Page:Martha Spreull by Zachary Fleming.pdf/51

Rh no use o’ the like o’ me offerin’ you advice, for it ’ll be lost on ye ; only I wud just say or I’ve dune, that the next honest wumman’s character ye put through yer ban’s ye should tak’ care to judge her by a higher standard than yersel’."

“ Noo, hiv ye onything to say ? ”

“ Say ? ” she roared, jumping to her feet, flounces an’ a’, wi’ a brienge, layin’ aboot her, stampin’ an’ stutterin’ in a wye that wis alarmin’ to see. Everything wis to say, I could see that; but she hadna twenty throats, and eveiything and mair wanted sayin’ at the same moment o’ time.

I wis mortal feared she wud fa’ doon in an apoplexy fit, or burst a bluid-vessel. So I didna gie her time, but rang the bell.

"Jenny,” quoth I, geyan calmly, “wud ye show this wumman to the door ? She has gotten hersel’ heated awee, an’ I think she will be the better o’ the caller air.”

Noo I set this doon here wi’ great pain, for, I admit, sic scenes canna tend to edification. Nevertheless, in this wicked worl’ the best o’ motives are whiles misunderstood; an’ the lesson I try to learn for mysel’ is this—that folk shouldna be driven aside frae the path o’ duty for the sake o’ ill tongues.