“You are to go to your grandmother and tell her all about it, and then she will dive into her scrap-bag of experience and see if she can find a bit with which to mend your ragged temper.”
“She generally does find a patch,” returned Persis, the frown beginning to smooth out. “Well, I’ll ’fess. It’s just this way. You know I was the first one to take up Annis.”
“Very praiseworthy of you.”
“Now, don’t mock me, grandma, right at the beginning. I hate to have to give in at the very outset.”
“I know you do.”
“Oh, dear, that is a second hit! Well, I will be humility itself and say: Since I was the first whom Annis favored with her regard. Will that do?”
“No. You can say: Since Annis and I mutually discovered that we were congenial spirits.”
Persis looked a little rueful. “Then that takes the point out of what I was going to say.”
“Perhaps there was no point there.”
Persis looked up. “Grandma, you are a witch. I believe you had a Salem ancestor, didn’t you?”