"All bewildered I be," she said and said it aloud, though it was not intended for his ears. "All bewildered and wonder struck I du be!"
"Do you agree, answer me, do you agree to this? Tell me, Mrs. Hanson?"
"But the maid—you du say, sir, she hev not heard?"
"She has not heard, but if you agree, you can tell her yourself, tell her this evening and then you shall give me her and your answer."
"If the maid is willing," she said slowly, "though all the same I be partial to Abram."
"Her terror of him should have some weight with you. Take her away from this place to where she will never see him again, you will?"
She looked at him. "Send the maid to me to-night and I will talk of it wi' she."
She stood at the gate, staring down the road after him.
"Thirty-five shillings a week and a cottage—far away from here for Betty and for me and for nothing, for nothing! Very bewildered and wonderstruck I be!"
And Allan, hurrying homeward, was thinking—if this might be the solution, how easy it was after all, freedom for Betty from Abram Lestwick—a new life for the little maid among new faces—where soon—soon she would forget her dreams in the old garden and him.