“Well, Antony, I suppose I do know how to roast beef before t’ fire and put a pudding under it. I’d be badly educated, if I didn’t.”
“If Yorkshire pudding is to be the test, Josepha, then thou art one of the best educated women in England.”
“Father, Dick’s new love is Miss De Burg. What do you think of that?”
“He might do worse than marry a De Burg, and he might do better. I’m not in a mood to talk about anyone’s marriage.”
“Not even of mine, father?”
“Thine, least of all. And thou hes to get a decent lover before thou hes to ask me if he can be thy husband.”
“I hev a very good lover, father.”
“No, thou hes not. Not one that can hev a welcome in my family and home. Not one! No doubt thou wilt hev plenty before we leave London. Get thy mother to help thee choose the right one. There now! That’s enough of such foolishness! My varry soul is full of matters of life or death to England. I hev not one thought for lovers and husbands at this time. Why, England is varry near rebellion, and I tell you three women there is no Oliver Cromwell living now to guide her over the bogs of misgovernment and anarchy. Russell said this morning, ‘it was the Reform Bill or Revolution.’” Then lunch was brought in and the subject was dropped until the squire lit his pipe for “a bit of a smoke.” Katherine was, however, restless and anxious; she was watching for her sister’s arrival and when the squire heard of the intended visit, he said: “I doan’t want to see Jane this afternoon. Tell her I’ll see her at her home this evening and, Josepha, I’ll smoke my pipe down the garden to the Watergate and take a boat there for Westminster. Then I can smoke all the way. I’m sure I can’t tell what I would do without it.”
And as they watched him down to the Watergate, they heard Jane’s carriage stop at the street entrance.