Page:Between Two Loves.djvu/226

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
SARAH AND STEVE'S TROUBLES.
221

like fair play above iverything, and Aske hedn't a bit of it; struck down from behind, and not a word o' warning! I don't wish his death, varry far from it I'd a deal rather fight him honest and square, through ivery court in England. Bless thee, Ben, I hevn't a bit o' ill-will to t' men I go to law with. I could give my hand to t' most o' them I hev got damages from. But I do wish I hed known before that it was Augustus J. Sykes that was bothering Burley."

"Then ta knows him?"

"Ay, I know him. We hev hed some business together. It wasn't varry pleasant business. He owed me a sum o' money five years ago, and I sold him up. Now, when Jonas Shuttleworth sells a man up, he hes a good reason for it; be sure o' that Ben Holden. I'm going back to Keighley now, and thou can tell Burley I was here, and that I thought well o' iverything I saw here."

But these were days in which Jonathan found it almost impossible to keep his mind upon wool and profits. A singular liking had returned to his heart for the man whom he had saved. In the first years of his acquaintance with Aske he had greatly admired the young squire, and been