156 More Tales of the Birds 



say ; and boys too. But Mag was to be Nelly's 

 property as much as mine, by that treaty of 

 alliance, for ever and ever ; and that treaty was 

 never broken. But I must go on. 



" When my ankle was getting well, there came 

 a neat maidservant to the cottage one day, and 

 said that Miss Pringle wished to see me at six 

 o'clock precisely ; and wondering what she could 

 want with me, I made myself uncomfortable in 

 my best clothes and limped up the village to 

 her back door. I was shown into a very neat 

 parlour, where Miss Pringle sat in a stiff chair 

 knitting. 



" She was the old maid of our village, and 

 when I've told you that, you know a good bit 

 about her. She was a tightish sort of an old 

 maid tight in the lips, and tight in her dress, 

 and tight, so they said, in her purse-strings too ; 

 but you shall form your own opinion of that 

 presently. She had neat curls on each side 

 of her head, and a neat thin nose, rather large, 

 and she sat a bit forward and looked at you 

 as if she'd found a speck of dirt on you 

 somewhere. I always felt as if I had a smut 



