THE VILLAGE CURSE 



found gloom, not unmixed, however, with a faint, pleasur- 

 able importance. 



" Oh, Miss, we have just heard of such a sad thing in the 

 village. The nurse, she's just been up to tell mea pore 

 young woman, Miss, gone with her first ! " 

 "Oh, dear ! " Loki's Mother is duly impressed, but 

 anxious to distract Mrs. Mutton's mind " That is very 

 sad. I hope you're feeling pretty well to-day, Mrs. 

 Mutton?" 



" No, Miss, I'm very poorly these days. Mrs. Tosher 

 here says she's never seen any one like me. 'What 

 can it be,' she says, ' that makes you like this ? ' Don't 

 you, Mrs. Tosher ? " 

 " Yes, my dear." 



" I fell agin the water-butt this morning," goes on Mrs. 

 Mutton, in the melancholy drone that is habitual to her. 

 " A kind of weakness it was come over me. I hit my 

 eye something awful, Miss, as you can see ! " 

 The signorina had been tactfully averting her gaze from 

 that black orb / she now blesses the superior tact which 

 enables her to contemplate it calmly. 

 Mrs. Tosher a large, jovial, untidy female with a shrunken 

 " blue cotton " inadequately fastened by two safety pins 

 across her capacious bosom gives a heavy but non- 

 committal groan. Mr. Mutton's name is not mentioned. 

 The water-butt explanation is accepted without demur. 

 " Of course, she's 'ad a shock to-day, Miss, you see," 

 says the village matron, and brings the conversation back 

 to the original topic, which is one of great attraction. 

 " Yes, Miss, it 'aving been just as it might be me, Miss." 

 Mrs. Mutton sighs, and looks in a detached, if one-sided 



109 



