"Then why don't you call me nasty names?"
"I dinna never call you names," Elspeth replied, but the woman still looked puzzled.
"Perhaps you are naughty also?" she said doubtfully, and then, as if making up her mind that it must be so, she came closer and said, with a voice full of pity: "I am so sorry."
Elspeth did not understand half of it, but the pitying voice, which was of the rarest sweetness, drove away much of her fear, and she said: "Do you no mind me? I was wi' Tommy when he gave you the gold packet on Muckley night."
Then the Painted Lady remembered. "He took such a fancy to me," she said, with a pleased simper, and then she looked serious again.
"Do you love him?" she asked, and Elspeth nodded.
"But is he all the world to you?"
"Yes," Elspeth said.
The Painted Lady took her by the arm and said impressively, "Don't let him know."
"But he does know," said Elspeth.