and the long and short on't is that it ain't none of her business, and she shan't meddle with our'n, she shall be put down and I'll raise a row to stop her mouth the first word."
"Hush! keep still, and let her make a fool of herself if she wants to, I'll risk all the damage she does to our business, the boys will hoot her out of town. Let her alone, and I'll warrant a brisker trade to-morrow than we've had yet. I wouldn't take no notice of such a little upstart."
"A pity we took notice enough on her to come and hear her I think," said a third, "but I kind o' wanted to see what Bill Crawford's darter expects she is goin' to do agin us all. Any body'd 'spose she thought she'd got some mighty big blood in her veins, to think what's got to be endured can be cured."
Some little confusion ensued after the remarks of the last speaker who was about half deprived of his reason, and clearly not one of the "caste" who dealt out the poison. The equivocal sound of his last sentence gave great offence.
A fourth stepped in as a mediator. "Let her alone," said he, "and she will soon show herself out, for nobody will run after such a whim but silly, weak-minded wives, disconsolate widows, and discontented old maids."
This was evidently thought a good hit from the coarse laugh that followed, and very creditable to the profound sense of the lawyer dandy who uttered it and afterwards marched into the school-house with a very comfortable appreciation of his own merits.
