Page:Emma Speed Sampson--The shorn lamb.djvu/332

328 "And then, Aunt Pearly Gates, guess what that saucy Jo said!"

"What he say, chil'?" laughed Aunt Pearly Gates.

"He said that he would be my uncle-in-law and I'd have to mind everything he said. And I said it would depend on what he'd tell me to do—and he had the impertinence to whisper that when I grew up he might make me marry him. I told him he'd have to get to be a lot more like his brother before I'd even consider him."

"And what did Marse Bob say to that?"

"Grandfather laughed, and said there would have to be a few more deed books lost and found before he'd consent to any more joining of hands across the water, but he seemed to like Jo because Jo wasn't a bit afraid of him.

"But tell me, Aunt Pearly Gates, weren't you shocked to hear about Aunt Peachy? It seemed so sad for everybody to be glad she is dead. Betsy told me even her father was glad."

The old woman stirred restlessly, and reaching under the covers turned the eggs which she was endeavoring to hatch.

"How did you feel, Aunt Pearly Gates, when you got the news that Aunt Peachy was dead? When did you hear it?"