u had
walked together: you must have been mere children.'

'O yes--so we were,' said Anne, now quite recovered. 'It was when we
first came here, about a year after father died. We did not walk
together in any regular way. You know I have never thought the Lovedays
high enough for me. It was only just--nothing at all, and I had almost
forgotten it.'

It is to be hoped that somebody's sins were forgiven her that night
before she went to bed.

When Bob and his father were left alone, the miller said, 'Well, Robert,
about this young woman of thine--Matilda what's her name?'

'Yes, father--Matilda Johnson. I was just going to tell ye about her.'

The miller nodded, and sipped his mug.

'Well, she is an excellent body,' continued Bob; 'that can truly be
said--a real charmer, you know--a nice good comely young woman, a miracle
of genteel breeding, you know, and all that. She can throw her hair into
the nicest curls, and she's got splendid gowns and headclothes. In
short, you might call her a land mermaid. She'll make such a first-rate
wife as there never was.'

'No doubt she will,' said the miller; 'for I have never known thee
wanting in sense in a jineral way.' He turned his cup round on its axis
till the handle had travelled a complete circle. 'How long did you say
in your letter that you had known her?'

'A fortnight.'

'Not _very_ long.'

'It don't sound long, 'tis true; and 'twas really longer--'twas fifteen
days and a quarter. But hang it, father, I could see in the twinkling of
an eye that the girl would do. I know a woman well enough when I see
her--I ought to, indeed, having been so much about the world. Now, for
instance, there's Widow Garland and her daughter. The girl is a nice
little thing; but the old woman--O no!' Bob shook his head.

'What of her?' said his father, slightly shifting in his chair.

'Well, she's, she's--I mean, I should never have chose her, you know.
She's of a nice disposition, and young for a widow with a grown-up
daughter; but if all the men had been like me she would never have had a
husband. I like her in some respects; but she's a style of beauty I
don't care for.'

'O, if 'tis only looks you are thinking of,' said the miller, much
relieved, 'there's nothing to be said, of course. Though there's many a
duchess worse-looking, if it comes to argument, as you would find, my
son,' he added, with a sense of having been mollified too soon.

The mate's thoughts