The Parson O' Dumford

"Ax." "I was asking, or axing, as you call it, my man. I said, Is that Dumford, down there in the valley?" "And I said axe, or arks, as you call it, my man," was the surly, defiant reply. The last speaker looked up savagely from the block of stone on which he was seated, and the questioner looked down from where he stood on the rough track. There was a quiet, half-amused twinkle in his clear grey eyes, which did not quit his verbal opponent for an instant, as he remained gazing at him without speaking.