ictualling. At these the yellow cat winked with dreamy
joyfulness, well aware how fat they would be when they came to tumble
out.

"What a place of vile laziness!" grumbled Mr. Mordacks, as he got off
his horse, after vainly shouting "Hostler!" and led him to the byre,
which did duty for a stable. "York is a lazy hole enough, but the
further you go from it, the lazier they get. No energy, no movement, no
ambition, anywhere. What a country! what a people! I shall have to go
back and enlist the washer-women."

A Yorkshireman might have answered this complaint, if he thought it
deserving of an answer, by requesting Master Mordacks not to be so
overquick, but to bide a wee bit longer before he made so sure of the
vast superiority of his own wit, for the long heads might prove better
than the sharp ones in the end of it. However, the general factor
thought that he could not have come to a better place to get all that he
wanted out of everybody. He put away his saddle, and the saddlebags
and sword, in a rough old sea-chest with a padlock to it, and having a
sprinkle of chaff at the bottom. Then he calmly took the key, as if
the place were his, gave his horse a rackful of long-cut grass, and
presented himself, with a lordly aspect, at the front door of the silent
inn. Here he made noise enough to stir the dead; and at the conclusion
of a reasonable time, during which she had finished a pleasant dream
to the simmering of the kitchen pot, the landlady showed herself in the
distance, feeling for her keys with one hand, and rubbing her eyes
with the other. This was the head-woman of the village, but seldom
tyrannical, unless ill-treated, Widow Precious, tall and square, and of
no mean capacity.

"Young mon," with a deep voice she said, "what is tha' deein' wi' aw
that clatter?"

"Alas, my dear madam, I am not a young man; and therefore time is more
precious to me. I have lived out half my allotted span, and shall never
complete it unless I get food."

"T' life o' mon is aw a hoory," replied Widow Precious, with slow truth.
"Young mon, what 'll ye hev?"

"Dinner, madam; dinner at the earliest moment. I have ridden far, and my
back is sore, and my substance is calling for renewal."

"Ate, ate, ate, that's t' waa of aw menkins. Bud ye maa coom in, and
crack o' it."

"Madam, you are most hospitable; and the place altogether seems to be
of that description. What a beautiful room! May I sit down? I perceive
a fine smell of mo