Tom threw his head back, and laughed aloud. There was a clearer look in his eyes, and he held his head higher than he had ever done before.
"I shan't sit down and cry, if her don't want me," he said. "I can't keep a wife just at present. The girls be too expensive in these days."
Harebell was silent. This seemed quite a new Tom; a man who could scorn a wife was beyond her comprehension.
"And you're never going to a nasty public-house again?"
"Ay, well, there be no tellin'; but I ain't visitin' the 'Black Swan' just now."
"Tom," said Harebell looking up at him with solemn eyes, "are you through?"
His eyes met hers rather gravely.
"Through? How d'ye mean?"
"Through the Door? You know I almost think you are. And I believe that's the first thing of all to be done. I wonder if you did it first."
"I wonder," said Tom, in a low grave voice, looking over Harebell's head as he spoke.