sdain,
"I reckon I know how to behave myself as well as Telie Doe, or any other
girl in the settlement;"--a declaration echoed and re-echoed by her
sisters, all of whom bent their eyes towards a corner of the ample porch,
where, busied with a rude loom, fashioned perhaps by the axe and knife of
the militia colonel himself, on which she was weaving a coarse cloth from
the fibres of the flax-nettle, sat a female somewhat younger than the
eldest of the sisters, and doubtless of a more humble degree, as was
shown by the labour in which she was engaged, while the others seemed to
enjoy a holiday, and by her coarse brown garments, worn at a moment when
the fair Bruces were flaunting in their best bibs and tuckers, the same
having been put on not more in honour of the exiles, whose coming had
been announced the day before, than out of compliment to the young men of
the settlement, who were wont to assemble on such occasions to gather the
latest news from the States.

The pattern of good manners thus referred to, was as unconscious of the
compliment bestowed upon her by the worthy Mrs. Bruce as of the glances
of disdain it drew from the daughters, being apparently at that moment
too much occupied with her work to think of anything else; nor did she
lift up her eyes until, the conversation having been resumed between the
mother and daughters, one of the latter demanded "what was the name of
that army captain, that was so rich and great, of whom her mother had
been talking?"

"Captain Roland Forrester," replied the latter; at the sound of which
name the maiden at the loom started and looked up with an air of fright,
that caused exceeding diversion among the others. "Look at Telie Doe!"
they cried, laughing: "you can't speak above your breath but she thinks
you are speaking to her; and, sure, you can't speak to her, but she looks
as if she would jump out of her skin, and run away for her dear life!"

And so, indeed, the girl did appear for a moment, looking as wild and
terrified as the animal whose name she bore, when the first bay of the
deer-hound startles her in the deep woodland pastures, rolling her eyes,
catching her breath convulsively, shivering, and, in short, betraying a
degree of agitation; that would have appeared unaccountable to a
stranger; though, as it caused more amusement than surprise among the
merry Bruces, it was but fair to suppose that it sprung from
constitutional nervousness, or the sudden interruption o