“‘Yes,’ ses George; ‘I tell ’er all sorts o’ lies about you.’
“Foxy looked at ’im a moment, and then ’e went off grumbling. He was like a good many more men, and because Flora Pottle didn’t seem to want ’im ’e on’y fancied ’er the more. Next day ’e sent George Smith up with an old brooch as a present, and when George came back ’e said ’e thought that if it ’ad been a new one it would ’ave done wot was wanted.
“You can’t keep secrets in Claybury, and it soon got round wot Foxy Green was arter. That made the other women more determined than ever, and at last Foxy sent up word that if Flora wouldn’t ask ’im to let ’im know, as ’e was tired o’ being a prisoner, and old Mrs. Ball ’ad nearly ’ad ’im the day afore.
“It took George Smith two hours’ ’ard courtin’ afore he could get Flora Pottle to say ‘Yes,’ but at last she did, and then Mrs. Pottle came in, and she shook ’ands with George, and gave ’im a glass o’ beer. Mrs. Pottle wanted to take ’er up to Green’s farm there and then, but Flora said no. She said they’d go up at eight o’clock in the evenin’, and the sacrifice should be made then.
“Foxy didn’t like the word ‘sacrifice’ at all, but if ’e’d got to be married ’e’d sooner marry Flora than anybody, and ’e ’ad to put up with it.
“‘There’ll be you for one witness,’ he ses to George, ‘and Mrs. Pottle is two; wot about the third?’
“‘I should ’ave ’alf a dozen, so as to make sure,’ ses George.
“Foxy thought it was a good idea, and without letting ’em know wot it was for, ’e asked Henery Walker and Joe Chambers, and three or four more ’e ’ad a grudge against for trying to marry ’im to their relations, to come up and see that ’e’d been able to pick and choose.
“They came at ha’-past seven, and at eight o’clock there was a knock at the door, and George, arter carefully looking round, let in Mrs. Pottle and Flora. She was a fine-looking gal, and as she stood there looking at all them astonished men, ’er face all blushes and ’er eyes large and shining, Foxy thought getting married wasn’t such a bad thing arter all. He gave ’er a chair to sit on, and then ’e coughed and waited.
“‘It’s a fine night,’ he ses, at last.