“Look yere,” she said, “you tell Jill that I’m fetching the flowers this morning. Tell her to lie easy, and take her sleep out. Do you hear me, you good-for-naught? Do you hear what I’m saying? or are ye too sleepy to take it all in?”
“I hear right enough, mother,” replied Tom, rubbing his sleepy eyes. “Are you better this morning, mother?”
“Yes, to be sure; why shouldn’t I be?”
Tom looked down at Bob, who was asleep. Then he glanced towards the open door of the bedroom. He was not at all afraid of his mother; but he had a wholesome dread of Jill.
“Look yere,” he said: “is it true what Hastie says?”
“What did Hastie say?”
Mrs Robinson placed her arms akimbo.
“He said as you were real bad last night,—real bad—and out in the street, you mind.”
“Well, and what ef I wor?”
“Only, Jill says it’s a lie. She said she’ll smack Hastie for saying it.”