e,
whether th' dog's to blame or no. Th' dog may ha' getten it honest. Tis
na th' dog, it's the mange as foakes want to get rid on."

"Providence?" said he to the Rector, when that portly consoler called on
him. "It's Providence, is it? Well, aw I say is, that if that's th' ways
o' Providence, th' less notice Providence takes o' us, th' better."

His remarks upon his first appearance at The Crown among his associates,
after the occurrence of the misfortune, were even more caustic and
irreverent He was an irreverent old sinner at his best, and now Sammy
was at his worst. Seeing his crabbed, wrinkled old face drawn into
an expression signifying defiance at once of his ill luck and worldly
comment, his acquaintances shook their heads discreetly. Their reverence
for him as a man of property could not easily die out. The next thing to
being a man of property, was to have possessed worldly goods which had
been "made away wi'," it scarcely mattered how. Indeed even to have
"made away wi' a mort o' money" one's self, was to be regarded a man of
parts and of no inconsiderable spirit.

"Yo're in a mort o' trouble, Sammy, I mak' no doubt," remarked one
oracle, puffing at his long clay.

"Trouble enow," returned Sammy, shortly, "if you ca' it trouble to be on
th' road to th' poor-house."

"Aye, indeed!" with a sigh. "I should think so. But trouble's th' lot o'
mon. Riches is deceitful an' beauty is vain--not as tha wur ivver much
o' a beauty, Sammy; I canna mean that."

"Dunnot hurt thysen explaining I nivver set up fur one. I left that to
thee. Thy mug wus allus thy fortune."

"Tha'rt fretted now, Sammy," he said. "Tha'rt fretted, an' it maks thee
sharp-tongued."

"Loike as not," answered Sammy. "Frettin' works different wi' some foak
to what it does wi' others. I nivver seed thee fretted, mysen. Does it
ha' th' same effect on thee? If it happens to, I should think it would
na harm thee,--or other foak either. A bit o' sharpness is na so hard to
stand wheer it's a variety."

"Sithee, Sammy," called out a boisterous young fellow from the other
side of the room. "What did th' Parson ha' to say to thee? Thwaite wur
tellin' me as he carried th' prayer-book to thee, as soon as he heerd
th' news. Did he read thee th' Christenin' service, or th' Burial, to
gi' thee a bit o' comfort?"

"Happen he gi' him both, and throwed in th' Litany," shouted another.
"How wur it, Sammy? Let's hear."

Sammy's face began to relax. A few of