The next day the same order of procedure held good, but on the following morning no Sol appeared in the lane, for the hedge which bordered it was shorn as close as a stubble-field. Sally looked about her eagerly, but detecting no signs of life, continued her journey with somewhat depressed spirits. Nevertheless, in the evening, as the van slowly mounted the hill, she heard the sound of hasty steps behind her, and was presently overtaken by Sol. “Did ye think I wasn’t comin’?” he enquired. “I didn’t think anything about you,” returned Sally, mendaciously. “Well, I’ve come, an’ what’s more I be a-goin’ to go on comin’ so long as it be so dark. It bain’t fit for a maid to go travellin’ alone so late.” “I can take care o’ myself, thank ye,” returned Sally. “No, no,” cried Sol with conviction, “no maid can do that. They was meant to be took care on, an’ I be a-goin’ to take care o’ you.” Sally tossed her head. “Perhaps I’ve other folks to take care o’ me if I choose to call ’em,” she remarked. Indeed it would not have been in girlish nature to submit to the masterful manner in which Sol took possession of her. “Be you a-keepin’ company wi’ somebody?” enquired Sol with some anxiety. “Because there’s no use my comin’ so far out o’ my road if ye be. I be workin’ over t’other side o’ the farm now that this ’ere job’s finished, an’ I’ve gone into a new lodgin’-there’s no use my wastin’ my time, my maid, if—” “Oh, I’m sure I don’t want ye to waste no time on my account!” cried Sally. Her voice was unsteady, and she blinked hard to keep back the tears. No maid, she said to herself, would like to be courted after such a fashion. Sol sighed impatiently. As a practical man he was anxious to ascertain his position. “Be there?” he enquired, with a self-restraint that was palpable and exasperating, “Be there another chap a-lookin’ arter ye, or bain’t there?” As a matter of fact there was not, but Sally was not the girl to admit it. She remained, therefore, obstinately mute. “Now look ’ee here, my maid,” resumed Sol, after a full minute’s pause. “I must have a answer to this ’ere question afore things get any forrarder. I’ll give ’ee till to-morrow to think it over, and then it must be ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ If ye’ve got a young man of your own then ye may cry ‘hands off,’ an’ I’ll let ’ee alone. If ye haven’t—there bain’t no reason in life why you an’ me shouldn’t start keepin’ company reg’lar. So think it over, maidie.” Having now reached the top of the slope, Sally whipped up Diamond, and the horse proceeded at its usual trot, Sol jogging beside it according to his custom. When Sally’s home came in sight he disappeared into the darkness with a cheery good night, leaving Sally disconcerted, angry, and sorely perplexed.