Elspeth then recounted the tale of all that had taken place.
“Then why is Mistress Holwick not more grateful? She seems to have saved her and her good man a pretty penny indeed.”
“The woman is crazed with jealousy or envy or what not,” said another.
“But the child seems a lovable one to my thinking,” said Margrove.
“There has never been a better lassie in Holwick is my way of looking at it.” It was Janet Arnside who was speaking; she had come up to see Elspeth, and take the opportunity of buying a few trifles at the same time. “My boy just owes his life to her; she has been down to us times without number, and I have never seen anything like the way that she gets hold of one’s heart. I cried the whole day long when I heard of her being hurt like that, and it just makes me rage to hear the things that they tell of Mistress Holwick and the child. It would have been the worst thing that ever happened to Holwick if anything really serious had befallen her that night.”
“Ay, ay,” said several voices in chorus.
“And why should not the bairn have fine linen, I should like to know?” she went on.
“It is a downright shame,” said a man’s voice.
“Well, neighbour,” said Janet, “I am not the one to interfere in other folk’s business, but I am not the only one that the child has blessed, not the only one by a long way.”