part, "an' I was n't so
much of a friend of Margar't's as some of you, neither, but on an
occasion like this I know what dooty is." And Miss Hester Prime closed
her lips in a very decided fashion.

"Oh, well, some folks is so well off in money an' time that they kin
afford to be liberal with a pore creature like Margar't, even ef they
did n't have nothin' to do with her before she died."

Miss Prime's face grew sterner as she replied, "Margar't Brent was n't
my kind durin' life, an' that I make no bones o' sayin' here an' now;
but when she got down on the bed of affliction I done what I could fur
her along with the best of you; an' you, Mandy Warren, that 's seen me
here day in an' day out, ought to be the last one to deny that.
Furthermore, I did n't advise her to leave her husband, as some people
did, but I did put in a word an' help her to work so 's to try to keep
her straight afterwards, though it ain't fur me to be a-braggin' about
what I done, even to offset them that did n't do nothin'."

This parting shot told, and Mrs. Warren flared up like a wax light. "It
's a wonder yore old tracts an' the help you give her did n't keep her
sober sometimes."

"Ef I could n't keep her sober, I was n't one o' them that set an' took
part with her when she was gittin' drunk."

"'Sh! 'sh!" broke in Mrs. Davis: "ef I was you two I would n't go on
that way. Margar't 's dead an' gone now, an' what 's past is past. Pore
soul, she had a hard enough time almost to drive her to destruction; but
it 's all over now, an' we ought to put her away as peaceful as
possible."

The women who had all been in such a hurry had waited at the prospect
of an altercation, but, seeing it about to blow over, they bethought
themselves of their neglected homes and husbands, and passed out behind
the still irate Mrs. Warren, who paused long enough in earshot to say,
"I hope that spiteful old maid 'll have her hands full."

The scene within the room which the women had just left was anything but
an inviting one. The place was miserably dirty. Margaret had never been
a particularly neat housewife, even in her well days. The old rag carpet
which disfigured the floor was worn into shreds and blotched with
grease, for the chamber was cooking- and dining- as well as
sleeping-room. A stove, red with rust, struggled to send forth some
heat. The oily black kerosene lamp showed a sickly yellow flame through
the grimy chimney.

On a pallet in one corner lay