“Are yow t’new parson, then?”
“Yes, I’m the new parson.”
“Ho! Then yow’d best come in.”
The door was held open, and looking at him very suspiciously, the lady in charge, to wit Mrs Simeon Slee, allowed the vicar to enter, and then followed him as he went from room to room, making up his mind what he should do as he ran his eye over the proportions of the house, finding in the course of his peregrinations that Mrs Slee had installed herself in the dining-room, which apparently served for kitchen as well, and had turned the pretty little drawing-room, opening into a shady verandah and perfect wilderness of a garden, into a very sparsely furnished bed-room.
“That will do,” said the vicar. “I suppose I can get some furniture in the town?”
“Oh, yes, yow can get plenty furniture if you’ve got t’money. Only they wean’t let yow have annything wi’out. They don’t like strangers.”
“I dare say I can manage what I want, Mrs—Mrs—What is your name?”
“Hey?”
“I say, what is your name?”
“Martha,” said the woman, as if resenting an impertinence.