Emma Orczy

The Nest of the Sparrowhawk Emma Orczy

In the meanwhile in a remote corner of the park the quality was assembled round theskittle-alley. Imagine Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse standing there, as stiff a Roundhead as ever upheldmy Lord Protector and his Puritanic government in this remote corner of the county ofKent: dour in manner, harsh-featured and hollow-eyed, dressed in dark doublet andbreeches wholly void of tags, ribands or buttons. His closely shorn head is flat at the back, square in front, his clean-shaven lips though somewhat thick are always held tightlypressed together. Not far from him sits on a rough wooden seat, Mistress Amelia Editha deChavasse, widow of Sir Marmaduke's elder brother, a good-looking woman still, save forthe look of discontent, almost of suppressed rebellion, apparent in the perpetual darkfrown between the straight brows, in the downward curve of the well-chiseled mouth, andin the lowering look which seems to dwell for ever in the handsome dark eyes. Dame Harrison, too, was there: the large and portly dowager, florid of face, dictatorial inmanner, dressed in the supremely unbecoming style prevalent at the moment, wheneverything that was beautiful in art as well as in nature was condemned as sinful andungodly; she wore the dark kirtle and plain, ungainly bodice with its hard white kerchieffolded over her ample bosom; her hair was parted down the middle and brushed smoothlyand flatly to her ears, where but a few curls were allowed to escape with well-regulatedprimness from beneath the horn-comb, and the whole appearance of her looked almostgrotesque, surmounted as it was by the modish high-peaked beaver hat, a marvel ofhideousness and discomfort, since the small brim afforded no protection against the sun, and the tall crown was a ready prey to the buffetings of the wind. Mistress Fairsoul Pyncheon too, was there, the wife of the Squire of Ashe; thin and small, acontrast to Dame Harrison in her mild and somewhat fussy manner; her plain petticoat, too, was embellished with paniers, and in spite of the heat of the day she wore a tippetedged with fur: both of which frivolous adornments had obviously stirred up the wrath ofher more Puritanical neighb