H.E. Bates Companion

While "de-flowering the golden-fingered heads" of cowslips for wine, Uncle Silas tells his nephew of trying to go off alcohol for "prit near two months" in an effort to win a beautiful girl. Failing, he comes to say goodbye, only to find himself enjoying the company of her equally lovely mother: "We come to a sort of pact. I said I'd keep Ma from being too lonely fur a night or two if she'd leave me alone now and then with the gal. In Argosy (January 1961, with title "Silas on the Wagon,") The Wedding Party (1965), Weekend (Summer 1978, with title "Silas on the Wagon").