hoose how he
suffered you never 'eard one word of complaint, an' he wouldn't let us
say ought hard against Him above. And yet, you know, he was never what
you might call a church member, an' he wasn't one 'at went regular to
either church or chapel. You see, it's a matter o' two mile to t'
chapel at Windyridge, an' t' nearest church 'll be gettin' on for four
mile away.

"An' he wasn't one 'at spoke a deal about religion, neither, nobbut he
wouldn't hear anybody speak a word agen it. There isn't a labourer or
a farmer or t' doctor himself 'at 'ud use a bad word i' front o'
Greenwood, an' he never did himself. He used to sit i' that
high-backed chair where you're sittin' now, every night of his life,
wi' that big Bible on his knee, an' read in it, but he never read it
out loud, an' what Scripture we got we'd to read for ourselves. Nobbut
he'd quote it now an' then, like, when there were any 'casion.

"I've thought often sin' he came home that day an' told us what were
goin' to happen, an' especially sin' he were laid up, 'at it 'ud maybe
have been better if he'd read it up for us all to hear, an' talked
about it a bit, but it wasn't his way, wasn't that. He was same as he
couldn't, but I wonder sometimes if it 'ud have saved us this trouble."

"But could anything really have saved it?" I inquired. "He told me it
was something internal which could not be accounted for."

"Ah, miss," she replied, "there's a kind of illness 'at you can't get
any doctor to cure, but Greenwood's illness could be accounted for when
you know all. It's true enough 'at there wasn't a stronger nor
likelier man i' t' West Ridin' than my 'usband, nor a steadier. And he
never ailed owt, never. Day in an' day out he did his work wi' t' best
on 'em, an' took all his meals hearty. But he lived wi' a great big
wound in his inside this last ten year for all that, an' they can say
what they like, but I know if he hadn't had that sore in his soul he'd
never have had that bad place in his body.

"You can't go by appearances, miss. My husband was right enough in his
body, but he was sick at heart. It's not easy tellin', but I can tell
you, though I'm sure I don't know why. We never had but two children,
Jane an' her brother Joseph. My husband was called after his
mother--her name was Greenwood afore she was married--so we called our
lad Joseph after his grandfather. He came within a year of our gettin'
wed, and a brighter little lad never