Jael fixed her needle in her work, and laid it down gently on a table near her, then rose and led the way to the lumber-room.
In that invaluable repository Henry soon found two old knobs lying on the ground (a four-poster had been wrecked hard by) and a piece of deal plank jutting out of a mass of things. He pulled hard at the plank; but it was long, and so jammed in by miscellaneous articles, that he could not get it clear.
Jael looked on demurely at his efforts for some time; then she suddenly seized the plank a little higher up. “Now, pull,” said she, and gave a tug like a young elephant: out came the plank directly, with a great rattle of dislocated lumber.
“Well, you are a strong one,” said Henry.
“Oh, one and one makes two, sir,” replied the vigorous damsel, modestly.
“That is true, but you threw your weight into it like a workman. Now hand me that rusty old saw, and I'll cut off as much as we want.”
While he was sawing off a piece of the plank, Jael stood and eyed him silently a while. But presently her curiosity oozed out. “If you please, sir, be you really a working man?”
“Why, what else should I be?” was the answer, given rather brusquely.
“A great many gentlefolks comes here as is no better dressed nor you be.”
“Dress is no rule. Don't you go and take me for a gentleman, or we sha'n't agree. Wait till I'm as arrogant, and empty, and lazy as they are. I am a workman, and proud of it.”