Читать книгу Charles Peace, or The Adventures of a Notorious Burglar онлайн

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“I do not doubt it—​I should be worse than a fool to doubt it,” said the farmer, bending fondly ever her.

“Spoken like yourself—​your own good self!” exclaimed Jane.

Ashbrook did not deem it advisable to press the question further. He contented himself with imprinting a kiss on the girl’s forehead, and said gently—

“You are troubled. Now, think over what I’ve bin a-sayin’; we’ll talk further on this matter another time.”

And with these few parting words he crept softly out of the apartment and went abroad in the fields.

“She must ha’ bin mighty fond o’ the young carpenter,” he murmured, as he took his way over the meadows. “Mighty fond, to keep the memory o’ him green for so long a time. Wimmen they’re strange creatures—​the best on us can’t mek ’em out at times, and yet—​yet—​dall it, I do love that gell, and that’s the honest truth.”

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For some considerable time after the death of the Badger, Peace worked regularly at his trade. Orders came in pretty freely, and as Bessie Dalton had prognosticated several gentlemen associated with him at the concert given for the benefit of the weaver’s widow took great pleasure in recommending him to their friends as a skilful and reasonable carver and gilder.