Ultrawa, No. II [pp. 468-478]

ULTRAI W4A: VII VA.
make herself a man, had gone and over done it, once for all-this was Sally.
There was, however, no sham sup posable about Mrs. Veck, and no pre tense possible, when those two small
but inexorable eyes gazed grimly at so ciety.
There was "no trash about Sel. Vick,"
as she herself put it. "Wot she sed,
she sed, and wot she done, she done,
and done with it." Although sallow
now, with exposure and occasional opium, Sally, in youth, had been a lively
rustic hoyden, "supple enough," and
"fool enough to merry Case Vick, that
ere blarsted scoige!"
When, however, Case had taken to
drink, and, waxing violent, one day
"'tempted to hammer Sel. Etten"pride betaking itself here, as in other
instances, to the use of the maiden
name, as to a decree of practical divorce-then, notwithstanding the fact
that Case, a brawny six - footer, was
the well-known fighter of the roadside
corner, and kept the tavern - stoop in
awe, " Sel. jist up and fit him, that suddingt, she nigh onto squushed that ere
thick skull of his'n." Sel. "laid him
down," and afterward "hed him tuk up
for strikin' on a woman-'salt and batter business,' so them liyar fellers hed
it." And when, shortly afterward, evenhanded justice, in the person of the
diminutive village constable, was approaching, to hold her also to account,
she had given him a kind of compassionate warning through the village clergyman, whom she met upon the highway.
"If that ere missable Tommy Dooman comes to'rest me, Dominie, I'll
smack his little mouth for him. You
tell him, Dominie, I'll smack his little
mouth for him. Missable little Tommy
Dooman! Missable little pup!"
Not long afterward, however- perhaps perceiving a slight flaw in her position, or dubious of its perfect constitu
tionality - Sally shook off the dust of
her feet-or a small portion of it-and
betook herself to the very thickest of
the wilds, as a permanent misanthrope.
It was generally understood that she
lived in an adjacent swamp; but, in fact,
no one knew where she lived, or how;
only that, after intervals, sometimes of
days, sometimes of months, the tall, an gular figure would make its way through
the solitary street of Morford, and come
to a halt under a window-of doors and
porches seeming still to hold the greatest possible aversion-and the gruff announcement would crash through the
window-panes:
"If you don't want no berries nor
nuthin', say so, and don't be botherin'
round this way; I can't stan' it."
Otherwise, she stalked on, harmless,
and unharmed, with many a quiet enjoyment of the scenes about her mirrored on her rough face; a very tender interest in every bird, beast, and creeping
thing, the latter especially; and wearing
a sort of half smile of conscious pride
when some child would whisper faintly
to the group upon the green, "There
goes Sally Veck;" then suddenly plunging into the woods, be lost to view, for
weeks together.
She was still known in the region of
Morford as Sally Veck; although Peter
Hunter was wont to say, unhesitatingly,
that "Veck was no name-that is-of
hern. She hed once-that is-merried
that is- Case Veck; but her name
hed-that is-always been-that is-Sal.
Etten, and nothing —that is-else."
On the present occasion, Mrs. Veck
appeared carrying a basket upon either
arm. The one which she held up to
Mrs. Ledson, at the window, was brimmed with the white whortleberries-or,
as she described it, "Chock full o' white
blueberries "-surrounded by a fine circlet of the red wintergreen berries (the
adjectives become confused, but the berries were more neatly arranged), while
1872.]
475