The nearest way to Mortlake would have been the Middlesex side, crossing
the river at Hammersmith, but Hammersmith Bridge had not been thought of
and the cart had to plod through Lambeth, Vauxhall, Wandsworth, Putney
and Barnes.
At intervals Giles climbed into the cart and entertained Lavinia with
guileless talk, mainly relating to Hannah and her transcendent virtues.
Nor did he stop at Hannah herself but passed on to her relatives, her
mother who was dead and her grandmother who was ninety and "as hale an'
hearty as you please."
"A wonnerful old dame she be an' mighty handy with her needle, a'most as
she used to be when she was a girl a-working at the tapestry fact'ry by
the riverside. It were a thunderin' shame as ever the tapestry makin'
was done away with at Mortlake an' taken to Windsor. It was the King's
doin's that was. Not his Majesty King George, but King Charles--long
afore my time, fifty years an' more agone. Lords an' ladies used to come
to Mortlake then I'm told an' buy the wool picture stuff, all hand sewn,
mind ye, to hang on the walls o' their great rooms. Some of it be at
'Ampton Palace this very day."
Thus and much more Giles went on and Lavinia listened attentively. The
cart rumbled through the narrow main street of Mortlake and reached
Worple way where Giles and his mother lived in a cottage in the midst of
a big plum orchard.
The old woman was astonished to see a pretty girl seated in her son's
cart but the matter was soon explained, and she insisted upon Lavinia
having a meal before going on to Twickenham.
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