The Birthright

by Joseph Hocking

"Are you sure?"

"Iss. Neck wanted the purty maid to marry un, and she wudden, and they axed 'er 'bout you, and she wudden tell nothin'."

"How did the new cook know this?"

"She 'arkened at the door."

I did not feel then, neither do I feel now, that I did wrong in trying to find out the actions of the Tresidders even by such means as this. My heart was torn by a great anxiety, and my love for Naomi seemed to grow every hour.

"Well, what then?"

"The cook cudden maake it oal out, but the purty maid axed to go to some plaace called a convent."

"Ah! a convent—yes," I cried, my mind reverting back to the conversation I had heard between Richard Tresidder and his son.

"Well, she went; tha's oal I do knaw 'bout she."

"You are sure?" I asked, eagerly.