“Why did you let Jem Wilson go twice?” asked Margaret.
“Let!—why, we could not hinder him. As soon as ever he’d heard his father speak (which he was na long a-doing), Jem were off like a shot; only saying he knowed better nor us where to find t’other man. We’d all ha’ gone, if he had na been in such a hurry, for no one can say as Manchester firemen is ever backward when there’s danger.”
So saying he ran off; and the two girls, without remark or discussion, turned homewards.
“In Pursuit of the John Cropper”
From Mary Barton, 1848
“Oh, how much do you want? Only make haste—I’ve enough to pay you, but every moment is precious,” said Mary.
“Ay, that it is. Less than an hour won’t take us to the mouth of the river, and she’ll be off by two o’clock!”
Poor Mary’s ideas of “plenty of money,” however, were different to those entertained by the boatmen. Only fourteen or fifteen shillings remained out of the sovereign Margaret had lent her, and the boatmen, imagining “plenty” to mean no less than several pounds, insisted upon receiving a sovereign (an exorbitant fare, by the bye, although reduced from their first demand of thirty shillings).
While Charley, with a boy’s impatience, said: