Page:Eliot - Adam Bede, vol. III, 1859.djvu/102

92 husband's unusual hardness and decision. "You'll have your children wi' you; and there's the lads and the little un 'ull grow up in a new parish as well as r th' old un."

"Ah, there's no staying i' this country for us now," said Mr Poyser, and the hard tears trickled slowly down his round cheeks. "We thought it 'ud be bad luck if the old Squire gave us notice this Lady Day, but I must gi' notice myself now, an' see if there can anybody be got to come an' take to the crops as I'n put i' the ground; for I wonna stay upo' that man's land a day longer nor I'm forced to't. An' me, as thought him such a good upright young man, as I should be glad when he come to be our landlord. I'll ne'er lift my hat to'm again, nor sit i' the same church wi' m . . . a man as has brought shame on respectable folks . . . an' pretended to be such a friend t' everybody. . . . Poor Adam there ... a fine friend he's been t' Adam, making speeches an' talking so fine, an' all the while poisoning the lad's life, as it's much if he can stay i' this country any more nor we can."

"An' you t' ha' to go into court and own you're akin t' her," said the old man. "Why, they'll cast it up to the little un, as isn't four 'ear old, some