But
within a month it is to be."
"Thee remembers the woman of the cross-roads, her that our Davy--"
"Her the Egyptian kissed, and put his watch in her belt--ay, Kate
Heaver!"
"She is now maid to her Lord Eglington will wed. She is to spend to-night
with us."
"Where is her lad that was, that the Egyptian rolled like dough in a
trough?"
"Jasper Kimber? He is at Sheffield. He has been up and down, now sober
for a year, now drunken for a month, now in, now out of a place, until
this past year. But for this whole year he has been sober, and he may
keep his pledge. He is working in the trades-unions. Among his
fellow-workers he is called a politician--if loud speaking and boasting
can make one. Yet if these doings give him stimulant instead of drink,
who shall complain?"
Soolsby's head was down. He was looking out over the far hills, while the
strips of cane were idle in his hands. "Ay, 'tis true--'tis true," he
nodded. "Give a man an idee which keeps him cogitating, makes him think
he's greater than he is, and sets his pulses beating, why, that's the
cure to drink.
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