human
See you now, auntie, you'm gettin' old and crimmed wi' rheumatics. How can you get about? An' there's no knowin' but you might be took bad in the night. You ought to have some little lass wi' you to mind you.
gpt
I don't want nobody, thank the Lord.
human
Not just now, auntie, but suppose any chance ill-luck were to come on you. And then, in the bad weather, you'm not fit to go abroad after the turves, and you can't get all you want--tay and sugar and milk for yourself now. It would be handy to have a little maid by you.
gpt
Who should I have?
human
Well, now, you couldn't do better than take little Mary, Rose Hext's eldest girl. She's a handy maid, and bright and pleasant to speak to.
gpt
No, answered the old woman,
human
I'll have none o' they Hexts, not I. The Lord is agin Rose and all her family, I know it. I'll have none of them.
gpt
But, auntie, you must be nigh on ninety.
human
I be ower that. But what o' that? Didn't Sarah, the wife of Abraham, live to an hundred and seven and twenty years, and that in spite of him worritin' of her wi' that owdacious maid of hern, Hagar? If it hadn't been for their goings on, of Abraham and Hagar, it's my belief that she'd ha' held on to a hundred and fifty-seven. I thank the Lord I've never had no man to worrit me. So why I shouldn't equal Sarah's life I don't see.
gpt
Jabez, said she,
human
I don't like the looks o' this; I've kept my eye open, and there be no Auntie Joanna hoppin' about. Whativer can be up? It's my opinion us ought to go and see.
gpt
Well, I've naught on my hands now, said the farmer,