Here he paused again, shaking his head reflectively. It was possible that his thoughts had travelled back to that memorable box in which his erring father had enshrined the riven locks that testified to his own transgressions and the vigorous retaliation of his wife. Isaac’s late mother had certainly been a woman of action. ‘That’s it, my dear,’ repeated Sharpe, emerging from his reverie, ‘ye’ll be forced to turn to deeds. Next time them chaps comes late, jist you up an’ fine them. Says you, “Short work desarves short pay. Bear in mind,” says you, “that accordin’ to the work shall be the wage.”’ ‘Yes, I might try that,’ agreed Rosalie. ‘But the worst of it is they lose so much time and do their work so badly when they do come.’ ‘Then, jist make a’ example o’ one o’ them—that’s your best plan. Give the worst o’ them the sack, and ye’ll find the others ’ull settle down like—like lambs,’ said the sheep-farmer, bringing out the simile triumphantly. ‘Thank you very much for your advice, Mr. Sharpe. I’ll take it. And now—’ she paused a moment, blushing—‘what would you recommend me to do with regard to my other difficulty? How am I to make people understand that I don’t mean to marry again?’ ‘Well, a body ’ud really think they need n’t be so pushin’,’ remarked Isaac. ‘It be downright ondacent for ’em to be a-hangin’ about ’ee so soon—’ ‘They have no business to think of it at all, Mr. Sharpe,’ interrupted the widow fiercely. ‘I shall never, _never_ put anyone in my dear Elias’s place!’ ‘That’s very well said, my dear,’ returned Isaac, looking at her with real kindness and emotion. ‘’T is the proper spirit. I myself, as you may have heard me say, was never one to set up for wedlock. Well, ye’ve had a husband, and a good ’un, an’ you be in the right o’t to be satisfied wi’ that, just as I be satisfied wi’ havin’ no wife at all. Dear heart alive! when I were a young chap the maids did use to be castin’ their eyes at me, but I never took no notice, and when I grew more staid there was one very perseverin’ woman, I do mind—very perseverin’ she were. Ah, she come to house here, time and again, wi’ one excuse or another, and at last, so soon as I did see her comin’ I did use to shut door in her face.’ ‘Why, that’s what I shall do,’ cried Rosalie, laughing, and clapping her hands—‘that’s the very thing I shall do. Thank you for the hint, Mr. Sharpe. That again, you see, will be deeds, not words.’ Isaac looked kindly at the bright face and sparkling eyes, and nodded cheerfully. ‘That be the way to take ’em.’ ‘I only wish I had thought of it on Sunday,’ she went on. ‘Those two men sat and talked so long, that I was wishing them anywhere. I expected you on Sunday, Mr. Sharpe,’ she added, in an altered voice, while the smile vanished from her face. ‘Did ’ee?’ said Isaac, abashed, and guilty. ‘Yes, I did, indeed—I thought you would have come if only in memory of old times.’