rough. Her face got pale and thin, and she didn't
fancy 'er food.

I suppose I ought to 'ave bin angry with her, for we'd always kept
ourselves respectable; and I know if you spare the rod you spoil the
child, and I felt I ought to tell her I didn't 'old with such
wickedness; so one night when 'er father, 'e was up at the Rose and
Crown, and she, a-settin' on the bank with 'er elbows on 'er knees
and 'er chin in 'er 'ands, I says to 'er, 'You can't 'ide it no
longer, my girl: I know all about it, you wicked, bad girl, you.'

And then she turned and looked at me like a dog does when you 'it
it. 'O mother,' says she, 'O mother!' And with that I forgot
everything about bein' angry with 'er, and I 'ad 'er in my arms in a
minute, and we was 'oldin' each other as hard as hard.

'It was the night before the weddin',' says she, in a whisper. 'O
mother, I didn't think there was any harm in it, and us so nearly
man and wife.'

'My Pretty,' says I, for she was cryin' pitiful, 'don't 'e take on
so, don't: there'll be the little baby by-and-by, and us 'ull love
it as dear as if you'd been married in church twenty times over.'

'Ah, but father,' says she; 'he'll kill me when 'e knows.'

Well, I put 'er to bed and I made 'er a cup of strong tea, and I
kissed 'er and covered 'er up with my heart like lead, and nobody as
ain't a mother can know what a merry-go-round of misery I'd got in
my head that night. And when my old man come 'ome I told 'im, and
'Don't be 'ard on the girl, for God's sake,' says I, 'for she's our
own child and our only child, and it was the night before the
weddin' as should 'ave bin.'

''Ard on 'er?' says 'e, and I'd never 'eard 'is voice so soft, not
even when 'e was courtin' me, or when my Pretty was a little un, and
'e hushin' her to sleep. ''Ard on 'er? 'Ard on my precious lamb? It
ain't us men who is 'ard on them things, it's you wimmen-folk; the
day before 'er weddin', too!'

Then 'e was quiet for a bit--then 'e takes 'is shoes off so as not
to make a clatter on the steps near where she slept, and 'e comes
out in a minute with my Bible in 'is 'and.

'Now,' says 'e, very quiet, 'you needn't be afraid of my bein' 'ard
on 'er, but if ever I meet 'im, I'll 'ave 'is blood, if I swing for
it, and I'm goin' to swear it on this 'ere Bible--so help me God!'

He looked like a mad thing; his eyes was a-shinin' like lanterns,
and 'is face all pulled out of its proper shape; and 'e plumps down
on 'is knees t