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 care to come. 'Tis a starve-acre place. Corn and swedes are all they grow. Though I be here myself, I feel 'tis a pity for such as you to come.'

'But you used to be as good a dairywoman as I.'

'Yes; but I've got out o' that since I took to drink. Lord, that's the only happiness I've got now. If you engage, you'll be set swede-hacking. That's what I am doing; but you won't like it.'

'Oh—anything! Will you speak for me?'

'You will do better by speaking for yourself.'

'Very well. Now, Marian, remember—nothing about him, if I get the place. I don't wish to bring his name down to the dirt.'

Marian, who was really a trustworthy girl, though of coarser grain than Tess, promised anything she asked.

'This is pay-night,' she said, 'and if you were to come with me you would know at once. I be real sorry that you are not happy; but 'tis because he's away, I know. You couldn't be unhappy if he were here, even if he gave you no money—even if he used you like a drudge.'