“I did set out before eight, aunt,” said Hetty, in a pettish tone, with a slight toss of her head.  “But this clock’s so much before the clock at the Chase, there’s no telling what time it’ll be when I get here.”

“What!  You’d be wanting the clock set by gentlefolks’s time, would you?  An’ sit up burnin’ candle, an’ lie a-bed wi’ the sun a-bakin’ you like a cowcumber i’ the frame?  The clock hasn’t been put forrard for the first time to-day, I reckon.”

The fact was, Hetty had really forgotten the difference of the clocks when she told Captain Donnithorne that she set out at eight, and this, with her lingering pace, had made her nearly half an hour later than usual.  But here her aunt’s attention was diverted from this tender subject by Totty, who, perceiving at length that the arrival of her cousins was not likely to bring anything satisfactory to her in particular, began to cry, “Munny, munny,” in an explosive manner.

“Well, then, my pet, Mother’s got her, Mother won’t leave her; Totty be a good dilling, and go to sleep now,” said Mrs. Poyser, leaning back and rocking the chair, while she tried to make Totty nestle against her.  But Totty only cried louder, and said, “Don’t yock!” So the mother, with that wondrous patience which love gives to the quickest temperament, sat up again, and pressed her cheek against the linen night-cap and kissed it, and forgot to scold Hetty any longer.

“Come, Hetty,” said Martin Poyser, in a conciliatory tone, “go and get your supper i’ the pantry, as the things are all put away; an’ then you can come and take the little un while your aunt undresses herself, for she won’t lie down in bed without her mother.  An’ I reckon you could eat a bit, Dinah, for they don’t keep much of a house down there.”

“No, thank you, Uncle,” said Dinah; “I ate a good meal before I came away, for Mrs. Bede would make a kettle-cake for me.”

“I don’t want any supper,” said Hetty, taking off her hat.  “I can hold Totty now, if Aunt wants me.”

“Why, what nonsense that is to talk!” said Mrs. Poyser.  “Do you think you can live wi’out eatin’, an’ nourish your inside wi’ stickin’ red ribbons on your head?  Go an’ get your supper this minute, child; there’s a nice bit o’ cold pudding i’ the safe—­just what you’re fond of.”

Hetty complied silently by going towards the pantry, and Mrs. Poyser went on speaking to Dinah.

“Sit down, my dear, an’ look as if you knowed what it was to make yourself a bit comfortable i’ the world.  I warrant the old woman was glad to see you, since you stayed so long.”

“She seemed to like having me there at last; but her sons say she doesn’t like young women about her commonly; and I thought just at first she was almost angry with me for going.”

“Eh, it’s a poor look-out when th’ ould folks doesna like the young uns,” said old Martin, bending his head down lower, and seeming to trace the pattern of the quarries with his eye.