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"Memoirs of
the Hartley Family of Bingley and Staveley, Yorkshire" |
 Foreward
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memoirs Continued 7 Further Family Stories On one occasion Aunt Char. was bidden to a dance at the Queen's Hotel - then the only one of note and size in Harrogate, She was enjoying a dance with a charming partner, At its conclusion he said, "There are two eccentric old ladies who live near here. Have you ever seen them? They are very aristocratic but too comical. They are Mrs. Farsyde-Watson and Miss Christina Hartley." Oh poor Aunt Char. and poor him, Bilton Hall should have gone to our cousin Farsyde Cave-Brown-Cave. However it was, I think, entailed upon an illegitimate branch living at another estate of the Farsydes in the Dales. My Father and Edward Farsyde Cave-Brown-Cave did all they could and my Father said "Cast out the bond woman and her son." I think the only hard thing I ever heard the old dear say. My Uncle Bishop or "Bib" (so called by Aunt Char.) was a handsome man and much given to horses and hounds. He went to Magdalene College, Cambridge, to study divinity (Note 6). Alas he had not much time for that. He used to arrive at the Rectory on a new horse and gay as a butterfly. Poor little Grandmother and Aunt Char. were horrified -knowing Papa had to be faced. They rushed out and got the horse smuggled into the stables till such time as Papa could be appeased. Bib had also a pleasant habit of driving tandem round the Cambridge countryside. He used to bring a lot of jolly undergraduates to spend a few weeks in this jolly country Rectory of Staveley, Now Aunt Chris (Grandfather Richard's sister) was an extra proper old lady. I think she grew a bee in her bonnet with advancing years - and these men loved to draw her. She thought the word "bull" highly improper, and not to be used by ladies at all and yet it was difficult to avoid, for in her favourite field there lurked a "curious animal" as she preferred to call them. "Did you have a nice walk today Miss Hartley? In the Garth I suppose." "Well not today, I was frightened." "Frightened of the Garth?" Aunt Chris is now in a desperate plight. "No, the 'curious animal' was out," Shrieks of joy from all but Aunt Chris..,.. She often wore a huge bustle and dragged her own chair into its favourite place, as she said "It really was not nice, to sit where a man had sat." She sat daintily down and settled herself to talk. One young man arranged to sit a little behind her while another engaged her in absorbing conversation - this she loved, for though she was very proper she was wont to own, that those lovers of hers would climb into the trees near her bedroom window. While the young beau talked his companion was working hard to bring the bustle right round to her hip (a long pin was used for this). When its locality was discovered by the frantic old Aunt, what wild shrieks follow and probably a fit of the vapours. Aunt Chris adored talking and when wound up was like Tennyson's brook - she went on for ever, She used to sit with a handkerchief over her head, I suppose to avoid the glare - and armed like this she would relate the history of all the county families in Yorkshire, Aunt Char. and the young ones were bored to tears by this so as soon as the handkerchief was in place off came Aunt Char,*s shoes and softly in her stocking feet she crept out of the room - then on went the shoes, and round the garden went Aunt Char, where she tore about and no doubt had a feast of fruit, for there was a splendid kitchen garden, then Aunt Char, crept back to find Aunt Chris still holding forth and never dreaming that she had been alone all the time.
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