hrew, could I but 'a' had my Keren o' one o'
'em. Ay, even so, even so.

Well, as I said--or as I meant to say--Master Hacket wedded th' Visor
hussy within two weeks o' th' day whereon he and my Keren had 't so
fierce i' Sweethearts' Way. And therein are two meanings: they fell out,
as is the way with sweethearts, and they fell out i' th' lane so called.

Well, well, let me crack a quart o' sack with thee, comrade, and a joke
at th' same time.

A married Ruth Visor, and they went to Lunnon Town. And on th' night o'
their wedding, as I sat by the fireside i' th' kitchen a-mending my
tools (for 'twas on a Saturday night), and Keren abed, and Mistress
Lemon a-peeling o' leather-jackets to make th' Sunday pie,

"Wife," saith I to her (a-mending my tools, as I ha' said), "wife,"
quoth I, "would 'twere our lass were wed to-day!"

"For why?" saith she. No more, no less.

"For why?" saith I. "For the why I think a lass is happier wed to th'
man she loves," saith I.

"'Tis not so I've found it," quoth she, a-peeling of an apple so that
thou couldst 'a' put his whole coat back and not 'a' known 't had e'er
come off.

Then quoth I, a-chuckling in my throat at having so snared her, "Right
glad am I to find out that thou lovest me!" quoth I.

"If thou'st found out that," quoth she, "thou'rt greater than Columbus,"
quoth she, "for thou'st discovered something that never was," quoth she.

"Bodykins, woman!" saith I, a-losing of my temper--"then for what didst
thou marry me?"

"For a fool," quoth she. "And I will say as I ha' got the full o' my
bargain," quoth she.

Whereat so wroth was I that I said naught, knowing that if I did open my
lips or move my hand 'twould be to curse her with th' one and cuff her
with t'other.

By-and-by saith she, "And where, by'r lay'kin, wilt thou find a man good
enough in thy eyes for th' lass?" saith she.

"Not on earth," quoth I. "Neither in this land nor that other across the
sea," quoth I.

"Ay, ay," quoth she. "Very like thou wouldst have th' wench to wed with
an angel," quoth she; "to have all thy grandchildren roosting on a gold
bar, and their dad a-teaching of 'em how to use their wings," quoth she.
"Or with one o' th' red men i' th' new country, to have them piebald red
and white, like a cock-horse at Banbury Cross," quoth she. And with that
up she gets, and flings the apple-parings into th' fire, and gets her to
bed without more ado. Whereupon day doth again find me i' this v