Page:Emma Speed Sampson--The shorn lamb.djvu/107

Rh insisted Aunt Peachy. "My baby ain't nebber had ter 'pend on clothes ter make him the king bee, an' he wa'n't nebber no han' ter set aroun' showin' off with a book. 'Tain't nothin' but showin' off. It stands ter reason that all them things you folks pertends ter read out'n a book ain't thar. You air jes' a makin' up lies."

"Ain't it the truth?" laughed Rolfe Bolling. "You've hit the nail on the head that time, Mam' Peachy. What do you say to a drap o' somethin'?" "I say, praise the Lawd!"

"Do you want yo' baby to mix up a toddy?"

"No sirree! I don't want nothin' mixed in mine. Time was when I didn't min' a lil' sugar an' water 'longside er my dram, but my ol' gullet craves jes' plain juice now. If'n you put anything in it put a dash er red pepper."

The old woman leered greedily while her master padded around the kitchen getting tin cups from the shelves and unlocking a corner cupboard, taking therefrom a brown jug which, holding to his ear, he shook tentatively.

"Gittin' powerful low! Is you been a suckin' my bottle?" he asked suspiciously.

"Laws-a-mussy, honey chil', how could ol' Peachy git in yo' closet? I ain't mo'n crawled from my room ter my cheer an' back fer over a