Page:Emma Speed Sampson--The shorn lamb.djvu/113

Rh "Yo' pap done kissed me time an' agin when he wa' a baby, an' you ain't no better'n yo' pap. Yo' pap done set me up an' put a gol' ring on my finger."

"How do you do, Aunt Peachy?" Philip spoke pleasantly, but with a dignity that for a moment quelled the old woman's tirade, and before she could collect her wits for the tongue-lashing she meant to give the young master he turned to his mother with:

"I would have been here sooner, but I had to take a little girl over to Mill House." He told them of Rebecca's arrival and Aunt Peachy was, as usual, appeased by the thrill of joy she always experienced over a choice morsel of news.

"You mean she air Tom Taylor's gal? Lil' Tom Taylor what done lef home whin Betsy thar wa'n't mo'n a baby? I'll be boun' thar's some lef handed doin's or the gal would a been hyar long ago. I'm a lowin' them thar hoighty toighty Myras an Ev'lyns will rar back mo'n ever with proudified feelin's 'ca'se they ain't a gonter want ter have no upstart brat aroun' ter look arfter."

Philip ignored the old woman and went on to tell his mother of Rebecca.

"I hope Betsy and Jo can see something of