"Well, what of that?"

"He has a daughter, a little lass about eighteen years old."

"And she is pretty, I suppose?"

"There's none to equal her in this part of England. She's as sweet as a
flower."

"And her father is----"

"Hard as Pharaoh. She's the light o' his eyes, and the breath o' his
nostrils. So she ought to be. Her mother died when she was two years
old, and Ralph Lugur hes been mother and father both to her. He took her
with him wherever he went except into the pulpit."

"The pulpit? What do you mean?"

"He was a Methodist preacher, but he left the pulpit and went into the
schoolroom. The Conference was glad he did so, for he was little in the
way of preaching but he's a great scholar, and I should say he hesn't
his equal as a teacher in all England. He has the boys and girls of
Hatton at a word. Sir, you'll allow that I am no coward, but I wouldn't
touch the hem of Lucy Lugur's skirt, if it wasn't in respect and honor,
for a goodish bit o' brass. No, I wouldn't!"

"What would you fear?"

"_Why-a!_ I don't think he'd stop at anything decent. It is only ten
days since he halted Lord Thirsk in t' High Street of Hatton, and then