" Sarah cast a half-timid, half-shrewd glance at
Charlotte, who put the dollar in her pocket.
"A green satin cape, lined and wadded, would be handsome," pursued
her mother.
"I sha'n't ever come out bride," said Charlotte.
"How you talk. There, he's comin' now!"
And, indeed, at that the clang of the knocker sounded through the
house. Charlotte took off her apron and started to answer it, but her
mother caught her and pinned up a stray lock of hair. "I 'most wish
you had put on your other dress again," she whispered.
Sarah listened with her ear close to the crack of the kitchen door
when her daughter opened the outside one. She heard Thomas Payne's
hearty greeting and Charlotte's decorous reply. The door of the front
room shut, then she set the kitchen door ajar softly, but she could
hear nothing but a vague hum of voices across the entry; she could
not distinguish a word. However, it was as well that she could not,
for her heart would have sunk, as did poor Thomas Payne's.
Thomas, with his thick hair brushed into a shining roll above his
fair high forehead, in his best flowered waistcoat and blue coat with
brass buttons, sat opposite Charlotte, his two nicely booted feet
toeing out squarely on the floor, his two hands on his knees, and
listened to what she had to say, while his boyish face changed and
whitened.
Pages:
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164