"Tut, goodman!" interposed Mrs. Kinlay, "what does the lass ken about being a mother? Go on with the reading."
"Odd, goodwife, I'm but supposin' the thing; and the plainer it is the better, and the easier to understand. However, what verse was it, Thora?"
"It was the fourteenth you left off at," said Thora.
"Aweel, then, the fifteenth: 'Now, when he'--Odd, but I think we read that before."
"Nay, you didna read it before, father, for it was the fourteenth verse you left off at."
"Nay, I'm sure it couldn't be that, for I remember readin' 'Now, when he,' before."
"But I'm sure, father, ye're wrong," persisted Thora. "Look you if the fourteenth doesn't end with 'people,' and 'people' was the last word you read."
"'People, people!'" said Carver, searching for the place. "Odd, lassie, I see no 'people.' There's one verse that ends with 'people,' but it's not the fourteenth. It had been that, ye silly lass, instead o' the fourteenth."
"Well, well, goodman, what dos't matter what verse you left off at," said his wife. "A good tale's none the worse of being told twice."
"Nay, but," said Thora, "just look for fun and see what the fourteenth verse ends with."