Page:Emma Speed Sampson--The shorn lamb.djvu/292

288 had in the fust beginning is done been blackened an' 'taminated long ago by ol' Mam' Peachy. He wa'n't nachelly sech a bad boy, but she done got holt er him an' give him the wrong start. I had hopes that Miss Elizabeth, his wife, wa' a gonter help him some, but Mam' Peachy wa' too strong fer her. I reckon Rolfe Bolling marryin' into that mounting fambly wa' about the onlies' thing he ever done in all his life that Mam' Peachy didn't have a han' in. I don't know how come he flew the coop then. She wa' as mad as hops an' she ain't never forgib Miss Elizabeth fer a marryin' er what she calls her baby."

Rebecca had come to see her old friend to tell her of the sad happenings at Mill House. She hoped that Aunt Pearly Gates might have some solution to offer for the muddle affairs were in.

"What does Mr. Philip say ter all this here carryin' on? 'Tain't likely he a gonter set still an' let his paw ruin Marse Bob."

"Oh, poor Philip is doing everything in his power to make his father stop, but Aunt Peachy keeps on persuading Mr. Bolling to try and get back the hub factory property, and he is just like a real baby with her. He is afraid of her, too, I believe.