“I’ve heard,” said Father Tom, “of last night’s drunkenness. Half a barrel of porter; there’s what remains,” he said, pointing to some stains on the roadway. “They were too drunk to turn off the tap.”
“I heard your reverence wouldn’t marry them,” the woman said.
“I am going to bring them down to the church at once.”
“Well, if you do,” said the woman, “you won’t be a penny the poorer; you will have your money at the end of the week. And how do you do, your reverence.” The woman dropped a curtsey to Father Stafford. “It’s seldom we see you up here.”
“They have gone towards the Peak,” said Father Tom, for he saw his uncle would take advantage of the occasion to gossip. “We shall catch them up there.”
“I am afraid I am not equal to it, Tom. I’d like to do this for you, but I am afraid I a
