Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III AT THE KING'S HEAD It was an open secret in Graystoke that the Punchbowl was courting the King's Head. The Punchbowl did not do things in a hurry, but that was the way in Gray- stoke, and what a happy contrast with the undignified haste of the rest of the world. The King's Head did not give unqualified encouragement. There were several objections to the Punchbowl: the position of the inn was bleak and lonely, whereas the King's Head nestled cosily in a sheltered quarter of the village. Still, there was something to say for the Punchbowl, and there was a great deal to say for Mr William Parrington. And then, even in the bustle of a busy life, Mrs Mary Shaw was lonely; though she still rejoiced in a great- uncle, a great-great-aunt, a father, and a son. Her son was a good little lad, but she had a firm conviction that he would grow up to be a bad man, following the example of his father, who had deserted his wife more than twelve years ago. " Ah, Wullie is a good lad," Mrs Mary Shaw would say with a sigh, " and to think that he '11 grow up to be a bad man ! He has his father's own face, and the same terrible pleasant way about him. There's no escaping being your father's own son." These remarks were generally made in Wullie's presence, and he always laughed. Mrs Shaw laughed too, for she was a cheery soul, and took things very much as they came. Life had not been easy for the landladyof the King's Head, but she had made something merry out of it for herself and others, stretching out her hands to help every one and everything. She must have had an excellent nervous system, for the grumblings of her three generations of " ancestors " never gave her one moment's irritation. " Great-great-aunts, great-uncles, and fathers always grumble," she said. " It be someth...