THE WILD-DUCK SHOOTER.
master she meant her husband; 'but thou art welcome to my bit and sup, for I was waiting for him; maybe it will put a little warmth in thee to eat and drink;' so saying, she took up a mug of beer from the hearth, and pushed it towards him, with her share of the supper.
'Thank you,' said the boy, 'but I am so wet I am making quite a pool before your fire with the drippings from my clothes.'
'Ay, thou art wet, indeed,' said the woman, and, rising again, she went to an old box, in which she began to search, and presently came to the fire with a perfectly clean checked shirt in her hand, and a tolerably good suit of clothes.
'There,' said she, showing them with no small pride, 'these be my master's Sunday clothes, and if thou wilt be very careful of them, I'll let thee wear them till thine be dry.' She then explained that she was going to put her 'bairn' to bed, and proceeded up a ladder into the room above, leaving the boy to array himself in these respectable and desirable garments.
When she came down her guest had dressed himself in the laborer's clothes; he had had time to warm himself, and he was eating and drinking with hungry relish. He had thrown his muddy clothes in a heap upon the floor, and, as she proceeded to lift them up, she said, 'Ah! lad, lad, I doubt thy head has been under water; thy poor mother would have been sorely frightened if she could have seen thee awhile ago.'
'Yes,' said the boy; and, in imagination, the cottage dame saw this said mother, a care-worn, hard-
