By the time these particulars were arranged, the two horsemen had arrived at Bethlehem Hall, the Puritan sheriff’s residence. On their drawing nigh the mansion, a short, squat woman, who had been aroused by the sound of the horses’ feet, and had come forth from mere curiosity, made her appearance at the abutting porch, for the purpose of ascertaining, by a survey of their persons, who and what they were. Having satisfied her curiosity, she was about to turn into the house again, but Shedlock, happening to glance that way, discerned her retreating figure, and shouted to her to stop.
“Who calls Abigail?” demanded the woman, turning sharply round.
“Hither, hussey, and see!” returned Shedlock, drawing up before the porch. “Verily thou art a stubborn stock, and stiff-necked, as was Israel of old. Thou must be bent to obedience, woman, by a strong hand, and an outstretched arm. Surely, the spirit shall make me strong to prove thee.”
The woman to whom his rebuke was addressed, and whom the last moment had brought close up with them, was about fifty years of age, and had the appearance of an inferior domestic, or, to use a modern phrase, servant-of-all-work. She was, as has been remarked, a short, squat figure, which time appeared to have strengthened and braced up, rather than impaired. Her features were harsh and rigid, and marked, just below the mouth, on the ball of the chin, with distinct traces of a beard, partly sandy-colour, and partly grey. Her appearance was rendered doubly unprepossessing, on a closer survey, by her mean and slovenly attire; which, not only from its cut, but in its materials, was unsightly in the extreme, and was no way improved by its sundry varied patches of grease and grime.
She did not make any reply to the reproof of Shedlock, but, raising her small brown eyes, she looked him full in the face, and thus waited whatever he might say further.
“Now I see in thee the iniquity of Jeroboam, which caused Israel to sin,” cried Shedlock. “Wilt thou take these beasts, or not?”
The woman sulkily stepped forward, and, with some show of impatience, caught up the bridles of the two horses, and twisted them round her brawny arm. Sir Walter and Shedlock, without taking any notice of her demeanour, then alighted, and passed through the porch into the house.