“Leave us go back!” I begged. “I’m not wantin’ t’ talk.”
I wished I had not come: for there was in all this some foreboding of wretchedness. I was very much afraid.
“I have brought you here, Davy,” he began, with grim deliberation, “to tell you something about myself. I do not find it,” with a shrug and a wry mouth, “a pleasant——”
“Come, zur,” I broke in, this not at all to my liking, “leave us go t’ the Soldier’s Ear!”
“Not an agreeable duty,” he pursued, fixing me with dull eyes, “for me to speak; nor will it be, I fancy, for you to hear. But——”
This exceeded even my utmost fears. “I dare you, zur,” said I, desperate for a way of escape, “t’ dive from Nestin’ Ledge this cold day!”
He smiled—but ’twas half a sad frown; for at once he puckered his forehead.
“You’re scared!” I taunted.
He shook his head.
“Oh, do come, zur!”