Page:Salem - a tale of the seventeenth century (IA taleseventeenth00derbrich).pdf/199

 have done, to their thoughtless babble, you would surely have been astonished at the strange and monstrous absurdities that they will often utter."

"Aye, but this child was precociously evil—she was just like her mother."

"And who else should she be like? She never knew any other parent."

"Very true; and 'black cats have black kittens,' they say."

"Sometimes they do, but not always, I believe," said his sister. "And even when they do, I suppose it is from a law of their nature, not their choice."

"Perhaps; but the result is the same, I conclude."

"Pardon me, no! Physically, not morally, it may be the same. In the one case it would be a misfortune simply, in the other it would be a fault."

"Why, Hannah! what a casuist you are! There has been a mistake in our family. You should have been bred to the law, not I."

"Thank Heaven! I was not," said Mrs. Browne, fervently.

"You have reason to say so in these pres