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Uncle Silas - A Tale of Bartram-Haugh by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
page 334 of 641 (52%)

'What chaise?' spluttered the beldame tartly.

'The chaise that came last night, past two o'clock,' said Milly.

'That's a lie, and a damn lie!' cried the beldame. 'There worn't no chaise
at the door since Miss Maud there come from Knowl.'

I stared at the audacious old menial who could utter such language.

'Yes, there was a chaise, and Cormoran, as I think, be come in it,' said
Milly, who seemed accustomed to L'Amour's daring address.

'And there's another damn lie, as big as the t'other,' said the crone, her
haggard and withered face flushing orange all over.

'I beg you will not use such language in my room,' I replied, very angrily.
'I saw the chaise at the door; your untruth signifies very little, but
your impertinence here I will not permit. Should it be repeated, I will
assuredly complain to my uncle.'

The old woman flushed more fiercely as I spoke, and fixed her bleared glare
on me, with a compression of her mouth that amounted to a wicked grimace.
She resisted her angry impulse, however, and only chuckled a little
spitefully, saying,

'No offence, miss: it be a way we has in Derbyshire o' speaking our minds.
No offence, miss, were meant, and none took, as I hopes,' and she made me
another courtesy. 'And I forgot to tell you, Miss Milly, the master wants
you this minute.'
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