But for a nameless fellow with a bald head and a pair of
gingham small-clothes, why certainly! 'Tis my birthright as an
Englishman. Where's Magna Charta, else?'
'We will see about that,' says he; and then, addressing the
assistants, 'where does the constable live?'
'Lord love you, sir!' cried the landlord, 'what are you thinking
of? The constable at past ten at night! Why, he's abed and
asleep, and good and drunk two hours agone!'
'Ah that a' be!' came in chorus from the yokels.
The attorney's clerk was put to a stand. He could not think of
force; there was little sign of martial ardour about the landlord,
and the peasants were indifferent--they only listened, and gaped,
and now scratched a head, and now would get a light to their pipes
from the embers on the hearth. On the other hand, the Major and I
put a bold front on the business and defied him, not without some
ground of law. In this state of matters he proposed I should go
along with him to one Squire Merton, a great man of the
neighbourhood, who was in the commission of the peace, the end of
his avenue but three lanes away. I told him I would not stir a
foot for him if it were to save his soul. Next he proposed I
should stay all night where I was, and the constable could see to
my affair in the morning, when he was sober.
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