“Why, Mary, lass, surely tha’ll give me a kiss now?”
“And why now?” she said, as cold as ice.
“Why, after what yo’ said yesterday to Long Tom, ’at yo’ an’ me wer’ engaged to be wed.”
“Oh! that wer’ nowt. I just said it because I thowt it might help thee.”
“And then, don’t yo’ mind, Mary, that neet after I’d fought Long Tom at Marsden—how yo’ come behind th’ chair an’ kissed me.”
“Well, what o’ that?”
“Dost ta mean to say, after that, tha cares nowt about me more nor common?”
“It it comes to that, Ben, didn’t yo’ see me do much th’ same wi Long Tom yesterday?”
“In truth, I did, Mary. And I think it was unnecessary, not to say unmaidenly.”
“Thank yo’, Ben. I’ll mind my manners better i’ future. But at least yo’ mun see that yo’ munnot argy from what aw did when yo’r eye wer’ blacked i’ Marsden; for bi the same token Long Tom might leap to conclusions. And heigh–ho! Long Tom’s a proper sort o’ man, and I’m awmost stalled o’ Sloughit. Sup thi tea, Ben, afore it gets cold, an’ if tha’rt in such a hurry to get wed, remember yo’r more nor hauf promised to Faith Booth.”