“Then in that case,” said Gervase, “a gold angel seems little enough to pay for her.”
“Yes, she’s a great bargain,” said the innkeeper; “you can make your mind easy, young man, on that score.”
“One might take her for a month on trial, I suppose?” said Gervase.
“No,” said the landlord decisively; “if you decide to have her you must pay your gold angel and take her off my hands at once. But as I say, you will have a bargain. Her virtue and her temper are excellent, and if you remind her what a rope’s end feels like at every new moon I’ll warrant that you’ll have no trouble with her at all.”
“Well, I hope she can cook a meal,” said Gervase. “It is an excellent thing in a woman if she is able to cook a meal.”
“I’ll answer for her cooking, young man. You couldn’t find a better hand at that sort of thing if you tried all over the county o’ Derby.”
“Skilled in making bread?”
“Bless my soul, yes!”
“And in making cheese, I hope?”
“Ask Master Radlett the bailiff what he thinks of her cream cheeses.”