After a moment’s struggle Sol, too, broke forth into irrepressible laughter, and as the cart jolted over the downs the mingled sounds of their mirth astonished the sleepy wild things.
Mrs Roberts was the first to compose herself.
“So you be a-earnin’ sixteen shillin’ a week!” she remarked, sitting up and wiping her eyes.
“Yes, sixteen shillin’ a week and the promise of a rise.”
“We’ve a-got a nice little place down yonder,” resumed grammer; “a tidy bit o’ ground, too, but it wants a man to see to’t.”
“Oh, do it?” said Sol, in a non-committal way.
“It do! Ye haven’t got no money saved, I think ye said?”
“Mrs Roberts,” cried Sal desperately, “will ye tell me straight out, or will ye not? Be there another chap a-hanging round Sally?”
“Ye’d best ax her!” chuckled the old woman. “Ax her same as ye did ax me, an’ tell her if she means ‘no’ she must say it. We be just there now.”
The cart, indeed, now began to rattle down the path which led to the hollow, and presently Mrs Roberts pulled up.