It's  bad  work  for  me,  lying  out  o'  my  money."

"  I  wish  you'd  be  so  good  as  let  the  children  come
and  see  their  cousins  some  day.  My  little  uns
want  to  see  their  cousin  Maggie,  so  as  never  was.
And  me  her  god-mother,  and  so  fond  of  her — there's
nobody  'ud  make  a  bigger  fuss  with  her,  according
to  what  they've  got.  And  I  know  she  likes  to  come,
for  she's  a  loving  child,  and  how  quick  and  clever
she  is,  to  be  sure  ! "

If  Mrs  Moss  had  been  one  of  the  most  astute
women  in  the  world,  instead  of  being  one  of  the
simplest,  she  could  have  thought  of  nothing  more
likely  to  propitiate  her  brother  than  this  praise  of
Maggie.  He  seldom  found  any  one  volunteering
praise  of  "  the  little  wench : "  it  was  usually  left
entirely  to  himself  to  insist  on  her  merits.  But
Maggie  always  appeared  in  the  most  amiable  light
at  her  aunt  Moss's  :  it  was  her  Alsatia,  where  she

VOL.  I.  K


146  THE  MILL  ON  THE  FLOSS.
