tent for the purpose of ascertaining 
 the order of going in. JFas he her cham- 
 pion? 
 
 Matthew Crisp again assumed" the com- 
 mand of the gentlemen-in -livery, and as his 
 reticence had not increased during the 
 luncheon hour, the said gentlemen-iu-livery 
 were less called upon than before to assist 
 in the conversation. His attempts to have
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 115 
 
 a word " with that umpire" had been foiled 
 by Golightly, who had counselled silence. 
 
 " It's not a bit o' use making a bother, 
 Mat; wait till the game's over, and then 
 please thyself; a umpire's a umpire, reck- 
 lect." 
 
 " But what does he know about the 
 game ?" inquired Crisp, ignoring Golightly" 
 plea on behalf of the profession. 
 
 " Knaw ? Nowt ; and that's the worst 
 on't. It's bad to bide, Mat, but we mun 
 bide it." 
 
 The cricketers of our Hiding are noble 
 feeders. Whether the luncheon on this par- 
 ticular day was particularly toothsome, or 
 whether the rival forces (habitually suspi- 
 cious and morose in each other's presence) 
 found comfort in the consumption of an 
 unusual quantity of the smoking viands, are 
 problems not easy of solution ; one thing is 
 certain, from Grolightly with his '' two bits
 
 116 Pigskin and Willow, 
 
 o salmon and his tumbler o' sherry " (a red- 
 letter day indulgence), to the rival scorers, 
 the two elevens fed like Sioux Indians after 
 a forty-eight hours' fast. Yet there were 
 absentees from the feast. The Doctor as we 
 have seen, found metal more attractive else- 
 where ; while Will Cranston — mindful of 
 his average, and hoping to play at Lord's 
 the following year — and the boy Ashton and 
 Dale, were not present at Martin Sillery's 
 board. 
 
 At length the innings began. One hun- 
 dred and thirty-one runs were considered by 
 Heatherthorp anything but an overwhelming 
 score, and consequently Heatherthorp went 
 to work with a feeling of easy confidence in 
 the result. Not so Shipley. The bowling 
 was true, and the fielding — always a strong 
 point with them — keen, prompt, and certain. 
 There was not the least occasion for the 
 obnoxious arbitration of the unhappy umpire,
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 117 
 
 since, to the dismay of cock-a-hoop Heather- 
 thorp, Harrington, Tadcaster, and Leeson, 
 each good for twenty runs any day in the 
 year, were clean bowled for a total of seven. 
 (That trying luncheon !) Ralph Dobbison, 
 his brawny biceps bared in a fashion that 
 showed " he meant it," bowled at one end, 
 and, luckily for him, the wicket had 
 developed " a hump," which suited his pitch 
 to a hair. At the other end the Shipley 
 professional, a teasing, tiresome bowler, was 
 doing his side excellent service. Shipley was 
 uproarious when their professional disposed 
 of Leeson — 'twas glorious reprisals ! but 
 Heatherthorp roused itself to cheer the 
 Doctor, whoj quietly taking his turn, joined 
 the boy Ashton. 
 
 Over in the tent fidgeted Crisp. He had 
 seen the wickets tumble in a style that boded 
 disaster and disgrace to Heatherthorp. 
 With the third wicket his trust in the
 
 118 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 chapter of accidents abated, and when he saw 
 his master equipped for the fray, his feelings 
 were too many for him, and he shouted — 
 
 " Give me six-pen'north o' brandy — hot." 
 
 Hot ! The quicksilver registered 80 in 
 in the shade ! 
 
 The bowling was too good to warrant 
 liberties, and our hero, playing coolly, con- 
 tented himself with presenting to all kinds 
 of attack a finished and complete system of 
 defence. 
 
 Crisp was in ecstacies, and Dobbison in a 
 rage. The youth Ashton emulated his co- 
 adjutor's carefulness and the bowling was 
 fairly tackled. 
 
 " "Which o' ye wants to back- Shipley 
 NOW ?" inquired Crisp, with revived bravado. 
 " I knew you'd change your crowing afore 
 lang. Now, sir, let him have it. Hurrah!" 
 
 The shout, and accompanying destruction 
 of one of Martin Sillery's tumblers, followed
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 119 
 
 hard upon the doctor's first hit, a slashing 
 on-drive for four 
 
 " There's a cricketer for ye !" exclaimed 
 Crisp. " Another brandy hot, and a whole 
 glass !'' 
 
 The play, thenceforward for a few overs, 
 was fair give and take, nothing to boast of 
 either way, when the youth, having put to- 
 gether a careful half-dozen, was taken 
 behind the wicket. Four men out for nine- 
 teen runs. Lissome Will Cranston now 
 joined the Doctor, and the Heatherthorp 
 scorer sharpened his pencil. _ 
 
 " Jack," observed Cranston, as he took his 
 place alongside of Golightly, '' thou'll soon 
 have to shift thy hat, old fellow. Thou sees' 
 yon board?" 
 
 "Ay." 
 
 " There's nineteen up, isn't there ?" 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 *^ There'll be ninety before I leave. I feel
 
 120 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 I can make em to-day. Hu !" and with 
 
 this barbarous ejaculation he swept the air 
 
 fiercely, and made an imaginar^^ cut for 
 six ! 
 
 'Twas even so. Cranston played well, and 
 
 most aggravating! y, until each bowler lost 
 
 his temper. He would talk, and for every 
 
 ball sent to him he had a word of greeting. 
 
 All the straight ones he returned with a 
 
 contemptuous air that was most amusing, at 
 
 the same time civilly requesting the bowler 
 
 to oblige him again. Not gentlemanly 
 
 cricket perhaps, but it served, — served in 
 
 the present case to incense Mr. Dobbison, 
 
 and to provoke more than one cross answer 
 
 from the Shipley professional. In due time 
 
 time the bowling reflected the temper of the 
 
 operators, and became wild. Then followed 
 
 the punishment. It was severe, and it 
 
 excited the beholders beyond measure. 
 
 Cranston played like one " possest," — threw
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 121 
 
 away his cap, and hit out at everything ; 
 and when the Doctor got a chance, he like- 
 wise displayed his slogging capabilities. 
 
 " So ! I expected it," observed Crisp, as 
 Woodridge took the ball from Dobbison. 
 '' Flashy," my lad, like thy battin'." 
 
 Mr. Eeginald Woodridge's bowling was in 
 no wise remarkable. It consisted of a pretty 
 delivery, a swift pace, and nothing more. 
 Both Cranston and the Doctor mastered it 
 at once. Kate, who looked with all the 
 eyes she had when Woodridge began, was 
 overjoyed to find, from the curt answers she 
 received from her papa, the remarks of the 
 critics grouped around the carriage, and her 
 own crude knowledge of the game, that the 
 Doctor's prospects were fully as bright as 
 they had been. But careful observers saw 
 in Cranston's recklessness much cause for 
 apprehension. 
 
 The Doctor had made nearly forty in
 
 122 Pig shin and Willow. 
 
 worthy style, when Cranston, putting one 
 easily away — ran. There was really not 
 half a run in it, hut the Doctor responded, 
 and got home just a shade sooner than the 
 hall. 
 
 " How's that?" sharply and simultaneously 
 queried several voices. 
 
 " Out," coolly responded the Shipley 
 umpire. 
 
 Such a yell as thereupon arose from pro- 
 letarian Heatherthorp had never been heard 
 on the ground before. The spectators, with 
 one accord, crowded into the play, and in 
 two minutes there was a scene of the greatest 
 confusion. 
 
 "Turn him off the ground!"- "Bonnet 
 him !" " Duck him in the river !" angrily 
 suggested the most violent of the righteously- 
 indignant Heatherthorpians ; several rough 
 dalesmen manifesting a desire to carry these 
 mild suggestions into immediate execution.
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 123 
 
 But Shipley rallied round tlieir umpire, 
 prepared for the worst, and the would-be 
 aggressors held their hands. 
 
 " Do you think it was out ?" calmly 
 queried the Doctor. 
 
 " I do." 
 
 Another groan, — another volley of threats. 
 
 " No violence, gentlemen, please. Let us 
 not disgrace ourselves. You think it was 
 out — very well, I bow to your decision ; but 
 I am not the less sure that it was not out." 
 
 "Well done, Doctor! — give it him!" 
 shouted the crowd. -— 
 
 " One moment. I do not say you were 
 aware of the circumstance, but I backed my 
 innings against the innings of one of your 
 side, and — I've lost, of course." 
 
 " Do you insinuate anything. Doctor Sut- 
 ton ?" asked Woodridge, hotly. 
 
 " No, sir. I never insinuate. What I 
 have to say, 1 speak right out. You have
 
 124 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 won your bet, and you have to thank him 
 for it." And the Doctor, pointing to the 
 unhappy official, walked proudly away. 
 
 By the exercise of a good deal of soothing 
 diplomacy, Essom quelled the disturbance, 
 although it was some time first. Meanwhile 
 Crisp never stirred from his seat. He was 
 completely cowed : hadn't even the heart to 
 aid in badgering the umpire. It had fallen 
 out exactly as he had foretold. The Doctor 
 sought him, and could hardly forbear 
 smiling at his rueful countenance when he, 
 in answer to a sharp summons, started and 
 stood suddenly erect. 
 
 " Tell Eobson I will meet him in half-an- 
 hour. And attend to the horses — " imme- 
 diately adding, in another tone, " I had 
 nearly done it : got thirty-nine. We shall 
 meet again. Mat, never fear, — then let him 
 look out." 
 
 Crisp groaned, touched his hat, and
 
 Pigskin and Willow, 125 
 
 departed. The battle ended at sunset, 
 gloriously in favour of Heatlierthorp, and 
 the popular feeling of tlie town was satisfied. 
 The Shipley umpire was unhappy, and not 
 he only. Kate went home perfectly miser- 
 able, the Doctor gloomily savage, Mr. Essoni 
 officially indignant, and the Heatherthorp 
 eleven intensely combative. 
 
 *|C "^ /JS" 7^ 
 
 It is night, and the market-room of the 
 Sursingle Arms is full to overflowing. The 
 Shipley party are about to take their de- 
 parture, and are, pendmg the preparation of 
 their coach, imbibing (hollow mockery !) a 
 stirrup cup. Mr. Daniel Essom has just 
 finished a speech ; his face is flushed, and 
 the glasses have not ceased to vibrate on 
 the board. Matthew Crisp (absent from 
 duty without leave) rises — and, in a deep 
 and deliberate voice, says, " Gentlemen all, 
 afore we part, there's a health we ought to
 
 126 MgsHn and Willow. 
 
 drink, upstanding, \vi' musical honours, 
 three times three, and all the rest on't. I 
 ha' been a cricketer myself, and I ikink I 
 know the game. (Hear, hear.) Ask Go- 
 lightly. (Golightly: * Quite true, Mat.') 
 In fact if ever you want a man to mak' up 
 an eleven, I'm ready. (Cheers and laughter.) 
 You may laugh, but I say I'm ready. 
 (Loud cheers.) But about this health — I'm 
 not agoin' to say that Mr. Essom's wrong 
 or that Mr. Anybodyelse's wrong — but 
 I'm certain sure you've all missed spotting 
 the best player this day. It's neither my 
 master (A voice : ' It is though !'), nor Mr. 
 Woodridge, nor Cranston. There he sits." 
 And amid the greatest uproar he turned and 
 pointed steadily to the wretched cause of the 
 SifieviiooTis fracas — the umpire. " Here's to 
 the health of the Shipley umpire, and long 
 may he live to give men out as he's given 
 'em out to-day !"
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 PORTRAYS A PASSAGE IN THE ANCIENT COURSE "WHICH 
 NEVER DID RUN SMOOTH ;" EXHIBITS THAT AWFUL PERSON, 
 THE BRITISH FATHER, WITH HIS BACK UP; AND ILLUS- 
 TRATES THE WONDERFUL CAPACITY FOR CONSPIRACY WHICH 
 A summer's EVENING MAY EXCITE IN TWO YOUNG LADIES, 
 WHEN ONE OF THEM IS IN LOVE AND THE OTHER INCENSED. 
 
 Heatherthorp was itself again. The Doctor 
 duly sent Woodridge " a cheque for a hun- 
 dred ;" Matthew Crisp and John Golightly 
 as duly (aided in their laudable task by sen- 
 tentious tobacco and eloquent ale) annihilated 
 the cricket pretentions of the Shipley um- 
 pire ; and — Essom having no more super- 
 fluous steam to blow off — the match became 
 historical. But it left its mark. The 
 Doctor was not slow to perceive that his 
 devout patients, incited thereto by that 
 dreadful exemplar of clear-starched pro- 
 priety, Miss Priscilla Cardmums, looked him
 
 128 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 askance by way of signifying their horror at 
 his recent wilful divergence into the path 
 which leadeth unto destruction ; and albeit 
 his impatience of this petty coterie was keen, 
 he was Yorkshire enough to know that any 
 expression of annoyance would probably 
 injure his practice ; so he held his peace, 
 and treated Miss Cardmums' flock of pious 
 doves with an amount of arctic civility dread- 
 ful to behold. Then he had to face and have it 
 out with Barjona. That cross-grained old 
 gentleman was really " so partial to his 
 young friend/' that, as beseemed his great 
 love, he rated him soundly " for his apparent 
 proneness to join the silly multitude in their 
 pursuit of an idle sport." As thus — 
 
 ''It defies my penetration to comprehend 
 why that man Daniel Essom — who is not 
 without sense, mind'st thou, and is especially 
 clear in his views of bishops and church-rates 
 — can be joyful over games that would scarce
 
 Pigskin and Willow, 129 
 
 become a parcel of rackety boys. But thee ! 
 Hadst thou attended the ground in thy pro- 
 fessional character now — to look after broken 
 heads and maimed limbs — and verily I am 
 informed they are plentiful at your cricket- 
 matches — I could have commended thy pru- 
 dence ; but to take a prominent part in 
 the foolery, as I am told thou didst — thou 
 need'st not wonder that I was uncharitable 
 enough to think the Friends' Eetreat a fitting 
 abode for thee !" 
 
 How could he reply to this admonitory 
 tirade, especially as he had firmly made up 
 his mind to go the full length of his sporting 
 tether? If Barjona's sense of good taste 
 was outraged by a report of the Doctor's 
 doings in flannels, what would he say if, one 
 of those fine mornings, he beheld the said 
 Doctor in the pigskin, attired in all the 
 glories of " pink ?" 
 
 So our hero held his peace ; remained 
 
 VOL. I. 9
 
 130 Pigskin aiid Willow. 
 
 quiet under all the prickings of Heather- 
 thorpiaii reproof: and if, like tlie great 
 Gulliver, lie refrained from chafing and 
 wriggling beneath the piercing ordeal, the 
 reason was a Lilliputian one — he could not 
 stir. 
 
 But he had his revenge. It curiously 
 chanced that the most antisportive of his 
 patients — even Barjona and the gentle Pris- 
 cilla — required his professional aid, and that 
 before niany days were over. Now colchi- 
 cum and cold water are not the liveliest 
 incentives to what A People's Tribune would 
 term " a logical grasp/' and under the 
 influence of those cheerful deterrents of that 
 noble malady the gout, the gruff Barjona was 
 as tractable as a pet canary, and as little dis- 
 posed to " argue '' as the curate of a mining 
 village. The Doctor was only human, and — 
 it is said — he did keep his patient on water- 
 gruel, and nothing else to speak of, a trifle —
 
 Pigshin and Willow. 131 
 
 say a week — longer than was positively 
 necessary for his recovery, 
 
 And the tender Priscilla. She, most long- 
 suffering of district visitors, most patient of 
 Sunday-school teachers, and most persevering 
 of soup-kitchen treasurers, was seized with 
 an ailment not directly attributable to tight 
 lacing, low living, or the weather. 
 
 " It is not exactly a dangerous case," re- 
 marked the Doctor, airily, speaking of her 
 to Barjona, "but interesting, you know: 
 the sort of thing one don't meet with every 
 day. Certainly not. Eely upon it, you 
 will not be able to leave your room for a 
 week at the least. (Thank you ; yes — one 
 glass ; but is it not the least bit cruel to 
 place temptation before you ?) I was saying 
 that Miss Cardmums' is a peculiar case ; so 
 you see I naturally take great interest 
 in it. I make the most of it, in fact. Good 
 morning.'* 
 
 9—2
 
 132 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 Whereat, so unceasing were his attentions, 
 and so kindly, that the poor, dear simple 
 lady " could have no other feeling for that 
 thoughtfully gentle, clever Doctor, my 
 dear " — as she put it to one of her female 
 friends — " than the deepest gratitude and 
 esteem. I grant he may not be as good as 
 we should like him to be, you know ; but 
 there are worse than he, I am sure. I think 
 if he could be brought more under my — I 
 mean under our influence — he might — " 
 And a beaming smile, that for a moment 
 smoothed the wrinkles of her worn face, 
 completed the sentence. " But, dear me, 
 young men are so resolute ; so dreadfully 
 difficult to control." And she sighed again. 
 — " What can one say? If it were not for 
 that horrid sporting ! — Perhaps he may yet 
 be led to see his imprudence." 
 
 Having quietly converted the leaders of 
 the enemy into allies, the Doctor rapidly
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 133 
 
 regained his popularity with the devout ; 
 and having ere this won the affections of 
 that portion of Heatherthorp which did not 
 plume itself on its evangelical humility and 
 innocence of worldly grime, he speedily be- 
 came the greatest man in the town, and, 
 next to Sir Harry Sursingle, the most con- 
 siderable personage in the entire country 
 side. 
 
 The month which had opened so splen- 
 didly continued to grow in splendour ; and 
 the Doctor, assured by those indescribable 
 signs spiritual the blind god imprints on 
 lovers' hearts that Kate Wilson's interest in 
 him was more than friendly, was as happy 
 as the days were long. (The days are long 
 in June, remember.) Now that it was over 
 he felt glad that Woodridge had won the 
 bet. He was sure the issue of his mad 
 undertaking (mad for him, who had no 
 money to play with) had helped to shape
 
 134 Piaskin and Willow. 
 
 Kate's gentle sympathy into — well, he 
 scarcely knew what ; but it was very plea- 
 sant to bask unchidclen in its warmth. 
 Hers was too candid a nature to conceal 
 itself beneath the conventional cloak which 
 young ladies frequently find it expedient to 
 wear; and the Doctor '^ saw it all," or to 
 speak with due caution^ fancied he saw it 
 all, during those delightful summer days 
 and nights, as he rode to and from The 
 Place literally through lanes of roses. 
 
 Crisp exchanged notes with Kelpie on the 
 subject, and the conclusion he arrived at in 
 the course of the nightly " doings up " was 
 decisive. 
 
 " Ah, Mr. Arthur's done now, old fellow ! 
 Fairly hooked — ssss — not but what we saw 
 that lang syne — ssss ! — a7id so's she ! (Over, 
 boss.) It needs na wise man o' Stowsley to 
 tell us what's to come next — ssss ! White 
 favours — sss — snivellin' women — sss —
 
 Pigskin and Willow, 135 
 
 champagne, and sic like. (Over, hoss.) 
 Bells fit to deafen ye, a sovereign to the 
 clerk, a shower of owd shoes, an' off we go 
 ssss — s ! Never mind. Kelp, my lad ; if 
 shap' mak' an' action has owt to do with it, 
 she's as true a bred 'un as ever made a 
 human bein' wish hissel' a boss to carry her 
 for ever and a day — ssss — and its nowt 
 ag'in her that she doesn't throw back to't 
 sire. Nowt ! (Come over !)" 
 
 The Doctor's frequent visits to Wimple- 
 dale Place did not escape the peering eyes 
 of the gossips — seized and possessed as they 
 habitually are with a stupendous thirst for 
 local knowledge. Essom heard at the Sur- 
 single that the Doctor was given to even- 
 ing rides abroad in the direction of Squire 
 Wilson's residence, and divining the cause 
 thereof, he determined to be early on the 
 scent for the purpose of confirming his con- 
 jectures. A timely call from Miss Bur-
 
 136 Pigskin and Willow, 
 
 roughs brought all his powers of finesse 
 into play. 
 
 ** It is very hot, Mr. Es'm. I never 
 knew such trying weather for complexions 
 and its a poor consolation to a lady with a 
 skin the colour of m'hogany to be told that 
 all the farmers have got their 'ay in.'' 
 
 " You are right, Miss Burroughs ; but 
 then country isn't so particular as town. 
 But talking of complexions, and speaking 
 professionally, I think you ought to take 
 care of 3^ours." 
 
 "Oh, Mr. Es'm!" 
 
 " Not at all — not at all, ma'am. I never 
 flatter. If you will pardon the liberty, allow 
 me the pleasure of presenting you with this 
 pot of cold cream." 
 
 " Mr. Es'm, really " 
 
 " Not at all, I assure you. This weather 
 it is invaluable. It is compounded from a 
 French recipe. By the way, talking of
 
 PigsMn and Willow, 137 
 
 complexions, you will soon all want to look 
 your best at The Place if what I hear is 
 true." 
 
 " If I said I didn't guess your meaning, 
 Mr. Es'm, I should be telling a fib. Oh, 
 Mr. Es'm, country air's bad for secrets ! 
 Not that there's anything reg'lar yet ; but 
 people have eyes, I should hope, and ears 
 too, for that matter." 
 
 " Cert'nly," replied Essom, letting Miss 
 Wilson's own maid have her head. 
 
 "It's not for me to so much as whisper ; 
 but you mark my words, if there isn't a 
 pretty to-do before long, my name's not 
 Martha Burroughs !" 
 
 " Impossible !" somewhat irrelevantly 
 ejaculated the attentive Mr. Essom. 
 
 " The flither of somebody, Mr. Es'm, is as 
 blind as a new-born kitten, and somebody 
 herself has a spirit of her own " 
 
 " To be sure," assented the hairdresser.
 
 138 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 '' And when somebody's fatlier sees what's 
 going on (not that /have any right to com- 
 plain of a certain handsome young gentle- 
 man ive know, Mr. Es'm), and the other 
 young gentleman which he meant for some- 
 body is put ou one side, there'll be a pretty 
 to-do.'^ 
 
 '' You cannot mean Mr. Woo " 
 
 " You will please to recollect that I have 
 mentioned no names, Mr. Es'm, and if you 
 was to go down on your bended knees you 
 would not get me to mention names. But 
 I must be going, for we are expecting a 
 visitor at The Place." 
 
 " A visitor ?" 
 
 " Miss Yandervelde, a friend of Miss 
 Wilson's; a German young lady, with as 
 many airs as a actress." 
 
 Shortly after this interview Essom ma- 
 noeuvred a meeting with Crisp. The inter- 
 view was brief.
 
 rigslin and Willow. 139 
 
 "I hear the governor's to be married, 
 
 Crisp ?" 
 
 " You happen to hear a good deal that's 
 
 not gospel" 
 
 " But he is to be married ; isn't he 1" 
 
 " Ask him." 
 
 " Why, everybody says so." 
 
 " No !" 
 
 " Don't they, then ?" 
 
 " Matthew Crisp hasn't said it yet, that I 
 
 know." 
 
 " Anyhow, everybody's full of it. 
 
 " Eeally ! then everybody has had more 
 than's good for 'em. Ta! ta !" 
 
 And that was all he got out of Crisp. 
 He did not doubt the integrity of Bur- 
 roughs's mysterious narrative — indeed, 
 Crisp's taciturnity supplied a negative proof 
 of her truthfulness. By-and-bye it was 
 rumoured in Heatherthorp-and the report 
 ran " in good set terms"-that the Doctor
 
 140 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 was about to marry the Belle of the Eiding 
 right out of hand, for had she not ordered 
 her trousseau from London ? were not the 
 bridesmaids selected? had he not signified 
 his intention of adding a new wing to the 
 house ? and — very much so forth ? All 
 which suggestive queries grew out of a lady's- 
 maid's native loquacity, the said loquacity 
 having previously been accelerated by the 
 judicious application of a large pot of cold 
 cream, "compounded from a French recipe 1" 
 
 Not many days had elapsed since the 
 cricket match, but Squire Wilson, working 
 like a mole in the dark, had not allowed the 
 grass to grow beneath his feet. He felt 
 instinctively that the wedding he had set 
 his mind on would be repugnant to Kate, 
 and therefore he wrought at his plans not 
 only without her approval, but without her 
 cognizance. 
 
 It had come to this. There was a de-
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 141 
 
 pression in the iron trade, and Woodridge, 
 who had embarked his capital too late in 
 the day to enable him " to get round/' was 
 beginning to feel embarrassed about his 
 future. Old Wilson knew it, and the swifter 
 to bring about his darling scheme, traded on 
 his knowledge. He so contrived matters 
 that Woodridge, acting upon some very 
 broad hints that were conveyed in certain 
 letters which the diplomatic proprietor of 
 Wimpledale Place took care to write, made 
 formal application for Kate's hand. Over- 
 joyed with the success of his scheming, the 
 Squire was unusually fruitful of dark hints 
 at the breakfast-table on that particular 
 morning. Kate, who recognised Wood- 
 ridge's writing on the envelope, half guessed 
 the contents of the letter, and earnestly 
 longed for the arrival of her friend Miss 
 Yandervelde, who was expected by the mid- 
 day train.
 
 142 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 " I am sorry I cannot accompany you to 
 the station^ my dear, and you must tell 
 Sylvia so." 
 
 ''Yes, papa, I will." 
 
 "It is an important magistrates' day; 
 some of the Eiding business to he settled, 
 and I could not well he ahsent." 
 
 " I will explain everything, papa." 
 
 " Do, my love. I shall be back to dinner, 
 of course ; and you recollect, I dare say, 
 that Sutton is coming, too." 
 
 " yes, papa/' replied Kate, with a slight 
 blush. 
 
 " He had a patient to see in this neigh- 
 bourhood, and I believe he will drop in 
 earl3^ And now I must be off"--kissing 
 her, '' By-the-way, Kate, what a capital 
 match your friend Sylvia would make for 
 our Doctor, eh ? I must give him a hint 
 about it this evening." 
 
 " Her friend Sylvia, indeed ! What did he
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 143 
 
 mean?" asked Kate, almost fiercely of her- 
 self, as her father left the room. 
 
 He had not dared to tell her of Wood- 
 ridge's offer. He knew the young gentleman 
 would himself write to Kate hy the next 
 post, and, thanks to Wimpledale Place 
 adjoining a main-line station, the letter 
 would reach her hands hefore his return 
 from Heatherthorp. 
 
 Mr. Wilson was in great good humour 
 with himself as he mounted his substantial 
 cob, and trotted off to Heatherthorp. Kate, 
 poor girl, was nervous and uneasy, and fever- 
 ishly impatient for the arrival of her friend 
 Sylvia. She did not hazard a conjecture as 
 to the latest cause of her papa's complacency. 
 That it was produced by Woodridge's letter 
 was sufficient for her, and, although her 
 mind was made up, she wanted a confederate 
 to support her in the encounter with her 
 papa, which, sooner or later, must come.
 
 144 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 She was ready to be driven to the station 
 at least two hours before the train by which 
 Miss Yandervelde had arranged to come 
 was due, and so was the carriage. Bur- 
 roughs, in high dudgeon, telling the 
 coachman that he'd better get the carriage 
 ready, for goodness knew what was about 
 to happen to Miss Wilson ! What did it 
 all mean, she should like to know ? And 
 she tossed her pert face (glistening from a 
 recent copious application of cold cream) in 
 a manner that boded rebellion. 
 
 Kate could not rest indoors, so taking a 
 book in unconscious make-believe, and care- 
 lessly tossing on a garden hat, she 
 sauntered forth in the direction of the 
 Wimple-side. It was a glorious June day, 
 bright and warm, with a high wind that 
 swept the far blue sky of all but a few 
 stray strands of snowy cloud. In a brief 
 space she began to experience the gracious
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 145 
 
 influence of tlie summer's maturity, and 
 when the bold wind played with her tawny 
 tresses, transmuted now into threads of 
 burnished gold where the sun's rays rested, 
 and nearly took possession of her hat, she 
 burst into a lio:ht careless laug-h, the ex- 
 pression of pre-occupation vanished, and she 
 glanced around with a face that said, to the 
 world's cares and sorrows, as plainly as it 
 could speak, " Come, if you dare ; I am 
 ready !" 
 
 It was not diflBcult to discern whither her 
 thoughts had travelled during the last few 
 minutes. Her first memorable meeting with 
 Arthur (for so she called him, speaking softly 
 to herself), her growing liking for him, her 
 admiration of his simple manly nature, and 
 finally, disguise it as she might, her love for 
 him, were all passed in rapid review. But 
 did lie love lier? She thought he did, only 
 he had not yet spoken. Another rush of 
 
 VOL. I. 10
 
 146 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 the wind, fresh from the moors, set her 
 thoughts dancing off on another track. She 
 gazed across the river, her eyes alight with 
 earnest feeling, and, dwelling lovingly on the 
 undulating swells of the heath-clad moors, 
 sang a verse of a joyous ballad, that smelt of 
 the bracken and heather, and whinflowers of 
 her native dales. 
 
 The echoes of her sweet voice had scarcely 
 died away when she heard a footstep. She 
 turned, the Doctor stood before her. 
 
 " Mr. Sutton !" she exclaimed, with an 
 air of confusion, that made her look 
 prettier than before, " and to surprise me 
 thus !" 
 
 "Nay, Miss Wilson, I have no more 
 than availed myself of the privilege of an 
 old friend. You must really pardon me, es- 
 pecially as I have probably deprived myself 
 of the pleasure of hearing the remainder of 
 a ballad so racy of the soil, and so pretty
 
 Pigskin and Willow, 147 
 
 into the bargain, as that which you were 
 singing." 
 
 " I think you once told me, that you were 
 no adept at flattery ; that — it was more in 
 Mr. Woodridge's way." 
 
 " Oh, yes, yes ; I did not mean to flatter — 
 that is not in your sense of what flattery is. 
 But I had better say no more, for I am only 
 making matters worse. I came to ask Mr. 
 Wilson to excuse my dining with him to- 
 day. Eobson is unwell, and I cannot be off 
 duty." 
 
 '•'Not coming, Mr. Sutton !" she said, in 
 a tone of disappointment. 
 
 " No, and are you very sorry ?" he asked, 
 in a tone she had never heard him use 
 before,, he peering keenly into her face the 
 while. " Are you indeed sorry " — he added, 
 taking her hand — " that I must be absent ? 
 Oh, Kate !" continued he, his voice growing 
 deeper in its earnestness, and his face glowing 
 
 10— %
 
 148 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 with new life, " I must say what I have 
 wanted to say week after week, and day after 
 day, but could not — fearful of offending you. 
 Kate, darling, I have lately got to think 
 that T am not altogether indifferent to you, 
 and now let me know the worst : let me 
 hear from her lips, if the Kate who has been 
 so precious to me ever since the night of 
 that terrible ride for life, when I received 
 her fainting in my arms, is willing to forego 
 a brilliant future for the quiet of a country 
 doctor's dull existence ?" 
 
 Her head drooped. She was dumb. 
 '' Kate, I love you ! — may I hope, dar- 
 ling ?" 
 
 Had the breeze, drowsed by the fierce 
 sun, gone to sleep in the hollow ? Perhaps ; 
 else how could the Doctor, who was a tall 
 fellow, have heard so faint a " yes," as 
 that which timidly passed her sweet lips ? 
 If Kate had sauntered languidly from the
 
 Pigskin and Willow, 149 
 
 garden gate to the riverside, her return to 
 the house was infinitely slower, — and with 
 reason. She was not alone ; her coiinpanion 
 had much to say, and she, meek and sub- 
 dued, and her heart running over with happi- 
 ness, was content to listen, and steal furtive 
 glances, between the pauses in his earnest 
 talk, at his eloquent face. She was glad to 
 escape to her own room, to be alone with 
 her own delicious thoughts, and when the 
 Doctor went on his way rejoicing, she shut 
 herself up, and, in fancy, tried to combat the 
 indignation of her father. He must soon 
 know all, and then what would he say? 
 Never mind, Arthur loved her. 
 
 The business of the Eiding was completed 
 without a single hitch, much to the surprise 
 of some of Squire Wilson's friends, who had 
 expected to see him in his favourite charac- 
 ter — that of an irritating obstructive. After 
 business there was the usual light refec-
 
 150 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 tioD, and lighter discussion of the latest 
 scandal. 
 
 " Ah ! bj the way, Wilson," observed the 
 Chairman of the Bench, Sir Harry Sursingle, 
 " am I premature in congratulating you on 
 eh, a — an auspicious event? — eh ?" 
 
 " I am quite in the dark as to your 
 meaning. Sir Harry," replied the astonished 
 Squire. 
 
 " Come, come ; that won't do, you know. 
 Your daughter '"^ 
 
 " What of her ?" rejoined the old gentle- 
 man, hotly. 
 
 " Is to be married to our young Doctor, 
 is she not ? the neighbourhood rings with 
 the news." 
 
 The blank look with which Mr. Wilson 
 received Sir Harry's intimation was highly 
 flattering to that estimable Baronet's powers 
 of raillery, especially as the other magistrates 
 so far descended to the level occupied by
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 151 
 
 ordinary beings as to indulge in a roar of 
 laughter at the expense of the proprietor 
 of Wimpledale Place. Old Wilson main- 
 tained a grim silence ; the cut was too 
 deep to be healed in a hurry ; and as soon 
 as he could decently get away he left for 
 home. 
 
 Meanwhile Miss Sylvia Yandervelde had 
 arrived ; and at the moment of old Wilson's 
 departure for Heatherthorp was reclining on 
 an ottoman, shielding her Dresden-china 
 face, — her pure features, fair hair, and blue 
 eyes, from the rays of the setting sun with a 
 Watteau fan. There was an open letter in 
 her lap. 
 
 "It is two years since," she said, speaking 
 w^ith dainty deliberation, as though she liked 
 to listen to the inflections of her own voice, 
 " and I was more than two years younger 
 then, believe me. He flirted with me, Kate : 
 1 loved him (you see I can be cool over it
 
 152 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 now), and then he — what would you call 
 it " 
 
 " Threw you over, I suppose," observed 
 Kate, simply. 
 
 " Yes, threw me over ; and I bore it Kate, 
 calmly : but I did not forget. And now he 
 proposes to you ! — Did he know of my pro- 
 jected visit ?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 " Then he must not know. He wants a 
 reply — poor young gentleman ! He shall 
 have one which, if you please, I will dictate ; 
 and when he comes /will receive him." 
 
 "Oh, Syl ! I shall never be able to repay 
 you for all this!" exclaiuied Kate. "And 
 papa ?" 
 
 "Leave him also to me.". 
 
 Somehow, the Squire's determination to 
 prove his paternal authority completely 
 evaporated, or rather exhibited itself in a 
 very mild form, when he discovered that the
 
 Pigskiii and Willow. 153 
 
 Doctor was not going to show. The young 
 Jesuit had heard something, he supposed, 
 and was displaying the white feather. He 
 was exceedingly grumpy at table ; and Miss 
 Vandervelde, to the mischievous delight of 
 Kate, did not add to his equanimity 
 by hei^ remarks. In a few neat sen- 
 tences she succeeded in placing Mr. Regi- 
 nald Woodridge, before the mind's eye 
 of the Squire in a light very different from 
 that in which he had seen him before. But 
 the Doctor ! To steal his daughter's affec- 
 tions under her father's very nose ! It was 
 a consolation to him, as far as it went, to 
 learn from Burroughs that Miss Kate had 
 received a letter. All might be well yet, 
 thought the Squire, for Woodridge would be 
 there to-morrow. But that Doctor !
 
 CHAPTER YIl. 
 
 DEALS WITH A TRIANGULAR DUEL, A PATERNAL EBULLITION, 
 A SENTENCE OF DOMESTIC EXPATRIATION, AND A SHOWER OF 
 TEARS ; DESCRIBES HOW THE DOCTOR CUNNINGLY BLENDED 
 THE EXERCISE OF ONE GENTLE CRAFT WITH THAT OF 
 ANOTHER, AND AFFORDS A PROSPECT OF THE RETURN MATCH 
 BETWEEN HIM AND MR. REGINALD WOODRIDGE. 
 
 Kate could not sleep for thinkini^ of the 
 eventful morrow, so she rose with the rooks 
 (which are always in time for those earlier 
 risers, the worms, it is said), and tapped at 
 Sylvia's door, to the manifest discomfort of 
 that nonchalant young lady, who herself 
 perfectly unruffled at the imminent prospect 
 of a tempest of the heart, attributed this 
 premature visit to the strange habits of the 
 natives of Cleveland. Kate wanted to re- 
 sume the discussion of the theme uppermost 
 in her mind : " it was such a nice hour for a 
 talk !" But Miss Vandervelde held different
 
 PigsJcin and Willow. 155 
 
 views, and therefore flatly declared that 
 nothing would induce her to gratify the 
 whim of her friend, who turned away with a 
 sigh of disappointment, and, heedless of a 
 parting injunction '' to return to her room 
 that instant," astounded the maids who 
 were already astir, and caused Watson the 
 bailiff to doubt the evidence of one of his 
 senses, as, with a melodious " good morn- 
 ing," she tripped along the garden-walk 
 towards the river side. 
 
 Every luminous glance of his clear grey 
 eyes, every rich tone of his tender voice, 
 came back to her as she once more stood on 
 the spot where yesterday they had tarried 
 together. With the lark's limpid gurgle 
 ringing in her ear, the air, redolent of dewy 
 freshness, playing upon her cheek, and a sky 
 empty of all save clouds streaked with the 
 amber-and- violet promise of another bright 
 day, she could not feel unhappy, albeit her
 
 156 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 reflected joy wore a tinge of care. Ifc must 
 end bravely, slie thought, and that very day 
 would decide everything ! 
 
 The Squire seldom indulged in such 
 luxuries as visions. Yet lately he had 
 dreamt his dream — of mating his daughter 
 with the slip of an ancient county family ; 
 and, without being at all conscious of it, 
 he had taken to impalpable architecture. 
 
 On this very morning Kate had scarcely 
 disappeared within doors when he, likewise 
 at odds with sleep, appeared without, and 
 presently set off at a brisk rate towards the 
 Wimple, brooding the while with all the 
 energy of a minor poet of immature ex- 
 perience. That day would, nay, should 
 decide all. His Kate ! — Eeginald Wood- 
 ridge, Esq., Sir Eeginald Woodridge, Sir 
 Eeginald Woodridge, Bart., M.P. — his Kate 
 Lady Woodridge ! The thing was feasible. 
 Cotton and beer, and indigo and pimento.
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 157 
 
 and goodness knows what besides, Lad been 
 veneered with titles — why not pig-iron ? 
 But, he meditated, when he had finished his 
 castle from basement to battlement, and in 
 fancy waved a flag of triumph over its tallest 
 tower, Woodridge will never be captured 
 until that presumptuous doctor is sup- 
 pressed. They must be married instantly ! 
 
 He became so elated with the idea of 
 such an immediate realization of his darling 
 project, that for the moment he forgot he 
 icas a Squire, and began to whistle a tune he 
 had not remembered for years. Abruptly 
 stopping in the middle of a bar, he said — 
 
 " Yes, we must get it all settled now. 
 While Miss Vandervelde's here — she'll help 
 Kate to arrange everything. And then, 
 Sir Harr}^, I shall have the laugh of you, 
 I'm thinking. By the way, I wonder if 
 Woodridge will come by the first train ?" 
 and he glanced at his watch. " Bless mo 1
 
 1 58 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 only lialf-past six 1 How long this morning 
 is, to be sure !" 
 
 Not only with the head of the house of 
 Wilson did the morning seem to lag. Kate 
 had never known minutes so leaden- winged. 
 At length, fairly tired out, she once again 
 sought, and this time obtained, admission 
 to Miss Vandervelde's room. 
 
 " Good morrow. Miss Impatience," said 
 Sylvia, with a look of assumed anger as she 
 opened the door. "And now you have 
 effected an investment of the fortress — or, I 
 should say, broken in upon my natural rest, 
 soured my naturally sweet temper, et cetera 
 — what do you want ? " 
 
 "I know I ought to feel ashamed of my- 
 self, Syl," replied Kate, administering pro- 
 pitiation in the shape of a hearty kiss ; "but, 
 my dear, I could not sleep." 
 
 " And, therefore, — really, Katherine Wil- 
 son, your logic is unimpeachable — you felt
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 159 
 
 it incumbent upon you to disturb my 
 slumbers ! " 
 
 " Do spare me, Sylvia!" said Kate, appeal- 
 ingly, '' there's a darling. Consider." 
 
 " That is precisely what I am doing. 
 Gravely considering — whether, having arisen 
 at a distressingly early hour, and thereby 
 rendered myself liable at any moment to a 
 provoking fit of yawning, I ought to under- 
 take a part in that little domestic drama we 
 projected last niglit.'' 
 
 " Oh, Sylvia ! if I thought you were in 
 earnest ! " exclaimed Kate, in tones of 
 anguish. 
 
 " And is it not enough to make me in 
 earnest, think you ? Have I not to con- 
 found a paternally-favo-ured suitor, allay the 
 wrath of a furious papa, and smooth the way 
 for the return of a banished lover? The 
 heroine of a harrowing three-volume novel 
 could not do more."
 
 160 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 " I trust the task may not be as arduous 
 as you imagine/' said Kate. 
 
 '' I dare say/' replied Miss Yandervelde, 
 high good humour shining merrily through 
 her assumed petulance, and lending new- 
 piquancy to her statuesque German face — 
 " I dare say you do. You exhibited your 
 deep concern, my dear Kate, by first of all 
 depriving me of last night's beauty-sleep, 
 and then by taking special care I did not 
 repair the loss this morning/' 
 
 "ButSyl " 
 
 " ' But me no huts ' — as Mr. Tennyson 
 phrases it, but retire. I have sundry orders 
 for my maid, v^ho is singularly happy at 
 guttural objurations when her mistress is 
 cross, or wakes her too soon. As she is 
 likewise given to colds in the head, I dare 
 not conjecture what effect the damp air 
 which is now blowing from your mountains 
 will have upon her. — ^^Eetire ! "
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 161 
 
 " Nay, Sylvia/' laughingly replied Kate, 
 " you must first tell me one thing. What 
 are you going to do with that old fright of 
 a dress ? and that bundle of letters ? " 
 
 " If my brother were here he would 
 enlighten you. You have played in 
 charades, child — can you not guess ? I am 
 merely about to show Mr. Woodridge that 
 I have lost none of the dramatic talent he 
 once applauded. Now go and arouse your 
 Burroughs." And she fairly pushed Kate 
 out of the room. 
 
 They met at the breakfast table and 
 Kate could scarcely forbear expressing her 
 surprise at Sylvia's toilette. If she had ever 
 doubted her friend's strength of mind, that 
 doubt was set at rest by seeing her attired 
 in the very " fright of a dress " which had 
 previously awakened her wonderment. Mr. 
 Wilson was in remarkably good spirits, and 
 Miss Vandervelde entered thoroughly into 
 
 VOL. I. 11
 
 162 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 the old gentleman's humour. She was an 
 admirable actress. Naturally^ Woodridge's 
 name arose in the conversation. Yes ; 
 Miss Vandervelde had met a Mr. Wood- 
 ridge, she thought, a season or two ago at 
 Scarbro', but she could not be certain if it 
 was the same. Did she not mention the 
 circumstance to Mr. Wilson last night? 
 Was he tall ? passably good-looking ? Ah ! 
 if, as Mr. Wilson declared, he was exceed- 
 ingly handsome, it could not be he. Pos- 
 sibly a brother — or a cousin, perhaps. Still 
 Mr. Wilson would greatly oblige her by 
 not mentioning her name to Mr. Wood- 
 ridge ; when she met the young gentleman, 
 she could, without embarrassment, see for 
 herself. 
 
 The repast over, Mr. Wilson, diplomatic 
 to the last, made his excuses to the young 
 ladies, and betook himself in search of 
 Woodridge, whom he calculated on meeting
 
 Pigskin and TVillow. 163 
 
 at the road-gate to the grounds, where the 
 Sursingle omnibus generally stopped. As 
 her papa left the room Kate bent eagerly 
 forward and whispered — 
 
 " Sylvia." 
 
 " Yes, my dear," replied Miss Yander- 
 velde, anticipating the communication and 
 interpreting it in her own peculiar fashion. 
 " Your papa, like many very clever 
 schemers, is overdoing his part. He goes 
 to prepare Mr. Woodridge for the inter- 
 view." 
 
 " Oh, Syl, I do wish it were over 1" 
 
 Miss Vandervelde remained silent. It is 
 not unlikely that she wished the same, now 
 the interview was so close at hand. Eut 
 she did not lose courage. 
 
 '' Kate," she said in equable tones, " about 
 my eccentric dress. Tell me, when were 
 these funny sleeves in fashion ?" 
 
 " When ? — two summers since." 
 
 11—^
 
 164 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 " Yes. The summer Reginald Wood- 
 ridge ceased to flirt with poor silly me. He 
 admired this dress, he used to say. I wonder 
 if his admiration for it has outlived his 
 affection for the wearer. You now divine 
 the story tied up in that bundle of letters." 
 
 An hour later behold Kate Wilson seated 
 in a pleasant apartment in the shadiest wing 
 of The Place, pretending to read. She half 
 faces the door, and the subdued light which 
 trickles through the Venetian blinds of one 
 of the lofty windows lights her brown hair, 
 restless hazel eyes, and flushed face into as 
 pretty a picture as artist could wish to 
 paint. She is alone — yet no ; she whispers, 
 " Sylvia, he is coming ;" and a slight rustling 
 behind the curtain of another lofty window, 
 succeeded by the sound of a voice which 
 whispers, " Keep a stout heart, love," sug- 
 gest the surreptitious presence of that 
 pretty conspirator.
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 165 
 
 " You will find Kate in the drawing- 
 room," remarks Mr. Wilson, apparently from 
 the hall. " You know the way ?" 
 
 " Thank you, yes," replies Woodridge ; 
 and in another minute he has tapped at 
 the door, been bidden to enter^ and — he 
 stands before the lady of his quest. 
 
 Woodridge, accomplished as he was in the 
 artificial dalliance of the drawing-room, felt 
 for once constrained to admit that there are 
 moments when the well - trained self- 
 sufiiciency of a man of the world is at 
 fault. At any rate, the feeling which 
 stirred him now amounted to an impression 
 of this kind. He liked Kate well enough ; 
 she would make an uncommonly charming 
 wife ; but the organ which in his case did 
 duty for a heart declined to beat with 
 wild rapidity at the idea of the union. 
 He would go in and win ; she was a prize 
 worth the winning — the old gentleman
 
 166 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 coveted him for a son-in-law— a fellow must 
 be turned off some day, and so on. Love — 
 well, yes ; he dared venture to say she would 
 find enough of the high-pressure, self- 
 sacrificing sort at the circulating library ; 
 and, confound it, wasn't he worth having ? 
 On his way to The Place such thoughts 
 as these had afibrded him unmixed comfort, 
 but now he was in the presence of the lady 
 herself they " little relevancy bore" to the 
 momentous object of his mission. The Miss 
 Wilson he had so often sang, and danced, 
 and ridden with could not possibly be the 
 radiantly unembarrassed lady who received 
 him so frostily now. 
 
 There was just the least dash of the prig 
 in Woodridge's composition, and his manner 
 betrayed it, for, notwithstanding his surprise 
 at her coolness, he wore the paternal creden- 
 tials in his face, and comported himself like 
 a very victor. This angered her. If love
 
 Pigskin and Willoio. 167 
 
 is blind to the imperfections of the beloved, 
 how wonderfully hawk-eyed it becomes when 
 the beloved is assailed 1 Kate was standing 
 up for Arthur as well as herself, and she 
 read the motive of Woodridge's demeanour 
 at a glance. He had never appeared so 
 despicable before. It is doubtful whether 
 Miss Vandervelde even could have infused 
 more quiet intensity into a look of scorn 
 than that which slept beneath Kate's long 
 lashes as she rose to acknowledge Wood- 
 ridge's greeting. So, sir — she thought — 
 you fancy I am to be lightly won. We 
 shall see. 
 
 " Pray be seated, Mr. Woodridge," she 
 said. " You must feel heated and tired with 
 your walk through the grounds." 
 
 Still unabashed, but more puzzled than 
 ever, he obeyed^ observing, " You are quite 
 right, Kate — that is. Miss Wilson — the 
 weather is most oppressive." Hang it !
 
 168 Pig shin and Willow. 
 
 was lie such a noodle as to open fire in that 
 fashion ? The weather ! 
 
 She waited for him to proceed with the 
 attack, and he, sufferin^^ by this time from 
 a prickly heat that w^as not assignable 
 to the sun's rays, waited likewise. Beaten 
 at the outposts, he paused before renewing 
 the charge. 
 
 " Kate— Miss Wilson " 
 
 " If you prefer it, let it be Kate," she 
 interposed. 
 
 " Thank you," he rejoined with fervency, 
 drawing a long breath of relief; "that 
 sounds like your own kind-hearted self;" 
 adding, after a moment's pause, '' Kate, is 
 it requisite for me to say why I am here ? 
 I come at your gracious bidding, armed with 
 the sanction of your father. I come, 
 conscious from most enchanting expe- 
 rience " — he was fairly in his stride at last — 
 " of the close identity of our tastes ; let me
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 169 
 
 beseech you, then, to hearken to my suit. 
 Let me to ask you to try and convert your 
 esteem for me into an affection like that 
 which I have long silently cherished for you, 
 Kate." 
 
 " Mr. Woodridge " 
 
 '' Say Eeginald." 
 
 *' Reginald Woodridge, then, it matters 
 little which" — and she rose, an example he 
 wonderingly followed — ''you have fallen 
 into a sad mistake. This farce must end." 
 
 " Mistake !— farce !" 
 
 '' Yes. I bade you come because I wanted 
 you to hear from my own lips my opinion of 
 this distressing business. You speak of 
 esteem. Until yesterday that word would 
 have but imperfectly expressed my regard 
 for Reginald Woodridge ; to-day he has 
 taught me almost to despise him !" 
 
 " Miss Wilson " 
 
 " Is not to be thrown in to turn the scale,
 
 170 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 sir, even though her own father be a 
 party to such a sordid bargain as that 
 which Mr. Eeginald AYoodridge seeks to 
 make." 
 
 " Believe me, 3^ou wrong me deeply." 
 
 " Would that I did, for your own sake ! 
 But no ; I cannot be so much at fault. I 
 have long suspected — that I should say it — 
 poor papa's schemes," and she sighed ; " but 
 I prayed he might not find a pliable in- 
 strument in Mr. Woodridge." 
 
 " Let me explain." 
 
 " You are a glib wooer, sir, and rumour, 
 which credited you with an exploit not 
 unlike what this might have been, some two 
 years since, cannot have been so false after 
 all." 
 
 " And can you, Kate, give heed to that 
 idle story?" 
 
 " Yes, Mr. Woodridge, she can and does'^ 
 said Miss Yandervelde, emerging from
 
 Pig shin and Willow. 171 
 
 behind the curtain, '' because she has heard 
 that same idle story from — me !" 
 
 To say that Woodridge was astonished 
 at the appearance of the third actor in the 
 duel is to say nothing. In the fierce con- 
 flict betwixt amazement, anger, and morti- 
 fication which raged in his breast possibly 
 mortification predominated ; but he still 
 wore his mask, and, bowing politely to Miss 
 Vandervelde, said — 
 
 " A lengthened absence from England has 
 apparently intensified Miss Vandervelde 's 
 natural aptitude for artifice. She has played 
 many parts, but surely none with such suc- 
 cess as this. I am at a loss for its appella- 
 tion, though ; what shall we call it ?'' 
 
 " What you please," she replied, quietly. 
 
 " Considering it began with that kind of 
 listening called eavesdropping (a practice 
 said to prevail extensively amongst domestic 
 servants), which presupposes an ojffensive
 
 172 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 amount of curiosity on the part of the 
 listener, it might be difficult to describe. 
 The part is ' dressed,' too, and has its ' pro- 
 perties,' I see " — and he glanced meaningly 
 at a packet of letters in Sylvia's hand. 
 " However, to come to the point, may I ven- 
 ture to inquire why Miss Vandervelde 
 interests herself so deeply in my concerns ?" 
 
 " Yes, you may," she said, in the quiet 
 tone she had used before. '' You may. And 
 I will tell you. — Two years ago, you, then 
 little better than a needy adventurer, and 
 acting under the impression that I was an 
 eligible parti, — well — you lied your way into 
 my affections." 
 
 " Miss Vandervelde, such an assertion as 
 this is intolerable !" 
 
 "It is true," she continued, not altering 
 her tone in the least. " I was led 
 at last to doubt your sincerity, and, 
 to put it to the test, caused a false
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 173 
 
 report of my comparative poverty to be cir- 
 culated. I was an eligible jpartl, but you 
 believed I was not, and — you threw me 
 over. Some women are spiteful, Mr. Wood- 
 ridge ; I am. I vowed to be recompensed 
 for the injury you had done me ; and Kate, 
 my darling, eavesdropper, conspirator, or 
 what thev will, I think I have been recom- 
 pensed to-day !" 
 
 Kate's look of gratitude replied eloquently 
 to her appeal. 
 
 "It were useless prolonging this inter- 
 view farther," said Woodridge, with concen- 
 trated rage ; and then turning to Kate, he 
 added, assuming a gentler manner, " Kate, 
 is your answer to be no ?" 
 
 " It is— i\^^ /" 
 
 He went, but worthy Mr. Wilson did not 
 hear the result of his interview until the 
 following day. He had no heart to face his 
 might-have-been father-in-law, and so the
 
 174 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 demolition of the worthy old gentleman's 
 dream — Kate declining to enlighten him in 
 the least, and Miss Vandervelde maintaining 
 an equally aggravating silence — was deferred 
 until Woodridge arrived at Shipley, whence 
 he penned a formal intimation of his discom- 
 fiture. Timothy Wilson, Esq., was not so 
 thunderstruck as Woodridge had expected 
 he would be, but his anger knew little 
 bounds. If he was angry when he perused 
 Woodridge's epistle, his heat fairly whitened 
 when he read a letter on the same absorbing 
 theme from the pen of Doctor Sutton. That 
 young gentleman expressed his regret that 
 he had not seen Mr. Wilson at Heather- 
 thorp the day before, as he had hoped, but 
 prior to revisiting The Place he deemed it 
 his duty, et cetera, et cetera. In fact he 
 asked Mr. Wilson to make him a present of 
 Kate. Angry fathers are so common, and 
 their remarks under certain not uncommon
 
 PigsMn and Willow. 175 
 
 trials so trite, it is only requisite to state 
 that the breakfast that morning was a 
 dismal meal. Mr. Wilson used strong 
 language; Miss Vandervelde contributed 
 anxious looks ; while Kate shed more tears 
 than she had done since her mother died. 
 The long and short of it was that Doctor 
 Sutton received sentence of eternal expatria- 
 tion on the spot, a sentence the Squire duly 
 reduced to writing at the earliest opportunity 
 — which was not very early, by the way, for 
 except in business his was not the pen of a 
 ready writer, and to tell a man with whom 
 you have been on terms of cordial intimacy 
 that you have no desire to see him under 
 your mahogany tree more, requires both 
 nerve and tact. 
 
 Kate was broken-hearted at the cross turn 
 which events had taken, but Sylvia was 
 equal to the emergency. The Squire wound 
 up his mandates by interdicting all corre-
 
 176 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 spondence of an epistolary character between 
 the houses of Wilson and Sutton, and there- 
 upon betook himself to Shipley. Consoling 
 Kate with the assurance that she should not 
 leave her until all was made pleasant again, 
 Sylvia ordered out the family carriage, and 
 immediately betook herself to Heatherthorp 
 — alone. She had some shopping to do, she 
 said. How she suddenly became prostrated 
 by an agonizing headache, and was com- 
 pelled to seek refuge in Doctor Sutton's 
 surgery ; how that talented medical adviser 
 effected an instantaneous cure ; and how the 
 pair chanced upon a subject of conversation 
 which enthralled their attention thirty 
 minutes by the surgery clock, need not be 
 written with particularity in these unerring 
 chronicles. It concerns us rather to dis- 
 cover w4iat came of Sylvia's headache. 
 
 The choleric Squire, ill-suited to play the 
 part of an unrelenting parent, found The
 
 Pigskin and Willow. Ill 
 
 Place nearly unendurable. Kate's sorrowful 
 face was an hourly reproach, and accordingly 
 he daily oscillated in an uneasy manner 
 between Heatherthorp and Shipley, leaving 
 the arch-traitress, Sylvia, a clear stage for 
 her machinations. The Doctor religiously 
 abstained from visiting The Place, and 
 Sylvia, whose headaches became alarmingly 
 frequent, was obliged to pay frequent visits 
 to Heatherthorp. Presently it was given 
 out that Doctor Sutton had broken down 
 through over-work, and was going away to 
 recruit his energies with a month's salmon- 
 fishing in Scotland. It might have been 
 expected that this last blow would have 
 utterly annihilated Kate ; but not so. He 
 went his way across the Tweed, and she, 
 acting under the advice of a Shipley doctor, 
 . whom Mr. Wilson consulted, took long 
 drives into the least frequented recesses of 
 sylvan Cleveland, accompanied by Miss 
 VOL. I. 12
 
 178 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 Vandervelde, who was glad of this oppor- 
 tunity of famiharizing herself with that 
 beautiful tract of Yorkshire moorland. In 
 the course of one of their excursions they 
 halted at a tumble- down mill on the 
 Wimple, about a dozen miles from Heather- 
 thorp, and to their overwhelming amazement 
 beheld the Doctor ! Three days previously 
 he had been landing salmon of goodness 
 knows what weight in Scotland, and here he 
 was ! Shall the meeting be described ? Need 
 the crafty delight of the arch-traitress, who 
 alleged that the only way to satisfy her con- 
 science was to enact the part of a stern 
 Spanish duenna, be dwelt upon ? No ! 
 Was ever line so innocent of scales and fins 
 as that of the Doctor's ? Were ever angling 
 excursions so delightful ? But even these 
 days came to an end, and the Doctor, much 
 benefited by his holiday, Heatherthorp 
 said, returned to his duty, and, considering
 
 Pigshin and Willow. 179 
 
 his state of exile, did not repine. Mr. 
 Wilson kept it up, to Kate's sorrow, but 
 she, poor girl ! was more resigned to his 
 rigour, Sylvia, in whom she placed implicit 
 trust, staking her reputation as a conspirator 
 that he would before long be obliged to 
 capitulate. 
 
 Heatherthorp had scarcely time to dis- 
 cover that the Doctor had ceased to visit 
 The Place, when it was announced at the bar- 
 parlour of the " Sursingle Arms " that "the 
 Wilsons w^ere off to Scarbro.' " Kate never 
 wrote to him all the two months they were 
 away, nor he to her ; but Miss Yandervelde, 
 who went to Scarbro' with the Wilsons, 
 kept up quite a voluminous correspondence 
 with him, and Kate was not the least jealous ! 
 One evening, when the corn was at its 
 goldenest, and the heather on the moors 
 at its purplest, the Doctor, who had just 
 heard of the Wilsons' return, was riding 
 
 12—2
 
 180 Pig shin and Willow. 
 
 leisurely home, thinking of Kate. He was 
 tired with a hard day's work, and when he 
 found Matthew Crisp awaiting his arrival, in 
 a heaming condition which suggested recent 
 experiments in connection with malt, he was 
 too jaded to feel angry. " Matthew, what's 
 the meaning of this ?" he said with a slight 
 smile, as he delivered up Kelpie into the 
 hands of the faithful, if hibulous, servitor. 
 
 " Nowt, Mr. Arthur ; only I met an owd 
 crony this afternoon — come up, Kelp, my 
 bo-oy — and we ha' been having it out." 
 "And pouring it down, of course." 
 " Mebby so, Mr. Arthur. I took old 
 Sedgeford's med'cine as you told me, Mr. 
 Arthur ; and whether it's your med'cine or 
 his wife's eternal clack, or the stoppin' of his 
 beer, the parish- clerk and fisherman of 
 Middleby sends word he's better. My con- 
 science, but he's a strange customer ! For a 
 dry-land poacher Golightly has nee marrow :
 
 Fig shin and Willow. 181 
 
 but Sedgeford i' the wafcer — I say Sedgeford 
 '\ the water. He's a reg'lar otter, sir, a 
 reg'lar otter." 
 
 " Not remarkably partial to the otter's 
 beverage is he, Mat?" said the Doctor, dis- 
 posed to humour the garrulous old fellow, 
 '* or he would not be on his back now." 
 
 " Jes', so, Mr. Arthur ; that's what it is. 
 He does not know when to pull up. An' 
 yet they do say he was one of the bigotedest 
 teetotallers in the whole country side ' till 
 a matter of a year since, when he mislaid 
 his almanack and got into trouble." 
 
 " Mislaid his almanack !" 
 
 " Tuk a fish out o' season." 
 
 " Oh ! that was his trouble ?" replied the 
 Doctor ; " but it wasn't with Sedgeford you 
 laid all the dust, was it ?" 
 
 " I'll come to that presently," rejoined 
 Crisp. " Well, when I'd made the poor old 
 chap as comfortable as I could by shoving his
 
 182 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 wife out of the room and turning the key — 
 how can a man get weel when a woman like 
 that tells him every minute of the day 
 that he's a brute and sike like ? — we got 
 talkin' of fishin.' He was very curious 
 about what you did in Scotland, so I sold 
 hira." 
 
 " You !" 
 
 " Ye-es : every big fish he mentioned I 
 mentioned a bigger, and said you'd tuk it. 
 Why, / know, Mr. Arthur. He never 
 played a big'un in his life, though if they're 
 in the river he'll have 'em somehow. I own 
 that. He says he kittles 'em; yet whether 
 it's a hand-net, or a prod, or a hedge-stake, 
 he gets 'em. But him to talk about salmon 
 rods! Yet afore they were so partick'ler 
 about close times and sike like rubbish no 
 man was handier at tender-mouthed fry as 
 him. — Well, sir, I had talked him about 
 dumb, and was just coming away, when,
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 183 
 
 look in' out of tlie window, I saw an old 
 friend of ours." 
 
 " Ours, Mafcthew ?" 
 
 "Yes, Mr. Arthur, ours. You reck'lect 
 Eyan, the dealer (though for the matter o' 
 that copin' was always more in his way than 
 fair dealin), that sell'd us Kelpie ? 'Twas 
 him, on his way frae Yarm Fair to deliver 
 three nags he had parted with. You canna' 
 help feeling a sort of respect for a man you 
 have got the best of, and as I did him as 
 clean as a whistle over Kelp here, Ryan an' 
 me have been cronies ever since. Whea do 
 you think the nags were for, now? You 
 would never guess, Mr. Arthur. Why, one 
 was for Baijona — ' a quiet cob' — says Eyan, 
 with a wink ; a good deal owder than his 
 teeth — there's no tellin' ivhat you can do 
 with the inside of a boss's mouth till you 
 try — and one as fond o' huntin' as ever a 
 lad that has crossed him ; and t'other two
 
 184 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 for that nazzard Woodridge ; naebody else. 
 They're rippin' cattle, 'specially one, a chest- 
 nut mare, and I'se warrant she can travel. 
 Pat has got his figure for 'em, and what do 
 you think he tells me, sir ? why, that this 
 Woodridge — whea wad ha' thowt it, now ? 
 — is a wonder across country, and not to be 
 sneezed at on the flat." 
 
 " And what are those horses for ?" 
 "Why, he's going to subscribe to the 
 H. H., Pat says ; and he means to enter one 
 o' his nags in the Welter at the meeting on 
 the moor next month. Mr. Arthur," added 
 Crisp, meaningly, " Unler Kelp, and ride him 
 yoursel '/" 
 
 " I will think of it, Mat," replied the 
 Doctor, as he entered into the surgery.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 CONTAINS NOTES OF THE VISIT TO SCARBRO' ; RENEWS 
 CHEERFUL INTERCOURSE WITH SOME EARLY FRIENDS; EN- 
 DEAYOURS TO DEPICT A REMARKABLE MARKET-DINNER AT 
 THE SURSINGLE ARMS; AND DESCRIBES THE DRAWING-UP 
 OF ARTICLES FOR THE RETURN MATCH BETWEEN GREEK 
 AND GREEK — OTHERWISE DOCTOR AND IRONMASTER. 
 
 Faithful to the spirit of her promise, Sylvia 
 returned with the Wilsons to Heatherthorp. 
 In the course of a whispered conversation 
 with Kate, as they were swiftly borne from 
 Scarbro' by the evening express, she re- 
 marked that, '' She dared say certain male 
 members of the Yandervelde family-circle 
 were pining to shadows in despair at her 
 prolonged absence — transcendental darlings ! 
 But she had hardened her heart against 
 them. She would remain by Kate's side 
 until the comedy 'Doctor or Ironmaster' 
 came to an end. Had she not vowed to
 
 186 Pigskin and Willo 
 
 w. 
 
 witness the confusion of parental despotism, 
 the reward of cliivalric love, and the subju- 
 gation of overweening ironmastery ? She 
 had, and would ! '^ Kate smiled at Sjlvia^s 
 whimsical banter; for she well knew the 
 warm heart and steadfast will it concealed. 
 Thus far events had occurred precisely as 
 Miss Vandervelde had predicted, and now 
 the Squire himself was actually coming 
 round 1 The return home did it — in this 
 wise : firstly, there was his darling — still 
 and ever to be his darling — pervading 
 The Place with her sunshiny presence, and 
 peopling its echoes with a voice whose every 
 delicate note sounded like home ; secondly, 
 there were his flocks and his herds, and 
 his feathered tribes (Timothy "Wilson, Esq., 
 was a dreadfully enthusiastic amateur far- 
 mer) to welcome him in their peculiar 
 fashion ; and thirdly, there was the en- 
 chanting sense of having bidden adieu to
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 187 
 
 Scarbro' ! And he had further cause for 
 comfort. It would have by no means har- 
 monized with his newly-developed insen- 
 sibility to what he was pleased to call 
 ^'girls' romantic rubbish" to have pleaded 
 guilty " to the soft impeachment," but 
 Kate's behaviour at Scarbro' had afforded 
 him much gratification. The place had 
 agreed with Kate, and Kate with it marvel- 
 lously. This was what Mr. Wilson saw, 
 and it was fortunate for his peace of mind 
 he saw no more. To tell the truth, our 
 heroine was not exactly a free agent. Sylvia 
 Vandervelde's volition — as the mesmerists 
 say — took the place of hers, and unresist- 
 ingly the softer-minded maiden did just as 
 she was bidden. Enjoined " to enjoy her- 
 self," Kate floated lightly down the plea- 
 sant stream of Scarbro' society as though 
 unsympathetic fathers and banished lovers 
 had never disturbed her happiness. Tea<rs
 
 188 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 from the "bitter spring of hope deferred were 
 strangers to her eyes. " It was at her peril 
 she ever wept," Sylvia said ; " she was to 
 
 keep her tears for the wedding " and she 
 
 kept them. When the old gentleman be- 
 held this he hugged to himself the convic- 
 tion that she had forgotten our friend the 
 Doctor for good and all. 
 
 Nevertheless, while in the matter of his 
 daughter's attachment it was from the be- 
 ginning three to one against him and his 
 hobby, he had become, what the betting 
 men would term, a worse favourite as soon 
 as ever the party reached Scarbro'. There, 
 besides the meek, but none the less mighty, 
 opposition of that one fair daughter whom 
 he loved so well ; the unresting artful- 
 ness of that one fair daughter's clever 
 friend Sylvia Yandervelde ; the image of 
 the Doctor — glorified by the tender pencil 
 of Absence into a splendid hero of romance ;
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 189 
 
 — the Squire had to contend against the 
 influence of the Doctor's letters 1 Not 
 that our hero violated so much as the 
 fringe of that dreadful interdiction of epis- 
 tolary correspondence. But he did write to 
 Miss Vandervelde, and if she was pleased to 
 pass the letters over to Miss Wilson before 
 so much as opening them herself, where 
 was the harm? At Scarbro', giving him 
 the Doctor's absence in, it was (to again 
 steal a phrase from TattersalPs) rather over 
 three to one against the wrong-headed old 
 gentleman's chance. 
 
 However, the Squire was home again, and 
 but for one thing he would have felt supremely 
 happy. He missed the Doctor. His back 
 stiffened, his chin insensibly rose in the air, 
 his lips closed with a drooping tendency at 
 the corners when he chanced to meet his 
 former favourite; but — he missed the Doctor. 
 And what greatly provoked the old gentle-
 
 190 Pig shin and Willow, 
 
 man was the impossibility of liis keeping 
 clear of the Doctor's influence. Everywhere 
 he heard him spoken of, and alwajs in the 
 most cordial manner, especially by the 
 common folk, by whom it was evident he 
 was greatly beloved. " But there ! what 
 business had Doctor Sutton with his 
 daughter ?" 
 
 Matthew Crisp (thoU shalt not be dis- 
 sociated from thy master, Mat), in his way, 
 erratic though it was, likewise gained popu- 
 larity. Yet it was not invariably given to 
 the somewhat cynical Crisp to " win his way 
 wdth extreme gentleness through all the 
 outworks of suspicious pride !" The old 
 fellow occasionally got into hot water. Until 
 his advent the court of appeal for trying 
 sporting questions had consisted of two 
 members, Daniel Essom and John Golightly ; 
 Martin Sillery being occasionally permitted, 
 on sufferance, to assist at the court's delibera- 
 tions when these proved more than usually
 
 Fig shin and Willow. 191 
 
 perplexing. But since Doctor Sutton came 
 to the town, and especially since tlie match 
 between Heatherthorp and Shipley, Crisp's 
 arrogance — Essom affirmed — had become 
 unbearable. As Golightly kept his tongue 
 quiet, one may suppose that he entertained 
 a slightly different idea of his crony's pecu- 
 liarities ; and as Martin Sillery talked 
 anyhow (being a sagacious British landlord, 
 desirous of maintaining amicable relations 
 with every customer), Crisp's influence as a 
 sporting oracle widened, Essom's proportion- 
 ately diminished, and there arose a deadly 
 feud betwixt the pair. Many stormy 
 evenings at the Sursingle resulted from this 
 odd rivalry, and divers encounters of a 
 lively description elsewhere, even at Mr. 
 Daniel Essom's shop, for Mat feared not to 
 beard the barber in his own den, to the con- 
 siderable rapture of the privileged frequenters 
 of that politico-sporting sanctum. It came to 
 pass at length that Daniel Essom and Matthew
 
 192 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 Crisp fougM tootli and nail whenever they 
 met — snarled over every sporting subject 
 that was brought to the surface by " the fine 
 fluent motion " of their busy tongues. The 
 last ounce which broke the not-over-broad 
 back of Crisp's forbearance was a remark of 
 Essom's, which conveyed an ill-natured 
 doubt of the Doctor's prowess as a cricketer. 
 From that moment the breach became 
 unbridgeable. Now Nathan Barojna, the 
 Quaker, occasionally witnessed the wordy 
 warfare, and because he sympathised with 
 Essom on the subject of church-rates, he 
 (while piously reprobating the subject in 
 dispute) invariably managed to side with 
 Essom, and to sting Mat to the quick with 
 his venomous comments. Crisp vowed to be 
 avenged. 
 
 "Cross-grained old humbug!" muttered 
 he, as he turned his back on Essom's em- 
 porium one evening, after a remarkably
 
 Pigshin and Willow. 193 
 
 energetic set-to. " Nasty, vinegar-mouthed 
 she-man! All Quakers are she-men, every 
 yan o' them. I wish I had 7717/ way wi' 
 them, that's all. I'd mak 'em stand on a 
 leg. Flayed of feightin' theirselves, except 
 in a police-court about raates they ha' just 
 as much reight tee paay as onybody else, 
 they're nobbut a nuisance tit country. What 
 for didn't they all emigrate wi' that Penn 
 feller i' Charles's time?" And feeling all 
 the better for his very North Eiding soliloquy 
 (the depth of his feeling could generally be 
 measured by the breadth of his phraseology), 
 he took a few steps in silence. Presently he 
 resumed. " And that chap, Essom ! Where 
 did he get his larnin frae I sud like tee 
 knaw ? Nowt comes wrang tiv him." 
 (Crisp's vernacular was becoming broader 
 and broader every moment.) " Cricket and 
 racin', fishin' and huntin', wrastlin' and — 
 politics ! 'm — politics. An' he tJtmks Mr. 
 VOL. I. 13
 
 194 Pigskin and Willow, 
 
 Arthur plays a fairish bat, does he? 
 Wonderful kind o' him to think sae. Won- 
 derful kind ! Thinks, though, he wad a most 
 back that Woodridge feller agin him, ivery- 
 thin else equal : wad he ?" And Crisp 
 smiled grimly. " Has hard, tee, that Mr. 
 Arthur can ride a bit on the fiat. Mebby 
 he can, Mr. Daniel Essom, a little hit. Has 
 liard, tee, that Mr. Eeginald Woodridge is 
 a rare performer i't' pigskin. Mebby he is ; 
 mebby he is ; though he doesn't strike me 
 like a chap wi' a Grand National cut about 
 him. Then, Essom wonders if they canna' 
 get up a match for 'em, eh. Crisp ? says he 
 — a return, you know. Crisp, says he — 
 looking at me. Not the least objection, 
 says I. What new folly is this? puts in 
 Mr. Quaker ; I earnestly trust thy master 
 is not about to engage in the cruel sport of 
 horse-racing. Can't say, says I, because I 
 .generally allow my master to manage his
 
 Pigskin and Willoio. 195 
 
 own affairs ; but some folks Las time foi 
 everybody else's business besides tbeir own. 
 Keep tliy temper, says Barjona. So I sliall, 
 says I ; but if I had some folk's temper, I'd 
 get shut of it at yance. — ^Nasty, crabbed 
 owd beast ! And as for Essom " 
 
 '^ Hullo !" 
 
 '' What is the row ?" 
 
 " Divil a row at all, that I know of, Mat, 
 my boy; worse luck. The company I've 
 been kapin' 's not favourable to rows ; 
 Quakers nivir foiglit — except on paper. 
 And in that koind of foightin' they've not 
 many aquils — accardin' to moi exparience, 
 Matthew Crisp." 
 
 " Ah ! it's Eyan, I see," observed Crisp, 
 peering curiously into the gnarled face of 
 the horsey-looking individual he had run 
 against. " What keeps you hangin' about 
 here ? I thought you had gone lang 
 syne." 
 
 13— a
 
 196 Pigskin and Willow, 
 
 " Faith, I almost thought so myself— till 
 I was stopped." 
 
 '' Stopped V 
 
 " Nothin' less. P'raps it's my plasin' 
 manners, or the tindherness of my heart, or 
 bekase I'm ginerally mouldy for a dhrink, 
 but somehow I'm always gettin' divarted 
 out o' my natural coorse." 
 
 Crisp vouchsafed no answer ; an invo- 
 luntary gasp at the phrase " tindherness of 
 my heart" alone betraying his notice of the 
 horse-dealer's rhodomontade. Mr. Ryan, 
 however, was dealing with an attractive 
 subject — ^himself — and felt constrained to 
 treat it worthily. 
 
 " I mint to be on my w^ay south by this," 
 continued he, in a wheedling tone, " but the 
 Quaker persuaded me to stop." 
 
 " Him !" ejaculated Crisp, surprised out 
 of his tacirtunity. 
 
 "Divil a wan else," remarked Ryan.
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 197 
 
 " Somehow ridin' doesn't come aisy to him, 
 Mat ; and thin he's changed his gardener 
 into a groom ; and he wanted a wrinkle or 
 two for himself, and a wrinkle or two for 
 his gardener. Faith, if they were all 
 wrinkles, like my gran'mother's face, it's 
 not much they'd be makin' out in ridin' and 
 groomin' ; and my. compassion was excoited 
 ye see. Mat, and so I stopped." 
 
 " Gammon !" 
 
 " Sure, and what was it you said, Matthew 
 darlin'?" 
 
 " I said gammon, Eyan — gammon. Hap- 
 pen ye know what it means ?" 
 
 " And is it for the ould acquaintance ye 
 are, Mat, to doubt my generosity — to a 
 customer ? Any way, Misther Barjona has 
 thrated me handsomely, and why wouldn't 
 I thrate him handsomely, too ? Is it the 
 likes o' the bit of dinner and the glass o' 
 port aftherwards, though, moind you, if any-
 
 198 PigsUn and Willow. 
 
 thing ill the world can bate a Quaker's 
 notions of atin', it's his idays of dhrinkin', 
 and the dhrops o' the crater in the evenin', 
 that's goin' to weigh wid me at all ? Isn't 
 it the kindness ?" 
 
 "Look here, Eyan," said Crisp, with 
 severity, '^ if anything 's took place sin' ye 
 cam' here to mak' ye thjnk me the biggest 
 flat you ever met, talk on ; if not, bottle 
 up your blarney for Barnet Fair. You are 
 not keepin' your animals here eatin' their 
 heads off for nowt." 
 
 "An is it for you, Mat, that's lived all 
 your life wid them, to call horses animals ? 
 You might just as well call them pigs ! Nivir 
 fear about thim atin' their heads off as long 
 as there's dacent nibblin' in Barjona's 
 meadows." 
 
 " Oh !" breathed Crisp. 
 
 "And, if you must know, Pm just stop- 
 pin' here for a quiet dale. I've a nate pair
 
 Pigskin and Willoio. 199 
 
 of hunters that 11 suit Sir Harry Sursingle 
 to a hair, and I want to see him to-morrow — 
 market day." 
 
 " At Sillery's ordinary ?'' 
 
 '^Yes." 
 
 " Grood-night, Eyan/' said Crisp, making 
 a move ; and then, suddenly seeming to re- 
 collect himself, he remarked : '' By-the-by,. 
 supposin' you had to handicap that mare yon 
 sold Mr. Woodridge the other day, and our 
 Kelpie, for two miles over a fair steeple- 
 chase country — none of your stone walls,, 
 recollect — how would you put 'em together ? 
 They're the same age, you know, and can both 
 stand up." 
 
 " It depinds.^' 
 
 "On what?" 
 
 " Who's gammonin now, my boy ? Bless 
 your swate innocent self. Mat ! was it 
 Bilsdale you were foaled in, or the countj 
 Kildare?"
 
 200 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 Crisp disdained to reply. 
 
 *• How would I put them together, is it ? 
 "Fdiiih J just to suit meself P^ 
 
 ^' Why, you copin', swindlin', vagabone ! 
 do you think we have nothing but 
 ramping in our part of the country ? 
 There's a match between this pair — 
 owners up — talked about, and, let me tell 
 you, it will be on the square. Now can you 
 say how you'd handicap them ?" 
 
 " Mat, there's nothing in it. If they met 
 at even weights I'd take a shade of adds 
 either way. I nivir lay adds ; but if I did 
 it 'ud not be on your masther's mount." 
 
 " Thank ye ; that's all I wanted to know. 
 Good night." 
 
 "Goodnight.^' 
 
 Before Doctor Sutton retired to rest he 
 was in possession of the information Crisp 
 had been at the pains to procure, namely, 
 that Kelpie and Mr. Eeginald Woodrid'a
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 201 
 
 new purchase were, in the opinion of the 
 late possessor, as near a match as it was pos- 
 sible for two horses to be. " Not a pin to 
 choose between them. Jockeyship would 
 just turn the scale." A good many 
 thoughts, somewhat associated with Wood- 
 ridge, Kate "Wilson, Kate's father, and a 
 sportsman's honourable revenge, scampered 
 through the brain of the Doctor as he turned 
 in " to sleep on it." 
 
 If the Chronicler has hitherto omitted to 
 state that Heatherthorp sends a gentleman 
 to represent its interests — whatever ihei/ 
 may be — to the Commons House of Parlia- 
 ment, he hastens to remedy that omission. 
 The borough, as a borough, obeyed the dic- 
 tates of reason and the reigning property- 
 owner, like the patriotic borough it was. 
 Fortunately for the electors, they were 
 not required to exercise what Mr. Daniel 
 Essom termed the right of private
 
 202 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 judgment in the matter. Sir Harry Sur- 
 single took care of that. Each election, how- 
 ever it might begin, ended in a walk over ; 
 and with a complaisance that did him credit. 
 Sir Harry (in whose interest the candidate 
 sported silk) kindly officiated as starter and 
 judge, having previously sent a trustworthy 
 agent to superintend the weighing out. 
 Essom denounced the whole affair as a mon- 
 strous farce ; but then Essom was a radical, 
 and radicals always were perverse, imprac- 
 ticable people. A general election was 
 pending at this time, and Sir Harry Sur- 
 single, it was expected, would give the can- 
 didate a breathing at Sillery's ordinary. 
 This was the occasion Eyan had meditated 
 turning to account, with a view to a deal 
 with the Baronet. A new man was coming 
 forward to ornament the borough, a nephew 
 of Sir Harry's, and the free and independent 
 were expected to assemble in force at Martin
 
 Pigsl'in and Willow. 203 
 
 Sillery's hospitable board, to allow their 
 political pulses to be felt in the accustomed 
 manner. Everybody was there ; not neces- 
 sarily to smile upon the tender senator's first 
 plunge into public life, but because every- 
 body was expected. If Sir Harry Sursingle 
 had been a facetious and eccentric member 
 of the P. E,., and this his annual benefit, his 
 friends could not have rallied round him 
 more enthusiasticall}^ It was by no means 
 the new member that was to be who con- 
 stituted the sole attraction. He indeed 
 was such a poor creature, it was a positive 
 charity to send him to Parliament, where he 
 might haw-haw with other poor creatures 
 as vapid as himself. No ; it was the 
 correct thing for Heatherthorp to rally 
 round Sir Harry on such occasions, and 
 Heatherthorp rallied. The social [duties 
 which devolved upon the guests were simple. 
 Every ordinary feeder was required to dine
 
 204 PigsJcin and Willow. 
 
 heartily, drink freely, listen patiently, and 
 retire without paying. Sometimes the diners 
 above " the pale spectrum of the salt " broke 
 out into set speeches ; but to-day Sir Harry 
 was not certain whether the colt who sat on 
 his right had the heart to face a crowd yet, 
 and therefore he deemed it prudent to say 
 little or nothing about politics. 
 
 Among the group at the head of the 
 board " might be noticed " (as the local 
 journal observed on the succeeding Saturday) 
 " Timothy Wilson, Esq., J.R, of The Place ; 
 Doctor Sutton, and Eeginald Woodridge, 
 Esq., of Shipley." The local journal forgot 
 to include Mr. Essom and Mr. Patrick Eyan 
 in its list of the company, but they were 
 present nevertheless — Essom on the look-out 
 for subscriptions to the approaching race- 
 meeting, and Pyan burning for a profitable 
 deal. 
 
 Buz, buz, up and down the table moved
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 205 
 
 the conversation, which, after the few political 
 utterances from the founder of the feast, was 
 tacitly allowed to mingle in Babel fashion : 
 " Not a bit like his uncle, is he ? what will 
 he ride ; ten stun' seven ?'' — " Yes, t* iron 
 trade's getting awful dull i' Shipley; and 
 what I mean to say is,, we've over much iron 
 i' Cleveland and t' coal—" '' Plenty of birds, 
 though not much happin' for them tee year; 
 but as I was remarkin' about sawing broad- 
 cast, which Sir Harry — " '' I eased him in 
 his work, and now the curb's got callous — '' 
 " We have good entries for the Welter 
 and Wimpledale Plate, and — " " I tell you 
 it's the bishops that play the deuce with all 
 reform; now just glance for a moment 
 
 at " 
 
 ''Mr. Essom," pompously observed the 
 Baronet, addressing the barber point-blank, 
 and thereby producing a lull in the con- 
 versation, the company pausing to listen,
 
 206 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 " are the subscriptions to this year's meeting 
 equal to those of last T 
 
 " Scarcely, Sir Harry, but we expect a 
 capital day's sport, nevertheless.'^ 
 
 " Ha — there's a — little fear of that, I 
 think," replied the Baronet ; " of course you 
 reckon upon my hundred as usual ?'' 
 
 "Well, I must confess we do make so 
 bold." 
 
 " Quite right ; the cheque is at your ser- 
 vice whenever you require funds to go on 
 with, you know." 
 
 A murmur of approbation, mingled with 
 one or two emphatic ejaculations of hear ! 
 hear! greeted the baronet's announce- 
 ment. 
 
 "And, haw/' observed the Baronet's 
 nephew, delighted at the opportunity of ex- 
 pressing himself on a subject he knew 
 something about, "like to encourage old 
 English sports and — haw — all that sort of
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 207 
 
 thing; so — liaw — you can put my name 
 down for another hundred." 
 
 Sir Harry's approving " bravo ! " led an 
 enthusiastic burst of applause. Former 
 M.P.s for Heatherthorp had never given 
 more than fifty. 
 
 '' Speaking on behalf of the Committee," 
 said Essom, rising, and unconsciously as- 
 suming the controversial manner of his 
 youth and the Fleet Street Forum, " allow 
 me to thank Sir Harry Sursingle, and the I 
 may say honourable member on his right, 
 for their munificence ; and not only have 
 the Committee, but the town — nay, the 
 whole countryside — cause for congratulation 
 at the possession of such noble sportsmen as 
 the Chairman and the honourable member 
 on his right. (Hear, hear ! and applause.) 
 Should their example be followed, as I trust 
 it may, we shall then be able to carry out a 
 long-cherished plan, and make the meeting
 
 208 Piijskin and Willoic, 
 
 on the moor last a couple of days. (Loud 
 cheers.) And while I am on my legs, 
 perhaps Sir Harry Sursingle will permit me 
 to ask two gentlemen who are present for 
 their assistance ? " 
 
 " Most certainly, Essom," said the 
 Baronet. 
 
 " Thank you, Sir Harry. The gentlemen 
 I mean are Doctor Sutton and Mr. Wood- 
 ridge. (Sensation — the rivalry of the couple 
 was well known to the company.) They 
 are rare sportsmen (cheers), and — to make 
 a long story short — they are known to be 
 as accomplished in the saddle as they are 
 with the willow. As they are ancient 
 antagonists — no offence is meant, gentle- 
 men; we have not forgotten the cricket - 
 match, you see (cheers and laughter) — 
 and more than all, as they are known 
 to be owners of nags of the right sort, 
 perhaps, Sir Harry, you will help myself
 
 Pig shin and Willoic. 209 
 
 and Committee to put tliem together.'* 
 (Cheers.) 
 
 ''By all means, Essom ; by all means. 
 What say you, Doctor? and you, Mr. 
 "Woodridge? " 
 
 " I have no response to make to 
 such an unwarrantable proposal. I pro- 
 test I am surprised Mr. Essom has not 
 had the decency to mention the thing to 
 me before proclaiming it in this public 
 manner." 
 
 " Essom's too keen a sportsman for that," 
 observed the Baronet, laughing. " And 
 what says Mr. Woodridge ? " 
 
 Woodridge, who "fancied himself " and 
 his new purchase, and was besides eager 
 for another cut at the Doctor, replied with 
 deliberation — 
 
 " I place myself and my mare in your 
 hands. Sir Harry. If 3'ou can make a 
 match, by all means do ; I am ready." 
 
 VOL. I. 14
 
 210 Pig shin and Willow. 
 
 This plucky speech augmented the in- 
 terest which the excited company already 
 felt in the proposed match, and elicited a 
 running commentary, the remarks, " That's 
 Yorkshire ! " "Come, Doctor, deant shew t' 
 white feather," rising distinctly ahove the 
 hubbub. 
 
 The Doctor twirled his glass in gloomy 
 silence. He had, as euphemistic sportsmen 
 would say, ^' got the needle," and that re- 
 mark about the feather drove the instrument 
 home. 
 
 "But supposing Doctor Sutton were to 
 give his consent to the match," said the 
 Baronet, " what do we know about the 
 horses? How are we to put them to- 
 gether ? " 
 
 "I think, Sir Harry, I can " com- 
 menced Mr. Essom ; when E,yan, who sat 
 next him, interposed. 
 
 " Allow me, Misther Essom, an' if his
 
 Pigskin and Willow, 211 
 
 hanour the noble chairman '11 likewise 
 allow me, I think I can help you out of this 
 bother. Docthor Sutton knows me for 
 several years past, and I have the hanor 
 of Misther Woodridge's acquaintance. I 
 owned both nags; and who would know 
 bitther than meself how to put them to- 
 gether ? If his hanour the noble chair- 
 man likes, I'll make the match, either 
 for wan, two, or three moiles, owners up, 
 I'll put the weight an 'em, and whin I 
 done it — I'm not a rich man, gintlemen, 
 but for a horsedealer, I hope I'm an 
 honest wan (laughter), — an' whin I 
 done it, I repate, I'll take any o' yees 
 sixty to fifty wance, and wance only, 
 about either o' thim. Now, is that 
 fair?" 
 
 " It is ! it is ! " shouted the company. 
 
 " Will Mr. Woodridge be satisfied with 
 my handicapping ? " 
 
 14—2
 
 212 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 "Perfectly, so long as you satisfy Sir 
 Harry of its justice." 
 
 "Will the Docthor agree to it? " 
 
 " Yes ! " exclaimed Sutton, with energy. 
 
 "Then it's a match!"
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 CRISP TASTES THE SWEETS OF RIGHTEOUS RETRIBUTION ; 
 KATE AND SYLVIA LAY THEIR HEADS TOGETHER ; BUR- 
 ROUGHS EXECUTES ANOTHER COMMISSION, AND THE DOCTOR 
 RECEIVES A 3IYSTERI0US PARCEL, TOGETHER WITH A BIT 
 OF A DEVOUT YOUNG PERSON'S MIND. 
 
 Matthew Crisp felt somewhat dubious of 
 the prudence of entrusting the handicapping 
 for the match to the flexible hands of Mr. 
 Patrick Ryan, but since he saw no chance 
 of mending the appointment of the horse- 
 dealer, he abstained from discussing it — 
 except with the faithful recipient of his 
 confidences, Kelpie. "Was it a fellow-feeling 
 that made him so mightily suspicious of 
 the dealer ? Perhaps. In Crisp's opinion, 
 at any rate, Ryan's conscience, like the 
 major portion of the worthy dealer's house- 
 hold goods, chattels, stock-in-trade, faculties,
 
 214 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 and blarney, was a marketable commodity, 
 at the service of the highest bidder — obvi- 
 ously, in this particular instance, at the 
 service of any bidder. Although it would 
 have been monstrous to suppose Sir Harry 
 Sursingle capable of countenancing the 
 tricks of the crafty Irishman — in this 
 wise did Mat continue to chew the cud of 
 his bitter fancy — it was by no means impos- 
 sible for the Baronet to be sweet one way or 
 another about the match. How if he was 
 fond of Woodridge's nag ? Eyan had all 
 along set his heart on a deal with the 
 Baronet. Thanks to the administration of 
 a copious and adroitly-mixed dose of Eyan- 
 esque, composed of one part business and 
 three parts blarney, he had contrived to 
 obtain an invitation to the Manor, for the 
 purpose of showing the pair of hunters he 
 was prepared to part with at a sacrifice. 
 Hearsay, in the person of Essom, averred
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 215 
 
 the bargain was struck ; and Vanity, in the 
 person of Ejan himself, bore ornate testi- 
 mony to " the wondherful condiscinsion of 
 the Bar'net's manners." Now — argued 
 Matthew — Sir Harrj^ and Eyan were sure 
 to talk about the matclij, they could not 
 help it ; and if the Baronet toas sweet on 
 either Woodridge or Mr. Arthur, Pat, 
 always remarkable for the strength of his 
 eyesight, would see how the cat jumped 
 at once, and (Matthew, for shame !) lump 
 the weight on accordin' ! How did the cat 
 jump ? Crisp brooded and brooded until he 
 found a reply. In Heatherthorp Doctor 
 Sutton, electorally speaking, was Nobody; 
 besides, votes were not required there ; but 
 just outside the borough of Heatherthorp — 
 that is to say, in his own parliamentary 
 division of Smokelandshire, Mr. Woodridge 
 was Somebody. A warm friend of Sir 
 Harry's was contesting the division wherein
 
 216 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 Mr. Woodridge ruled, literally with a rod of 
 iron ; consequently to Sir Harry especially 
 was Mr. Woodridge an object of interest. 
 
 To this effect, if not exactly in this 
 fashion, Crisp meditated. He groaned in- 
 wardly. '' Eyan'll see which way tli' cat 
 lowps, and put 'em together tee fit." 
 
 The keenest of sportsmen like their cham- 
 pions to have a bit in hand. Crisp was no 
 exception to the rule, albeit Yorkshire 
 enough to his stiff backbone to regard with 
 the liveliest scorn a match, so-called, where 
 one side has any number of points the best 
 of it, and which is no match at all. And he 
 gravely doubted Mr. Eyan. His know- 
 ledge of the morals of that ornament of 
 Hibernian society was rather in excess of 
 his admiration for them. " But, hang it — 
 Kelpie, lad, we're alive ! Xobbut let them 
 give Mr. Arthur half a chance — just half a 
 chance — an' he'll weather. I could get ower
 
 Pigskin and Willow, 217 
 
 it if he cam' a cropper, or if thou, my lad, 
 didn't stand up — but thou mun. Kelpie, 
 thou mun, or we'se quarrel — 1 say I could 
 get ower 't. But it wad brek my heart tee 
 see him chopt at start. Weight 11 stop 
 owt V' 
 
 Thus, on the third morning after the 
 dinner at Sillery's, Crisp unburdened his 
 soul. It was yet before breakfast with him, 
 for at duty's call he had risen with the dawn 
 to give his pet a taste of 'cross-country 
 work. By-and-by Kelpie w^ould leave for 
 snug quarters on the wolds, for finishing 
 touches at the hands of a famous school- 
 master, and, curiously enough, the Doctor 
 was in daily expectation of being summoned 
 to the same neighbourhood to assist at a 
 most important consultation. 
 
 Crisp had delayed his morning meal to 
 have a look at the Heatherthorp, out that 
 mornino: rattlins: the cubs about in one of
 
 218 Pig shin and Willow. 
 
 old Wilson's covers. The squire, despite 
 Ms being a gentleman-farmer of a tremen- 
 dously fervid type, patronised field sports 
 in an askant sort of wa}^, and tlie H. H. 
 were to honour him with a call that morn- 
 ing. But Crisp was not destined to see the 
 young hounds blooded yet. While jogging 
 leisurely along, exchanging notes with 
 Kelpie, he heard the distant crunch of 
 wheels, and glancing in the direction of the 
 sound, descried a pony- carriage which was 
 apparently aiming for the same goal as him- 
 self. The vehicle contained Kate and 
 Sylvia, and our heroine held the ribands. 
 Sylvia had expressed a desire to see an 
 English meet, but had recorded her veto 
 against going thither on horseback. "It 
 isn't as it used to be, my dear. Horses are 
 horses now, neither steeds nor palfreys; 
 they don't caracole or amble, — they trot 
 and canter and gallop. In fact, horseman-
 
 Pigskin and Willovj. 219 
 
 ship in England is such dreafully earnest 
 business. I could always get on in Paris, 
 where your speed is regulated by the police ; 
 but I should be sure to fall ojff here. Just 
 conceive one of your energetic hunters or 
 lively park hacks running away with me, 
 and casting me goodness knows where. 
 Into the Wimple, perhaps." Kate rallied 
 her friend on her timidity (which really was 
 a good deal assumed), but in the end agreed 
 to put the pony- carriage into requisition, 
 the more especially as the covert side was 
 easy of access on w^heels. " My word, but 
 she is a thoroughbred 'un," muttered Crisp. 
 ** Where does she get it?" 
 
 " Good morning, Crisp," said Sylvia and 
 Kate simultaneously, when our heroine, 
 obeying a nudge from her companion, had 
 pulled up. 
 
 "Good mornin. Miss Wilson — an the 
 same to" yoa, ma'am ,'^ replied he, with a
 
 220 Pigskin and Willow, 
 
 beaming face. Then, instinctively starting 
 a subject he suspected one of the young 
 ladies would relish, he added in a tone which 
 one would use to introduce a dear friend — 
 " Kelpie, Miss Wilson." 
 
 " I see it's my old pet, Crisp," said Kate, 
 slightly blushing — " rare old fellow I How 
 well he is looking, too !" 
 
 ''Though I say it as p'raps shouldn% 
 miss, he does look well, an' I'm main glad 
 you tak' notice on it. He'd need look well, 
 and be well, too, for what he'll have to do 
 very soon, miss." And there was a touch of 
 pathos in the old man's voice, not improbably 
 suggested by a lingering suspicion of Eyan, 
 that sounded inexpressibly droll. "Ah! 
 he'd need look well, miss, for the weight 
 he'll mebby ha' tee carry," he added — 
 muttering the latter half of the sentence to 
 himself. 
 
 Here observe Mat's notions of conversa-
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 221 
 
 tional propriety. Miss Vandervelde was 
 " ma'am ;" Kate invariably " miss." 
 
 " We heard something about it," observed 
 Sylvia. "Doctor Sutton and Mr. Wood- 
 ridge are going to do something dreadful at 
 the races. To gallop over hedges and 
 ditches, and brooks, and walls, like a couple 
 of wild huntsmen, Crisp." 
 
 "Not quite, ma'am," rejoined he, with a 
 broad grin. Kate remained silent. 
 
 " Well, but you know this should be 
 stopped. It is dangerous; very, very 
 dangerous." 
 
 " Lor' bless you, ma'am — no-o — only to 
 muffs. My Arthur's nae muff, — whatever 
 t'other yap is," he added, by way of aside. 
 
 "Persons get killed who practise this 
 ridiculous diversion, this, — what do you call 
 it?" 
 
 " Steeple-chasin'." 
 
 " Yes, steeple- chasing. Don't they ?"
 
 222 Pigskin and Willow, 
 
 "Why, happen they do. But that's 
 becos their time's come. An' if we are to 
 go, ma^am, we may as weel go that way as 
 ony other. I've had my collar-boane 
 brokken, an' my shoiither put oot ; but I 
 gat ower't/' said Crisp, sententiously, essay- 
 ing to soften the account of his calamities by 
 putting it into the broadest possible York- 
 shire. 
 
 " You never were killed, though," flashed 
 out Sylvia, with an air of triumph. 
 
 "No, ma'am, I can't say that I ever was," 
 he replied with deliberation, as though the 
 idea had presented itself to his mind for the 
 first time. 
 
 " But," interposed Kate, in a tone that 
 plainly expressed her aversion to the turn 
 the conversation had taken, " Kelpie can go 
 across country — makes no mistakes — and 
 Doctor Sutton is a good horseman !" 
 
 " Thehest in England, miss," replied Crisp,
 
 Pigskin and Willoic. 223 
 
 emphatically ; " and as for Kelpie, show me 
 the hunter that can stand up or finish better 
 than him !" 
 
 " What a wonderful master yours is ! " 
 said Sylvia, smiling. " Is there anything he 
 cannot do ?" 
 
 " No, I can't say that there is ; not to 
 my knowledge, unless it's a dishonourable 
 action," added he, with great simplicity. 
 
 "Capital!" ejaculated Sylvia. "You are 
 a splendid servitor. You are worthy of — 
 what shall I say ? — the days of chivalry !" 
 
 Kate gave the old man a look that sent 
 a thrill straight to his faithful heart, and he 
 thought, " God bless her ; she's worthy of 
 him." He was about to give Kelpie his 
 head, when Sylvia, whisperingly prompted 
 by Kate, observed — 
 
 "Eeally, Crisp, judging from what you 
 say, Doctor Sutton must be a famous horse- 
 man. What were his colours — colours is
 
 224 Pigskin and Willow, 
 
 the word, Kate ? I am such a stupid at 
 these things — what were your master's 
 colours when he was addicted to this — 
 steeple-chasing ?" 
 
 '* Mr. Arthur's colours, ma'am, iver sin' I 
 can remember, were grey, wi' rose hoops, and 
 white cap." 
 
 '' Upon my word, a charmingly delicate 
 combination," replied Miss Vandervelde. 
 " Hoops, too. You will think me a very 
 ignorant person. Crisp, but I never so much 
 as saw any horse-racing. I am dying with 
 curiosity for a sight of one of your English 
 race-meetings. And — yes — couldn't you let 
 me see Doctor Sutton's colours, think you?" 
 
 " Easiest thing in the world, ma'am. I'll 
 bring 'em to-morrow." 
 
 "And you need not say anything to 
 Doctor Sutton about it. He would only 
 laugh, at me if he knew." 
 
 " All right, ma'am. Good mornin'; good
 
 Pigskin and Willoiu, 225 
 
 mornin' to you, Miss Wilson ;" and the old 
 fellow, deliglited witli his mission, trotted 
 x)ff in great glee. 
 
 "What evil genius prompted thee to exercise 
 thy new hobby on that morning, of all 
 mornings, Nathan Barjona ? Obedient to 
 the summons of a certain carnal-minded 
 baronet, even of Sir Henry Sursingle, a 
 troop of horsemen, clad in garments of 
 unseemly device and intemperate hue were 
 hastening to the covert side whilst thou 
 wast preparing for two hours' peaceful 
 penance in the saddle. Yea, even to the 
 covert side, with hound and horn, with 
 ribald jest, and barbarous halloo, to hunt to 
 death the caitiff fox. Oh, Nathan ! 
 
 Crisp moderated his pace after bidding 
 the young ladies adieu, and presently he 
 observed, approaching from the further ex- 
 tremity of the bridle road which he had 
 entered — a short cut this to the covert side 
 
 VOL. I. 15
 
 226 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 — his ancient plague the Quaker. *'So/' 
 said he with a joyous chuckle, " we have 
 met at last, friend Nathan, and not in 
 Essom's shop ! What a strange lump of a 
 crock it is ! " he added, and as the propor- 
 tions (should not that word be changed to 
 " conformation ? ") of the Quaker's steed be- 
 came more defined, he felt that all the 
 taunts he had received from the uneasy 
 horseman were abundantly condoned. As 
 he criticised Barjona's timid seat — one pecu- 
 liar to persons who have taken to horse- 
 manship late in life — he stooped down to 
 Kelpie's withers, and laughed aloud. Limit- 
 less are the resources of the Milesian horse- 
 dealer, who is a master of his art ! " Well 
 known in the Meath Hunt," was the certifi- 
 cate furnished with the Quaker's horse, 
 when that fearful quadruped was disposed 
 of by public auction during the infancy of 
 Eyan's professional career. Eyan bought
 
 Pig shin and Willow. 227 
 
 him then, and since then had re^Durchased 
 him goodness knows how many times, for 
 he felt the same affection for the animal 
 which an ingenious " articulator " may be 
 supposed to have for a masterly specimen 
 of his compound handiwork. The creature 
 boasted as manv aliases as the o-entle- 
 man cricketer of the period : had played 
 as many parts as a provincial comedian ; 
 and had been made up by processes not 
 widely dissimilar from those practised by a 
 Bond Street Mrs. Suddlechop — made up at 
 an enormous profit to the artist, too, over 
 and over again. How the angles of the 
 Quaker's nag were made to look like curves 
 — veritable lines of beauty ; how legs pre- 
 ternaturally substantial in the wrong place 
 became clean and fawn-like ; how stray 
 hairs, suggestive of equine senility, disap- 
 peared ; how molars lost the marks of ad- 
 advanced years; how purblind eyes once 
 
 15 — 2
 
 228 Pigshin and Willow. 
 
 more gleamed witli the light of colthood, 
 spare us to relate. We could not if we 
 would. Suspect what you please. Pig- 
 ments and grease, applications of the irons 
 all round, tweezers, files and ginger. We 
 are dumb. Just now the tough old phe- 
 nomenon was playing the part of a cob, to 
 the extreme discomfort of Barjona, whose 
 equestrian education was scarcely begun. 
 
 " Poor old beggar," said Crisp, as he 
 rapidly ran his eye over the angles of Bar- 
 jona's nag. " He's got a varmint head on 
 him that's a good deal owder than his 
 mouth, Mr. Pat, or else I don't know jjou. 
 An' I'll lay a waager if he hears yon 
 music," — indicating the covert with a sig- 
 nificant nod — " he'll mak' owd Barjona fadge 
 a bit, seasoned as he is. T' music of a pack 
 wad kittle his lugs a good deal more 'n owd 
 Barjona's ' woa then ! woa I tell thee ! ' Ise 
 warrant. Mornin' sir."
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 229 
 
 "Good morning to tliee," replied Barjona, 
 in a tone which said, " I have had enough of 
 this," as plain as it could speak. ''The 
 weather's warm for October, doesn't thou 
 think ? Woa ! I say . I fear— woa !— I am 
 not fully acquainted with this rebellious 
 beast's idiosyncracies, friend Matthew." 
 
 " I knaw nowt about them, Mr. Barjona," 
 said Crisp, contemptuously; "but if ye 
 were to mak' yourself acquainted with the 
 stean in his hoff hin' foot, it 'ud be better 
 for him, an' ye tae." 
 
 '' A stone ! " exclaimed the Quaker, in 
 alarm. " No ? Wouldst thou mind dis- 
 mounting ? I was apprehensive that some 
 harm had befallen the creature when I set 
 forth ; his gait waxed irregular." (A clothes- 
 horse could not have been steadier.) " Thou 
 art ingenious in all that pertains to the 
 horse, Matthew— woa ! wilt thou ?— wouldst 
 thou mind dismounting?
 
 3u Pigshm and Willow. 
 
 Crisp tied up Kelpie to a gate that was 
 handy, and set about relieving the Quaker's 
 horse of the stone — which, it may be said, 
 had no existence save in Mat's imagination. 
 Sad to relate, the over-sympathetic servitor 
 meditated mischief and not succour when 
 he so readily left his saddle. 
 
 Kelpie, from his sedateness, might have 
 known what was in the wind. He looked 
 on with an expression of almost human 
 gravity as Crisp fussily pretended to relieve 
 the Quaker's horse of the stone which in- 
 commoded the poor creature's off hind 
 foot. 
 
 " And what might ye call him ? " inter- 
 rogated Crisp, by way of withdrawing Bar- 
 jona's attention from the make-believe. 
 " Ye've given him a neame by this, I sup- 
 poase. Hand up, my lad ! " 
 
 " According to Eyan, Matthew, the name 
 he has been trained to recognise is Teddy
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 231 
 
 O'Toole. From what source he obtained 
 the indecorous — for methinks it savours of 
 indecorum — appellation I know not. It is 
 my intention — woa ! wilt thou ? — I say it is 
 my intention, subject to the approval of the 
 next Darlington Monthly Meeting, to name 
 the beast after one of our own people, even 
 .after John Woolman." 
 
 "Ah! just so. Now I think we'll do, 
 Teddy — I mean Johnny (subject 'tit monthly 
 meeting). 'Show thj^sel', my bo-oy!" and 
 •Crisp anointed the quarters of the Quaker s 
 steed with a couple of vigorous slaps, 
 whereupon the mettled quadruped mani- 
 fested an amount of liveliness that caused 
 Earjona considerable discomposure. 
 
 "I — really — woa, wilt thou ? — thou 
 shouldst be more chary of thy blows, 
 Matthew Crisp. Woa, I say ! " roared out 
 the Quaker, as the horse continued to caper 
 ^bout with augmented activity.
 
 232 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 " Hoot, lioot, sir. He'll nivver addle his 
 beddin, let aleane his keep, if ye dinnot 
 wacken him up a bit noo an' then ; " and 
 Crisp smiled the smile of the melodramatic 
 villain as he propounded this deep and 
 horsey aphorism. 
 
 " Woa, I say ! " again fairly shouted Bar- 
 jona, perspiring in every pore with futile 
 efforts to reduce John Woolman to a state 
 of proper subjection. "The beast's pos- 
 sessed ! Little thought I when this morning 
 I left m}^ habitation — " Another caper, 
 lively beyond all precedent, cut short the 
 sentence, and completely knocked the breath 
 out of t]ie body of the terrified member of 
 the Society of Friends. 
 
 The beast loas possessed, only it would 
 have required a third party to have specified 
 with what. When Crisp so readily dis- 
 mounted he had devised a scheme whereby he 
 hoped to cover his enemy with confusion.
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 233 
 
 and that scheme was now working. We 
 have ah-eady heard how, for economj^'s sake, 
 Barjona had converted his gardener into 
 a groom. Now, notwithstanding all Eyan's 
 teaching, the stable floriculturist was yet a 
 neophyte in the art of valet-ing a horse, and 
 chiefly in the very necessary mystery of 
 saddling. Although the peculiar angle of 
 the withers of the Quaker's Eosinante pre- 
 cluded the necessity for excessive care in 
 girthing him, he nevertheless required to be 
 girthed somehow ; but (as Crisp admitted 
 when subsequently relating the story) he 
 had on that particular morning been girthed 
 nohow. This fact, added to that of Barjona's 
 being as unsteady in his ill-fitting saddle as 
 a farmer who is returning from market with 
 his legs stretched, aflbrded Crisp an opening 
 for his retributive essay he was not slow to 
 accept. Mat did not spend many moments 
 over the imaginary stone in that off hind
 
 234 Fig skin and Willow. 
 
 foot, but transferred his attention to the 
 girth. There, pretending to take in a reef, 
 he managed to let one out, and at the same 
 time to attach a bunch of prickly furze, 
 which presently tormented the once mighty 
 hunter's belly every time he stirred, made 
 him stir all the more, caused him to dance 
 an irregular hornpipe, and filled Barjona^'s 
 breast with anguish. There is a limit to the 
 endurance even of horseflesh and blood, and 
 the veteran Teddy O'Toole, who had in his 
 day taken Irish banks and stone walls with 
 the heart of a lion, and, subsequently, had 
 not been cast down — irretrievably — during 
 a hard experience alongside the pole of a 
 Westmoreland coach, didn't like it. In 
 fact (so far as his dumbness would per- 
 mit), he said so. He kicked against 
 the pricks, and shook Barjona the while 
 until the unhappy Quaker was almost 
 reduced to the consistency of blanc-mange.
 
 Pigskin and Willow, 235 
 
 But Crisp's vengeance was not yet 
 sated. 
 
 " The stone cannot have been removed — 
 ^Qa 1 — the creature's disquietude increaseth, 
 €risp. Verily I would descend — oh ! dear, 
 will he never keep still ? I would descend, 
 were he to calm himself for one instant. 
 
 woa- 
 
 By this time Crisp had remounted, and 
 with most aggravating composure was 
 €ndeavouring, how successfully may be 
 guessed, to calm the perturbed spirit of the 
 resuscitated veteran. It was in vain. 
 Presently he displayed a method in his 
 madness. In a fretful sidling canter, the 
 pace of which momentarily increased, and of 
 course stimulated thereto by the unseen 
 bunch of furze, he bore the quivering 
 Quaker, much to that gentleman's terror, in 
 the direction of the meet. Crisp's eyes 
 sparkled maliciously as now and then down
 
 236 Pigskin and Willow 
 
 the wind came the whimper of a hound, for 
 he saw that the old horse felt it, and would 
 require very slight encouragement to cause 
 him to join the field. Gradually, for although 
 the Quaker was speechless with his exertions, 
 the horse had not broken out of his fretful 
 style of locomotion, they approached the 
 covert ; and the noises therefrom increasing 
 in number and volume, it only needed Crisp 
 to play the good Samaritan in a loud-voiced 
 ostentatious manner, and to occasionally 
 take hold of the horse's head, in order 
 to make the beast ripe for flat mutiny The 
 supreme moment at length arrived. They 
 had reached a portion of the road where the 
 quickset hedge was stunted and broken — 
 an easy leap, with a slight drop to follow. 
 Down the wind again came the musical 
 tongues of the hounds, this time a pealing 
 chorus, deep, mellow, long-drawn out. Crisp, 
 as though he could bear it no longer, gave
 
 Pigskin and Willow. 237 
 
 Kelpie a slight touch of one persuader, and 
 deftly pricked the Quaker's Bucephalus with 
 the other. 
 
 Before Barjona could fairly realize the 
 novelty of his position, his rare old crock — 
 thrilled, it may be presumed, with the joyous 
 sound that brought back the memory of 
 happier days — was bearing him, clinging 
 with all his might to all the mane, swiftly 
 across a nice sound bit of grass, emphatically 
 " rig and fur." How he got over he 
 himself never knew. The sweet little 
 cherub that sits up aloft, keeping watch 
 over Dibdin's matchless seaman, probably 
 took him in hand. Crisp gravely waited 
 until he saw Teddy O'Toole gently deposit 
 his old plague upon the summit of a 
 yielding mound of top-dressing ; and then, 
 with a heart too full for the minor joys 
 of the meet, he re-leaped the hedge, and 
 returned to Heatherthorp. The home-
 
 238 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 ward journey was broken by a solitary 
 remark. 
 
 " Kelpie, my lad, T wonder how t' Quaker 
 wad fraame fcae argue noo?*' 
 
 What caused our young ladies — Miss 
 Wilson and Miss Vandervelde, to chat so 
 animatedly, and laugh so cheerily, as they 
 spun along the road to The Place ? The 
 stilted old-world compliments paid them by 
 Sir Harry Sursingle could scarcely have pro- 
 duced such an effect; neither could the 
 frank admiration of a group of ruddy- 
 cheeked gentlemen-farmers and yoemen ; 
 while the polite but inane conversation of 
 the M.P. that-was-to-be had surely gone for 
 nothing at all. Depend upon it they were 
 plotting. At dinner it was just the same. 
 Indeed, so heart}^ was their mirth, even the 
 Squire wondered, and his wonder increased 
 when, after dinner, in the drawing-room, 
 they would talk about the forthcoming races :
 
 Pigskin and Willoic. 239 
 
 wanted to know all about the absurd matcli 
 between Mr. Woodridge and Doctor Sutton 
 (never blushing, mind, at the mention of these 
 names), hoped he would take them to the 
 races, no matter what sort of weather, and — 
 now — loouldnH he ? there was a dear papa ! 
 Yes, there was a charmine^ Mr. Wilson ! 
 
 Wouldn't he invite some nice people to The 
 Place for the races ? Is it perhaps unneces- 
 sary to remark that they bewildered him 
 into promising everything they asked ? 
 
 Xext morning that long-suffering lady's- 
 maid Burroughs " had her life worrited out 
 of her," as she with more force than elegance 
 expressed it. She was enjoined to wait upon 
 Crisp when he arrived, and immediately 
 to give them a parcel he would bring — - 
 iramediatelv, recollect. 
 
 " Very well, 'm," said Burroughs, in high 
 dudgeon. " I understand — /^m-mediately ; 
 you shall have it.'"
 
 240 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 Crisp came, and duly delivered the parcel, 
 and it was conveyed to Miss Wilson s room 
 " Am-mediately." But Burronghs^s troubles 
 were not at an end for that day. She was 
 requested to hold herself in readiness to 
 proceed to Heatherthorp, and to return the 
 parcel to Crisp — to Crisp alone, recollect. 
 And while at Heatherthorp she was to 
 execute a certain commission ; and, greatest 
 insult of all (She was sure, indeed! Come 
 up, now ! what did her mistress mean, she 
 should like to know ?), she was not to linger 
 by the way — to say nothing to anyone 
 respecting the cause of her visit — and chiefly 
 to avoid that long-tongued gossip, Mr. 
 Essom. 
 
 Burroughs, however, succeeded in accom- 
 plishing all that was required of her, and 
 was dismissed, the young ladies devoting 
 the remainder of the afternoon to the joint 
 cultivation of a headache in Kate's room.
 
 Pigskin and Willoic. 241 
 
 In Heatherthorp just now there was little 
 lack of topics for conversation. A good 
 circumstantial independent lie there enjoys 
 robust vitality for a calendar month ; and a 
 lie that is founded on facts lasts for genera- 
 tions. Barjona was aware of the borough's 
 most charming characteristic, and when he 
 was affectionately asked how he enjoyed the 
 run, and if he was going to have the brush 
 mounted, and whether he intended entering 
 his nag for the Welter, he groaned in- 
 wardly, and bemoaned the day he had in- 
 censed Matthew Crisp, who, he felt certain, 
 was responsible for that wretched ride 
 across country. This was one topic. 
 
 Then there was another. Eyan failed to 
 send in the weights for the match. Essom 
 fidgeted a good deal about the horse-dealer s 
 neglect, and with reason ; he wanted the 
 bills out ; besides, as he put it one night 
 in the bar-parlour of the Sursingle, '' It 
 
 VOL. I. 16
 
 242 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 paralyses the betting. Admitting that 
 Eyan had to look out some Irish matters 
 and what not in order to put the horses 
 together, toe, as a race committee, ought not 
 to suffer, and, as I observed before, it 
 paral3^ses the betting." Nevertheless, the 
 great Eyan remained dumb, whereat Crisp, 
 who made daily inquiries, silently chafed, 
 and predicted foul play. 
 
 One morning about this period the 
 Doctor was preparing for his rounds, and, 
 prior to mounting, was holding a profes- 
 sional conference in the surgery with Eob- 
 son, when a neatly folded parcel, super- 
 scribed " Doctor Sutton " was placed in his 
 hands. At that moment there was a ring 
 at the house-bell, and looking out he saw it 
 was Miss Cardmums. 
 
 " What the deuce can she want ? " said he 
 to himself. " Some dispensary business, I 
 suppose. Mat, walk the mare about for the
 
 Pigskin and Willoia, 243 
 
 present. Tell Miss Cardmuras I will wait 
 upon lier directly." 
 
 In years gone by Priscilla Cardmums had 
 possessed a comely face and figure, at least 
 report said so, and judging from the by no 
 means ill-favoured, though somewhat worn 
 countenance that met the Doctor's gaze on 
 his entry into the room, report had spoken 
 the truth. 
 
 After the exchange of the customary con- 
 ventionalities, she said, speaking in a low 
 but distinct tone, 
 
 " Doctor Sutton, I am older than you — a 
 strange expression this for a lady, you may 
 think — and although a lady, I claim the 
 privilege of my seniority, to speak plainly 
 to you." 
 
 "Whatever Miss Cardmums may be 
 pleased to say shall receive my deepest 
 attention," replied the Doctor. 
 
 '' I expected nothing less. Under Provi-
 
 244 Pigskin and Willow. 
 
 dence, Doctor Sutton — and I have nursed 
 others too long not to know the extent of 
 my own danger during my illness — under 
 Providence you saved my life, and," — here 
 the least flush of colour overspread her face 
 — "since then I have taken an affectionate 
 (you will not misunderstand me ?) interest in 
 your welfare." 
 
 *' I can never sufficiently express my high 
 sense of your regard, Miss Cardmums," 
 said the Doctor, gravely. 
 
 " You are, I hear, about to engage in — 
 horse-racing, and a very dangerous descrip- 
 tion of horse-racing : you are about to im- 
 peril a young and precious existence. Oh, 
 Doctor Sutton ! let me beseech you to forego 
 this idle '^ 
 
 '' Miss Cardmums ! " 
 
 "Pardon me if I use the wrong word; 
 'tis not to wound you, believe me. Aban- 
 don this hazardous amusement. Promise 
 me you will ! "
 
 Pigskin and Willow-, 245 
 
 '* I regret to say that I am quite unable 
 to grant xovly request. M}^ word is pledged." 
 
 "Break it!" 
 
 The Doctor made no reply. 
 
 " There ! again I use the wrong word. 
 A gentleman, would not violate his pledge. 
 But, tell me, is there no escape from this ? " 
 
 " None. Any other favour, Miss Card- 
 mums, 1 should be delighted to grant, but 
 this is beyond my power." 
 
 She pursued the subject no further, but 
 rose, and sadly bidding the Doctor good 
 morning, was gone. 
 
 " Eccentric old creature," said the Doctor. 
 *'I verily believe she would have wept had 
 she stayed another minute. Poor thing ! 
 It's awfully kind of her after all. I could 
 not chaff her, she was so distressingly in 
 earnest. Now let's see what's in the 
 parcel." 
 
 A daintily-folded, neatly-tied package, 
 with the name, Doctor Sutton, in characters
 
 246 Pigskin and Willow, 
 
 that caused the Doctor to start, and tear 
 open the cover as though catching an ex- 
 press train depended upon his alacrity. 
 
 '' Whew ! my colours ; rose-and-grey and 
 white cap. Worked by her hand too. O 
 my bonny, bonny Kate ! if Arthur Sutton 
 don't carry these colours to the fore his 
 hand has lost its cunning, and Kelpie must 
 know the reason why ! Miss Cardmums, 
 had I known there were in this parcel such 
 arguments as these for my going on with 
 the match, I fear I could not have been as 
 patient with you as I was. And mi/ colours 
 too! NotJiisr 
 
 e:nd of vol. I. 
 
 PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE AND HANSON, 
 LONDON AND EDINBURGH.
 
 NEW NOVELS 
 
 EY WELL-KNOW^^ AUTHORS. 
 
 NOTICE.— Ready this day, at every Library in 
 the United Kingdom. 
 
 NEW NOVEL BY EDWARD GARRETT. 
 
 THE HOUSE BY THE WORKS. 
 
 By Edward Garrett, Author of •' The Capel Girls," 
 " Occupations of a Retired Life," " Crooked Places," &c. 
 2 vols. 
 
 FETTERLESS. 
 
 By B. H. BuxTOX, Author of " Jennie of ' the Prince's. 
 3 vols. 
 
 NEW NOVEL BY GEORGE W. GARRETT. 
 
 MAUD LINDEN'S LOVERS. 
 
 By G. W. Garrett, Author of "Squire Harrington's 
 Secret," " The Belle of Bekravia," &c. 3 vols. 
 
 PAOLO PIANINI. 
 
 By Pericles Tzistos. 3 voU, 
 
 the bachelor. 
 
 By Arthur Montague Brookfield. 2 vols. 
 
 TINSLEY BROTHERS, 8, CATHERINE STREET, STRAND.
 
 TINSLEIS' MAGAZINE. 
 
 Price One Shilling. 
 
 ENTIRELY DEVOTED TO 
 
 LIGHT AND ENTERTAINING LITERATURE, 
 
 EMINENTLY SUITED 
 
 FOK FAMILY READING. 
 
 The wearied man of business and the tired student can 
 take up "Tinsley's" and find 
 
 GENUINE RECREATION. 
 
 /)