’F you ’ll believe me he did n’t look overly pleased, ‘n’ at that I did warm up a little.  You don’t ’xpect much of a minister, ‘n’ I think as a general rule ’t we ’re pretty patient with ours, but you do ’xpect gratitude, ‘n’ a dollar’s a dollar, ‘n’ considerin’ the garret into the bargain, I felt my temper comin’ pretty high, ‘n’ I jus’ out with what I ‘d been thinkin’ all along ‘n’ I spoke the truth flat ‘n’ plain right to his face.  ‘I d’n’ know,’ I says, ’why I sh’d be ’xpected to give your baby more ’n a dollar.  She ain’t my baby, ‘n’ you know ’s well ‘s I do where the blame f’r that lies,’ ‘n’ then I banged the door in his face.  Maybe it was n’t jus’ the proper thing to do, but ’f ever a woman had no need for a minister it was me this mornin’.”

Susan paused, and Mrs. Lathrop seized the chance to interpose a question.

“‘N’ about your cousin—­”

But Miss Clegg was already started again.

“I do get so aggravated when I think about the minister,” she went on.  “I was sayin’ to Mrs. Macy yesterday ’s it does seem ’s ’f I have harder work keepin’ on smilin’ terms with my own minister ‘n’ even a Job might in reason look for.  I would n’t be no woman ’f I had n’t shown some feelin’ over the way ‘t he went about town tellin’ right ‘n’ left how nice them stockin’s o’ mine fit him after they shrunk too small f’r me, ‘n’ yet I ain’t a mite o’ doubt but what, a’cordin’ to the Bible, I ’d ought to ‘a’ forgive him ‘n’ turned the other cheek into the bargain.  Mrs. Craig says ‘s Mr. Kimball ain’t mincin’ matters none, but is jus’ statin’ all over ‘s it’s all on a’count o’ my havin’ bought the wool o’ Shores; she says ’t he says ’t if I ‘d bought it o’ him I ‘d be wearin’ all four pair this very day.  She says ’s Mrs. Fisher says ’s he told her ‘t, seein’ things is ’s they is, he’s lookin’ to see them stockin’s keep right on shrinkin’ down through the minister’s family until they end up ’s socks on the thirteenth baby.  A joke’s a joke, ‘n’ I c’n see the p’int o’ a good joke ’s quick ’s any one, but I mus’ say I fail to see any fun in such a remark.  ’S far ’s my observation’s ‘xtended, there ain’t nothin’ ladylike in the minister’s wearin’ my stockin’s, nor yet in Mr. Kimball’s entertainin’ the whole c’mmunity with ’em.  A’cordin’ to my manner o’ thinkin’, a woman as ‘ll give away four pair o’ brand-new hand-knit stockin’s for no better reason ’n ’t the heels shrunk down under her instep, is doin’ a deed o’ Christian charity instead o’ layin’ herself open to all manner o’ fun-makin’.  ‘N’ I ain’t the only one ’s views the thing so serious, either, for Mr. Shores feels jus’ ’s bad ’s I do about it.  He come runnin’ to catch me the other day, ‘n’ asked me ’f I had n’t mebbe used cold water for the first washin’.  I did n’t feel to thank him none f’r his interest afore he opened his mouth, but I c’n assure you, Mrs. Lathrop, ‘t after he’d spoke I jus’ stood there plum-petrified ‘n’ stock-starin’