a battle with Luke and conquered. The latter
had, in pursuance of the plans he had originally drawn up for her,
proposed that she should go into service at Marsden.

"Oi shall miss thee sorely, Polly," he said; "and oi doan't disguise
it from thee, vor the last year, lass, thou hast been the light o' this
house, and oi couldna have spared ye. But oi ha' always fixed that thou
shouldst go into service at Marsden--Varley is not fit vor the likes o'
ye. We be a rough lot here, and a drunken; and though oi shall miss thee
sorely for awhile, oi must larn to do wi'out thee."

Polly heard him in silence, and then positively refused to go.

"You have been all to me, feyther, since I was a child, and I am not
going to leave you now. I don't say that Varley is altogether nice, but
I shall be very happy here with you and the boys and dear little Susan,
and I am not going to leave, and so--there!"

Luke knew well how great would be the void which her absence would make,
but he still struggled to carry out his plans.

"But, Polly, oi should na loike to see thee marry here, and thy mother
would never ha' loiked it, and thou wilt no chance of seeing other men
here."

"Why, I am only sixteen, feyther, and we need not talk of my marriage
for years and years yet, and I promise you I shan't think of marrying
in Varley when the time comes; but there is one thing I should like, and
that is to spend Sundays, say once a fortnight, down with Mrs. Mason;
they were so quiet and still there, and I did like so much going to the
church; and I hate that Little Bethel, especially since that horrible
man came there; he is a disgrace, feyther, and you will see that
mischief will come out of his talk."

"Oi don't like him myself, Polly, and maybe me and the boys will
sometoimes come down to the church thou art so fond of. However, if thou
wilt agree to go down every Sunday to Mrs. Mason, thou shalt stay here
for a bit till oi see what can best be done."

And so it was settled, and Polly went off every Sunday morning, and Luke
went down of an evening to fetch her back.

"Well, what is't, lass?" he asked as he joined her outside the "Brown
Cow."

"George has scalded his leg badly, feyther. I was just putting Susan
to bed, and he took the kettle off the fire to pour some water in the
teapot, when Dick pushed him, or something, and the boiling water went
over his leg."

"Oi'll give that Dick a hiding," Luke said wrathfully as he hastened
along