Australian Tales - Setis

“Did you though?” exclaimed Mrs. Grouts, “and how did she bear the
shock? poor thing! I suppose she was sadly cut up?”
“Cut up, not she indeed! why she would have gone right straight off to
the lodge and scratched his face, only I stopped her. She has her mother's
spirit in her, and that's not to be trifled with I can tell you. Between you
and me Mrs. Grouts, Kitty never cared a threepenny-bit for Gummy, and
only that she was anxious to be married before Lotty Jiggs, she is glad
enough for an excuse to be rid of him. That shows how much she is cut
up. She'll cut him up, for she never intends to see him again. A hot brick
indeed! a pretty thing to call a young girl, who is worthy of the best man
alive.”
“But had you not better see Jabez, and come to some understanding, so
that he may save the wedding breakfast and stop the company from
assembling on Friday?”
“No, I won't see him, that's plain; I have too much pride in me to go
near him, after his cruel attempt to kidnap my poor girl. Leave matters to
me, Mrs. Grouts; I'll explain all to him at the right time. Promise me you
will not say anything about it, or take any notice of what I've told you.”
“Oh dear me, I don't want to have anything to do with it, I'm sure,” said
Mrs. Grouts. “Poor Gummy will be dreadfully disappointed. It is a pity
he had not made you his confidante; if his legs are so much out of order,
perhaps you might have helped to cure them, and then — — ”
“Faugh! Do you think I would have let him court my girl if he had told
me that?” asked Mrs. Mayberry, fiercely. “Not I, indeed! Though I am
not rich, I am clean and wholesome, Mrs. Grouts; I have sprung from a
sound stock, and there never was a bad leg in my family, I am proud to
say. Before I gave my consent to the match I was careful enough to ask
him if he was healthy, and he told me he was as sound as a new tub, and
never had a serious ailment in his life, those are his very words, the
wicked old fellow.”
* * * * *
“But I say, Grouts, don't you think you ought to tell Jabez that Kitty
will not have him? It is a pity for him to prepare an expensive breakfast
for nothing,” said Mrs. Grouts to her spouse, after she had told him all
that widow Mayberry had said a few hours before.
“Don't disturb your mind about that, Missis; the breakfast shall not be
wasted, I'll engage. It's many a long day since Gummy prepared a good
meal in his house for guests or himself either, and all his kitchen tools
were as rusty as prison bars. If I knew that he could not afford the
expense, of course, I should act differently; but he has plenty of money,
and it will do him good to spend some of it, and do others good too.
Where is Kitty, do you know?”