MY PEOPLE
he waited for an answer until after the Sabbath, but none came. Jos refused to give over his design on Leisa’s inheritance, because he had much need of money: on the fourth night Leisa took out the paper that filled a broken pane in the window and cried to him:
“Say from where you are?”
“Boy bach from Gernos am I,” said Jos.
“Indeed, boy bach, all right; is not the old ladder in the cowhouse?”
Three weeks expired and on a day Jos rode away from Penlon before sunrise, and returned when Nansi was putting the milk into the separator.
“Little Jos,” she said, “for why he is so early?”
“Woman, woman,” replied Jos, “now-now, do I not bring with me a ring for wedding? Look you, indeed.”
Nansi’s face was bound with bands of flannel, which day and night wear had made hard, and which stood on her cheeks
214
