"Ess fay, you be, my son," declared Mr. Ash.
"Anyway," answered the parent, darkly scowling, "I see my darter pulling eyes at the fule an' I won't stand it--wouldn't for twice five hunderd pound."
"No need to fright yourself," said Churdles Ash, shaking his head. "Libby's not a marryin' man--tu selfish to marry while his auld mother's alive to slave for him an' kiss the ground he walks on. Besides, there's your other darter--Margery. He'm so set 'pon wan as t'other; but 'tis all philandering, not business."
"He'll end by havin' a sore back anyways if I see much more of it. Sally to marry him indeed! Shaw me a purtier gal than Sally this side Exeter an' I'll give 'e a gawlden sovereign!"
"An' I'll give 'e another!" declared Mr. Collins.
At this moment Jonah's second daughter, together with one Mrs. Loveys, housekeeper at Bear Down, appeared. The latter was an ample, elderly widow. She had a capacious bosom, bare arms, and a most kindly face. Her late husband, Timothy Loveys, after a lifetime of service at Endicott's, passed within a year of his master; and upon his death Mr. Cramphorn had won promotion and was now head man. As for Margery, a thin, long-faced girl, cast in mould more fragile than her sister, she worked as dairymaid at the farm. She too was personable, but her slimmer contour, reserved manner, and sharp tongue contrasted ill, in masculine opinion, with Sally's physical exuberance and good temper.
The women who now came to fetch empty utensils and baskets stayed awhile, and Mrs. Loveys asked a question.
"An' what for be you offerin' gawlden sovereigns so free, Henry Collins?" she inquired with a side glance.
"To find a purtier maiden than Sally, ma'am."
Margery laughed and blushed, with her eyes on Mr. Libby.
"Missis," answered Jonah, "be a lady. She'm built on a different pattern, though with like material. No disrespect to her, as I'd shed my life's blood for, but the differ'nce betwixt she an' my Sally's the differ'nce betwixt sunlight an' moonlight."
"Between a wind-flower an' a butivul, full-blawed cabbage rose," hazarded Mr. Collins.
"Yet theer's them as would liefer have the windflower," said Margery, who secretly believed herself very like her mistress, and dressed as near to Honor as she dared. Mrs. Loveys nodded approval of this statement; Mr. Cramphorn stoutly questioned it.