"How! am I barred by thee, and to my face?"

"It's no business o' thine, Master Gervase. What's hatching there, concerns not thee. Keep back, I say, or——"

"Ha! Thou jingle-pated rascal, stand off, or I'll wring thy neck round as I would a jackdaw."

"Do not, do not, Gervase!" said Grace Ashton, fearful of some unlucky strife. "Let us begone. We are too late already, and 'tis no business of ours."

"What! and be o'erfoughten by this scurvy lack-wit. Once more, who is there above?"

"An' what if I shouldn't tell thee?"

"I'll baste thy carcase to a mummy; I'll make thee tender for the hounds."

"Another word to that, master, an' it's a bargain."

"Let me pass."

"Not without my company."