'Gammon!' he sneered. 'What is it you wanted 'er to ask me?
'That you should marry her.'
He looked at me in blank wonder. 'Marry 'er!' he exclaimed. He was evidently puzzled, and he ransacked his mind for motives and reasons; but all his cunning wit could not assist him.
'It's me as 'inders people from 'elpin' Blade-o'-Grass, and yet the parson wants me to many 'er!'
I saw this expressed in his face, and I saw also a deep suspicion that some treachery to himself lay behind the proposition.
'I'll think on it,' he said aloud. 'Will you take 'er a letter from me?'
'Yes; I will write it for you if you like.'
'Thank you for nothink!' he replied with a leer. 'I'll get it done through the governor. He'll 'ave to read it, you know, before it goes. Will you take your solemn oath you won't open it?'
'I promise you not to open it.'
'And you won't read it to 'er? You'll give it to the old gal 'erself, and tell 'er she's got to git some one else to read it?