Kilmeny of the Orchard 
     
    
   
   
    
     ‘ what’s bred in bone is mighty apt 
     
     to come out in flesh,’ if ’taint kept down 
     
     pretty well. Neil’s smart and a great 
     
     worker, they tell me. But folks here— 
     
     abouts don’t like him. They say he ain’t 
     
     to be trusted further’n you can see him, 
     
     if as far. It’s certain he’s awful hot 
     
     tempered, and one time when he was go- 
     
     ing to school he near about killed a boy 
     
     he’d took a spite to—choked him till he 
     
     was black in the face and Neil had to be 
     
     dragged ofi.” 
     
    

    
     “ Well now, father, you know they 
     
     teased him terrible,” protested Mrs. 
     
     Williamson. “ The poor boy had a real 
     
     hard time when he went to school, Master. 
     
     The other children were always cast- 
     
     ing things up to him and calling him 
     
     names.” 
     
    

    
     “ Oh, I daresay they tormented him a 
     
     lot,” admitted her husband. “He’s a 
     
     great hand at the fiddle and likes com- 
     
     pany. He goes to the harbour a good deal. 
     
     But they say he takes sulky spells when 
     
    
   
   
    
     48