Note (return) — Chapter XII · THROUGH ONE GREAT DAY

“I’ve sent for you, Clem Hicks, for more reasons than wan. I be gwaine down the hill fast, along o’ marryin’ this cursed mommet12 of a man, Lezzard. He lied about his money—him a pauper all the time; and now he waits and watches me o’ nights, when he thinks I’m drunk or dreamin’ an’ I ban’t neither. He watches, wi’ his auld, mangy poll shakin’, an’ the night-lamp flingin’ the black shadow of un ’gainst the bed curtain an’ shawin’ wheer his wan front tooth sticks up like a yellow stone in a charred field. Blast un to hell! He’m waitin’ for my money, an’ I’ve told un he’s to have it. But ’twas only to make the sting bite deeper when the time comes. Not a penny—not a farthing—him or any of ’em.”