off with his father," said Judith, giving Perkins a
seat in the passage.

After more preliminary talk the peddler got to his main point, that he
had lots of nice notions and things this year cheaper'n they could be
had in London. All the folks agreed that his things were "cheaper,
considerin' quality, Mis' Braown, than you could git 'em in London."

Judith knew by experience that his things were neither very good nor
very cheap, but her only chance in life to know anything of the
delights of shopping lay in the coming of peddling sloops. One might
order a frock, a bonnet, or a petticoat from London, but one must wait
nearly a year till the tobacco ship returned to get what had been sent
for. It was better to be cheated a little in order to get the pleasure
of making up her mind and then changing it, of fancying herself
possessor now of this and now of that, and finally getting what she
liked best after having had the usufruct of the whole stock. She was
soon examining the goods that Perkins's boy had brought up to
her--fancy things for herself and young Sanford, and coarse cloth for
her servants. She concluded nothing about staple trading till her
husband should return; for prices were to be fixed on the corn and
bacon which must be paid in exchange. But there were articles that she
craved, and of which she preferred not to speak to her husband, for a
while at least, and these she paid for from her little hoard of pieces
of eight, or Spanish dollars. The change she made in fractions of these
coins--actual quarters of dollars cut like pieces of pie. These were
tested in Perkins's little money scales. Less than a quarter of a
dollar was usually disregarded in the South; and as for Perkins, he
never seemed to have any fractional silver to give back in change, but
always proposed some little article that he would put in at cost just
to fill up to the value of a piece of eight.

* * * * *

Paddling with the wind, Sanford Browne's cedar canoe made good speed,
and as the sun was setting and the wind falling it glided past the
Yankee sloop into shoal water farther up, where its inmates
disembarked, and beached their craft.

Sanford Browne walked rapidly up the bank, followed by his son, the
servants, and the old convict. He approached Perkins and greeted him,
but in a manner not cordial and hardly courteous. He looked at Judith
so severely that she fancied him offended with her. Sh