The Trumpet-Major by Thomas Hardy

In two or three days a message arrived asking them to attend at the / theatre on the coming evening, with the added request that they would / dress in their gayest clothes, to do justice to the places taken. / Accordingly, in the course of the afternoon they drove off, Bob having / clothed himself in a splendid suit, recently purchased as an attempt to / bring himself nearer to Anne's style when they appeared in public / together. As finished off by this dashing and really fashionable attire, / he was the perfection of a beau in the dog-days; pantaloons and boots of / the newest make; yards and yards of muslin wound round his neck, forming / a sort of asylum for the lower part of his face; two fancy waistcoats, / and coat-buttons like circular shaving glasses. The absurd extreme of / female fashion, which was to wear muslin dresses in January, was at this / time equalled by that of the men, who wore clothes enough in August to / melt them. Nobody would have guessed from Bob's presentation now that he / had ever been aloft on a dark night in the Atlantic, or knew the hundred / ingenuities that could be performed with a rope's end and a marline-spike / as well as his mother tongue.

It was a day of days. Anne wore her celebrated celestial blue pelisse, / her Leghorn hat, and her muslin dress with the waist under the arms; the / latter being decorated with excellent Honiton lace bought of the woman / who travelled from that place to Overcombe and its neighbourhood with a / basketful of her own manufacture, and a cushion on which she worked by / the wayside. John met the lovers at the inn outside the town, and after / stabling the horse they entered the town together, the trumpet-major / informing them that the watering-place had never been so full before, / that the Court, the Prince of Wales, and everybody of consequence was / there, and that an attic could scarcely be got for money. The King had / gone for a cruise in his yacht, and they would be in time to see him / land.

Then drums and fifes were heard, and in a minute or two they saw Sergeant / Stanner advancing along the street with a firm countenance, fiery poll, / and rigid staring eyes, in front of his recruiting-party. The sergeant's / sword was drawn, and at intervals of two or three inches along its / shining blade were impaled fluttering one-pound notes, to express the / lavish bounty that was offered. He gave a stern, suppressed nod of / friendship to our people, and passed by. Next they came up to a waggon, / bowered over with leaves and flowers, so that the men inside could hardly / be seen.

'Come to see the King, hip-hip hurrah! ' cried a voice within, and turning / they saw through the leaves the nose and face of Cripplestraw. The / waggon contained all Derriman's workpeople.

'Is your master here? ' said John.

'No, trumpet-major, sir. But young maister is coming to fetch us at nine / o'clock, in case we should be too blind to drive home.'

'O! where is he now?'

'Never mind,' said Anne impatiently, at which the trumpet-major / obediently moved on.

By the time they reached the pier it was six o'clock; the royal yacht was / returning; a fact announced by the ships in the harbour firing a salute. / The King came ashore with his hat in his hand, and returned the / salutations of the well-dressed crowd in his old indiscriminate fashion. / While this cheering and waving of handkerchiefs was going on Anne stood / between the two brothers, who protectingly joined their hands behind her / back, as if she were a delicate piece of statuary that a push might / damage. Soon the King had passed, and receiving the military salutes of / the piquet, joined the Queen and princesses at Gloucester Lodge, the / homely house of red brick in which he unostentatiously resided.

As there was yet some little time before the theatre would open, they / strayed upon the velvet sands, and listened to the songs of the sailors, / one of whom extemporized for the occasion: --

/ 'Portland Road the King aboard, the King aboard! / Portland Road the King aboard, / We weighed and sailed from Portland Road!'

When they had looked on awhile at the combats at single-stick which were / in progress hard by, and seen the sum of five guineas handed over to the / modest gentleman who had broken most heads, they returned to Gloucester / Lodge, whence the King and other members of his family now reappeared, / and drove, at a slow trot, round to the theatre in carriages drawn by the / Hanoverian white horses that were so well known in the town at this date.

When Anne and Bob entered the theatre they found that John had taken / excellent places, and concluded that he had got them for nothing through / the influence of the lady of his choice. As a matter of fact he had paid / full prices for those two seats, like any other outsider, and even then / had a difficulty in getting them, it being a King's night. When they / were settled he himself retired to an obscure part of the pit, from which / the stage was scarcely visible.

'We can see beautifully,' said Bob, in an aristocratic voice, as he took / a delicate pinch of snuff, and drew out the magnificent / pocket-handkerchief brought home from the East for such occasions. 'But / I am afraid poor John can't see at all.'

'But we can see him,' replied Anne, 'and notice by his face which of them / it is he is so charmed with. The light of that corner candle falls right / upon his cheek.'

By this time the King had appeared in his place, which was overhung by a / canopy of crimson satin fringed with gold. About twenty places were / occupied by the royal family and suite; and beyond them was a crowd of / powdered and glittering personages of fashion, completely filling the / centre of the little building; though the King so frequently patronized / the local stage during these years that the crush was not inconvenient.