arly upsetting her composure.

"Yes," she faltered, "I--I'll do anything I can for you, and I'm sure
John Coulson will, too, in your--business."

"It's no jist what a buddy might ca' beesiness, exactly." There was
another coquettish glance and a toss of the pink roses in Auntie
Jinit's bonnet. "But it's a thing a lawyer buddy would ken a' aboot.
An' ye ken, lassie, a modest buddy like me disna like to talk aboot
sich like things to a--a man, hersel." She gave another glance, quite
shy this time. Her companion was silent, afraid to speak lest her
laughter break forth. The contrast between Auntie Jinit's staid,
middle-aged appearance, and the gay, naughty glance of her eye was
almost too much for a frivolous person like Elizabeth.

"Ah want his advice, ye ken, because ah dinna ken jist whit's the best
to dae. Ah ken whit ah want to dae,"--another coquettish toss of the
roses,--"but ah'm no so sure jist whit's best--aboot--merryin', ye ken."

"Yes," said Elizabeth faintly.

"He's tarrible took wi' me, mind ye,"--she looked archly at her
listener,--"but ah'm no sae saft as to be took wi' men, ma' lass.
Ah've seen lots o' them in ma' day." She paused and smiled
reminiscently as though reviewing past conquests; and, looking at her
bright eyes and pink cheeks and the waves of her once abundant hair,
Elizabeth could not but imagine that many hearts lay strewn along
Auntie Jinit's past.

"Ye see, it's this way, lassock: Ah've jist got to mak' ma' way in the
warld. Wully is a kind brither, but the hoose is too fu' already. An'
the bairns are aye merryin' here an merryin' there, an' yon daft Peter
'll be bringin' yon harum-scarum girl o' yours in ane o' thae days--not
but that she's a guid honest lass, but ah dinna see whit he wants wi'
an Eerish thing like yon; an' the land jist owerrun wi' guid Scotch
lassies that ye ken a' aboot wha their faethers an' mithers were."

"But Sarah Emily will make Peter a fine wife, Auntie Jinit," exclaimed
Elizabeth loyally. "Aunt Margaret has spared no pains to make her
clean and tidy and saving----"

"Hoots havers! Ah ken yon. But there's nae cleanin' nor scrubbin' nor
washin' that'll scour the Eerish oot o' a body, lass, mind ye that.
But niver mind her. Ye see, when Wully an' Betsey gets auld ah'll be
left on their hands. Aye, an' ah'll be auld masel then, and, it's high
time ah wes pittin' ma best fit foremost an' settlin' masel." She
paused, and the shrewd, business-l