I war gone thirty, an'
th' feyther too, afore we war married; an' young enough too. She'll be
a poor dratchell by then SHE'S thirty, a-marr'in' a-that'n, afore her
teeth's all come."
Adam walked so fast that he was at the yard-gate before seven. Martin
Poyser and the grandfather were not yet come in from the meadow: every
one was in the meadow, even to the black-and-tan terrier--no one
kept watch in the yard but the bull-dog; and when Adam reached the
house-door, which stood wide open, he saw there was no one in the bright
clean house-place. But he guessed where Mrs. Poyser and some one else
would be, quite within hearing; so he knocked on the door and said in
his strong voice, "Mrs. Poyser within?"
"Come in, Mr. Bede, come in," Mrs. Poyser called out from the dairy. She
always gave Adam this title when she received him in her own house.
"You may come into the dairy if you will, for I canna justly leave the
cheese."
Adam walked into the dairy, where Mrs. Poyser and Nancy were crushing
the first evening cheese.
"Why, you might think you war come to a dead-house," said Mrs. Poyser,
as he stood in the open doorway; "they're all i' the meadow; but
Martin's sure to be in afore long, for they're leaving the hay cocked
to-night, ready for carrying first thing to-morrow.
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