Page 138 - lady-chatterlys-lover

pleece. But what wi’ spring, an’ Sir Clifford wantin’ ter start
th’ pheasants...An’ your Ladyship’d non want me tinkerin’
around an’ about when she was ‘ere, all the time.’
She listened with a dim kind of amazement.
’Why should I mind your being here?’ she asked.
He looked at her curiously.
’T’nuisance on me!’ he said briefly, but significantly. She
flushed. ‘Very well!’ she said finally. ‘I won’t trouble you. But
I don’t think I should have minded at all sitting and seeing
you look after the birds. I should have liked it. But since you
think it interferes with you, I won’t disturb you, don’t be
afraid. You are Sir Clifford’s keeper, not mine.’
The phrase sounded queer, she didn’t know why. But she
let it pass.
’Nay, your Ladyship. It’s your Ladyship’s own ‘ut. It’s as
your Ladyship likes an’ pleases, every time. Yer can turn me
off at a wik’s notice. It wor only...’
’Only what?’ she asked, baffled.
He pushed back his hat in an odd comic way.
’On’y as ‘appen yo’d like the place ter yersen, when yer
did come, an’ not me messin’ abaht.’
’But why?’ she said, angry. ‘Aren’t you a civilized hu-
man being? Do you think I ought to be afraid of you? Why
should I take any notice of you and your being here or not?
Why is it important?’
He looked at her, all his face glimmering with wicked
laughter.
’It’s not, your Ladyship. Not in the very least,’ he said.
’Well, why then?’ she asked.

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