Patton leaned forward on his stick, shaken with a sort of inward explosion; his plaintive wife laughed under her breath till she must needs sigh because laughter tired her old bones.

Mrs.Brunt gurgled gently.

And finally Mrs.Jellison was carried away.
"Oh, my goodness me, don't you make me tell tales o' Mercy Moss!" she said at last, dashing the water out of her eyes with an excited tremulous hand.

"She's bin dead and gone these forty year--married and buried mos' respeckable--it 'ud be a burning shame to bring up tales agen her now.

Them as tittle-tattles about dead folks needn't look to lie quiet theirselves in their graves.