r, an' give in times when I ought to 'a held
my own. An' I liked to have him fur a sarvint to me, an' I led him on
like. So it went on--he niver doubted I'd marry wi' him, an' I held out
fur my life. Then at th' end, some words we had made things worse. 'Twas
i' spring--i' March I think--he walked out miles an' miles on the bad
roads to bring me the first flowers. I was book-binding then, out late
at night, an' I comed home to find he'd left them fur me--snowdrops they
was, an' moss wi' a glint o' green light on't, like sun shining through
th' trees; an' there was a grey pigeon's feather he'd picked up
somewheres, all clean and unroughed, like a bit o' the sky at th' dawn;
an' there was a twig wi' a wee pink toaedstood on't, all pink an' red.
The sight o' them fairly made me mad. 'Twas bad enow to buy me wi' munny
an' the things munny can buy, but it seemed he'd take the very thoughts
o' God A'mighty and use them to get his will. I were mad; but if he'd
comed to our house I couldn't 'a spoke fur mother's being there; so I
just took them bits o' Spring i' my hand, an' went out i' the dark to
his house, an' went into his room, an' threw 'em on the floor, an'
stamped 'em wi' my foot, an' I told him how he'd sneaked round to bind
me to him, an' as how I'd die first. I was mad, an' talked till I
couldn't speak fur my voice give out, an' that wasn't soon. He just sat
still hearing me, but he was white, an' shook like a man wi' the palsy.
They said he'd had fits once an' that made him nervous, but I didn't
think o' him like that. He was strong, fur he could make most all men do
as he wanted. He was spoiling my life wi' his strength, an' I didn't
think o' him as weakly. When I'd raged at him an' couldn't say more, I
went out an' was going home i' the dark, howding by the wall, as weak as
a baby; an' just afore I got home, I seed him stand just in front' o'
me. I thought he'd runned after me--mebbe he did--but I've thought
since, mebbe not, that his body mayn't 'a been there at all; but anyway
I seed him stand just afore me, wi' his eyes large and like fire, an'
him all white and trembling. He said, "I tell ye, Jen, I will have ye
mine, an' as long as I live no other man shall," an' wi' that I went
past him into the house.'

'Go on, Jen,' said the carter.

'All I knows is that the word he spoke was a true word. Next day they
comed and telled us he was found all par'lysed in his chair, an' he
couldn't move nor speak. From that t