Astonished, she stepped backward, forgetting the two steps that she had
just ascended. Flat upon her back she fell, the pan of cream drenching
her from head to foot.
"It's drownded I am! It's drownded I am!" she cried at the top of her
voice.
"What's the matter? How did it happen?" said Mandy, as she rushed into
the room, followed by Swiss.
"Shure it's thinkin' I was," moaned Mrs. Crowley, "when the milk fell on
me."
"Thinkin' of what?" cried Mandy sharply. "You couldn't have been
thinkin' of your business."
"Shure I was thinkin' of the day when Pat Crowley and I both sat in the
same chair, forty years ago," said Mrs. Crowley, rising to her feet and
wiping the cream from her eyes, and nose, and ears.
During this time Swiss was busily engaged having a rich feast upon the
cream left in the pan. Hiram appeared at the kitchen door to learn the
cause of Mandy's absence.
Raising her hands high in the air, Mrs. Crowley said, "Bless you, my
darlints; may yer live long and may all the saints pour blessin's on yer
hids."
And with this invocation the poor old woman hobbled off to her room in
the ell and was not seen again until the next morning.
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