The Romany Rye

  CHAPTER V

  FRESH ARRIVALS--PITCHING THE TENT--CERTIFICATED WIFE--HIGH-FLYING NOTIONS

  On the following morning, as I was about to leave my tent, I heard thevoice of Belle at the door, exclaiming, 'Sleepest thou, or wakest thou?''I was never more awake in my life,' said I, going out. 'What is thematter?' 'He of the horse-shoe,' {29a} said she, 'Jasper, {29b} of whomI have heard you talk, is above there on the field with all his people; Iwent about a quarter of an hour ago to fill the kettle at the spring, andsaw them arriving.' 'It is well,' said I; 'have you any objection toasking him and his wife to breakfast?' 'You can do as you please,' saidshe; 'I have cups enough, and have no objection to their company.' 'Weare the first occupiers of the ground,' said I, 'and being so, shouldconsider ourselves in the light of hosts, and do our best to practise theduties of hospitality.' 'How fond you are of using that word,' saidBelle, 'if you wish to invite the man and his wife, do so, without moreado; remember, however, that I have not cups enough, nor, indeed, teaenough, for the whole company.' Thereupon hurrying up the ascent, Ipresently found myself outside the dingle. It was, as usual, a brilliantmorning, the dewy blades of the rye-grass which covered the plainsparkled brightly in the beams of the sun, which had probably been abouttwo hours above the horizon. A rather numerous body of my ancientfriends and allies occupied the ground in the vicinity of the mouth ofthe dingle. About five yards on the right I perceived Mr. Petulengrobusily employed in erecting his tent; he held in his hand an iron bar,sharp at the bottom, with a kind of arm projecting from the top for thepurpose of supporting a kettle or cauldron over the fire, and which iscalled in the Romanian language, 'Kekauviskoe saster.' {29c} With thesharp end of this Mr. Petulengro was making holes in the earth at abouttwenty inches distance from each other, into which he inserted certainlong rods, with a considerable bend towards the top, which constituted noless than the timbers of the tent, and the supporters of the canvas.{30a} Mrs. Petulengro and a female with a crutch in her hand, whom Irecognised as Mrs. Chikno, sat near him on the ground, whilst two orthree children, from six to ten years old, who composed the young familyof Mr. and Mrs. Petulengro were playing about.

  'Here we are, brother,' said Mr. Petulengro, as he drove the sharp end ofthe bar into the ground; 'here we are, and plenty of us--Bute dostaRomany chals.' {30b}

  'I am glad to see you all,' said I, 'and particularly you, madam,' saidI, making a bow to Mrs. Petulengro; 'and you also, madam,' taking off myhat to Mrs. Chikno.

  'Good-day to you, sir,' said Mrs. Petulengro; 'you look as usual,charmingly, and speak so, too; you have not forgot your manners.'

  'It is not all gold that glitters,' said Mrs. Chikno. 'However,good-morrow to you, young rye.'

  'I do not see Tawno,' said I, looking around; 'where is he?'

  'Where, indeed!' said Mrs. Chikno; 'I don't know; he who countenances himin the roving line can best answer.'

  'He will be here anon,' said Mr. Petulengro; 'he has merely ridden down aby-road to show a farmer a two-year-old colt, she heard me give himdirections, but she can't be satisfied.'

  'I can't, indeed,' said Mrs. Chikno.

  'And why not, sister?'

  'Because I place no confidence in your words, brother; as I said before,you countenances him.'

  'Well,' said I, 'I know nothing of your private concerns; I am come on anerrand. Isopel Berners, down in the dell there, requests the pleasure ofMr. and Mrs. Petulengro's company at breakfast. She will be happy alsoto see you, madam,' said I, addressing Mrs. Chikno.

  'Is that young female your wife, young man?' said Mrs. Chikno.

  'My wife?' said I.

  'Yes, young man, your wife, your lawful, certificated wife.'

  'No,' said I, 'she is not my wife.'

  'Then I will not visit her,' said Mrs. Chikno; 'I countenance nothing inthe roving line.'

  'What do you mean by the roving line?' I demanded.

  'What do I mean by the roving line? Why, by it I mean such conduct as isnot tatcheno. {31a} When ryes and rawnies {31b} lives together indingles, without being certificated, I calls such behaviour beingtolerably deep in the roving-line, everything savouring of which I amdetermined not to sanctify. I have suffered too much by my owncertificated husband's outbreaks in that line to afford anything of thekind the slightest shadow of countenance.'

  'It is hard that people may not live in dingles together without beingsuspected of doing wrong,' said I.

  'So it is,' said Mrs. Petulengro, interposing; 'and, to tell you thetruth, I am altogether surprised at the illiberality of my sister'sremarks. I have often heard say, that is in good company--and I havekept good company in my time--that suspicion is king's evidence of anarrow and uncultivated mind, on which account I am suspicious of nobody,not even of my own husband, whom some people would think I have a rightto be suspicious of, seeing that on his account I once refused a lord;but ask him whether I am suspicious of him, and whether I seeks to keephim close tied to my apron-string; he will tell you nothing of the kind;but that, on the contrary, I always allows him an agreeable latitude,permitting him to go where he pleases, and to converse with anyone towhose manner of speaking he may take a fancy. But I have had theadvantage of keeping good company, and therefore--'

  'Meklis,' {31c} said Mrs. Chikno, 'pray drop all that, sister; I believeI have kept as good company as yourself, and with respect to that offerwith which you frequently fatigue those who keeps company with you, Ibelieve, after all, it was something in the roving and uncertificatedline.'

  'In whatever line it was,' said Mrs. Petulengro, 'the offer was a goodone. The young duke--for he was not only a lord, but a duke too--offeredto keep me a fine carriage, and to make me his second wife; for it istrue that he had another, who was old and stout, though mighty rich, andhighly good-natured, so much so, indeed, that the young lord assured methat she would have no manner of objection to the arrangement, moreespecially if I would consent to live in the same house with her, beingfond of young and cheerful society. So you see--'

  'Yes, yes,' said Mrs. Chikno, 'I see what I before thought, that it wasaltogether in the uncertificated line.'

  'Meklis,' said Mrs. Petulengro, 'I use your own word, madam, which isRomany--for my own part, I am not fond of using Romany words, unless Ican hope to pass them off for French, which I cannot in the presentcompany. I heartily wish that there was no such language, and do my bestto keep it away from my children, lest the frequent use of it shouldaltogether confirm them in low and vulgar habits. I have four children,madam, but--'

  'I suppose by talking of your four children you wish to check me forhaving none,' said Mrs. Chikno, bursting into tears; 'if I have nochildren, sister, it is no fault of mine, it is--but why do I call yousister?' said she, angrily, 'you are no sister of mine, you are a grasni{32}--a regular mare--a pretty sister, indeed, ashamed of your ownlanguage. I remember well that by your high-flying notions you droveyour own mother--'

  'We will drop it,' said Mrs. Petulengro; 'I do not wish to raise myvoice, and to make myself ridiculous. Young gentleman,' said she, 'praypresent my compliments to Miss Isopel Berners, and inform her that I amvery sorry that I cannot accept her polite invitation. I am justarrived, and have some slight domestic matters to see to, amongst others,to wash my children's faces; but that in the course of the forenoon, whenI have attended to what I have to do, and have dressed myself, I hope todo myself the honour of paying her a regular visit, you will tell herthat with my compliments. With respect to my husband he can answer forhimself, as I, not being of a jealous disposition, never interferes withhis matters.'

  'And tell Miss Berners,' said Mr. Petulengro, 'that I shall be happy towait upon her in company with my wife as soon as we are regularlysettled: at present I have much on my hands, having not only to pitch myown tent, but this here jealous woman's, whose husband is absent on mybusiness.'

  Thereupon I returned to the dingle, and, without saying anything aboutMrs. Chikno's observations, communicated to Isopel the messages
of Mr.and Mrs. Petulengro. Isopel made no other reply than by replacing in hercoffer two additional cups and saucers, which, in expectation of company,she had placed upon the board. The kettle was by this time boiling. Wesat down, and as we breakfasted, I gave Isopel Berners another lesson inthe Armenian language.