human
Jan Grimbal 's waited so long, he said,
gpt
Not him! You judge the man by yourself, declared Will.
human
But he 's made of very different metal. I lay he's bidin' till the edge of this be sharp and sure to cut deepest. So like 's not, when he hears tell mother 's took bad he'll choose that instant moment to have me marched away.
gpt
God blast it! I be allus waitin' now for some wan's vengeance! I caan't stand this life no more. I caan't an' I won't--'t is enough to soften any man's wits.
human
Quiet! quiet, caan't 'e? said the miller, as though he told a dog to lie down.
gpt
Theer now! You've been an' gived me palpitations with your noise. Banging tables won't mend it, nor bad words neither. This thing hasn't come by chance. You 'm ripening in mind an' larnin' every day. You mark my word; theer 's a mort o' matters to pick out of this new trouble. An' fust, patience.
human
Patience! If a patient, long-suffering man walks this airth, I be him, I should reckon. I caan't wait the gude pleasure of that dog, not even for you, Miller.
gpt
No such gude fortune,
human
answered her husband.
gpt
I'm like a dirty chamber coated wi' cobwebs an' them ghostly auld spiders as hangs dead in unsecured corners. Plaaces so left gets worse. My mind 's all in a ferment, an' 't wouldn't be none the better now if Jan Grimbal broke his damned neck to-morrow an' took my secret with him. I caan't breathe for it; it 's suffocating me.
human
Think o' me, then, an' t' others. 'T is plain selfishness, this talk, if you looks to the bottom of it.
gpt
As to that, I doan't say so, began Mr. Lyddon, slowly stuffing his pipe.
human
No. When a man goes so deep into his heart as what Will have before me this minute, doan't become no man to judge un, or tell 'bout selfishness. Us have got to save our awn sawls, an' us must even leave wife, an' mother, and childer if theer 's no other way to do it. Ban't no right living--ban't no fair travelling in double harness wi' conscience, onless you've got a clean mind. An' yet waitin' 'pears the only way o' wisdom just here. You've never got room in that head o' yourn for more 'n wan thought to a time; an' I doan't blame 'e theer neither, for a chap wi' wan idea, if he sticks to it, goes further 'n him as drives a team of thoughts half broken in. I mean you 'm forgettin' your mother for the moment. I should say, wait for her mendin' 'fore you do anything.
gpt
Ess, he said,
human
Let it bide that way then. Put t' other matter out o' your mind so far as you can. Fill your pipe an' suck deep at it. I haven't seen 'e smoke this longful time; an' in my view theer 's no better servant than tobacco to a mind puzzled at wan o' life's cross-roads.