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"
Three months it is come the seventh since he come in by that very
back door--and I hadn't set eyes on him for seven long years. He stood
in the door watchin' me, and suddenly he let off a yelp--like a dog,
and there he was grinning at the fright he'd given me. 'Good old Aunty
Flo,' he says, 'ain't you dee-lighted to see me?' he says, 'now I'm
Reformed.'"
The plump lady went to the sink and filled the kettle.
"I never did like 'im," she said, standing at the sink. "And seeing
him there, with his teeth all black and broken--. P'raps I didn't give
him much of a welcome at first. Not what would have been kind to him.
'Lord!' I said, 'it's Jim.'"
"'It's Jim,' he said. 'Like a bad shillin'--like a damned bad
shilling. Jim and trouble. You all of you wanted me Reformed and now
you got me Reformed. I'm a Reformatory Reformed Character, warranted
all right and turned out as such. Ain't you going to ask me in, Aunty
dear?'
"'Come in,' I said, 'I won't have it said I wasn't ready to be kind to
you!'
"
He comes in and shuts the door. Down he sits in that chair. 'I come
to torment you!' he says, 'you Old Sumpthing!' and begins at me.... No
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