from morning till night."

"I am so glad. I only saw Mr. Stanley at the time of the launching of
the ship, you remember, but thought him worthy of any woman's love. Do
you still have delightful times at quiltings and huskings?"

"In the country, customs rarely change. The young ladies still have
their quilting parties. Rachel will soon be getting her fixings, and
we doubtless shall have jolly times."

"I should like to be able to help her. With so many things to care
for, I do not suppose she finds much time for reading?"

"Very little. Besides, we do not have many books to read. 'The New
Hampshire Gazette' comes once a week, giving us a little glimpse of
what is going on in the world."

"I forgot you have no bookstore with all the new volumes printed in
London,--history, travel, poetry, and novels, as we have here."

She said that Mr. Knox, the bookseller, had been very kind to her,
supplying her with the new books arriving from London, and had just
handed her the poems of Oliver Goldsmith.

The afternoon waned.

"Shall we go up on the housetop and see the sun set?" Berinthia asked.

The harbor, the fleet of warships at anchor, the distant ocean, the
distant woodlands, made a beautiful panorama.

"When I see such beauty," said Miss Newville, "I want to be an artist
or a poet to give expression to my feelings. See the purple and gold
on the Milton Hills, the light on the water, the russet and crimson of
the forests! How beautiful!" she cried, with a rich bloom upon her
cheek as she gazed upon the landscape. The tap of a drum and the
tramping of a regiment along the street attracted her attention. "I am
weary of seeing scarlet uniforms," she said.

"Will you not make an exception of those who call upon Miss Newville?"
Berinthia asked.

"No. I do not even care to see General Gage or Earl Percy in their
gold-laced coats. They are delightful gentlemen, and frequent visitors
in our home. I find much pleasure in listening to Earl Percy's
description of things in London; but I should be better pleased were
he to visit us as a citizen, laying aside his military trappings, the
emblems of arbitrary power."

[Illustration: LORD PERCY]

The sun was sinking behind the western hills. As the last beams
faded from the gilded vane of Christ Church, they heard the beating of
drums and the shrill piping of boatswain's whistles on the decks of
the warships. A cannon flashed on the bastion of the Castle, and the
boom of th