res--Isaac and Melissa and Julius Caesar and I.

At four o'clock Isaac got up and went into the house; in a few minutes
he came out again with a basket in one hand and a ball of cord in the
other.

"I don't intend to starve you, of course, ladies," he said politely,
"I will throw this ball up to you and you can then draw up the
basket."

I caught the ball, for Melissa never turned her head. I would have
preferred to be scornful, too, and reject the food altogether; but I
was so dreadfully thirsty that I put my pride in my pocket and hauled
the basket up. Besides, I thought it might enable us to hold out until
some loophole of escape presented itself.

Isaac went back into the house and I unpacked the basket. There was a
bottle of milk, some bread and butter, and a pie. Melissa wouldn't
take a morsel of the food, but she was so thirsty she had to take a
drink of milk.

She tried to lift her veil--and something caught; Melissa gave it a
savage twitch, and off came veil and hat--and all her front hair!

You never saw such a sight. I'd always suspected Melissa wore a false
front, but I'd never had any proof before.

Melissa pinned on her hair again and put on her hat and drank the
milk, all without a word; but she was purple. I felt sorry for her.

And I felt sorry for Isaac when I tried to eat that bread. It was sour
and dreadful. As for the pie, it was hopeless. I tasted it, and then
threw it down to Julius Caesar. Julius Caesar, not being over
particular, ate it up. I thought perhaps it would kill him, for
anything might come of eating such a concoction. That pie was a strong
argument for Isaac. I thought a man who had to live on such cookery
did indeed need a wife and might be pardoned for taking desperate
measures to get one. I was dreadfully tired of broiling on the roof
anyhow.

But it was the thunderstorm that decided me. When I saw it coming up,
black and quick, from the northwest, I gave in at once. I had endured
a good deal and was prepared to endure more; but I had paid ten
dollars for my hat and I was not going to have it ruined by a
thunderstorm. I called to Isaac and out he came.

"If you will let us down and promise to dispose of that dog before I
come here I will marry you, Isaac," I said, "but I'll make you sorry
for it afterwards, though."

"I'll take the risk of that, Anne," he said; "and, of course, I'll
sell the dog. I won't need him when I have you."

Isaac meant to be complimentary, t