ch head-piece sat above her curls like a helmet. "Don't
be a-gettin' sentimental, Ruey, whatever else you get--and talkin' like
Miss Emily Sewell about match-makin'; I can't stand it; it rises on my
stomach, such talk does. As to that ar Moses Pennel, folks ain't so
certain as they thinks what he'll do. Sally Kittridge may think he's
a-goin' to have her, because he's been a-foolin' round with her all
summer, and Sally Kittridge may jist find she's mistaken, that's all."

"Yes," said Miss Ruey, "I 'member when I was a girl my old aunt, Jerushy
Hopkins, used to be always a-dwellin' on this Scripture, and I've been
havin' it brought up to me this mornin': 'There are three things which
are too wonderful for me, yea, four, which I know not: the way of an
eagle in the air, the way of a serpent upon a rock, the way of a ship in
the sea, and the way of a man with a maid.' She used to say it as a
kind o' caution to me when she used to think Abram Peters was bein'
attentive to me. I've often reflected what a massy it was that ar never
come to nothin', for he's a poor drunken critter now."

"Well, for my part," said Miss Roxy, fixing her eyes critically on the
boat that was just at the landing, "I should say the ways of a maid with
a man was full as particular as any of the rest of 'em. Do look at Sally
Kittridge now. There's Tom Hiers a-helpin' her out of the boat; and did
you see the look she gin Moses Pennel as she went by him? Wal', Moses has
got Mara on his arm anyhow; there's a gal worth six-and-twenty of the
other. Do see them ribbins and scarfs, and the furbelows, and the way
that ar Sally Kittridge handles her eyes. She's one that one feller
ain't never enough for."

Mara's heart beat fast when the boat touched the shore, and Moses and
one or two other young men came to assist in their landing. Never had he
looked more beautiful than at this moment, when flushed with excitement
and satisfaction he stood on the shore, his straw hat off, and his black
curls blowing in the sea-breeze. He looked at Sally with a look of frank
admiration as she stood there dropping her long black lashes over her
bright cheeks, and coquettishly looking out from under them, but she
stepped forward with a little energy of movement, and took the offered
hand of Tom Hiers, who was gazing at her too with undisguised rapture,
and Moses, stepping into the boat, helped Mrs. Pennel on shore, and then
took Mara on his arm, looking her over as he did so w