hings? I question if I'll get an hour's
sleep to-night for thinking of you!"

"I don't want you to think of me!"

He groaned. "What could an untidy, hardened old single man like me do
with you in his house?" he said. "Oh, you little limmer, to put such a
thought into my head."

"I never did!" she exclaimed, indignantly.

"It began, I do believe it began," he sighed, "the first time I saw you
easying Ballingall's pillows."

"What began?"

"You brat, you wilful brat, don't pretend ignorance. You set a trap to
catch me, and--"

"Oh!" cried Grizel, and she opened the door quickly. "Go away, you
horrid man," she said.

He liked her the more for this regal action, and therefore it enraged
him. Sheer anxiety lest he should succumb to her on the spot was what
made him bluster as he strode off, and "That brat of a Grizel," or "The
Painted Lady's most unbearable lassie," or "The dour little besom" was
his way of referring to her in company for days, but if any one agreed
with him he roared "Don't be a fool, man, she's a wonder, she's a
delight," or "You have a dozen yourself, Janet, but I wouldna neifer
Grizel for the lot of them." And it was he, still denouncing her so long
as he was contradicted, who persuaded the Auld Licht Minister to
officiate at the funeral. Then he said to himself, "And now I wash my
hands of her, I have done all that can be expected of me." He told
himself this a great many times as if it were a medicine that must be
taken frequently, and Grizel heard from Tommy, with whom she had some
strange conversations, that he was going about denouncing her "up hill
and down dale." But she did not care, she was so--so happy. For a hole
was dug for the Painted Lady in the cemetery, just as if she had been a
good woman, and Mr. Dishart conducted the service in Double Dykes before
the removal of the body, nor did he say one word that could hurt Grizel,
perhaps because his wife had drawn a promise from him. A large gathering
of men followed the coffin, three of them because, as yon may remember,
Grizel had dared them to stay away, but all the others out of sympathy
with a motherless child who, as the procession started, rocked her arms
in delight because her mamma was being buried respectably.

Being a woman, she could not attend the funeral, and so the chief
mourner was Tommy, as you could see by the position he took at the
grave, and by the white bands Grizel had sewn on his sleeves. He was
looking very im