Of the Lady’s Chamber
this general opposition; “but I will have it out with her ladyship first, and Hunks too.” I stepped up to her, for the tables were like to be turned upon me all on a sudden. “Your ladyship,” says I, “you ha’ treated me ill.”
“O Lard, Ryder,” she cried, stamping her foot with impatience. “Don’t ye hear sis? Get ye back to your highways ere justice overtakes ye.”
Now this was spoken very brutally, and for all that she had done for me I had not merited a jibe like this at her hands. My blood was up, and I answered very plain.
“Hark’ee, your ladyship,” said I, “I know when a face is welcome. But that’s not to the point,” says I; “for I cannot abide your high-mannered whimsies, and I am no petty varlet to be plucked and tossed aside for sport. Why, says you, ‘We will go to church.’ ‘Certainly,’ says I, seeing your ladyship’s girdle clips the rarest piece—and a pair of eyes! ‘To-morrow,’ says you, ‘To-morrow for me,’ says I. And, faith, when it comes to the act, there’s no more than a footboy’s discharge, or as
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