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And then the crowd parted, and These-an'-That came through it. His face wore no more expression than usual, but his lips were working in a queer way. He went up to his wife, took off his hat, and producing an old red handkerchief from the crown, wiped away some froth and green weed that hung about her mouth. Then he lifted her limp hand, and patting the back of it gently, turned on the crowd.
It was on such a voyage, a few weeks after I settled in the neighbourhood, that I first met These-an'-That. I was leaning back against the chain, with my cap tilted forward to keep off the dazzle of the June sunshine on the water, and lazily watching Eli as he pushed his sweep.
"Wife! a pretty loitch, she an' the whole kit, up there!" went on the market-woman. "If you durstn't lay finger 'pon your wedded wife, These-an'-That, but let her an' that long-legged gamekeeper turn'ee to doors, you must be no better'n a worm, that's all I say." I saw the man's face twitch as she spoke of the gamekeeper. But he only answered in the same dull way.
As Eli pushed off, I saw a small boat coming down the river across our course. It was These-an'-That, pulling down with vegetables for the fair. I cannot say if the two saw him: but he glanced up for a moment at the sound of their laughter, then bent his head and rowed past us a trifle more quickly. The distance was too great to let me see his face. I was the last to step ashore.
If These-an'-That, there, wasn' but a poor, ha'f-baked shammick, he'd ha' killed that wife o' his afore this." "Naybours, I'd as lief you didn't mention it," appealed These-an'-That, huskily. "I'm afeard you'm o' no account, These-an'-That: but sam-sodden, if I may say so," the drover observed. "Put in wi' the bread, an' took out wi' the cakes," suggested Eli.
Anyhow, These-an'-That restored her to life and she ran away the very next week with the gamekeeper. Here is a story from Troy, containing two ghosts and a moral. I found it, only last week, in front of a hump-backed cottage that the masons are pulling down to make room for the new Bank.
They have been just an ordinary couple ever since, and attend their chapel regularly. Sometimes Annie comes over to make me an omelet; and, as a matter of fact, she is now in the kitchen. But not a word has ever been spoken between us about her honeymoon. In the matter of These-an'-That himself, public opinion in Troy is divided.
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