“Ye be’n’t by any means jealous o’ Nellie, be ye?” she asked, peering through her spectacles.
“Heavens, no!” cried Elsa so convincingly that Mrs. Tanner was satisfied once and for all.
“Wal, what’s all the fuss, then?”
“Any girl would ruin her life that threw herself away on Nat Burns. He’s got a fine solid-gold case, but his works are very poor indeed, Ma Tanner.”
“Don’t go talkin’ educated or I can’t follow ye. D’ye mean he’s all show an’ nothin’ in his mind or heart of Christian goodness?”
“Yes, I mean that, and I mean more besides. He doesn’t stop by being merely ‘not good.’ He is actively and busily downright bad.”
“They’s several kinds of ‘bad,’ Elsa Mallaby.”
“Well, I mean the kind that makes a girl break her engagement and keep it broken, and that drives a man out of a decent village.”
There was a long and pregnant pause while Ma Tanner got everything straight in her mind.