Mally made no reply.
"You're no hand at gossiping," he said. "I'll have to go to Greystones to hear the news. But tell me this—there's a good heart—does Lucy ever ask after me?"
"Whiles."
"Whiles! as a Christian sister asks after a Christian brother, anxious for the state of his soul! What sort of a man is Peter?"
"He's a good man."
"Oh, I heard he had brought his father's grey hairs with sorrow to the grave! You see I've not been kept in darkness all these years, though you told me very little, Mally. I fear Peter won't have much good-will for me, since we baited his pet bear that night. Did it live or die?"
"He keeps it at the mill-house. It was poor sport to set the dogs on a gently creature like yon."
"A low trick, Mally, I've thought so ever since. I'm glad it lived. But it never cared much for me."
"It never had much cause to. You'd better keep out of its way, Master Joel."
"I'll not meddle with it, don't fear."