Well, she was
mighty pleased with the screen, and then she wanted to know what pay she
was to give me. I didn't speak at random--you know it's not my way; I'd
calculated pretty close, though I hadn't made out a bill, and I said,
'One pound thirty.' That was paying for the mater'als and paying me, but
none too much, for my work. Th' old squire looked up at this, and peered
in his way at the screen, and said, 'One pound thirteen for a gimcrack
like that! Lydia, my dear, if you must spend money on these things,
why don't you get them at Rosseter, instead of paying double price for
clumsy work here? Such things are not work for a carpenter like Adam.
Give him a guinea, and no more.' Well, Miss Lyddy, I reckon, believed
what he told her, and she's not overfond o' parting with the money
herself--she's not a bad woman at bottom, but she's been brought up
under his thumb; so she began fidgeting with her purse, and turned as
red as her ribbon. But I made a bow, and said, 'No, thank you, madam;
I'll make you a present o' the screen, if you please. I've charged
the regular price for my work, and I know it's done well; and I know,
begging His Honour's pardon, that you couldn't get such a screen at
Rosseter under two guineas.
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