But Miss Tranter, she don't listen to maids' gabble,--she's doin' well, devil or no devil--an' if any one was to talk to 'er 'bout ghosteses an' sich-like, she'd wallop 'em out of 'er bar with a broom! Ay, that she would! She's a powerful strong woman Miss Tranter, an' many's the larker what's felt 'er 'and on 'is collar a-chuckin' 'im out o' the 'Trusty Man' neck an' crop for sayin' somethin' what aint ezackly agreeable to 'er feelin's.

She don't stand no nonsense, an' though she's lib'ral with 'er pennorths an' pints she don't wait till a man's full boozed 'fore lockin' up the tap-room.

'Git to bed, yer hulkin' fools!' sez she, 'or ye may change my '_O_tel for the Sheriff's.' An' they all knuckles down afore 'er as if they was childer gettin' spanked by their mother.

Ah, she'd 'a made a grand wife for a man! 'E wouldn't 'ave 'ad no chance to make a pig of hisself if she'd been anywheres round!" "Perhaps she won't take me in!" suggested Helmsley.
"She will, an' that sartinly!" said Peke.

"She'll not refuse bed an' board to any friend o' mine." "Friend!" Helmsley echoed the word wonderingly.
"Ay, friend! Any one's a friend what trusts to ye on the road, aint 'e?
Leastways that's 'ow I take it." "As I said before, you are very kind to me," murmured Helmsley; "and I have already asked you--Why ?" "There aint no rhyme nor reason in it," answered Peke.