'I was obliged to go,' she said. 'I had given my
word.'
'Why didn't you tell us then, so that the wedding could be put off,
without making fools o' us?'
'Because I was afraid you wouldn't let me go, and I had made up my
mind to go.'
'To go where?'
She was silent; till she said, 'I will tell Jim all, and why it was;
and if he's any friend of mine he'll excuse me.'
'Not Jim--he's no such fool. Jim had put all ready for you, Jim had
called at your house, a-dressed up in his new wedding clothes, and a-
smiling like the sun; Jim had told the parson, had got the ringers in
tow, and the clerk awaiting; and then--you was GONE! Then Jim turned
as pale as rendlewood, and busted out, "If she don't marry me to-
day," 'a said, "she don't marry me at all! No; let her look
elsewhere for a husband. For tew years I've put up with her haughty
tricks and her takings," 'a said. "I've droudged and I've traipsed,
I've bought and I've sold, all wi' an eye to her; I've suffered
horseflesh," he says--yes, them was his noble words--"but I'll suffer
it no longer. She shall go!" "Jim," says I, "you be a man. If
she's alive, I commend 'ee; if she's dead, pity my old age." "She
isn't dead," says he; "for I've just heard she was seen walking off
across the fields this morning, looking all of a scornful triumph.
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