"Well, you have made a figure of yourself! Sit down!" said her aunt, shortly, as she thrust a chair down on the hearth before the fire "I should have thought you'd have had wit enough at your age, to keep out of the ditch."
"I didn't see any ditch," said Ellen.
"No, I suppose not," said Miss Fortune, who was energetically twitching off Ellen's shoes and stockings with her fore finger and thumb "I suppose not; you were staring up at the moon or stars, I suppose."
"It all looked green and smooth," said poor Ellen "one part just like another and the first thing I knew, I was up to my ankles."
"What were you there at all for?" said Miss Fortune, shortly enough.
"I couldn't see where the water came from, and I wanted to find out."
"Well you've found out enough for one day, I hope. Just look at those stockings! Han't you got never a pair of coloured stockings, that you must go poking into the mud with white ones?"
"No, Maam."
"Do you mean to say you never wore any but white ones at home?"
"Yes, Maam I never had any others."