ss, is't you? an' me in a perfick potch,' she said
apologetically. 'No' a corner for ye to step dry on, nor a seat to sit
doon on. Could ye no' jist tak' a walk the length o' the auld place or I
redd up a wee?'

'No, no, Mrs. Macintyre,' replied Gladys, with a laugh. 'Never mind,
I'll get a seat somewhere. I have come to see you very particularly, and
I'm not going to take any walks till our business is settled. And are
you quite well?'

''Deed, I'm jist middlin',' said the good woman, and then, with one
extraordinary sweep of her bare arm, she gathered all the soiled linen
off the floor and pushed it under the bed, then vigorously rubbing up a
chair, she spread a clean apron on it, and having persuaded Gladys to
sit down, stood straight in front of her, looking at her with a species
of adoring admiration.

'Ye micht hae let a body ken ye were comin'. Sic a potch,' she said
ruefully. 'My, but ye are a picter, an nae mistak'.'

Gladys laughed, and the sound rang through the place like sweetest
music.

'Have you not been quite well? I think you are thinner,' she said
kindly.

'No, I've no' been up to muckle; fair helpless some days wi' rheumatics.
The washin's no' extra guid for them, but a body maun dae something for
meat. I've anither mooth to fill noo. My guid-brither, Bob Johnson, is
deid since I saw ye, an' I've been obleeged to tak' Tammy--no' an ill
loon. He's at the schule, or ye wad hae seen him.'

'I don't suppose you would be sorry to leave this place and give up the
washing if you could get something easier?' said Gladys.

'No' me; a' places are the same to me. Hae ye been up by?' asked Mrs.
Macintyre significantly.

Gladys shook her head.

'I came to see whether you would come and live in the lodge at my gate.
It is a nice little house, and I would like to have you near me; you
were such a kind friend in the old days.'

Mrs. Macintyre drew her rough hand across her eyes, and turned somewhat
sharply back to her wash-tub, and for the moment she gave no answer,
good or bad.

'What aboot Tammy?' she asked at length.

'Oh, he could come with you, of course. He could go to school in
Mauchline just as well as in Glasgow. Just say you'll come. I've set my
heart on it, and nobody refuses me anything just now.'

'I'll come fast enough,' said Mrs. Macintyre, rubbing away as for dear
life at her wash-board, upon which the big salt tears were dropping
surreptitiously. 'Me no' want to leave this place? I