As he was speaking, a woman came up, and asked if the party wished to see the church. The old gentleman replied that they did. “Because,” said she, dropping a curtsy, “my husband, as keeps the key, is gone out with the key in his pocket, and won’t be home ’till night.”
Mrs. Merton and Agnes could not help laughing at the woman, who gave this intelligence with the air of one who is communicating something peculiarly agreeable, and which she means to be remarkably civil; but the old gentleman did not take it so quietly: on the contrary, he went into a passion, and ordered the woman to send for her husband immediately. She said she did not know where to find him, and curtsying again, walked off. The rage of the old gentleman was now excessive: his face became quite red; he stamped, and shook his fist at the woman; till, happening accidentally to cast his eyes on Agnes, he was evidently struck at the expression of her countenance, and felt ashamed of having exposed himself so much before a lady and a child. He stopped, pushed his wig back into its place,—as it had been disordered by his vehemence,—and began to apologise; but, as he saw Mrs. Merton looked grave, he stopped suddenly. He then endeavoured to turn their attention to another subject, and began speaking of Brading Haven.
“The sea here,” said he, “spreads over a piece of land eight or nine hundred acres in extent, which, tradition tells us, was formerly partly covered with an extensive oak forest, in which the Druids performed their rites. In the centre of the forest was a stone-cased well, in which Merlin, who was a powerful magician, had confined a troublesome water-spirit; and the exact situation of this well was kept a secret, as it was said, that if ever the lid was raised, ruin to the whole country round would follow. The time of the Druids passed away, and all memory of the well was lost, till the time of William the Conqueror, when the Norman knight, Fitz Osborne, who subdued the island and reigned over it as an independent sovereign, gave this tract of land to one of his followers, Robert Okelandro. This knight, being fond of hunting, determined to clear away the underwood in the forest, and in doing so he discovered the enchanted well, and ordered its cover to be removed that it might be filled up; some of the oldest inhabitants of the place remonstrated; but he would be obeyed; the cover was taken off, and the waters rushed up with such force as to overwhelm the whole district, and to drown the adventurous knight and several of his attendants.”