"Ay, that I am, till I've settled old scores wi' them Lummaxes. It's little rest there'd be for Rachel Strangeways, ligging i' her grave, if Griff an' his mother war laughing aboon sod. An' all to be done by myseln," she added reflectively; "me eighty an' more, wi' only a misbegotten fooil of a man to help me--an' him sitting, stark-witted, wi' his clumsy hands i' his pockets. Joe, durst 'a kill young Griff, if tha'd getten him safe to grund, nobbut wanting a stamp o' thy foot to finish him?" "I durst that; thee bide till I've getten th' chance; thee bide a bit." "I've bided ower long a'ready." They fell into a moody silence. A gleam of triumph shot into Rachel's skinny face. "Lad, it's th' best news I've heärd for mony a long day, this o' young Lummax's wedding Kate. Let 'em be, an' Griff 'ull find his mistake out; she's noan his sort, an' he's noan hers--they'll fratch, an' proper, after a two or three week. Teed by th' tail, teed by th' tail; lad, they'll scrat each other's een out!" The bottle was finished, and Joe felt no further inducement to stay. "Good neet, mother. I'm wishing tha'd talk a bit less an' do a bit more." Rachel gave vent to her tongue at that, and rated him till her face went purple. But she changed her key just as Joe was shutting the door behind him. "Joe, lad!" she called. He pushed his head round the corner. "Hast a' nearly done wi' thy foulness, or how like?" he demanded. "Ay, I've done. Tha willun't forget th' screw-nails, wilt 'a? Day in an' day out th' owd clock wobbles summat fearful." "I'll noan forget." And he shuffled off into the moonlight. About the time that Mother Strangeways was cursing her grandson by every epithet known to the brisk upland vocabulary, Lomax and Kate were talking together in the cosy Manor parlour. "Don't plead against me, Kate," he was saying. "You know I oughtn't to stay here till we are free to marry." "But that will be months yet, you say--a whole six months at the soonest. Griff, I shall want you to death before the waiting is over." His arms went round her at that; but he had made up his mind, and nothing could turn him aside. "We must give ourselves a chance," he said gruffly, setting her away from him. "What can folk help but think, if you and I live here while the case is pending? You might help me a little, Kate; it is not too easy for me." She gripped his arm with quick, passionate strength. "You shan't go back to London, if I have to hang round your neck like a millstone. They are too fond of you there; you'll go to your fine ladies, and you'll talk and laugh and flirt, and they will make me look silly in your thoughts. You shan't go there, I tell you!" Griff laughed mightily; and "Wife," said he--she quickened to the premature tenderness of the word--"wife, I was never sure till this moment that you loved me; but now I know it. What! you're jealous."