LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume IV, Issue 386, 7 September 1875, Page 4

LITERATURE.

NE LEY'S VA LENTTNE. {Conti nurd.) Mrs Morris could not speak English, and we could not speak Welsh. Nelly ‘ had a little English,’ but had not the fluency she afterwards acquired in the tongue her country was slowly and unwillingly adopting. When we addressed the mother in English, she looked at her daughter, who appeared so very shy and modest that we fancied we should make little of her. We were deceived in our first impressions, which were drawn from a head hanging very much over a pair of bright green cotton gloves, that were pulling one another out of shape. But when we addressed her directly, so as to require an answer, such a pair of eyes looked up from the green gloves as do not fall to many of her sex. Those eyes were an agreeable surprise ; they were such uncommon eyes, so purely hazel and lustrous and so indescribably mischievous. They were full of little sunbeams, shooting out rays on all sides. Golden hazel was the true colour. They laughed when they looked at you, and you wondered whether their owner were really indulging in a sally of mirth at your expense or not. The dimples in the fair round cheeks would not be kept in order, and Nelly had not been live minutes in the room, before she showed a set of the whitest and most regular teeth that it was ever our lot to look upon, sparkling beneath the reddest lips in the world. It would evidently have been impossible for Nelly to help laughing. Wo could not tell whether it was boldness, gaiety of heart, or shyness, but the laugh came almost as naturally as the words, and she never dreamt that it was wrong to laugh. Her mother looked at her reprovingly, but Nelly did not choose to understand.

There was something in the girl that took you by storm : so forward, yet so innocent; so vain, yet so unconscious of vanity; so perfectly at ease, yet so well-mannered. Of course we put the usual questions, but we might as well have left them alone, for Nelly, in her own estimation, could do everything. She was, if you could bring yourself to believe her, a first-rate cook, housemaid, parlour-maid, nurse—in short, had we wanted her as lady’s-maid she would have declared herself equal to the situation. When we came to the ‘character,’ she laughed more merrily than ever. 1 Upon my deed, ma’am, I don’t know if Mrs Jones will give me one ; but she have no call not; the old scold!’ was her answer.

By degrees we elicited that she was to leave Mrs Jones because it was so ‘ lonesome ’ in the country that she could not help talking to the people as they went by, and Mrs Jones expected her to be ‘ deaf and dumb.’ If Mrs Jones would not give her a character, Mrs Thomas, * the Half Moon,’ would. We were scandalised at the idea of an inn. We were afraid she was accustomed to gay and giddy habits, and we required a very steady servant who would never leave the house.

‘ Upon my deed, ma’am—when I say upon my deed, I ’ Here she was stopped short for want of the necessary English word, but we gathered that what she said “upon her deed,” she invariably kept. ‘lndeed,’ and ‘Upon my deed,’ are slight Welsh oaths, stronger than the English ‘ Upon my word and honour.’ With some difiicixlty Nelly at last made us understand that, once in our service, she should never want to go out. She was naturally fond of being in the house, where there was always plenty to do. She liked working at her needle when she had time, and would be very glad to do sewing work for us if we wished it. In short, if Nelly’s account of herself were true, she would turn out the most wonderful servant that ever exacting mistress could possess. But that mistress must have been credulous beyond the credulity of mistresses in general, who believed one-third of what Nelly said. White lies evidently flowed as glibly from her mouth as truth ; more glibly, I verily believe, for they came naturally, and she had generally to consider a little before she spoke the truth. However, we were fairly taken captive by her extreme freshness and cleanliness, We had such dirty that the very sight of her pure white skin, cap, and collar was refreshing. She looked as if she must be neat, and even Mrs Jones allowed that she was ‘ very tidy ’ —the only unqualified bit of praise we got, when we wrote for her character.

It ended in Nelly coming to us, together with her box and bundle. They were allthree at home directly, and Nelly, in a very white apron, was ready in less than an hour to bring up the tea. We had a glimpse of her character at once. We resolutely continued to look upon the books we were reading, but we could not help being struck and amused by Nelly’s performances, as we glanced aside at her. Half a dozen times she arranged the tea service in various ways, and, between each new arrangement, stood at a little distance from the table, gently smoothing her hands, to consider the effect. When she was quite satisfied with her endeavours, sheglanced over her shoulder at the mirror that surmounted the mantle piece. There must have been a bow out of place somewhere, for she put her hand to her head then glanced again at the mirror. Apparently pleased with the result of the last glance, she turned to reconsider the tea-service.

‘ Will that please you, ma’am ?’ she said, with a demure curtesy, letting her hands meet upon her white apron. ‘ Thank you —very nicely,’ we said, looking up from our books at the most regularly appointed tea-table we had ever had. Every cup and saucer was at an equal distance from its neighbour, every spoon at the right side of the cup—every plate arranged with mathematical precision. We were expecting a few friends, and Nelly must have been doubly anxious, for she said, ‘ Will the company like their chairs put, please, ma’am ?’ There was another smoothing of the hands and glance over the shoulder into the glass as she left the room, which were frequently repeated during tea-time. It was very evident that Nelly intended to take an interest in every person and thing belonging to us. She attended all our guests, most rigorously insisted on uncloak ing and unshawling them, whether they would or not; placed all the footstools she could muster before their feet, and finally lingered so long that we were obliged to say, ‘ Thank you, that will do,’ as a hint for her to leave the room.

But by degrees Nelly’s bright, cheerful, cleanly face won the hearts of visitors as well as unstresses, fehe had a laugh, a cur-

tesy, and a ‘ how d’ye do ?’ for every one that knocked at the door, gentle or simple. If the comer repelled her seeming familiarity. she evidently did not attribute the re pulse to her own demerits, but would conlide to us, that, ‘lndeed to goodness, she did i’t like that Mrs Lewis ’ (or Jenkins, or what not), ‘ she was so uncommon stiff.’

The dog and bird, our especial pets, were •oon quite as much Nelly’s property as our own. She was so proud to show oft' the talents of that prince of terriers, Gipsy, that we have soon him ‘ sitting up ’ with a piece of bread on his head and a paper pipe in his mouth, on our very door step, waiting for her to count six, surrounded by openmouthed and highly diverted children of various ages. When the * six ’ was uttered, and the piece of bread went one way and the pipe another, the shout of laughter was quite a scandal to our well ordered household. We must bo allowed, however, to have our share of pride in the exploits of Gip, and‘could scarcely reprimand Nelly for doing in her circle, what we were constantly doing in ours —displaying him to the best advantage. It was pleasant and amusing to watch Nelly and Gip start upon their various errands. Nelly, attired in the most becoming costume, would be sure to meet a young man, who would be as sure to stop and speak to her, whilst Gip would alternately pull her short petticoats with a snarley ‘come on’ sort of noise, and bark and snap at the feet of her admirer, in most ungracious defiance. And Gip helped on many a flirtation in this way—most unconsciously on his own part. As to Nelly’s admirers, they were not to be counted. If we ventured to expostulate, she would laugh her merry laugh and declare that the young men would talk to her, and that it would not be civil to pass them by without answering their questions. This was incontrovertible.

We observed two beaux of superior appearance, who used to pass and repass the house very frequently, stealing glances from under their hats into the windows, and we were afraid that Nelly encouraged them both. We once saw them meet before the door, and scowl ominously at each other; then they suddenly vanished from before our dwelling and did not appear again. We had our own surmises concerning the very dark, handssme, but somewhat sinister-look-ing young cabinetmaker, who was an attractive individual to many of our damsels, but we kept them to ourselves, and fervently hoped that he might never come near Nelly again. As regarded the fair, honest-looking tailor, we rather inclined towards him, though he was certainly not as good-looking as his rival.. Which of these beaux it was that had carried off the greater proportion of Nelly’s heart we could not discover ; but she was grave and sedate for three whole days after their sudden disappearance, and scarcely went out of the house, unless imperative duty called her, for nearly a week. Matters wore rather a depressed aspect from Christmas until the fourteenth of February, when Valentine’s Day seemed to bring a ‘ change o’er the spirit of her dream. ’ We were all in anxious expectation of letters. If the birds tell their loves to one another and get married on this auspicious morning, why should not unfeathered choristers chirp out their half-fledged affections ? We will not say how many letters we received, nor how many of them were valentines, but we had our share, and spent a profitable hour or so in wondering from whom they came. But, Nelly ! had she any valentines? We knew of the admiration she excited amongst our rustic swains, and longed to ascertain if it had found vent in these delightful missives. We had strong suspicions that she could not write, and had volunteered to teach her that useful art, but she said she had not patience to make such unnatural strokes and turnings. Could she read writing ? was the natural question. It was satisfactorily answered on the evening of the sentimental day. We perceived that Nelly had something of importance to communicate. When the teaservice was fairly cleared off, she still came to and fro in perpetual turmoil for every imaginable excuse. What had she broken ? Could it be one of the best plates, or a cup and saucer, or, worse still, the sugar-basin? By means of deep religious and theological lectures upon lying, we had made her occasionally confess to such delinquencies ; but then she usually rushed into the room with the broken article in her hand, a scarced grin on her face, and a ‘ Please, ma’am, I’m very sorry,’ on her lips. No ; we had for the present escaped further losses in the way of crockery. (To he continued .)