Some versions have her explain that he'd drunk the health of all the girls but slighted BA. I first learnd it at school at the end of the 50s; we sang the Cecil Sharp version, which didn't have the slighting verse. I wonder if they were both playing hard to get, and neither expected the other to call their bluff? I have to say that he always struck me as a great wimp, and no wonder she didn't want him; and she came over as a spoiled adolescent (there's plenty of them in their 20s & 30s!) who'd turn up her nose at something when she could have it, but have a tantrum when she couldn't. I'd prefer the kinder interpretation (I usually see the best in people): what we have here is a failure to communicate.

Steve