un, I'll wager. Mother Coomstock
'll give un hell's delights, that's wan gude thought. A precious pair
of 'em! Tchut! Gar!"

"I doan't really think you could have loved Mrs. Coomstock overmuch,
Billy, if you can talk so ugly an' crooked 'bout her," said Phoebe.

"I did, I tell 'e--for years an' years. I went down on my knees to the
bitch--I wish I hadn't; I'll be sorry for that to my dying day. I kissed
her, tu,--s' elp me, I did. You mightn't think it, but I did--a faace
like a frost-bitten beetroot, as 't is!"

"Doan't 'e, please, say such horrible things. You must be wise about it.
You see, they say Mr. Lezzard has more money than you. At least, so Mrs.
Coomstock told her nephew, Clement Hicks. Every one of her relations is
savage about it."

"Well they may be. Why doan't they lock her up? If she ban't mad, nobody
ever was. 'Money'! Lezzard! Lying auld--auld--Tchut! Not money enough to
pay for a graave to hide his rotten bones, I lay. Oh, 't is enough
to--theer, what 's the use of talkin'? Tchut--Tchut!"

At this point Phoebe, fearing even greater extravagances in Mr. Blee's
language, left him to consider his misfortunes alone. Long he continued
in the profoundest indignation, and it was not until Miller Lyddon
returned, heard the news, and heartily congratulated Billy on a merciful
escape, that the old man grew a little calmer under his disappointment,
and moderated the bitterness and profanity of his remarks.

CHAPTER IX

A DIFFERENCE WITH THE DUCHY

Newtake Farm, by reason of Will's recent occupancy, could offer no very
considerable return during his first year as tenant; but that he
understood and accepted, and the tribulation which now fell upon him was
of his own making. To begin with, Sam Bonus vanished from the scene. On
learning, soon after the event, that Bonus had discussed Hicks and
himself at Chagford, and detailed his private conversation with Martin
Grimbal, Blanchard, in a fury, swept off to the loft where his man
slept, roused him from rest, threw down the balance of his wages, and
dismissed him on the spot. He would hear no word in explanation, and
having administered a passionate rebuke, departed as he had come, like a
whirlwind. Sam, smarting under this injustice, found the devil wake in
him through that sleepless night, and had there stood rick or stack
within reach of revenge, he might have dealt his master a return blow
before morning. As usual, after the lapse of hours, Will c