If you will have the decency to leave my room -- er -- this room -- until I can get up and dress I shall not transgress upon your hospitality '' -- Rilla was killingly sarcastic -- `` any longer . And I shall pay you amply for the food we have eaten and the night 's lodging I have taken . '' The black-and-white apparition went through the motion of clapping her hands , but not a sound did she make . Perhaps Mr. Chapley was cowed by Rilla 's tone -- or perhaps he was appeased at the prospect of payment ; at all events , he spoke more civilly . `` Well , that 's fair . If you pay up it 's all right . '' `` She shall do no such thing as pay you , '' said Madam Black-and-White in a surprisingly clear , resolute , authoritative tone of voice . `` If you have n't got any shame for yourself , Robert Chapley , you 've got a mother-in-law who can be ashamed for you . No strangers shall be charged for room and lodging in any house where Mrs. Matilda Pitman lives . Remember that , though I may have come down in the world , I have n't quite forgot all decency for all that . I knew you was a skinflint when Amelia married you , and you 've made her as bad as yourself . But Mrs. Matilda Pitman has been boss for a long time , and Mrs. Matilda Pitman will remain boss . Here you , Robert Chapley , take yourself out of here and let that girl get dressed . And you , Amelia , go downstairs and cook a breakfast for her . '' Never , in all her life , had Rilla seen anything like the abject meekness with which those two big people obeyed that mite . They went without word or look of protest . As the door closed behind them Mrs. Matilda Pitman laughed silently , and rocked from side to side in her merriment . `` Ai n't it funny ? '' she said . `` I mostly lets them run the length of their tether , but sometimes I has to pull them up , and then I does it with a jerk .
They do n't dast aggravate me , because I 've got considerable hard cash , and they 're afraid I wo n't leave it all XXXXX them .
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