As oi have told
ye, oi ha' partly chosen ye becos oi knowed as how ye would maake
a good mother to my little Polly; but oi doan't mean to give up
taking her down with me o' days to the town. Oi likes to ha' her
wi' me on the roade--it makes it shorter like. As thou knowest
thyself, oi ha' bin a chaanged man sin she coom. There warn't
a cropper in the village drank harder nor oi, but oi maad oop moi
moind when she came to gi' it up, and oi have gi'd it up."
"I know, Luke," the girl said, "I wouldna have had ye, hadn't ye
doon so, as I told ye two years agone. I know the child ha' done
it, and I loves her for it, and will be a good mother to her."
"Oi knows you will, Loiza, and oi bain't feared as ye'll be jealous
if so be as ye've children o' your own. Oi shan't love 'em a bit
the less coss oi loves little Polly. She be just the image o' what
moi sister Jane was when she war a little thing and oi used to
take care o' her. Mother she didn't belong to this village, and the
rough ways of the men and the drink frightened her. She war quiet
and tidy and neat in her ways, and Jane took arter her, and glad
she was when the time came to marry and get away from Varley. Oi be
roight sure if she knows owt what's going on down here, she would
be glad to know as her child ain't bein' brought oop in Varley ways.
I ha' arranged wi' the woman where she gets her meals for her to
go to school wi' her own children.
Pages:
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57