e party as much
as Galusha anticipated. "Git 'long, Kittie!" he said, retiring into
himself and seeking solace in a fresh mouthful of tobacco. He couldn't
contain himself long, though. He soon exclaimed, "So you's the folks as
has took the cottage yonder. Well, I want t' know!" He paused again to
chew awhile, and then continued, "Yer ain't bin much hereabouts, I
reckon?" Another reflective cud. "Well, 'tain't so durned 'citin' here,
maybe, as 't might be up to Bosting, but we 'casion'lly gets up reels
an' sich for the young folks an' 'joys erselves.--Go 'long, Kittie!--You
heard tell, I reckon, on Farmer Manton, lives down 'longside this here
cottage of yourn. No? Well, I want t' know. He's 'sider'ble of a man in
these parts, Manton is. His gals is great on's on flare-ups, an'
powerful smart gals they be, too.--Go 'long, Kittie Krinklebottom!--But
durn me if he ain't got the cussedest boy as ever stepped! He don't do
nothin' but mope about an' ac' silly. He didn't never do no chores about
the yard nor nothin', an' one fine day he come to Manton an' says,
'Dad,' says he, 'I want to go to college,' says he. Well, the old man
was that cumflusticated an' took aback that says he, 'John,' says he,
'yer ain't no durned use on the farm,' says he, 'an', if yer got the
notion, go, an' God bless yer!' An' John went,--that's nigh onter four
year ago,--an' he ain't got ter be perfessor nor nothin' yet. I guess as
he's cracked; an' one day says I, kinder kind-like, 'Farmer Manton,'
says I, 'John's not right,' says I. 'Galusha,' says he, kinder hot, 'you
mind yer own business,' says he. 'I ain't father to no idjots.' An' I
ain't said no more sence."

Galusha laughed long and heartily over this reminiscence, while Kittie
jogged on along the road to the sea. Presently they turned a sharp bend
in the road; a pretty little Queen-Anne cottage came in sight, backing
upon a thick wood and overlooking the ocean, and Galusha, reining in the
mare, just as though she would not have come to a halt unassisted,
exclaimed, "Here yer be!"

It required, of course, three or four days for Mabel to become
accustomed to her new surroundings. There was the prettily-furnished
house to make acquaintance with, while she wondered all the time what
ever induced its owner to plant it so utterly out of the world; there
was the little forest of pines to explore, and its most romantic nooks
to be discovered; and there was the sea, a thing of never-failing
beauty,