ht she would
be safe, and therefore she had come out to walk.

"What do you think?" said Cherry; "we are going to have a party next
week."

"It won't be till the week after," said Augusta.

"At any rate, we are going to have a party, and you must come. You'll
get a regular invite, you know, when they're sent out. Mr. Rowan's
mother and sister are coming down on a visit to us for a few days,
and so we're going to be quite smart."

"I don't know about going to a party. I suppose it is for a dance?"

"Of course it is for a dance," said Martha.

"And of course you'll come and dance with Luke Rowan," said Cherry.
Nothing could be more imprudent than Cherry Tappitt, and Augusta
was beginning to be aware of this, though she had not been allowed
to participate in her mother's schemes. After that, there was much
talking about the party, but the conversation was chiefly kept up by
the Tappitt girls. Rachel was almost sure that her mother would not
like her to go to a dance, and was quite sure that her sister would
oppose such iniquity with all her power; therefore she made no
promise. But she listened as the list was repeated of those who were
expected to come, and asked some few questions as to Mrs. Rowan and
her daughter. Then, at a sudden turn of a lane, a lane that led back
to the town by another route, they met Luke Rowan himself.

He was a cousin of the Tappitts, and therefore, though the
relationship was not near, he had already assumed the privilege of
calling them by their Christian names; and Martha, who was nearly
thirty years old, and four years his senior, had taught herself
to call him Luke; with the other two he was as yet Mr. Rowan. The
greeting was of course very friendly, and he returned with them on
their path. To Rachel he raised his hat, and then offered his hand.
She had felt herself to be confused the moment she saw him,--so
confused that she was not able to ask him how he was with ordinary
composure. She was very angry with herself, and heartily wished that
she was seated with the Dorcas women at Miss Pucker's. Any position
would have been better for her than this, in which she was disgracing
herself and showing that she could not bear herself before this young
man as though he were no more than an ordinary acquaintance. Her mind
would revert to that hand-squeezing, to those muttered words, and to
her mother's caution. When he remarked to her that he had come back
earlier than he expected, she cou