"Indeed?"
"I'm here to serve ut. Change your mind?"
"No, thank you."
"Then I will."
And the young man drew a foaming pint, while a burst of revelry came through the inner doors, but slightly deadened by its passage through the open air.
"May I ask what is going on?" inquired Carlton.
"That's the biggest spread ever seen in Long Stow," said the stout youth, drawing his sleeve along his lips and turning a shade more florid than before.
"Not the harvest-home already?"
"No; that's a dinner given by the squire to every sowl in the parish—men, women, an' kids—all but one."
The questioner stood absorbed.