A BUNDLE OF LIFE
in the manner of a horse’s bonnet. Her upper lip was broken into a gap that let out a little blood while she spoke, and this blood she licked away with her tongue.
“What did he give for the old ring?” she asked. “A crown, shall I say?”
Jos showed his narrow teeth. “A yellow sovereign all but a crown,” he answered. “If I die, go she and speak to Peter Shop Watches in Castellybryn.”
“Little Jos Gernos,” said Nansi, “there’s wasteful he is. Why he now go to Betti the widow of Shim, and say to her: ‘Betti fach, lend you me your old ring for to wed Leisa the daughter of Silas Penlon. In want you are, Betti, and I will reward you with buttermilk.’”
Jos shifted a foot, and placed it near the milk that had escaped and had formed into a small pool in a hollow in the earthen floor.
“Jos, Jos, what a frog he is!” Nansi admonished him. “Don’t he move his
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