in Pharo. "I have worked sometimes,
Sundays--poo! poo! hohum!--but not 'less 'twas somethin' 'mportant,
gettin' in hay or somethin' like that. And I have--poo! poo! hohum!
Wal, wal--hauled out my lobster car sometimes Sundays waitin' for the
smack--hohum!"

"Pharo," said Uncle Coffin, holding up his finger, "no more! I know
ye. Thar ain't an ongodly bone in yer body--'cept maybe when ye've
lost yer pipe an' cussed a little."

"An' the women folks wants to haul ye over somewhar's on a flat sea to
have yer gol darn pictur' took!" said Captain Pharo, with poignant
recollection of a still unquiet grief.

"Kobbe," said Uncle Coffin, "no more!"

"'I know not why I love her,
The fair an' beau'chus she;
She bro't the cuss upon me,
Und'neath the apple-tree:
But she asked me for my jack knife,
And halved 'er squar' with me,
Sence all'as lovely woman
Gives the biggest half to thee.'"

"Judah's wife writ that," exclaimed Captain Pharo, with a generic awe
of poetry as poetry.

"She did," said Uncle Coffin, with eyes appreciative of the muse fixed
gravely on the fire, "she did."

There was a daughter of Eve who was treating me very severely.

Instead of the old encouraging smile and gleam of merry recognition or
sympathy in her eyes, there was now an averted gaze, bent very
brightly, it seemed, on every one but me; in that direction alone, a
studied coldness, a haughty carriage of the head. What could I
expect?--but it broke my heart.

I subscribed silently to the mood of Belle O'Neill, whose mind was
subject to vagaries, and who in the midst of the gay company was
playing weird, plaintive "revival" tunes upon the mouth-harp,
enthusiastically absorbed in her art.

Her mistress, Miss Pray, who notably for some time had been receiving
the attentions of Pershal, the man who had been in California, had
withdrawn with him, with tacit understanding of apologies, to the
kitchen, where they were carrying on their courting, as all good Basins
should, undisturbed.

The young people were playing a game of forfeits. I heard Vesty's
penalty pronounced; it was, to go and put her hand upon "the handsomest
man in the room."

She began to move, with her lovely, erect head and brilliant, averted
smile, toward the fireplace. Surely she would not put any ignominy or
mockery upon me--ah, no! I knew in my heart. But she came nearer, and
I gazed, spellbound; and then she bowed her beautiful head with a