Krindlesyke | Page 7

right, you see. Though I be blind and deaf,
I'm not so dull as some
folk think. There's others
Are getting on in years, forby old Ezra.

Though some have ears to hear the churchyard worms
Stirring
beneath the mould, and think it time
That he was straked and chested,
the old dobby
Is not a corpse yet: and it well may happen
He'll not
be the first at Krindlesyke to lie,
Cold as a slug, with pennies on his
eyes.
Aiblains, the old ram's cassen, but he's no trake yet:
And, at
the worst, he'll be no braxy carcase
When he's cold mutton. Ay, I'm
losing grip;
But I've still got a kind of hold on life;
And a young
wench in the house makes all the difference.
We've hardly blown the
froth off, and smacked our lips,
Before we've reached the bottom of
the pot:
Yet the last may prove the tastiest drop, who kens?
You're
welcome, daughter.
(_His hand, travelling over her shoulder, touches the child._)
Ah, a brat--Jim's bairn!
He hasn't lost much time, has Jim, the dog!

Come, let me take it, daughter. I've never held
A grandchild in my
arms. Six sons I've had,
But not one's made me granddad, to my
knowledge:
And all the hoggerels have turned lowpy-dyke,
And
scrambled, follow-my-leader, over the crag's edge,
But Jim, your
husband: and not for me to say,
Before his wife, that he's the draft of
the flock.
Give me the baby: I'll not let it fall:
I've always had a way
with bairns, and women.

It's not for naught I've tended ewes and
lambs,
This sixty-year.

(_He snatches the baby from JUDITH, before she realizes what he is
doing, and hobbles away with it to the high-backed settle by the fire,
out of sight. Before JUDITH can move to follow him, steps are heard
on the threshold._)
ELIZA:
Ah, God: they're at the door!
_As she speaks, JIM and PHOEBE BARRASFORD enter, talking and
laughing. JUDITH ELLERSHAW shrinks into the shadow behind the
door, while they come between her and the settle on which EZRA is
nursing the baby unseen. ELIZA stands dazed in the middle of the
room._
JIM:
And they lived happy ever afterwards,
Eh, lass? Well, mother:
I've done the trick: all's over;
And I'm a married man, copt fair and
square,
Coupled to Phoebe: and I've brought her home.
You call the
lass to mind, though you look moidart?
What's dozzened you? She'll
find her wits soon, Phoebe:
They're in a mullock, all turned
howthery-towthery
At the notion of a new mistress at Krindlesyke--

She'll come to her senses soon, and bid you welcome.
Take off
your bonnet; and make yourself at home.
I trust tea's ready, mother:
I'm fairly famished.
I've hardly had a bite, and not a sup
To wet my
whistle since forenoon: and dod!
But getting married is gey hungry
work.
I'm hollow as a kex in a ditch-bottom:
And just as dry as
Molly Miller's milkpail
She bought, on the chance of borrowing a
cow.
Eh, Phoebe, lass! But you've stopped laughing, have you?
And
you look fleyed: there's nothing here to scare you:
We're quiet folk at
Krindlesyke. Come, mother,
Have you no word of welcome for the
lass,
That you gape like a foundered ewe at us? What ghost
Has
given you a gliff, and set you chittering?
Come, shake yourself,
before I rax your bones;
And give my bride the welcome due to her--

My bride, the lady I have made my wife.
Poor lass, she's quaking
like a dothery-dick.

ELIZA (_to PHOEBE_):
Daughter, may you ...
EZRA (_crooning, unseen, to the baby_):
"Dance for your mammy,
Dance for your daddy ..."
JIM:
What ails the old runt now?
You mustn't heed him, Phoebe, lass: he's
blind
And old and watty: but there's no harm in him.
(_Goes towards settle._)
Come, dad, and jog your wits, and stir your stumps,
And welcome ...
What the devil's this? Whose brat ...
EZRA:
Whose brat? And who should ken--although they say,
It's a
wise father knows his own child. Ay!
If he's the devil, you're the
devil's brat,
And I'm the devil's daddy. Happen you came
Before the
parson had time to read the prayers.
But, he's a rum dad ...
(_JUDITH ELLERSHAW steps forward to take the child from
EZRA._)
JIM:
Judith Ellershaw!
Why, lass, where ever have ...
(_He steps towards her, then stops in confusion. Nobody speaks as
JUDITH goes towards the settle, takes the child from EZRA, and wraps
it in her shawl. She is moving to the door when PHOEBE steps before
her and closes it, then turns and faces JUDITH._)
PHOEBE:
You shall not go.

JUDITH:
And who are you to stop me? Come, make way--
Come,
woman, let me pass.
PHOEBE:
I--I'm Jim's bride.
JUDITH:
And what should Jim's bride have to say to me?
Come,
let me by.
PHOEBE:
You shall not go.
JUDITH:
Come, lass.
You do not ken me for the thing I am:
If you but
guessed, you'd fling the door wide open,
And draw your petticoats
about you tight,
Lest any draggletail of mine should smutch them.
I
never should have come 'mid decent folk:
I never should have
crawled out of the