Page:Between Two Loves.djvu/183

178 given, and it was a gift; he hed taken away, and it was a loss. And I want thee to notice in particular, that it wasn't his poverty, nor his ulcers, that made Job angry. It was t' exasperating advices and condolences o' his friends. Now it isn't my losses, I'm none feared to work, it's my friends and my neighbors, and the things they'll hev to say, that bothers me."

"Well, if ta holds thy peace, they'll soon get tired of talking. Wi' silence you can plague t' devil. I hev done it."

"I'd a deal rather talk up to him. Sarah Benson is looking varry badly; does ta know how Steve is getting on?"

"He's not getting on at all. Sarah hes Steve's family to find for, in t' main. As for Steve, he works an hour or two now and then, but he's far more like a gypsy than a Christian. He's niver happy but when he's away to t' sea-side or to t' moors, Joyce is niver well. There are two children now, and poor Sarah hes to keep things together, or they'd be in t' work-house. She's fair worn out, poor lass!"

"God help her! I see that."

"Thou looks more like thysen, Jonathan,