I says to him as that was the pig's way and the pig
didn't know who it was who was a-ridin' it, and I took his coat off
and wiped his stockings, and sent to the rectory for another coat,
and he crept up under the hedge to his garden, and went home, and the
people at church had to wait for an hour. I was glad I was goin'
away from Great Oakhurst, for he never would have forgiven me.'
There was a ring at the front door bell, and Clara went to see who
was there. It was a runaway ring, but she took the opportunity of
going upstairs to Madge.
'She has a sister?' said Baruch.
'Yes, and I may just as well tell you about her now--leastways what I
know--and I believe as I know pretty near everything about her.
You'll have to be told if they stay here. She was engaged to be
married, and how it came about with a girl like that is a bit beyond
me, anyhow, there's a child, and the father's a good sort by what I
can make out, but she won't have anything more to do with him.'
'What do you mean by "a girl like that."'
'She isn't one of them as goes wrong; she can talk German and reads
books.'
'Did he desert her?'
'No, that's just it. She loves me, although I say it, as if I was
her mother, and yet I'm just as much in the dark as I was the first
day I saw her as to why she left that man.'
Mrs Caffyn wiped the corners of her eyes with her apron.
'It's gospel truth as I never took to anybody as I've took to her.
Pages:
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150