Page:Salem - a tale of the seventeenth century (IA taleseventeenth00derbrich).pdf/258

 Allie wa' to hae it a' after me. An' my Allie, oh! she wa' jist the varry light o' my een; an' sae fair, an' sweet, an' sonsie—every bodie luved her; an' she haed luvers too, but she did na' care for ony o' them, she wa' crouse an' cantie as a bird in the tree, but niver bould—jist cannie an' sweet to all.

"There wa' ane chiel, a nee'bor's lad, that coorted her, an' I liked him, an' fain wad I hae married her to him, an' kept her anear me; but it wa' na' sae to be. He wa' an honest, hamely bodie, but Allie did na' tak' a likin' to him. Ye see, she haed been better educatit than ever I were, an' she wa' mair of a leddie—she wa' often up at the manse, an' the rector's young leddies, they made friends o' her, till at last she half lived there, an' there's where the trouble began.

"The rector's son, he haed been tutor to a young mon, the on'y son o' a wealthy English family; they haed been on their travels—he an' his tutor that haed been—an' whin they kim hame, he kim wi' him to the rectory, an' there he an' Alice met—an' she wa' very fair, an' sweet, an' innocent, an' the young mon made luve to her.