He chuckled and repeated several times:
"Beer, beer, you've spoilt my life,
And now I'll go and get a wife."
"Then you'll have a dear little cottage and some work," said Harebell. "Will you promise me you'll say this over, while you walk outside the 'Black Swan' to-day? It's a spell—it will work, I know it will."
Tom rubbed his head again.
Harebell continued:
"You must get the wife you meant to get. She will forgive you. Where is she?"
"Bless yer heart, she married five years ago and is in Canada now, I hear tell, wi' a long fam'ly!"
Harebell's face dropped.
"Well, we must find another. Which shall we find first, Tom? The cottage, or the wife, or the work? Isn't it a pity, people are living here. Oh, look! There's a woman coming out!"
The cottage door had opened, and a young woman came down the path; she had a pleasant smiling face, and carried a basket on her arm. When she reached the gate, she paused. It was in a rotten condition, and one of the hinges was off. She had to untie a piece of rope. Tom looked on with interest.