obody should do, Mr. Mordacks. I have tried, but
never found good come of it. To change your mind is two words against
yourself; and you go wrong both ways, before and after."

"Undoubtedly you do, ma'am. I never thought of that before. But you
must remember that we have not the gift of hitting--I might say of
making--the truth with a flash or a dash, as you ladies have. May I be
allowed to come again?"

"To tell you the truth, sir, I am heartily sorry that you are going away
at all. I could have talked to you all the afternoon; and how seldom I
get the chance now, Lord knows. There is that in your conversation which
makes one feel quite sure of being understood; not so much in what you
say, sir--if you understand my meaning--as in the way you look, quite as
if my meaning was not at all too quick for you. My good husband is of a
greater mind than I am, being nine-and-forty inches round the chest;
but his mind seems somehow to come after mine, the same as the ducks do,
going down to our pond."

"Mistress Anerley, how thankful you should be! What a picture of
conjugal felicity! But I thought that the drake always led the way?"

"Never upon our farm, sir. When he doth, it is a proof of his being
crossed with wild-ducks. The same as they be round Flamborough."

"Oh, now I see the truth. How slow I am! It improves their flavor, at
the expense of their behavior. But seriously, madam, you are fit to take
the lead. What a pleasant visit I have had! I must brace myself up for a
very sad one now--a poor lady, with none to walk behind her."

"Yes, to be sure! It is very fine of me to talk. But if I was left
without my husband, I should only care to walk after him. Please to give
her my kind love, sir; though I have only seen her once. And if there is
anything that we can do--"

"If there is anything that we can do," said the farmer, coming out
of his corn-chamber, "we won't talk about it, but we'll do it, Mr.
Moreducks."

The factor quietly dispersed this rebuke, by waving his hand at his two
legs of mutton and the cod, which had thawed in the stable. "I knew that
I should be too late," he said; "her house will be full of such little
things as these, so warm is the feeling of the neighborhood. I guessed
as much, and arranged with my butcher to take them back in that case;
and he said they would eat all the better for the ride. But as for
the cod, perhaps you will accept him. I could never take him back to
Flamborough."