No strangers shall be charged
for room and lodging in any house where Mrs. Matilda Pitman lives.
Remember that, though I may have come down in the world, I haven't quite
forgot all decency for all that. I knew you was a skinflint when Amelia
married you, and you've made her as bad as yourself. But Mrs. Matilda
Pitman has been boss for a long time, and Mrs. Matilda Pitman will
remain boss. Here you, Robert Chapley, take yourself out of here and let
that girl get dressed. And you, Amelia, go downstairs and cook a
breakfast for her."
Never, in all her life, had Rilla seen anything like the abject meekness
with which those two big people obeyed that mite. They went without word
or look of protest. As the door closed behind them Mrs. Matilda Pitman
laughed silently, and rocked from side to side in her merriment.
"Ain't it funny?" she said. "I mostly lets them run the length of their
tether, but sometimes I has to pull them up, and then I does it with a
jerk. They don't dast aggravate me, because I've got considerable hard
cash, and they're afraid I won't leave it all to them. Neither I will.
I'll leave 'em some, but some I won't, just to vex 'em. I haven't made
up my mind where I will leave it but I'll have to, soon, for at eighty a
body is living on borrowed time. Now, you can take your time about
dressing, my dear, and I'll go down and keep them mean scallawags in
order.
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