Elizabeth thereon produced the two pounds odd shillings which she had
"corkscrewed" out of the recalcitrant dissenting farmer, and the sight
added to Mr. Granger's satisfaction.
"Would you believe it, Mr. Bingham," he said, "in this miserably paid
parish I have nearly a hundred pounds owing to me, a hundred pounds in
tithe. There is old Jones who lives out towards the Bell Rock, he owes
three years' tithe--thirty-four pounds eleven and fourpence. He can pay
and he won't pay--says he's a Baptist and is not going to pay parson's
dues--though for the matter of that he is nothing but an old beer tub of
a heathen."
"Why don't you proceed against him, then, Mr. Granger?"
"Proceed, I have proceeded. I've got judgment, and I mean to issue
execution in a few days. I won't stand it any longer," he went on,
working himself up and shaking his head as he spoke till his thin white
hair fell about his eyes. "I will have the law of him and the others
too. You are a lawyer and you can help me. I tell you there's a spirit
abroad which just comes to just--no man isn't to pay his lawful debts,
except of course the parson and the squire.
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