"I guess I'd better be goin'," he returned, doggedly.

"Goin'? Where?"

"I don't know. But I'm goin'."

"Now look here," said Mrs. Wadleigh, with rigor. "You take that chair,
an' draw up to the fire. You do as I tell you!"

He did it.

"Now, I can't hender your goin', but if you do go, I've got a word to
say to you."

"You needn't say it! I don't want nobody's advice."

"Well, you've got to have it jest the same! When you bile potaters,
don't you let 'em run over onto the stove. Now you remember! I've had
to let the fire go down here, an' scrub till I could ha' cried. Don't
you never do such a thing ag'in, wherever you be!"

He could only look at her. This sort of woman was entirely new to his
experience.

"But I've got somethin' else to say," she continued, adjusting her feet
more comfortably. "I ain't goin' to turn anybody out into the snow,
such a night as this. You're welcome to stay, but I want to know what
brought ye here. I ain't one o' them that meddles an' makes, an' if you
'ain't done nothin' out o' the way, an' I ain't called on for a