under the care of one of the women of the place, he took her down
with him to Marsden and placed her under the care of a respectable
woman there who had children of her own.

Starting at five every morning from his cottage with Polly perched
on his shoulder he tramped down to the town, leaving her there
before going to work, and calling for her in the evening. A year
later he married, and the village supposed that Polly would now
be left behind. But they were mistaken. When he became engaged he
had said:

"Now, Loiza, there's one point as oi wish settled. As oi have told
ye, oi ha' partly chosen ye becos oi knowed as how ye would maake
a good mother to my little Polly; but oi doan't mean to give up
taking her down with me o' days to the town. Oi likes to ha' her
wi' me on the roade--it makes it shorter like. As thou knowest
thyself, oi ha' bin a chaanged man sin she coom. There warn't
a cropper in the village drank harder nor oi, but oi maad oop moi
moind when she came to gi' it up, and oi have gi'd it up."

"I know, Luke," the girl said, "I wouldna have had ye, hadn't ye
doon so, as I told ye two years agone. I know the child ha' done
it, and I loves her for it, and will be a good mother to her."

"Oi knows you will, Loiza, and oi bain't feared as ye'll be jealous
if so be as ye've children o' your own. Oi shan't love 'em a bit
the less coss oi loves little Polly. She be just the image o' what
moi sister Jane was when she war a little thing and oi used to
take care o' her. Mother she didn't belong to this village, and the
rough ways of the men and the drink frightened her. She war quiet