The Freemason's Daughter: A Novel — page 89: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

80 THE FREEMASONS DAUGHTER. sorts of idle pets. Not that they gave his wife any additional labour—that she would not have minded— for Tim always attended to them himself. ‘The poor woman regretted the money expended in bird-seed and bran; for, however short the family commons might be, the master of the establishment never suffered the poor dumb creatures to want. ““It were too bad,” he used to say, ‘‘ to deprive them of their liberty and starve them into the bargain.” Amongst the rabbit fanciers, im was renowned for a breed of long-eared grays, which were the pride of his heart. Their hutches were carefully cleaned out twice a day; want who might, they were sure to be well fed: indeed, the poor fellow had often been known, after a hard day’s labour, to walk several miles into the country to bring home some green meat for his favourites ; which, after his children, he loved better than anything else in the world, Meg, of course, excepted. When weaving was brisk, all was peace and sun- shine in the cottage; but when work fell slack, and hunger pressed, Meg would sometimes complain bitterly of the expense of her good man’s favourites ; indeed, Tim had caught her more than once eyeing them with a murderous expression, which alarmed him for their safety ; but the sternness with which he had repelled all insinuations of ‘‘ What a nice pie the old buck would make!” the deaf ear he had turned to all hints of a stew of the young ones, had hitherto averted the ecomnuicloooks (SO