Read Foreigners for Free Online Page A

puzzled by the nature of
my quest, but he knew better than to question my intent.
We departed in the direction of the house of Mrs Elizabeth
Barber, and once again I observed the strange low-lying
fields and peculiar marshes of this completely foreign part
of England. There was little hereabouts to remind me of
the rolling hills and valleys of my native Kent, and as my
excursion progressed I discovered myself staring at a curiously
low horizon that was presided over by the odd ugly
tree. If nothing else, this venture into the Midlands was
providing me with an improved understanding of the many
varieties of landscape to be found in my England.
    It was shortly after nine o'clock in the morning when
we arrived at the modest abode of Mrs Barber, and I slowly
alighted and ordered the driver to wait until I was ready
to return. I half-expected the impudent elder of Lichfield
to ask just how long he would be detained, such was the
look of petulance that decorated his visage, but he wisely
said nothing and so I had no opportunity to remind him
of his inferior station in life. The ramshackle cottage and
overgrown garden appeared just as they had on the previous
day, but I was set now upon my course and determined
not to be distracted by considerations of architecture or
flora. Before I could announce myself the door opened
and the same child presented herself, but once again she
chose not to speak. I scrutinised her tawny visage, but
before I could formulate a question the mother appeared
behind the child.
    'I have been expecting you, sir,' was how the English
woman began her address. I noticed a certain high-pitched
common tone to her voice which confirmed her lowly
origins. 'Won't you please come in?' I smiled in her direction,
and then stepped around the child who presented
herself as an obstacle that I was obliged to negotiate in
order that I might gain entrance into the gloomy residence.
    It appeared that the kitchen served a double function
as both a place to cook and eat in, and as a chamber to
receive guests. I sat carefully at the table and was soon
joined by the mite who had a disconcerting habit of simply
staring. A coal-black kettle was warming over the fire, and
while Mrs Barber prepared tea, I looked all about myself
and began to understand the limited means of the shabby
woman. Empty crooked shelves decorated the walls, and
then I saw a mouse flit nimbly across the floor, but the
woman continued to prepare the tea as if nothing untoward
had taken place, and it occurred to me that perhaps
she was familiar with this creature and his extended family.
I turned my attention to the peeling plaster, and to the
torn and filthy drapes in the window, before speculating
that if she had brought me, a gentleman, to this room, then
what of the other rooms in the cottage? How had it come
to pass that the widow of Francis Barber, a man so well
loved and handsomely provided for by Dr Johnson, could
have fallen so low?
    Mrs Barber placed a dish of tea before me and then sat
quietly across the table. The grimy-faced child looked
ruefully at its mother, and then some few words were
exchanged between them, although I had no idea of what
they were saying for it was as though they were speaking
their own secret language. As they continued to jabber, I
deemed it polite to lower my eyes and look away for it
appeared that whatever was being said between the two of
them was becoming increasingly animated and more urgent.
Eventually Mrs Barber asked to be momentarily excused.
When she returned to the table she did so with a plain
piece of bread in one hand, which she passed to the child,
clearly intending this gift to be some form of incentive to
persuade the cub to remain quiet.
    'I'm sorry, sir,' she said. 'I don't mean to delay you in
any way, but you know what youngsters can be like.'
    The truth was, being a bachelor of some standing, I
had been spared the antics of childish misbehaviour, but
I nevertheless bestowed a generous smile upon the