Her theory was that the
Major had suffered, at some period or other, a great shock to his
affections--a supposition that failed to find confirmation in the
regular appetite and the eccentric neatness of the person who had
received the shock. Whether the lady's theory was correct or not, none
of us had an opportunity to know, for we would as soon have expected
to see the Major come into the dining-room without his coat as to have
heard him speak of his personal affairs. The widow was a new boarder;
if she had been there as long as the rest of us she would have known
that whatever he might have suffered in the past, the Major's heart
was now full to the brim of affection for a female, and that female
not longer than his arm.
She couldn't have been over three years old, and was the only girl
among four boys, running up like stair steps. I can see her now under
a broad summer hat that would have covered the top of a barrel. The
crown had given away and her little blue eyes would be oftener looking
out through the gap than from under the brim. Her stockings were never
both tied up at the same time, except when her mother turned her over,
fresh dressed, in the morning to the Major, or when she put on her
"tose" in the evening to walk with him.
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