h the broken cart.
So, let the lass go quietly; and keep
Your happiness. When you're old, you'll not let slip
A chance of happiness so easily:
There's not so much of it going, to pick and choose:
The apple's speckled; but it's best to munch it,
And get what relish out of it you can;
And, one day, you'll be glad to chew the core:
For all its bitterness, few chuck it from them,
While they've a sense left that can savour aught.
So, let the lass go. You may have the right
To question her: but folk who stand on their rights
Get little rest: they're on a quaking moss
Without a foothold; and find themselves to the neck
In Deadman's Flow, before they've floundered far.
Rights go for little, in this life: few are worth
The risk of losing peace and quiet. You'll have
Plenty to worrit, and keep you wakeful, without
A pillow stuffed with burrs and briars: so, take
An old wife's counsel, daughter: let well alone;
And don't go gathering grievances. The lass ...

JIM:
Ay, don't be hard on her. Though mother's old,
She talks sense, whiles. So let the poor lass go.

JUDITH:
The father of my bairn ...

JIM:
She's lying, Phoebe!

JUDITH:
The father of my bairn is--William Burn--
A stranger to these parts. Now, let me pass.

(_She tries to slip by, but PHOEBE still does not make way for her._)

JIM:
Ay, Phoebe, let her go. She tells the truth.
I thought ... But I mistook her. Let her go.
I never reckoned you'd be a reesty nag:
Yet, you can set your hoofs, and champ your bit
With any mare, I see. I doubt you'll prove
A rackle ramstam wife, if you've your head.
She's answered what you asked; though, why, unless ...
Well, I don't blame the wench: she should ken best.

PHOEBE:
Judith, you lie.

JUDITH:
I lie! You mean ...

PHOEBE:
To-day,
I married your bairn's father.

ELIZA:
O God!

JIM:
Come, lass,
I say!

JUDITH:
No woman, no! I spoke the truth.
Haven't I shamed myself enough already--
That you must call me liar! (_To ELIZA_) Speak out now,
If you're not tongue-tied: tell her all you ken--
How I'm a byword among honest women,
And yet, no liar. You'd tongue enough just now
To tell me what I was--a cruel tongue
Cracking about my ears: and have you none
To answer your son's wife, and save the lad
From scandal?

ELIZA:
I've not known the lass t