Page:Between Two Loves.djvu/41

36 peace-maker in any quarrel o' Squire Anthony Aske's."

Jonathan took up his letters again with a vexed face. We are not always pleased with the people who give us sensible advice; and Ben knew well that he had said words bitter as gall to the taste, however they might be by-and-by. Very soon afterwards, however, he saw Burley standing in the mill-yard, while the hostler was getting his gig ready.

"He'll be for Aske Hall," thought Ben, and he went down to the gate and stood there. Six feet two, in a long, blue-checked pinafore and a cloth cap, might not strike people as a figure likely to command respect, but everything is in the circumstances and the surroundings, and Ben, among thousands similarly clad, was a very fine type of a man used to authority. Even Burley was conscious of his moral power, and although he was privately in a very bad temper, he said, "Ben, I'm going to Aske Hall; do whet thou thinks best about Shillingsworth's offer."

"Ay, I'll do that for sure. Good-afternoon to thee."