A Lovers' Tale by Maurice Hewlett

Whether or no Cormac had got the better of his love-affair -- and nobody knew but himself -- it had made a great to-do at Tongue. But the people there did not see how to set about avenging the slight put upon them, since Stangerd would not hear of fighting, or have Cormac challenged for atonement. It was judged finally, after much talk, that they must get her married, lest the countryside should think that she had lost her only chance -- which was nonsense, seeing what a splendid girl she was, and how much counted.

So they brought up the name of this man and that man, but could not decide upon any one man, until Narve, always ready with the tongue, lit upon Berse of Sowerby. "Now there's a man," he said, "of all men in the world the most proper. A powerful man, a very pleasant, affable, middle-aged man, a man of wealth, and a man of his hands. Bring him into your quarrel, and the thing is done. Your young fire-eater will have little to say to _him_, you may be sure."