She had made her escape on the plea of early hours for
the children, leaving Molly behind her, just as the boisterous song
was beginning in which Jack kisses Bet, Joe kisses Sue, Tom kisses
Nan, &c. down to poor Dorothy Draggletail, who is left in the lurch.
The farewell had been huffy. "A good evening to you, madam; I am
sorry our entertainment was not more to your taste." She had felt
guilty and miserable at the accusation of pride, and she could not
imagine how Mrs. Aylward could have let her go without a warning;
the truth being that Mrs. Aylward despised her taste, but thought
she knew what a harvest supper was like.
All this was passed over in silence by Aurelia's pride and delicacy.
She only described the scene when the last waggon came in with its
load, the horses decked with flowers and ribbons, and the farmer's
youngest girl enthroned on the top of the shocks, upholding the
harvest doll. This was a little sheaf, curiously constructed and
bound with straw plaits and ribbons. The farmer, on the arrival in
the yard, stood on the horse-block, and held it high over the heads
of all the harvesters, and the chorus was raised:
"A knack, a knack, a knack,
Well cut, well bound,
Well shocked, well saved from the ground,
Whoop! whoop! whoop!"
After which the harvest doll displaced her last year's predecessor
over the hearth, where she was to hang till next year.
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