Page:Salem - a tale of the seventeenth century (IA taleseventeenth00derbrich).pdf/25

 *na!—I winna!—I do luve ye—I do care for ye—an' I will stay wi' ye, grannie!" she sobbed out in broken words, striving to regain her place upon her grandmother's lap.

But the woman saw her advantage, and with true Scottish shrewdness she hastened to improve it. "Na'! na'!" she said, coldly—putting aside the little clinging arms that tried to clasp her neck, although she felt her whole soul melting in tenderness within her—"na', na'! dinna heed me; dinna tak' tent o' me; gae ye yer ain gate, an' leave me to mine—I'll do weel enou'; gae yer ways—an' fareweel."

"Na', na'! dinna say 'fareweel;' see, I am na' gangin'; I winna gae; I am yer ain wee lassie—tak' me in yer lap agin—kiss me an' luve me, as ye used to do; an' ca' me yer ain dear Alice's wee Allie, an' I will be bidable, an' do jist wha' ye tell me—I will, I will. There, noo, there!" she said, as she effected her lodgment within the fondly welcoming arms that tenderly embraced her, and hid her little tear-stained cheek upon the faithful bosom that had pillowed her in