XXII

"And then we must get paternal consent,
Or an unblest match may vex ye"--
"Her father is dead; I fetched him away.
In the midst of his goose, last Michaelmas day--
He died of an apoplexy.


XXIII

"His daughter is fair, and an only heir--
With her I long to tether--
He has left her his _hell_, and all that he had;
The estates are contiguous, and I shall be mad,
'Till we lay our two Hells together."


XXIV

"But how do you know the fair maid's mind?"--
Quoth he, "Her loss was but recent;
And I could not speak _my_ mind you know,
Just when I was fetching her father below--
It would have been hardly decent.


XXV