What there came words of it

[Johnyxxx]

Hi,

Can anybody help me with the bold text?

Mengus he called himself, though I can’t see how, if you spell it with a z. When I first came into the place it was all gold that glitters. I’m
not the man for contentiousness, if let alone. But afterwards, when the rift came, I don’t suppose we ever hardly exchanged the time of day but what there came words of it. A long-legged man he was, this Mr Menzies; too long I should have thought for strict comfort in grubbing and hoeing and weeding. He had ginger hair, scanty, and the same on his face, whiskers – and a stoop. He lived down at the lodge; and his widowed daughter kept house for him, with one little boy as fair as she was dark. Harmless enough as children go, the kind they call an angel, but noisy, and not for the house.

Crewe, Walter de la Mare, 1936

Thanks a lot.

 

[GoesStation]

The collocated words are "but what", which means "without", more or less. The tricky bit means "I don’t think we had even the most trivial possible conversation without getting into an argument."