"Nothing, lady-bird!" answered Dame Suddlechop; "and do you use to
send for your friends out of bed at this hour for nothing?"
"It was not I who sent for you, dame," replied the malecontent maiden.
"And who was it, then?" said Ursula; "for if I had not been sent for,
I had not been here at this time of night, I promise you!"
"It was the old Scotch fool Jenny, who did it out of her own head, I
suppose," said Margaret; "for she has been stunning me these two hours
about you and Mother Redcap."
"Me and Mother Redcap!" said Dame Ursula, "an old fool indeed, that
couples folk up so.--But come, come, my sweet little neighbour, Jenny
is no such fool after all; she knows young folks want more and better
advice than her own, and she knows, too, where to find it for them; so
you must take heart of grace, my pretty maiden, and tell me what you
are moping about, and then let Dame Ursula alone for finding out a
cure."
"Nay, an ye be so wise, Mother Ursula," replied the girl, "you may
guess what I ail without my telling you."
"Ay, ay, child," answered the complaisant matron, "no one can play
better than I at the good old game of What is my thought like? Now
I'll warrant that little head of yours is running on a new head-tire,
a foot higher than those our city dames wear--or you are all for a
trip to Islington or Ware, and your father is cross and will not
consent--or----"
"Or you are an old fool, Dame Suddlechop," said Margaret, peevishly,
"and must needs trouble yourself about matters you know nothing of.
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