"
"Ay, I was a low feller, first along," answered Sim Udy, grinning.
"'Sich common notions, Sim, as you do entertain!' was my wife's word."
"Well, souls, we was a bit tiddlywinky last Michaelmas, when the _Young
Susannah_ came ashore, that I must own. Folks blamed the Pa'son for
preachin' agen it the Sunday after. 'A disreppitable scene,' says he,
''specially seein' you had nowt to be thankful for but a cargo o' sugar
that the sea melted afore you could get it.' (Lift the pore chap aisy,
Sim.) By crum! Sim, I mind your huggin' a staved rum cask, and kissin'
it, an' cryin', 'Aw, Ben--dear Ben!' an' 'After all these years!'
fancyin' 'twas your twin brother come back, that was killed aboard the
_Agamemny_--"
"Well, well--prettily overtook I must ha' been. (Stiddy, there,
Crowder, wi' the legs of en.) But to-day I'll be mild, as 'tis
Chris'mas."
"Iss, iss; be very mild, my sons, as 'tis so holy a day."
They tramped on, bending their heads at queer angles against the
weather, that erased their outlines in a bluish mist, through which they
loomed for a while at intervals, until they passed out of sight.
Ruby, meanwhile, had hurried on, her cloak flapping loudly as it grew
heavier with moisture, and the water in her shoes squishing at every
step.
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