Then throwing the door wide and rattling the catch of it, he said,
"Out of my house, miss! Out of it! Out of it!"
Bessie, who had been sitting motionless, raised her head and rose to go, although scarcely able to take a step forward, when she felt a hand that was trembling like a leaf laid on her shoulder.
"Stay thou there, and leave this to me."
It was the old woman who had been crouching over the fire on the three-legged stool and had now risen, thrown her stick away as if she had no longer any need of it, and was facing her husband with blazing eyes.
"Thou talks and talks of this house as thine and thine," she said. "What made it thine?"
"The law, if thou wants to know, woman," said Dan.
"Then the law is a robber and a thief."
Dan looked at his wife in astonishment, and then burst into a fit of forced laughter.
"Well, that's good! That's rich! That's wonderful! What next, I wonder?"