"No," said she. "I 'm not going to have any woman rummaging about my house, and me in bed!"
"You know perfectly well she's been practically starving since her husband died, and as she 's going out charing, why can't you have her and put a bit of bread into her mouth?"
"Because I won't have her! Neither her nor any one. There 's naught to prevent you giving her some o' your two thousand a year, if you 've a mind. But I see no reason for my house being turned upside down by her, even if I have got a bit of a cold."
"You 're an unreasonable old woman," said Denry.
"Happen I am!" said she. "There can't be two wise ones in a family. But I 'm not going to give up this cottage, and as long as I am standing on my feet I 'm not going to pay any one for doing what I can do better myself." A pause. "And so you need n't think it! You can't come round me with a fur mantle."
She retired to rest. On the following morning he was very glum.
"Ye need n't be so glum," she said.
But she was rather pleased at his glumness. For in his glumness was a sign that he recognised defeat.
II
The next episode between them was curiously brief. Denry had influenza. He said that naturally he had caught hers.