Oh, man of short pipes and hard, bachelor fare, for this thou deservest as good a wife as ever basted a leg of mutton!
At last the young lady looked up at him with a deep–drawn sigh, and said—
“I am afraid I have been very silly.”
“No, indeed, you have not. But I am very sorry for you, because I am dreadfully clumsy.”
She glanced at his snowy choker—which he never wore but on Sundays—and, being a very quick–witted young woman, she guessed at once who he was.
“Oh, please to tell me—I hope the service is not over at Nowelhurst church.”
“The service has been over for a quarter of an hour; because there was no sermon.”
“Oh, what shall I do, then? What can I do? I had better never go home again.”
This was said to herself in anguish, and Pell saw that he was not meant to hear it.
“Can I go, please, to the Rectory? Mr. Rosedew is from home; but Iʼm sure they will give me shelter until my—until I am sent for. I have lost my way in the wood here.”