'I have so great a love for you, mother, that with teeth and claws, and yells and kicks, I will prevent you from ever casting yourself away or me either. I am in a haranguing, lecturing mood to-day. I have been giving my mind to Jack Rattenbury, and now I give it to you; and I am in downright earnest with both. I don't like crooked ways.'
'Forget what is past,' said Jane, in a subdued tone.
'Yes, but I shall take care of myself in the future.'
CHAPTER VI
OVER THE PUNCH-BOWL
'Well, mate!' shouted Olver, the ferryman, entering the house with a swagger, and casting his cap on the table. 'I'm come to spend the evenin' with you. Dang it, in November, they are too long, and one sickens of bein' by one's self. Why! What is the meanin' of this? Women, women about? I don't half like it.'
'I do not fit my house to your likings,' retorted Rattenbury curtly.
'Hang it, no. I don't expect it of you. But, by George, it is not I only who find the evenings dull alone, I see. Who would have thought this of you at your time of life, and with your grey hairs?'
'If you can't keep a civil tongue in your head, you can take up your cap and sheer off.'