You broke your word; and,
therefore, I will do the same."
"Yes, I have made it, you greyhound. I have made it; and this very
day I was going with you to a justice of the peace and have it
signed, and then to-morrow we would have got married."
"You have made the will, you round world of love?" said Hodge
tenderly, as with his long, withered, spindling arms he tried to
clasp the gigantic waist of his beloved. "You have made the will and
declared me your heir? Come, then, Gammer Gurton, come, let us go to
the justice of the peace!"
"But do you not see, then," said Gammer Gurton, with a tender, cat-
like purr, "do you not see, then, that you rumple my frill when you
hug me so? Let me go, then, and help me find my needle quickly, for
without the needle we cannot go to the justice of the peace."
"What, without the needle not go to the justice of the peace?"
"No; for only see this hole which Gib, the cat, tore in my prettiest
cap awhile ago, as I took the cap out of the box and laid it on the
table. Indeed I cannot go to the justice of the peace with such a
hole in my cap! Search then, Hodge, search, so that I can mend my
cap, and go with you to the justice of the peace!"
"Lord God, where in the world can it be, the unlucky needle? I must
have it, I must find it, so that Gammer Gurton may take her will to
the justice of the peace!"
And in frantic desperation, Hodge searched all about on the floor
for the lost needle, and Gammer Gurton stuck her large spectacles on
her flaming red nose and peered about on the table.
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