'Good heavens, Joyce! is all this true?'
'Sure-ly. Did I ever tell you a lie?'
'Since when have you been afoot?'
'I started afore light, I reckon about five o'clock.'
'My poor, poor Joyce!'
'I be none so poor now. See my stockings and shoes! And do'y look here what a sight o' brave clothes I have, as Miss Cicely gave me.'
'Have you had anything to eat?'
'Sure. A woman at a cottage gave me some bread and a bowl of skimmed milk.'
'When?'
'I reckon at noon.'