" That's what I sez to Poll
Onion, an' then Poll she begins to pipe, an' sez, "Oh Meg, Meg, ain't
I a Carnarvon gal too? The likes o' us ain't a-goin' to grow no
vi'lets an' snowdrops in Llanbeblig churchyard." An' I sez to her,
"What a d--d fool you are, Poll! You never 'adn't a gal as went wrong
through you a-drinkin', else you'd never say that. If the parson sez
to me, 'Is your darter a vargin-maid?' d'ye think I shall say, 'Oh
no, parson'? I'll swear she is a vargin-maid on all the Bibles in all
the churches in Wales." That's jis' what I sez to Polly Onion, God
forgi'e me. An' Poll sez, "The parson'll be sure to send you to hell,
Meg, if you do that air." An' I sez, "So he may, then, but I _shall_
do it, no fear." That's what I sez to Poll Onion (she's downstairs at
this werry moment a-warmin' me a drop o' beer); it was 'er as showed
you upstairs, cuss 'er for a fool; an' she can tell you the same
thing as I'm a-tellin' on you.'
'But what about her you kidnapped? Tell me all about it, or it will
be worse for you.'
'Ain't I a-tellin' you as fast as I can? Off to Carnarvon I goes, an'
every futt o' the way I walks--Lor' bless your soul, there worn't a
better pair o' pins nowheres than Meg Gudgeon's then, afore the water
got in 'em an' bust 'em; an' I got to Llanbeblig churchyard early one
mornin', and there I seed the pore half-sharp gal.
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