That drawed me. If I must ax pardon for
comin', then I will."
"Nay, nay, my poor sawl; sit you down an' eat, Joe, an' take they wet boots
off a while. Our hearts have bled for 'e this many days, Joe Noy, an' never
more'n now."
"I thank you, uncle; an' you, Mary Chirgwin--will 'e say as much? 'Tis you
I wants to speak with, 'cause you--you seed Joan arter 'twas awver."
"I wish you well, Joe Noy, an' if I ever done differ'nt 'tis past an'
forgot. What I can tell 'e 'bout our poor lass, as lived the end of her
days along wi' me an' uncle, you've a right to knaw."
"An' God bless 'e for sayin' so. I comed rough an' ready, an' thrust in
'pon you; but this news be but two hour auld in my heart, you see, an'
'tedn' easy for such as me to make choice o' words at a time like this."
"Eat, my son, an' doan't 'e fancy theer's any here but them as be friends.
Polly an' me seed more o' Joan through her last days than any; an' I do say
as she was a lamb o' God's foldin', beyond all manner o' doubt; an' Polly,
as feared it mightn't 'sactly be so, be of my 'pinion now. Them as suffered
for the sins o' other folk, like what she done, has theer hell-fire 'pon
this side o' the graave, not t'other."
"I lay that's a true sayin'," declared Noy shortly. "I won't keep 'e
ower-long from your beds," he added. "If you got a drink o' spirits I'll
thank you for it; then I'll put a question or two to she--to Mary Chirgwin,
if she'll allow; an' then I'll get going.
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