they was born,
and p'raps it were a good thing, for she'd have grieved terrible if she
could have seen what he were a-going to grow into. For she was a lady
born and bred, married beneath her, you know. Nor she didn't have any
such life of it either. He were a sea-captain--a funny, Frenchy-looking
fellow with a frightful temper. He never come home for twelve years after
Dick were born. She used to teach at the village school, and make her
living that way. Very sweet in her ways she were. Everyone liked her.
There's them as says Mr. Fielding was in love with her. He didn't marry,
you know, till long after. She used to sing too, and such a pretty voice
she'd got. I used to think she was like an angel when I was a child. And
so she were. Whether she'd have married Mr. Fielding or not I don't know.
There's some as thinks she would. They were very friendly together. And
then, quite sudden-like, when everyone thought he'd been dead for years,
her husband come home again. I'll never forget it if I lives to be a
hundred. I was only a bit of a girl then. It's more'n twenty years ago,
you know, miss. I were just tidying up a bit in the school-house after
school were over, and she were looking at some copybooks, when suddenly
he marched in at the door, and, 'Hullo, Olive!' he says. She got up, and
she was as white as a sheet. She didn't say one word. And he just come up
to her, and took hold of her and kissed her and kissed her. It was horrid
to see him, fair turned me up," said Mrs. Rickett graphically. "And I'll
never forget her face when he let her go. She looked as if she'd had her
death blow. And so she had, miss. For she was never the same again. The
man was a beast, as anyone could see, and he hadn't improved in them
twelve years. He were a hard drinker, and he used to torment her to drink
with him, used to knock young Dick about too, something cruel. Dick were
only a lad of twelve, but he says to me once, 'I'll kill that man,' he
says. 'I'll kill him.' Mr. Fielding he went abroad as soon as the husband
turned up, and he didn't know what goings-on there were. There's some as
says she made him go, and I shouldn't wonder but what there was something
in it. For if ever any poor soul suffered martyrdom, it was that woman.
I'll never forget the change in her, never as long as I live. She kept up
for a long time, but she looked awful, and then at last when her time
drew near she broke down and used to cry and cry when anyone spoke t