"One of 'em—him that axed me all the questions, and wrote i' t' book, seemed a sharp enough chap in his way; but I can't say much for the little one," said Higgs. "Lud, I couldn't hardly look in his face for laughing, he seemed such a fool!—He had a riding-whip wi' a silver head, and stood smacking his legs (you should ha' seen how tight his clothes was on his legs—I warrant you, Tim Timpkins never see'd such a thing, I'll be sworn) all the while, as if a' liked to hear the sound of it."
"If I'd a' been beside him," said Hazel, "I'd a' saved him that trouble—only I'd a' laid it into another part of him!"
"Ha, ha, ha!" they laughed—and presently passed on to other matters.
"Hath the squire been doing much lately in Parliament?" inquired the sexton, of Dickons.
"Why, yes—he's trying hard to get that new road made from Harkley bridge to Hilton."
"Ah, that would save a good four mile, if a' could manage it!" said one of the farmers.
"I hear the Papists are trying to get the upper hand again—which the Lud forbid!" said the sexton, after another pause.
"The squire hath lately made a speech in that matter, that hath finished them," said Dickons, in a grave and authoritative tone.
"What would they be after?" inquired the landlord of Dickons, of whom, in common with all present, he thought great things. "They say they wants nothing but what's their own, and liberty, and that like"——
"If thou wert a shepherd, Master Higgs," replied Dickons, "and wert to be asked by ten or a dozen wolves to let them in among thy flock of sheep, they saying how quiet and kind they would be to 'em—would'st let 'em in, or keep 'em out?—eh?"