For some time now her Ladyship and myself have been dropping hints to Hazel about his unkempt appearance and how we thought it was about time he paid a visit to the gypsy tailor for a new outfit. Of course he ignored the hints and carried on wearing his favourite, grubby but comfortable, old clothes.
Now one morning this week, when we awoke, Hazel was nowhere to be found, except for a pile of discarded clothes laying on the floor. Of the man himself there was no sight nor sound, he had simply vanished into thin air.
Her Ladyship grabbed hold of his clothes and holding them with outstretched arms away from her nose, put them into the washing tub and cast a magic spell over them.
I am not privy to her secret work and so I can only share with you that part of her chant
that I heard as I walked away it had something to do with ‘hubble, bubble, soaps and suds’.
About half an hour later I noticed that a Blackbird was flying to and fro between the washing tub and the drying line. Slowly a line of Hazel’s old clothes, now freshly washed,
appeared before my very eyes. Soon after that is started spit with rain, within minutes there was a great storm lashing down and I heard her Ladyship say to no one in particular
"Hazel’s clothes will never dry now!”
I thought it best to make tea and soon the kettle was fair skipping on the stove. I threw three large spoonfuls of Lyon’s loose tea into the teapot and poured a pint of boiling water over them, putting the pot on the edge of the stove to let it draw. Her Ladyship does like a good strong cuppa along with a dash of milk and no sugar in her favourite cup.
I thought to myself "This will soothe her frayed nerves”
We were just on the point of finishing our afternoon tea and eating up the last of the caraway seed cake when her Ladyship said “Oh did you hear someone singing just then ?”
“ Do you think it might be Hazel coming home ?” I replied.
So we both went to the window to look out and there was a very smart looking Hazel dressed in a new set of clothes complete with a waistcoat, muffler, a new hat and boots to match.
“Oh welcome home Mr Hazel and my goodness you certainly look smart!” cried her Ladyship.
As Hazel preened in front of the mirror I complimented him on his new look and asked, “Why the change of heart about the new outfit?”
“I have it in mind to find myself a wife” whispered Hazel.
Then with a smile and a wink he disappeared.
We are getting worried now because Hazel has still not returned home !
