in silence.

'Now, you look like a body going to be hanged--you do; what's the matter
with you, Madam? I tell you, you mustn't look that way. Here, take a sup
o' this;' and she presented the muzzle of a small bottle like a pistol
at her mouth as she spoke--

'There's a glass on the table, if you let me, Ma'am,' said Mrs. Mack.

'Glass be----; here, take a mouthful.'

And she popped it between her lips; and Mrs. Mack was refreshed and her
spirit revived within her.

CHAPTER XLVII.

IN WHICH PALE HECATE VISITS THE MILLS, AND CHARLES NUTTER, ESQ., ORDERS
TEA.

Poor Mrs. Nutter, I have an honest regard for her memory. If she was
scant of brains, she was also devoid of guile--giggle and raspberry-jam
were the leading traits of her character. And though she was slow to
believe ill-natured stories, and made, in general, a horrid jumble when
she essayed to relate news, except of the most elementary sort; and used
to forget genealogies, and to confuse lawsuits and other family feuds,
and would have made a most unsatisfactory witness upon any topic on
earth, yet she was a ready sympathiser, and a restless but purblind
matchmaker--always suggesting or suspecting little romances, and always
amazed when the eclaircissement came off. Excellent for
condoling--better still for rejoicing--she would, on hearing of a
surprising good match, or an unexpected son and heir, or a
pleasantly-timed legacy, go off like a mild little peal of joy-bells,
and keep ringing up and down and zig-zag, and to and again, in all sorts
of irregular roulades, without stopping, the whole day long, with 'Well,
to be sure.' 'Upon my conscience, now, I scarce can believe it.' 'An'
isn't it pleasant, though.' 'Oh! the creatures--but it was badly
wanted!' 'Dear knows--but I'm glad--ha, ha, ha,' and so on. A train of
reflection and rejoicing not easily exhausted, and readily, by simple
transposition, maintainable for an indefinite period. And people, when
good news came, used to say, 'Sally Nutter will be glad to hear that;'
and though she had not a great deal of sense, and her conversation was
made up principally of interjections, assisted by little gestures, and
wonderful expressions of face; and though, when analysed it was not
much, yet she made a cheerful noise, and her company was liked; and her
friendly little gesticulation, and her turning up of the eyes, and her
smiles and sighs, and her 'whisht a bit,' and her 'faith and troth now,'
and 'wh