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`` Alas ! we are very poor , '' said Sophy , bursting into tears . `` I do all I can to supply the wants of the family . I have to work day and night , and Mary too , who has a cruel mistress , in order to earn our bread , yet we are often on the point of starvation ; both of us are tasked beyond our strength -- and I for one am heartily weary of my life . '' `` Dear child , '' -- and Noah wound his arm about her waist , and kissed away the tears from her bright blue eyes , -- `` if you could love and cherish an old man -- old at any rate to you , although barely turned of forty , I could give both you and your afflicted mother and sister a comfortable home . I have a pleasant cottage at F -- , and fifty acres of good arable land , a horse and gig , six fine milch cows , and plenty of pigs and poultry , an income of two hundred per annum in the bank , which is increasing every year , simply because I have enough to supply my household without touching either capital or interest . This property I will settle upon you , at my death , if you will become my wife . ''