"Let her alane," she said, with a twitching mouth and filmy eyes. "Let
her alane. Let my bairn pray for Jean Myles."




CHAPTER VII

COMIC OVERTURE TO A TRAGEDY


"Jean Myles bides in London" was the next remarkable news brought by
Tommy from Thrums Street. "And that ain't all, Magerful Tam is her man;
and that ain't all, she has a laddie called Tommy and that ain't all,
Petey and the rest has never seen her in London, but she writes letters
to Thrums folks and they writes to Petey and tells him what she said.
That ain't all neither, they canna find out what street she bides in,
but it's on the bonny side of London, and it's grand, and she wears silk
clothes, and her Tommy has velvet trousers, and they have a servant as
calls him 'sir.' Oh, I would just like to kick him! They often looks for
her in the grand streets, but they're angry at her getting on so well,
and Martha Scrymgeour said it were enough to make good women like her
stop going reg'lar to the kirk."

"Martha said that!" exclaimed his mother, highly pleased. "Heard you
anything of a woman called Esther Auld? Her man does the orra work at
the Tappit Hen public in Thrums."

"He's head man at the Tappit Hen public now," answered Tommy; "and she
wishes she could find out where Jean Myles bides, so as she could write