reflected and showed an evident disposition to scoff at the
whole story.

"'Tis stuff an' rubbish!" he said. "You might as well find a mare's nest
t'other side an' say 'twas Will's sister's child. 'Tis almost so like
her as him, an' got her brown eyes in the bargain."

"God forbid!" answered Billy, in horror. "That's flat libel, an' I'd be
the last to voice any such thing for money. If a man gets a cheel wrong
side the blanket 'tis just a passing sarcumstance, an' not to be took
too serious. Half-a-crown a week is its awn punishment like. But if a
gal do, 'tis destruction to the end of the chapter, an' shame
everlasting in the world to come, by all accounts. You didn't ought to
think o' such things, Miller,--takin' a pure, gude maiden's carater like
that. Surprised at 'e!"

"'Tis just as mad a thought wan way as t'other, and if you'm surprised
so be I. To be a tale-bearer at your time o' life!"

"That gormed Blanchard's bewitched 'e from fust to last!" burst out
Billy. "If a angel from heaven comed down-long and tawld 'e the truth
'bout un, you wouldn't b'lieve. God stiffen it! You make me mad! You'd
stand 'pon your head an' waggle your auld legs in the air for un if he
axed 'e."

"I'll speak to him straight an' take his word for it. If it's true, he
'm wickedly to blame, I knaw that."

"I was thinkin' of your darter. 'Tis black thoughts have kept her waking
since this reached her ears."

"Did you tell her what people were sayin'? I warrant you did!"

"You'm wrong then. No such thing. I may have just heaved a sigh when I
seed the bwoy playin' in front of her, an' looked at Blanchard, an'
shook my head, or some such gentle hint as that. But no more."

"Well, I doan't believe a word of it; an' I'll tell you this for your
bettering,--'tis poor religion in you, Blee, to root into other people's
troubles, like a pig in a trough; an' auld though you be, you 'm not tu
auld to mind what it felt like when the blood was hot an' quick to race
at the sight of a maid."

"I practice same as I preach, whether or no," said Billy stoutly, "an' I
can't lay claim to creating nothing lawful or unlawful in my Maker's
image. 'Tis something to say that, in these godless days. I've allus
kept my foot on the world, the flesh, an' the Devil so tight as the best
Christian in company; an' if that ban't a record for a stone, p'raps
you'll tell me a better. Your two-edged tongue do make me feel sometimes
as though I did ought to go right