cap and front, and whose eyes were as bright as black beads.
She wore no bonnet, and had thrown a little three-cornered shawl, with
palm-leaf figures, over her shoulders; and it was evident that she was a
near neighbor. She was very short and straight and thin, and so quick
that she darted like a pickerel when she moved about. It occurred to me
at once that she was a very capable person, and had "faculty," and, dear
me, how fast she talked! She hesitated a moment when she saw me, and
dropped a fragment of a courtesy. "Miss Lan'k'ster?" said she,
doubtfully.

"No," said I, "I'm Miss Denis: Miss Lancaster is at home, though: come
in, won't you?"

"O Mrs. Patton!" said Kate, who came down just then. "How very kind of
you to come over so soon! I should have gone to see you to-day. I was
asking Mrs. Kew last night if you were here."

"Land o' compassion!" said Mrs. Patton, as she shook Kate's hand
delightedly. "Where'd ye s'pose I'd be, dear? I ain't like to move away
from Deephaven now, after I've held by the place so long, I've got as
many roots as the big ellum. Well, I should know you were a Brandon, no
matter where I see you. You've got a real Brandon look; tall and
straight, ain't you? It's four or five years since I saw you, except
once at church, and once you went by, down to the shore, I suppose. It
was a windy day in the spring of the year."

"I remember it very well," said Kate. "Those were both visits of only a
day or two, and I was here at Aunt Katharine's funeral, and went away
that same evening. Do you remember once I was here in the summer for a
longer visit, five or six years ago, and I helped you pick currants in
the garden? You had a very old mug."

"Now, whoever would ha' thought o' your rec'lecting that?" said Mrs.
Patton. "Yes. I had that mug because it was handy to carry about among
the bushes, and then I'd empt' it into the basket as fast as I got it
full. Your aunt always told me to pick all I wanted; she couldn't use
'em, but they used to make sights o' currant wine in old times. I s'pose
that mug would be considerable of a curiosity to anybody that wasn't
used to seeing it round. My grand'ther Joseph Toggerson--my mother was a
Toggerson--picked it up on the long sands in a wad of sea-weed: strange
it wasn't broke, but it's tough; I've dropped it on the floor, many's
the time, and it ain't even chipped. There's some Dutch reading on it
and it's marked 1732. Now I shouldn't ha' thought you'd re