“Well! I’ve ay kept a good heart up,” quo’ he. “‘The still sow eateth all the draff,’ ye ken. I’ve bore wi’ Mall for fifty year, and it comes easier than it might to an other man. And the Lord has bore wi’ me for seventy odd. If He can bear wi’ me a bit longer, I reckon I can wi’ Mall.”
Aunt Joyce smiled on old Isaac as she rose up.
“Ay, Goodman, that is the best way for to take it,” saith she. “And now, Nell, we must hurry home, for I see a mighty black cloud o’er yonder.”
So we home, bidding God be wi’ ye to old Mall, in passing, and had but a grunt in answer: but we won home afore the rain, and found Father and Mynheer a-talking in the great chamber, and Mother above, laying of sweet herbs in the linen with Edith.
Note 1. Passages from the New Testament are quoted from Cranmer’s or the Geneva version, both then in common use.