"Didn't yer hear me say I didn't want nuthin'?" asked Mrs. Putnam.
"I will leave the room then," replied Lindy quietly.
"I wish you would," said Mrs. Putnam, "and you'll do me a favor if you'll pack yer duds as quick as yer can and git out of the house and never come back agin."
"I will leave the room, but I cannot leave the house while you are alive," remarked Lindy firmly.
"Why not?" said Mrs. Putnam. "I want to die in peace, and I shall go much easier if I know I haven't got to set my eyes on your face agin."
"I promised Jones," said Lindy, "that I would never leave you while you were alive."
"Oh, you promised Jones, did yer?" cried Mrs. Putnam with a sneer. "Wall, Jones will let you off on yer promise jest to 'blige me, so yer needn't stay any longer."
As Lindy walked towards the door, Mrs. Putnam spoke again.
"Did yer ever tell anybody I wasn't yer mother?" Lindy hesitated. "Why don't you out with it," said Mrs. Putnam, "and say no, no matter if it is a lie? Samanthy can lie faster'n a horse can trot, and I know you put her up to it."
"I have been impudent and disrespectful to you many times, Mrs. Putnam, when you were cross to me, but I never told you a deliberate lie in my life. I have told one person that you were not my mother."