“Well, ’tis this way, ye see,” he said, after a moment’s meditation. “I did say I were a-goin’ to make an example o’ you. I did say it to myself an’ I did say it to the men; an’ I b’ain’t a man what likes to go back on his word.” Jess looked at him piteously, his round ruddy face almost convulsed with anxiety. Farmer Old, who was a good-natured man, could not withstand its pathetic appeal. “Well, I’ll tell ye what I’ll do,” he cried; “there’s one way I mid take ye back wi’out breakin’ my word. I said I’d make an example of ’ee, an’ dalled if I don’t do it. There, I’ll take ye back at same wage as before if ye’ll turn teetotal.” If Jess’s expression had been pathetic before, it was downright tragic now; he stood silent, with goggling eyes and a dropping jaw. “Ye see,” resumed the farmer confidentially, “’twas the beer—or the wish for it what did bring all this trouble upon ye. If ye pledge yourself to drink no beer ye can’t wish for it.” Jess however was dubious on this point. “’Twill be sich a disgrace,” he stammered presently. “Disgrace!” repeated the farmer. “Nothin’ o’ the kind! Ye’ll be an example to the men, I tell ’ee—they’ll be all a-lookin’ up to ’ee, an’ a-praisin’ ’ee.” Jess’s countenance cleared in some slight measure; he took the rake which his master proffered him, in silence, and forthwith fell to work with great vigour and goodwill. Jim Stuckey, jingling past with the hay-rake, halted beside him. “Be come to help again?” he asked, with a grin. Domeny looked back at him solemnly. “I b’ain’t on strike no more,” he observed. “I’ve a-come to my senses again, an’ I’ve a-come back to work. I be come,” he added, straightening his back, and raising his voice for the benefit of the others; “I be come to set ye all an example. I be a-goin’, Jim, for to give up drink altogether. I be a-goin’ for to turn teetotal.” “Well, to be sure,” cried Jim, much impressed. “Ees,” resumed Jess, after a moment’s pause, during which he had searched his memory for an appropriate text, which he now produced in a somewhat jumbled condition. “I have found out my sin an’ I be a-goin’ for to forsake it. I be a-goin’ for to turn teetotal out an’ out.” * * * No one was more rejoiced to hear of this doughty resolution than Mrs Domeny; though from certain heated altercations which sometimes took place on Saturday nights between the couple, it might be inferred that in spite of his pledge the good fellow was still troubled by certain rebellious hankerings. It was even whispered that now and then—on market-days for instance—Jess’s gait was wont to become unsteady and his speech a trifle thick, almost as of yore; but Farmer Old never appeared to notice these lapses from the path of rectitude, and Jess lost no measure of the respect with which he had inspired his fellow-labourers since he had first proposed to set them an example. “JARGE’S LITTLE ’OOMAN”