Page:Emma Speed Sampson--The shorn lamb.djvu/276

272 mighty proudified. I been a 'lowin' we'd be hearin' from him 'fo' long, ever sence that day you an' me wa' a leetle bit happy, owin' ter Abe's havin' fetched over the new jug. I done talked too free befo' that thar Spot. But it ain't no harm done. We 'lowed we'd worry them highfalutin' Taylors some, an' I reckon we done did it."

"What you reckon he air comin' over here fur, Mam' Peachy? I ain't got no business with him. My haid ain't none too clar right this minute, so's p'r'aps yo an' me'd better have a dram befo' he gits here. Th'ain't nothin' like a dram fer settin' folks up." Accordingly the cupboard was opened and the jug tipped by the two. Then Rolfe awaited the arrival of his neighbor in the sitting room, while Aunt Peachy sat crouching in her arm chair in the kitchen, chattering to herself vague snatches of sentences:

"Mill folks on they knees! Done got even wif ol' Pearly Gates! Look down on my baby! Ol Bob Taylor been too bumptious! Yi! Yi! Break they stiff necks! Mam' Peachy done weave a spell what'll cha'm they luck away!"

Philip had driven his mother to the Court House to do some shopping and Rolfe and the old woman were alone in the house. This com-