“Oh, my dear child, you needn’t trouble yourself to look out for nobody. If it is all the same to you, I will my own self stay here and look after the place while you are gone. Will that suit you, ma’am?”
“Perfectly, Poley, dear. We would rather leave you in charge of our home than any one else, if you are satisfied to stay.”
“Yes, I am, dearie. I’m over elderly to be sailing on the high seas, and nothing but my love for you all would ever a-made me think of such a thing. And now, as I find I can serve you better by staying here than going ’long o’ you, why, ’deed, I’d heap liefer stay here.”
“Then it is all right, Poley. And now tell me, when did you hear from your niece?”
“Jane Morgan, you mean, ma’am?”
“Of course, Jane Morgan. I did not know you had any other niece.”
“No more I hadn’t, ma’am. Well, I heard from her ’bout two weeks ago. He have been out of work near all the latter part o’ the winter, and they’ve been a-having of a very hard time, ma’am, and that is a fact, with all the mouves they’ve got to feed, too.”
“How many children have they, Poley?”
“Six, ma’am. The oldest nine years old, and the youngest nine months. And he out of work so long, poor fellow!”
“You should have told me, Poley.”