"But why not, mother?" Jack persisted. "I might gi' her a pair o' earrings or a brooch, I suppose, which would cost as much as the gown."
"Yes, thou might'st do that, Jack."
"Then if she could take the thing which would be no manner o' use to her, why couldn't she take the thing that would?"
"I doant know as I can rightly tell you, Jack, but there's a difference."
"But can't you tell me what is the difference?" Jack insisted.
"Noa, Jack, I can't, but there be a difference."
Jack seized his candle with a cry of despair, and ran upstairs. He had solved many a tough problem, but this was beyond him altogether. He was not, however, accustomed to be baffled, and the next day he renewed the subject, this time to Nelly herself.
"Look here, Nell," he said, "I want to ask you a question. It is a supposition, you know, only a supposition, but it bothers me."
"What is it, Jack?" she said, looking up from the ground, upon which as was her custom she was sitting with a book while Jack sat on a gate.
"If I was to offer you a pair of gold earrings."