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"There, there, Assy, loove," she said. "Doan' tha taake on thot road. It's doon, an' it caann't be oondoon." She stood there in a heavy silence. Now and again she patted the heaving shoulder, marking time to Essy's sobs. Then she spoke. "Tha'll feel batter whan t' lil baaby cooms." Profoundly disturbed and resentful of her own emotion Mrs. Essy, staggering, rose and dried her eyes.
Rowcliffe had ten minutes on his hands while they were bringing his trap round from the Red Lion. He was warming his hands at the surgery fire when he heard voices in the parlor on the other side of the narrow passage. One voice pleaded, the other reserved judgment. "Do you think he'd do it if I were to go up and ask him?" It was Alice Cartaret's voice. "I caann't say, Miss Cartaret, I'm sure."
She had what was called a superior manner and was handsome, in the slender, high-nosed, florid fashion of the Dale. "But there," she went on. "I doan't groodge it. 'E's yoong and you caann't blaame him. They's coompany for him oop at Vicarage." "'E's coompany fer they, I rackon. And well yo' med saay yo' doan't groodge it ef yo knawed arl we knaw, Mrs. Blenkiron.
"Wall " He seemed inclined, in sheer honesty, to deprecate the extreme and passionate emotion she suggested. I would n' saay O' course, I sort o' miss him. I caann't afford to lose a friend I 'aven't so many of 'em." "I know. It's the waters of Babylon, and you're hanging up your voice in the willow tree." She could be gay and fluent enough with Greatorex, who was nothing to her.
And up to the last possible moment, even to her daughter, she was determined to ignore what had happened. But she knew and Essy knew that she knew. "Doan yo saay it, Assy. Doan yo saay it." Essy said nothing. "D'yo 'ear mae speaakin' to yo? Caann't yo aanswer? Is it thot, Assy? Is it thot?" "Yas, moother, yo knaw 'tis thot." "An' yo dare to coom 'ear and tell mae! Yo dirty 'oossy!
"'Tis Nad, wi' t' dawg, drivin' t' sheep." "Oh, Jim, he'll see us." "Nat he!" But he drew her behind the shelter of the barn. "He'll come down the fields. He'll be sure to see us." "Ef he doos, caann't I walk in my awn fealds wi' my awn sweetheart?" "I don't want to be seen," she moaned. "Wall ?" he pushed open the door of the barn. "Wae'll creep in here than, tall he's paassed."
It's nothing to me now. How did you know I cared for him?" "I knew because I looved yo. Because I was always thinkin' of yo. Because I watched yo with him." "Oh Jim would other people know?" "Naw. Nat they. They didn't look at yo the saame as I did." He became thoughtful. "Wall this here sattles it," he said presently. "Yo caann't be laft all aloan in t' Vicarage. Yo'll 'ave t' marry mae."
Then she looked up at him, but with more incredulity than reproach. "Yo' wudn'," she said. "Yo' cudn' bae crool t' lil Jimmy." He scowled. "Yo've called 'im thot, Essy?" "An' why sudn' I call 'im? 'E's a right to thot naame, annyhow. Yo' caann't taake thot awaay from 'im." "I dawn' want t' taake it away from 'im. But I wish yo' 'adn'. I wish you 'adn', Essy."
Jim's hand pressed hers and let it go. He leaned forward, his elbows propped on his knees, his hands clutching his forehead. And in his thick, mournful voice he spoke. "Yo wouldn't bae freetened ef yo married mae. There'd bae an and of these scares, an' wae sudn't 'ave t' roon these awful risks." "I can't marry you, darling. I can't." "Yo caann't, because yo're freetened o' mae.
She'd coot 'er toong out foorst, Assy would." "Nawbody'll get it out of mae, Mrs. Gale, though it's wae as 'as to sooffer for 't." "Eh, but Dr. Rawcliffe's a good maan, and 'e'll mak' it oop to yo', naw feear, Mrs. Blenkiron." "And which of 'em will it bae, Mrs. Gaale, think you?" "I caann't saay. But it woonna bae t' eldest. Nor t' yoongest joodgin'."
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