"Ess fay! Be it uncivil in me to say so, Miss?"
"I should think it was, indeed!"
"Truth's truth. I can't help it. Never seed nothing like you. I'd go to the end of the world for you. I wish 'twas my happy lot to be your servant."
"Would you kill Mr. Norcot for me?"
He was silent; then he nodded.
"Well, John Lee, I had sooner you loved me than Mr. Norcot should."
"Don't say it even in fun. You don't know what it means to me. I'm up eighteen year old now—a man. But I hate Mr. Peter, too, for that matter."
"Because I do?"
"Yes, an' for another reason; because granny likes him. He gived her money once. She said afterwards that there was that in his face pleased her fancy, for he'd got a depth in it that would make rocks and water do his will."
"She's quite wrong there. He's a most superficial man and amiable to weakness. He is always making feeble jests and quoting the poets. He is a thing of shreds and patches. He put your grandmother into an old verse once. I laughed, though I hate him. He said:—