Page:Fletcher--Where Highways Cross.djvu/47

 said Mally. "Better a bare board and plenty to eat, than a fine table wi' nowt on it."

With this wise remark she led the way downstairs and along a passage to a back-kitchen, in which the three men-servants to whom she had referred sat round a roaring wood fire. One of them had just returned from the statute-hiring fair, and had brought back with him a song-paper, the contents of which he was singing over to his companions. All three stared hard at Elisabeth.

"Now, then," said Mally, "that's Bill, and this is Tom, and yon's Reuben. They can all ate like sojers on a march, and they keep me bakin' every day. Reuben, hes ta filled t' boiler?"

"Aye," said Reuben. "Long sin'."

"And hes ta locked t' hen-hoil door, and browt t' kay in?"

"Aye—aboon an hour agoöa."

"Well, there'll be a hot tatie for all on ye at supper-time—if ye're good lads, mind," said Mally, retiring with Elisabeth. "I hev'