then ah catchet him up aboot hoo auld he wes the time he cam' to these
pairts, an' anither time ah got it oot o' him hoo lang yon wes afore
the railroad wes pit in to Cheemaun, an' a rin it up in ma mind, an' ah
calcalate he was saxty-siven. Noo yon's a tarrible descreepancy, ye
ken, so ah says to masel, ah'll be up sides wi' ye, ma lad. Naebody's
got the better o' Jinit Johnstone yet, an' naebody's gaun tae; an' ah
thocht Maister Coulson could jist tell me if the lads hae ony hand on
the ferm--lawyer bodies kens a' aboot thae things--an' whit a wife's
portion is, gin he should slip awa. An' ax him tae, whit ma rights 'll
be. Ah've got a buggie, ye ken, an' a coo o' ma ain', foreby a settin'
o' Plymouths, an' ah'm to have a horse, he says, to drive to
Cheemaun--ah got that oot o' him in writin' an' he didna ken whet ah
wes up to. But ah'd like to ken jist hoo much ah'm to expact. Ah'm no
goin' to leap an' look aefterwards."

Elizabeth listened with mixed feelings. Auntie Jinit was not so much
to be pitied after all. It would seem that Nemesis was after Jake
Martin all right; but suppose she caught Susie too, and the younger one
still at home? What would become of Susie if her stepmother secured
her "rights"?

"I--I hope," she ventured hesitatingly, "that you'll get all you want,
Auntie Jinit, but poor Susie and Charlie have slaved there for years
and it would be cruel to turn them out."

The woman turned and looked at Elizabeth with a flash of her brilliant
eyes. "An' d'ye think ah'd do yon?" she exclaimed indignantly. "Eh,
eh, lassie, it's no Jinit Johnstone wad ill use a bairn. If there's
onything we kin dae in this warld we suld dae it, and there's Jake
Martin's bairns need a mither if ever onybody did--aye, for they niver
had ane yit, ah misdoot--jist a pair drudge that hadna the spunk to
protect her ain. But ah'm no that kind. Aye, but ah'm no!"

Elizabeth, looking at her, could not doubt her--neither could she doubt
that Susie and the younger Martins would fare well at Auntie Jinit's
hands.

"What about church, Auntie Jinit?" she asked teasingly. "Mr. Martin
won't go to Dr. Murray since Tom Teeter goes--you'll have to turn
Methody!"

The lady gave her a reassuring look out of the corner of her eye. "No
likely," she said, with a setting of her firm mouth. "Dinna ye fear
for me. He's gaun to Maister Murray--an' no sik a late date neither."
She smiled slyly and her eyes twinkled. "He ses t