"We are going to Cliverton now," he said to Mrs.Knifton, naming the county town, and warming himself at our poor fire just as pleasantly as if he had been standing on his own grand hearth.
"You will stop to admire every pretty thing in every one of the Cliverton shop-windows; I shall hand you the purse, and you will go in and buy.When we have reached home again, and you have h ad time to get tired of your purchases, you will clasp your hands in amazement, and declare that you are quite shocked at my habits of inveterate extravagance.I am only the banker who keeps the money; you, my love, are the spendthrift who throws it all away!""Am I, sir?" said Mrs.Knifton, with a look of mock indignation.
"We will see if I am to be misrepresented in this way with impunity.Bessie, my dear" (turning to me), "you shall judge how far I deserve the character which that unscrupulous man has just given to me._I_ am the spendthrift, am I? And you are only the banker? Very well.Banker, give me my money at once, if you please!"Mr.Knifton laughed, and took some gold and silver from his waistcoat pocket.
"No, no," said Mrs.Knifton, "you may want what you have got there for necessary expenses.Is that all the money you have about you? What do I feel here?" and she tapped her husband on the chest, just over the breast-pocket of his coat.
Mr.Knifton laughed again, and produced his pocketbook.His wife snatched it out of his hand, opened it, and drew out some bank-notes, put them back again immediately, and, closing the pocketbook, stepped across the room to my poor mother's little walnut-wood book-case, the only bit of valuable furniture we had in the house.
"What are you going to do there?" asked Mr.Knifton, following his wife.
Mrs.Knifton opened the glass door of the book-case, put the pocketbook in a vacant place on one of the lower shelves, closed and locked the door again, and gave me the key.
"You called me a spendthrift just now," she said."There is my answer.Not one farthing of that money shall you spend at Cliverton on _me_.Keep the key in your pocket, Bessie, and, whatever Mr.Knifton may say, on no account let him have it until we call again on our way back.No, sir, I won't trust you with that money in your pocket in the town of Cliverton.I will make sure of your taking it all home again, by leaving it here in more trustworthy hands than yours until we ride back.Bessie, my dear, what do you say to that as a lesson in economy inflicted on a prudent husband by a spendthrift wife?"She took Mr.Knifton's arm while she spoke, and drew him away to the door.He protested and made some resistance, but she easily carried her point, for he was far too fond of her to have a will of his own in any trifling matter between them.Whatever the men might say, Mr.Knifton was a model husband in the estimation of all the women who knew him.
"You will see us as we come back, Bessie.Till then, you are our banker, and the pocketbook is yours," cried Mrs.Knifton, gayly, at the door.Her husband lifted her into the saddle, mounted himself, and away they both galloped over the moor as wild and happy as a couple of children.
Although my being trusted with money by Mrs.Knifton was no novelty (in her maiden days she always employed me to pay her dress-maker's bills), I did not feel quite easy at having a pocketbook full of bank-notes left by her in my charge.I had no positive apprehensions about the safety of the deposit placed in my hands, but it was one of the odd points in my character then (and I think it is still) to feel an unreasonably strong objection to charging myself with money responsibilities of any kind, even to suit the convenience of my dearest friends.As soon as I was left alone, the very sight of the pocketbook behind the glass door of the book-case began to worry me, and instead of returning to my work, I puzzled my brains about finding a place to lock it up in, where it would not be exposed to the view of any chance passers-by who might stray into the Black Cottage.
This was not an easy matter to compass in a poor house like ours, where we had nothing valuable to put under lock and key.After running over various hiding-places in my mind, I thought of my tea-caddy, a present from Mrs.Knifton, which I always kept out of harm's way in my own bedroom.Most unluckily--as it afterward turned out--instead of taking the pocketbook to the tea-caddy, Iwent into my room first to take the tea-caddy to the pocketbook.
I only acted in this roundabout way from sheer thoughtlessness, and severely enough I was punished for it, as you will acknowledge yourself when you have read a page or two more of my story.
I was just getting the unlucky tea-caddy out of my cupboard, when I heard footsteps in the passage, and, running out immediately, saw two men walk into the kitchen--the room in which I had received Mr.and Mrs.Knifton.I inquired what they wanted sharply enough, and one of them answered immediately that they wanted my father.He turned toward me, of course, as he spoke, and I recognized him as a stone-mason, going among his comrades by the name of Shifty ****.He bore a very bad character for everything but wrestling, a sport for which the working men of our parts were famous all through the county.Shifty **** was champion, and he had got his name from some tricks of wrestling, for which he was celebrated.He was a tall, heavy man, with a lowering, scarred face, and huge hairy hands--the last visitor in the whole world that I should have been glad to see under any circumstances.His companion was a stranger, whom he addressed by the name of Jerry--a quick, dapper, wicked-looking man, who took off his cap to me with mock politeness, and showed, in so doing, a very bald head, with some very ugly-looking knobs on it.Idistrusted him worse than I did Shifty ****, and managed to get between his leering eyes and the book-case, as I told the two that my father was gone out, and that I did not expect him back till the next day.