Thwaite. Well, they was alive, you see.

Merton. To be sure—yes.

Thwaite. And you didn't seem to be. But the gal, she thought you were. So I said, 'Well, if there's room for him and the sheep too, I'll take him along—But what'll we do with him next?' 'Well,' she says, 'I'll look after him.' And I says, 'You've your work to do, remember.' You can understand, Mr Merton, that if a man has a sheep farm in this country, that's his job. His sheep must come first. You don't want no dead men along.

Merton. Oh, I quite see that. And no live ones either if they are in the way.

Thwaite. That's about it.

Merton. I must have been most awfully inconvenient.

Thwaite. Well, it was just the lambing time, and Kirstin had to look after the ewes. Lucky it were a healthy season.

Merton [smiling]. And she managed to look after me as well as the ewes.

Thwaite. She knows she's got to get her work done.

Merton. She seems able to do it.