Page:Aunt Phillis's Cabin.djvu/77

 sent her in here with it an hour ago; just like her, lazy, good-for-nothing Irish thing. They're nothing but white niggers, after all, these Irish. Here, Ann,' she bawled out, 'come here!'

"'Coming,' said Ann, from within the glass door.

"'Come this minute,' said the old woman, and Ann's pretty Irish face showed itself immediately.

"'Where's that 'lection cake I told you to bring here?'

"'You didn't tell me to bring no cake here, Mrs. Brown,' said Ann.

"'I did, you little liar, you,' said Mrs. Brown. 'You Irish are born liars. Go, bring it here.'

"Ann disappeared, and soon returned, looking triumphant. 'Mr. Brown says he brought it in when you told him, and covered it in that box—so I aint such a liar, after all.'

"'You are,' said Mrs. Brown, 'and a thief too.'

"Ann's Irish blood was up.

"'I'm neither,' said she; 'but I'm an orphan, and poor; that's why I'm scolded and cuffed about.'

"Mrs. Brown's blood was up too, and she struck the poor girl in the face, and her big, hard hand was in an instant covered with blood, which spouted out from Ann's nose.

"'Now take that for your impudence, and you'll get worse next time you go disputing with me.'

"'I declare, Mrs. Brown,' said Arthur, 'this is, I thought, a free country. I did not know you could take the law into your own hands in that style.'

"'That gal's the bother of my life,' said Mrs. Brown. 'Mr. Brown, he was in New York when a ship come, and that gal's father and mother must die of the ship-fever, and the gal was left, and Mr. Brown calculated she could be made to save us hiring, by teaching her a little. She's smart enough, but she's the hard-headedest, obstinatest thing I ever see. I can't make nothin' of her. You might as well try to draw blood out of a turnip as to get any good out of her.'