"Then perhaps she may be wiser by this time," Hester suggested. "How old is she now?"
"Sixteen out. It's awful to think of!"
"But how do you know she will be so troublesome? She mayn't want the looking after you dread. You haven't seen her for thirteen years!"
"I'm sure of it. I know the breed, miss! She's took after her mother, you may take your mortal oath! The sly way she got round our John!—an' all to take him right away from his own family as bore and bred him! You wouldn't believe it, miss!"
"Girls are not always like their mothers," said Hester. "I'm not half as good as my mother."
"Bless you, miss! if she ain't half as bad as hers—the Lord have mercy upon us! How I'm to attend to my lodgers and look after her, it's more than I know how to think of it with patience."
"When is she coming?"
"She'll be here this blessed day as I'm speakin' to you, miss!"
"Perhaps, your house being full, you may find her a help instead of a trouble. It won't be as if she had nothing to employ her!"
"There's no good to mortal creature i' the bones or blood of her!" sighed Miss Witherspin, as she put the tablecloth on the top of the breakfast-things.