'Nay! A bargain's a bargain. Why, they've bought the clothes, mister,
and the furniture and the cake!'

'If she comes with me, you'll go home with a cheque for fifty pounds,
and that's all I've got,' said Reddin naively.

'I tell you, sir, she's let,' Abel repeated. 'A bargain's a bargain!'

It occurred to him that the Callow garden might, with fifty pounds, be
filled with beehives from end to end.

'Mister,' he said, almost in tears, 'you didn't ought to go for to
'tice me! Eh! dear 'eart, the wood I could buy, and the white paint and
a separator and queens from foreign parts!' He made a gesture of
despair and his face worked.

'You could have a new harp if you wanted one.' Reddin suggested.

Abel gulped.

'A bargain's a bargain!' he repeated. 'And I promised the parson.' He
turned away.

''Azel,' he said over his shoulder, 'you munna go along of this gent.
Many's the time,' he added turning round and surveying her moodily, 'as
you've gone agen me and done what I gainsayed.'

With a long imploring look he hitched the harp on his back and trudged
away.