"
"Weel, weel; I'm sorry I said onything to offen' ye, an' I canna
say mair. Wi' yer leave, Miss Horn, I'll jist gang an' tak' a last
leuk at her, puir thing!"
"'Deed, ye s' du naething o' the kin'! I s' lat nobody glower at her
'at wad gang an spairge sic havers about her, Mistress Mellis. To
say 'at sic a doo as my Grizel, puir, saft hertit, winsome thing,
wad hae lookit twice at ony sic a serpent as him! Na, na, mem! Gang
yer wa's hame, an' come back straucht frae yer prayers the morn's
mornin'. By that time she'll be quaiet in her coffin, an' I'll be
quaiet i' my temper. Syne I'll lat ye see her--maybe.--I wiss
I was weel rid o' the sicht o' her, for I canna bide it. Lord, I
canna bide it."
These last words were uttered in a murmured aside, inaudible to
Mrs Mellis, to whom, however, they did not apply, but to the dead
body. She rose notwithstanding in considerable displeasure, and with
a formal farewell walked from the room, casting a curious glance
as she left it in the direction of that where the body lay, and
descended the stairs as slowly as if on every step she deliberated
whether the next would bear her weight. Miss Horn, who had followed
her to the head of the stair, watched her out of sight below the
landing, when she turned and walked back once more into the parlour,
but with a lingering look towards the opposite room, as if she saw
through the closed door what lay white on the white bed.
"It's a God's mercy I hae no feelin's," she said to herself.
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