From them she
presently produced a child's nightgown, petticoat, and woollen
skirt, a pair of coarse shoes much worn, and an old plaid shawl:
with these she approached 'Toinette.
"See! I've got your own clo'es here all ready for you. Ain't I
good?"
"They ain't my clothes: I won't have 'em on. Go away, you naughty
lady, you ain't good a bit!" screamed 'Toinette, passionately
striking at the clothes and the hand that held them.
"Come, come, miss, none o' them airs! Take that, now, and mend your
manners!" exclaimed the old woman with a blow upon the bare white
shoulder, which left the print of all her horny fingers. It was the
first time in all her life that 'Toinette had been struck; and the
blood rushed to her face, and then away, leaving her as white as
marble. She cried no more, but, fixing her eyes upon the face of the
old woman, said solemnly,--
"Now the Lord doesn't love you. Did you know it was the bad spirits
that made you strike me? Mamma said so when I struck Susan."
"Shut up! I don't want none of your preaching, miss," replied the
woman angrily. "Here, put on these duds about the quickest, or I'll
give you worse than that. Lor, what a mess of hair! What's the good
on't? Maybe, though, they'd give some'at for it to the store.
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