"Aw'st nivver howd aat till Sunday, Tom," Ben confided to him. "Aw haven't set tooith into a turkey sin' aw can't remember when an' ivvry time aw think on it mi maath watters soa aw can hardly speik. Do'st think there'll be sossidge wi' it? Tha mieet ha' just nudged her abaat th' sossidge when yo' wrote if yo'd gi'en it a thowt, but aw'm feart it's too lat' nah. An' gooise an' apple sauce, an stuffin', an' plum puddin' wi' brandy sauce--eh, lad, it's a pity tha cannot come o' age onst a week. But aw munnot show greedy. Aw onst knew a felly at a club supper 'at e't a whull leg o' mutton to his own cheek, wi' capers and onion sauce an' breead, an' supped two gallon o' ale. They'd to gie him kester oil for aboon a week at after afore he fair gate shut on it. Nah! aw ca' that a fair abuse o'th' kindly fruits o'th' earth. Nah! tha'll ha' studied ettiket nah tha's ta'en to talkin' townified. How mony helpin's dun yo reely think aw mieet ha' wi' out bein thowt greedy? Aw'm nooan a glutton, like that chap at Gowcar 'at went to a club dinner--Bill o' Natt's, aw think they ca'ed him--an' when he gate whom he rolled o'th' floor, an' all he could say wer' 'Howd, belly, howd, for if tha brusts awm done.' And Ben looked anxiously at Tom for a reply. But Tom only smiled, for he knew that Ben was merely talking to let off steam. So the excited little man went on: "Tha'll nooan be teetotal that day, Tom. It 'ud be a sort o' slur o' Missus Schofield. Aw tak' it at goin' to a feeast at a public wi' a publican an' ca'in' for cowd watter 'ud be just as bad manners as feedin' wi' a teetotaller an' axin for a pint o' drink. Nah! doesn't it strike yo' i' that leet, Tom?" But Tom explained that he had had that point over with his good friend Betty many a time before and that he wasn't going to begin his manhood by breaking the pledge he had taken with himself. "You'll have to drink my share too, Ben." "An' Lucy's, for 'oo's tarred wi' th' same brush as thee, Tom. Aw do believe 'at if yo' took to runnin' abaat th' village wi' a caa's tail atween yo'r teeth like them niggers yo'n read on o'th' banks o'th river Ganges, yar Lucy 'ud do th' same as well as her legs 'ud let her. An' thank God!--an' yo', Tom, 'oo can walk wi'out sticks nah." And Ben pressed Tom's arm as caressingly as ever maiden conveyed message to favoured swain. "You'll have to be careful, Ben, if you're going to drink for three."