"Not that I blame you for being so plain-spoken. 'Tis often the best way of all, an' saves a deal of precious time. And time's money. You only want a little more experience of the ways of people, to shine like a star among common women, who sail with the wind and always say what they think you'll best like to hear. But that's nought. The thing I want to say is that I love you, Sarah Jane, and there's nothing in life I'd like better than to make a beautiful home for you, with every comfort that my purse can afford in it. And a horse you certainly shall have; an' I'll teach you how to ride him. You're a thought too large for a pony, but a good upstanding cob--and a pleasant sight 'twould be." "Nobody could say fairer, I'm sure." "Then will you have me? I'm not good enough, or anywheres near it. Still, as men go, in these parts, you might do worse--eh?" "A lot worse. What does your mother think about it?" "She would sooner I married you than anybody--'if I must marry at all.' That was her view." "Why marry at all, Jarratt Weekes? Ban't you very comfortable as you are?" "Not a very loverly question," he said, somewhat ruefully. "I'm afraid you don't care much about me, Sarah Jane." "I don't like your eyes," she answered. "I like the rest of you very well. And, after all's said, you can't help 'em." "There 'tis!" he exclaimed, half in admiration, half in annoyance. "What girl on God's earth but you would say a thing like that to a man that's offering marriage to her? To quarrel with my eyes be a foolish trick all the same. You might so well blame my hair, or my ears, or my hands." "Your hand is a fine, strong-shaped sort of hand." "Take it then," he cried, "and keep it; an' give me yours. Let me run my life for you evermore; and for your good and for your betterment. I'm tired of running it for myself. I never knew how empty a man's life can be--not till I met you; and there's the cottage, crawled over with honeysuckle, and the swallows' nests under the eaves, and the lovely orchard and all! All waiting your good pleasure, Sarah Jane, the moment that old woman drops." "I don't reckon I could marry you--such a lot goes to it. Still, I'll be fair to you and take a bit of time to think it over." "You've got two strings to your bow, of course--like all you pretty women?" "No, I haven't. Yet--well, there's a man I've seen a few times lately. And I do take to him something wonderful. There's that about him I've never felt in no other man. Only, so far as I know, he don't care a button for me. He may be tokened, come to think of it. I never heard him say he wasn't. I never thought of that!" She sat quite absorbed by this sudden possibility, while Jarratt Weekes stared angrily at her.