yet, who knows?' and Jim almost
choked with the lie which he told in his wild anguish to stay the
torrent of his mother's grief.

But the crooning old woman heeded him not. With eyes fixed on the
fire she continued to read the horoscope of the past:

'We were some happy, those first years, I can tell thee. Then
little Billy wor born. Poor little Billy! Thaa's been a good lad,
Jim, but I often think what a good un little Billy would ha' been
if he'd lived! But he deed. Ay! I con remember it as though it
were nobbud yesterneet. It was abaat th' deead hour, and I wakened
up sudden-like, for summat towd me all were not reet wi' th' lad.
I made thi faither strike a leet, and then I see'd Billy's een
were set, and his little mouth twitchin'. Thi faither run off,
half dressed as he were, for th' doctor. But it wor no use; Billy
were going cowd in my arms when they both geet back. And then they
laid th' little lad aat in th' owd chamber, and I used to creep
upstairs when thi faither were in th' meadow, and talk to Billy,
and ax him to oppen his een. But it wor all no use, he never glent
at me agen. I never cried, lad--I couldn't. I felt summat wor taan
aat o' me,' and the old woman laid her hand on her heart. 'I was
empty-like; and then five years after, as I lay in bed in th' owd
chamber aboon--same chamber as Billy were laid out in--Mary o'
Sams, who had come to nurse me, said: "Thou mun look up, Jenny,
it's another lad," and she put thee in my arms, and then th'
warkin' went, and I were a happy woman again. I could ha' liked to
ha' kept little Billy, but Him aboon knows best: thaa's bin a good
lad to me, Jimmy.'

Tears began to stream from the eyes of Jimmy's wife; and stooping
down, she lifted her sleeping baby from its cradle, and hugged it
to her breast. The story of little Billy had, for the moment,
softened the heart of this practical and common-sense woman.

'That's reet, lass. Keep him close to thee, he'll need thee and
thaa'll need him afore yo're both done wi' th' world. Since thi
faither deed, Jimmy, I've felt to need thee more and more. It's
ten year this last back-end sin' we buried him. And it's nobbud
just like yesterday. He wor in th' barn when he wor taan,
sudden-like, with apoplex; and he never spoke, or knew me or you
at after. And he wor laid aat in th' owd chamber, too, where they
laid little Billy aat afore him, and where yo' wor born, lad. I
thought I should be laid aat there, and all, and I could