I winna
promise to please yer mither wi' my darnin' though.'
'I have no mother to find fault with it,' said Ericson.
'Weel, a sister's waur.'
'I have no sister, either.'
This was too much for Miss Letty. She could keep up the bravado of
humour no longer. She fairly burst out crying. In a moment more
the shoes and stockings were off, and the blisters in the hot water.
Miss Letty's tears dropped into the tub, and the salt in them did
not hurt the feet with which she busied herself, more than was
necessary, to hide them.
But no sooner had she recovered herself than she resumed her former
tone.
'A shillin'! said ye? An' a' thae greedy gleds (kites) o'
professors to pay, that live upo' the verra blude and banes o'
sair-vroucht students! Hoo cud ye hae a shillin' ower? Troth, it's
nae wonner ye haena ane left. An' a' the merchan's there jist
leevin' upo' ye! Lord hae a care o' 's! sic bonnie feet!--Wi'
blisters I mean. I never saw sic a sicht o' raw puddin's in my
life. Ye're no fit to come doon the stair again.'
All the time she was tenderly washing and bathing the weary feet.
When she had dressed them and tied them up, she took the tub of
water and carried it away, but turned at the door.
'Ye'll jist mak up yer min' to bide a twa three days,' she said;
'for thae feet cudna bide to be carried, no to say to carry a weicht
like you. There's naebody to luik for ye, ye ken. An' ye're no to
come doon the nicht.
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