rapped in the woods.
An' then the durned fiddler, moved by the devil, I'll be be bound, plumb
furgot ter change 'em back. So they danced haf'n the day tergether. An'
arter that they war forever a-stealin' off an' accidentally meetin' at
the spring, an' whenst he war a-huntin' or she drivin' up the cow, an'
a-courtin' ginerally, till they war promised ter marry."

"'Twarn't the bran dance; 'twar suthin' ez fleet-in' an' ez useless,"
said his mother, standing in the door and gazing at the unconscious
girl, who was leaning upon the hoe, half in the shadow of the blooming
laurel that crowded about the enclosure and bent over the rail fence,
and half in the burnished sunshine; "she's plumb beautiful--thar's the
snare ez tangled Abs'lom's steps. I never 'lowed ter see the day ez
could show enny comfort fur his dad bein' dead, but we hev been spared
some o' the tallest cavortin' that ever war seen sence the Big Smoky
war built. Sometimes it plumb skeers me ter think ez we-uns hev got a
Quimbey abidin' up hyar along o' we-uns in _his_ house an' a-callin' o'
herse'f Kittredge. I looks ter see him a-stalkin' roun' hyar some night,
too outdone an' aggervated ter rest in his grave."

But the nights continued spectreless and peaceful on the Great Smoky,
and the same serene stars shone above the mountain as over the Cove.
Evelina could watch here, as often before, the rising moon ascending
through a rugged gap in the range, suffusing the dusky purple slopes and
the black crags on either hand with a pensive glamour, and revealing the
river below by the amber reflection its light evoked. She often sat on
the step of the porch, her elbow on her knees, her chin in her hand,
following with her shining eyes the pearly white mists loitering among
the ranges. Hear! a dog barks in the Cove, a cock crows, a horn is
wound, far, far away; it echoes faintly. And once more only the sounds
of the night--that vague stir in the windless woods, as if the forest
breathes, the far-away tinkle of water hidden in the darkness--and the
moon is among the summits.

The men remained within, for Absalom avoided the chill night air, and
crouched over the smouldering fire. Peter's wife sedulously held aloof
from the ostracized Quimbey woman. But her mother-in-law had fallen into
the habit of sitting upon the porch these moonlit nights. The sparse,
newly-leafed hop and gourd vines clambering to its roof were all
delicately imaged on the floor, and the old woman