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Journals of Dorothy Wordsworth, Vol. 1 (of 2)
·
Dorothy Wordsworth
266
We
ordered
tea
when
we
reached
the
inn,
and
desired
the
girl
to
light
us
a
fire;
she
replied,
"I
dinna
ken
whether
she'll
gie
fire,"
meaning
her
mistress.
We
told
her
we
did
not
wish
her
mistress
to
give
fire,
we
only
desired
her
to
let
her
make
it
and
we
would
pay
for
it.
The
girl
brought
in
the
tea-things,
but
no
fire,
and
when
I
asked
if
she
was
coming
to
light
it,
she
said
"her
mistress
was
not
varra
willing
to
gie
fire."
At
last,
however,
on
our
insisting
upon
it,
the
fire
was
lighted:
we
got
tea
by
candlelight,
and
spent
a
comfortable
evening.
I
had
seen
the
landlady
before
we
went
out,
for,
as
had
been
usual
in
all
the
country
inns,
there
was
a
demur
respecting
beds,
notwithstanding
the
house
was
empty,
and
there
were
at
least
half-a-dozen
spare
beds.
Her
countenance
corresponded
with
the
unkindness
of
denying
us
a
fire
on
a
cold
night,
for
she
was
the
most
cruel
and
hateful-looking
woman
I
ever
saw.
She
was
overgrown
with
fat,
and
was
sitting
with
her
feet
and
legs
in
a
tub
of
water
for
the
dropsy,--probably
brought
on
by
whisky-drinking.
The
sympathy
which
I
felt
and
expressed
for
her,
on
seeing
her
in
this
wretched
condition--for
her
legs
were
swollen
as
thick
as
mill-posts--seemed
to
produce
no
effect;
and
I
was
obliged,
after
five
minutes'
conversation,
to
leave
the
affair
of
the
beds
undecided.
Coleridge
had
some
talk
with
her
daughter,
a
smart
lass
in
a
cotton
gown,
with
a
bandeau
round
her
head,
without
shoes
and
stockings.
She
told
Coleridge
with
some
pride
that
she
had
not
spent
all
her
time
at
Luss,
but
was
then
fresh
from
Glasgow.
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