"'Y-a-a-s?' in a tone of voice to put out a bonfire.

"'Oh, it doesn't matter,' she said quick and shaky; 'it was silly
of me. I only thought----' Well, she was tremblin' with cold or
somethin', and kind of near cryin', too--one of them women that
wears themselves out by botherin' to be good, and if they are good,
botherin' about what ought to be done next. In short, as the
saying is, I forgot my part.

"'Why, you poor little critter,' says I; 'you're near froze to
death--take a drop of this,' pullin' out a flask of Peg-leg's best.

"'What?' she says, starting back in horror. 'Can that be _whisky_?'

"'Madam!' says I, rememberin', 'how dast you? That's a
prescription put up by my favorite physician--a small dose will do
you a large good. Try a piece, and we'll go in the station, where
it's warmer, I hope, and talk it over.'

"She strangled some, but downed a trifle.

"There was a good old lignite fire blazin' away 'n the station.

"'Now that you've been _so_ kind to me,' she says, 'I dare tell you
what I thought.'

"She had stopped shiverin'--Peg-leg's best knocked shivers quick.

"'I don't want you to think I do not believe in our tenets, because