"Oh no, you"re not, mim, indeed you"re not," said Miggs; "I repealto master; master knows you"re not, mim. The hair, and motion ofthe shay, will do you good, mim, and you must not give way, youmust not raly. She must keep up, mustn"t she, sir, for all outsakes? I was a telling her that, just now. She must remember us,even if she forgets herself. Master will persuade you, mim, I"msure. There"s Miss Dolly"s a-going you know, and master, and you,and all so happy and so comfortable. Oh!" cried Miggs, turning onthe tears again, previous to quitting the room in great emotion, "Inever see such a blessed one as she is for the forgiveness of herspirit, I never, never, never did. Not more did master neither;no, nor no one--never!"
For five minutes or thereabouts, Mrs Varden remained mildly opposedto all her husband"s prayers that she would oblige him by taking aday"s pleasure, but relenting at length, she suffered herself to bepersuaded, and granting him her free forgiveness (the meritwhereof, she meekly said, rested with the Manual and not with her),desired that Miggs might come and help her dress. The handmaidattended promptly, and it is but justice to their joint exertionsto record that, when the good lady came downstairs in course oftime, completely decked out for the journey, she really looked asif nothing had happened, and appeared in the very best healthimaginable.
As to Dolly, there she was again, the very pink and pattern of goodlooks, in a smart little cherry-coloured mantle, with a hood ofthe same drawn over her head, and upon the top of that hood, alittle straw hat trimmed with cherry-coloured ribbons, and worn themerest trifle on one side--just enough in short to make it thewickedest and most provoking head-dress that ever maliciousmilliner devised. And not to speak of the manner in which thesecherry-coloured decorations brightened her eyes, or vied with herlips, or shed a new bloom on her face, she wore such a cruel littlemuff, and such a heart-rending pair of shoes, and was sosurrounded and hemmed in, as it were, by aggravations of all kinds,that when Mr Tappettit, holding the horse"s head, saw her come outof the house alone, such impulses came over him to decoy her intothe chaise and drive off like mad, that he would unquestionablyhave done it, but for certain uneasy doubts besetting him as to theshortest way to Gretna Green; whether it was up the street ordown, or up the right-hand turning or the left; and whether,supposing all the turnpikes to be carried by storm, the blacksmithin the end would marry them on credit; which by reason of hisclerical office appeared, even to his excited imagination, sounlikely, that he hesitated. And while he stood hesitating, andlooking post-chaises-and-six at Dolly, out came his master and hismistress, and the constant Miggs, and the opportunity was gone forever. For now the chaise creaked upon its springs, and Mrs Vardenwas inside; and now it creaked again, and more than ever, and thelocksmith was inside; and now it bounded once, as if its heart beatlightly, and Dolly was inside; and now it was gone and its placewas empty, and he and that dreary Miggs were standing in the streettogether.
The hearty locksmith was in as good a humour as if nothing hadoccurred for the last twelve months to put him out of his way,Dolly was all smiles and graces, and Mrs Varden was agreeablebeyond all precedent. As they jogged through the streets talkingof this thing and of that, who should be descried upon the pavementbut that very coachmaker, looking so genteel that nobody would havebelieved he had ever had anything to do with a coach but riding init, and bowing like any nobleman. To be sure Dolly was confusedwhen she bowed again, and to be sure the cherry-coloured ribbonstrembled a little when she met his mournful eye, which seemed tosay, "I have kept my word, I have begun, the business is going tothe devil, and you"re the cause of it." There he stood, rooted tothe ground: as Dolly said, like a statue; and as Mrs Varden said,like a pump; till they turned the corner: and when her fatherthought it was like his impudence, and her mother wondered what hemeant by it, Dolly blushed again till her very hood was pale.