"only a surprise of mine, which seems
to have missed fire. I had planned a small picnic here and this good
woman was to have had a dish of tea ready for you--"

"How was I to know that man of mine had been fool enough to fill the
kettle before tramping off to the 'Ring of Bells'?" the good woman
broke in. "Lord knows 'tisn' his way to be thoughtful, and when he
tries it there's always a breakage. When I'd melted the ice, the
thing began to leak like a sieve; and if this tinker fellow hadn't
come along--by Providence, as you may call it--though I'd ha' been
obliged to Providence for a quicker workman--"

Hetty was not listening. Her eyes had caught the tinker's, and the
warm blood had run back from her face: for he was the man who had
startled the sisters on the knoll, that harvest evening.

He nodded to her now with an impudent grin. "Good evening, missy!
If I'd known the job was for Miss Wesley, I'd ha' put best speed into
it: best work there is already."

"Hallo! Do you know this fellow?" her lover demanded.

"'Fellow'--and a moment back 'twas 'tinker'! Well, well, a man must
look low and pick up what he can in these times, 'specially when his
larger debtors be so backward--hey, miss? Why, to be sure I know
Miss Wesley: a man don't forget a face like hers in a hurry. Glad to
meet her, likewise, enjoyin' herself so free and easy. Shall I tell
the old Rector, miss, next time I call, how well you was lookin', and
in what company?"

Hetty saw her lover ruffling and laid a hand on his arm.

"Tuppence if you please, ma'am, and I'll be going. William Wright
was never one to spoil sport: but some has luck in this world and
some hasn't, and that's a fact." He grinned again as he pocketed the
money.

"If you don't take your impudent face out of this, I'll smash it for
you," spoke up the young man hotly.

The plumber's grin widened as, slinging his bag of tools over his
shoulder, he stepped on to the frozen towpath. "Ah, you're a
bruiser, I dare say: for I've seen you outside the booth at Lincoln
Fair, hail-fellow with the boxing-men on the platform. And a buck
you was too, with a girl on each arm; and might pass, that far from
home, for one of the gentry, the way you stood treat. But you're
not: and if missy ain't more particular in her bucks, she'd do better
with a respectable tradesman like me. As for smashing of faces, two
can play at that game, belike: but William Wright chooses his time."

He w