notice of the old cove, as he didn't mean half he said. But she
seemed to take it harder than ever, and at last I got so sorry for her
that I told her that _I'd_ have her if she'd have me."

"And what did she say?" asked Mitchell's mate, after a pause.

"She said she wouldn't have me at any price!"

The mate laughed, and Mitchell grinned his quiet grin.

"Well, this set me thinking," he continued. "I always knew I was a
dashed ugly cove, and I began to wonder whether any girl would really
have me; and I kept on it till at last I made up my mind to find out
and settle the matter for good--or bad.

"There was another farmer's daughter living close by, and I met her
pretty often coming home from work, and sometimes I had a yarn with
her. She was plain, and no mistake: Mary was a Venus alongside of
her. She had feet like a Lascar, and hands about ten sizes too large
for her, and a face like that camel--only red; she walked like a
camel, too. She looked like a ladder with a dress on, and she didn't
know a great A from a corner cupboard.

"Well, one evening I met her at the sliprails, and presently I asked
her, for a joke, if she'd marry me. Mind you, I never wanted to marry
_her_; I was only curious to know whether any girl would have me.

"She turned away her face and seemed to hesitate, and I was just
turning away and beginning to think I was a dashed hopeless case,
when all of a sudden she fell up against me and said she'd be my