Marner brought it into prominence again by remarking:

"They tell oi as how Nance has asked Bet Collins to watch by the rood
soide to catch doctor as he droives whoam. He went out this arternoon to
Retlow."

"Oi doubt he woant do she much good; it be food, and not doctor's stuff
as the child needs," another remarked.

"That be so, surely," went up in a general chorus, and then a newcomer
who had just entered the room said:

"Oi ha' joost coom vrom Nance's and Bill Swinton ha' sent in a basin o'
soup as he got vrom the feyther o' that boy as broke his leg. Nance war
a feeding the child wi' it, and maybe it will do her good. He ha' been
moighty koind to Bill, that chap hav."

"He ha' been that," Gideon said, after the chorus of approval had died
away.

"Oi seed t' young un today a-sitting in front o' th' cottage, a-talking
and laughing wi' Bill."

"They be good uns, feyther and son, though they tells oi as neither on
them bain't Yaarkshire."

The general feeling among the company was evidently one of surprise that
any good thing should be found outside Yorkshire. But further talk on
the subject was interrupted by a slight exclamation at the door.

"O what a smoke, feyther! I can't see you, but I suppose you're
somewhere here. You're wanted at home."

Although the speaker was visible to but few in the room there was no
doubt as to her identity, or as to the person addressed as feyther. Mary
Powlett was indeed the niece and not the daughter of Luke Marner, but as
he had brought her up from childhood she looked upon him as her
father. It was her accent and the tone of her voice which rendered it
unnecessary for any of those present to see her face.

Luke was a bachelor when the child had arrived fifteen years before in
the carrier's cart from Marsden, having made the journey in a similar
conveyance to that town from Sheffield, where her father and mother had
died within a week of each other, the last request of her mother being
that little Polly should be sent off to the care of Luke Marner at
Varley.

Luke had not then settled down into the position of one of the elders of
the village, and he had been somewhat embarrassed by the arrival of the
three year old girl. He decided promptly, however, upon quitting the
lodgings which he had as a single man occupied and taking a cottage by
himself. His neighbors urged upon him that so small a child could not
remain alone all day while he was away at Marsden at work-