Why, a fortune for you!'
'Father said,' repeated Stephen, 'I was never to give up Fern's Hollow;
and I gave him a sure promise for that, and to take care of little Nan as
long as ever I lived.'
'Fern's Hollow is none of yours,' cried the master, in a rage; 'you've
just been a family of paupers and squatters, living up here by poaching
and thieving. I'll unearth you, I promise ye; you have been a disgrace to
the manor long enough. So it is ten pounds or nothing for your old hole;
and you may take your choice.'
'Please, sir,' said Stephen firmly, 'the place is ours, and I'm never to
part with it. I'll never poach, and I'll never trespass on the manor; but
I can't sell the old house, sir.'
'Now, just listen to me, young Fern,' said Thomas Wyley; 'you'll be
compelled to give up Fern's Hollow in right of the lord of the manor; and
then if you come to the House for relief, mark my words, I'll send your
grandfather off to Bristol, for that's his parish, and you'll never see
him again; and I'll give orders for you never to see little Nan; and I'll
apprentice you and your other sister in different places.
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