Luke made a step towards the door, and then glanced back at the hearth. The two rounds of toast standing at right angles to each other were as brown as brown could be; the bacon was done to perfection.
“A mon must eat,” he said, speaking more to himself than to her. “A chap can’t do his work wi’out he’s fed, but I’ll look out for another lodgin’ afore the day goes by.”
Jinny, with her head buried in her hands, was too much absorbed to heed him. Luke, after another moment’s hesitation, came shambling across the kitchen, and popped himself down beside her.
“Dunno be too long, that’s all,” he observed in a wrathful whisper.
Miss Whiteside glanced at him between her fingers, and then obligingly began to pray aloud. The devotions in which Luke was invited, or rather commanded, to share, were not of very long duration, and something about the simple, familiar words evoked in him an unwonted sense of shame, which was increased by Jinny’s comment on concluding:
“’Twere scarce worth while to make such a fuss, were it?”
He relinquished the idea of seeking lodgings elsewhere, and moreover unpacked and stowed away his few possessions with a certain sense of satisfaction. Jinny herself came upstairs before he had finished, and immediately took possession of such garments as required mending. The day passed peacefully away. Luke, in fact, was lamb-like throughout the ensuing week, not only as regarded saying his grace and refraining from protest when the need for beer at the midday meal made itself felt, but even returning home from the “Blue Lion” before the church clock struck ten. All in fact went smoothly until Saturday evening when Jinny announced, in her sharp, imperative manner, that she expected “both lads” to be ready for church at a quarter to eleven sharp.
“It’ll take us all that time to get theer,” she observed, with the corner of her eye on Luke.
“Yo’d best look sharp an’ see that yo’re ready,” observed the latter, addressing himself to John.
“He knows right enough,” said Miss Whiteside quickly. “It’s yo’ as ’ull have to look sharp.”