red
fingers at the desk swallowing up those precious papers which Samuel
Wales drew from his pocket with an important air. She was hardly five
years old, but she was an acute child; and she watched her master draw
forth the papers, show them to his wife, Polly, and lock them up in
the desk, with the full understanding that they had something to do
with her coming to this strange place; and, already, a shadowy purpose
began to form itself in her mind.

She sat on a cunning little wooden stool, close to the fireplace,
and kept her small chapped hands persistently over her face; she was
scared, and grieved, and, withal, a trifle sulky. Mrs. Polly Wales
cooked some Indian meal mush for supper in an iron pot swinging from
its trammel over the blazing logs, and cast scrutinizing glances at
the little stranger. She had welcomed her kindly, taken off her outer
garments, and established her on the little stool in the warmest
corner, but the child had given a very ungracious response. She would
not answer a word to Mrs. Wales' coaxing questions, but twitched
herself away with all her small might, and kept her hands tightly over
her eyes, only peering between her fingers when she thought no one was
noticing.

She had behaved after the same fashion all the way from Boston, as Mr.
Wales told his wife in a whisper. The two were a little dismayed at
the whole appearance of the small apprentice; to tell the truth, she
was not in the least what they had expected. They had been revolving
this scheme of taking "a bound girl" for some time in their minds; and
Samuel Wales' gossip in Boston, Sam Vaughan, had been requested to
keep a lookout for a suitable person.

So, when word came that one had been found, Mr. Wales had started at
once for the city. When he saw the child, he was dismayed. He had
expected to see a girl of ten; this one was hardly five, and she
had anything but the demure and decorous air which his Puritan mind
esteemed becoming and appropriate in a little maiden. Her hair was
black and curled tightly, instead of being brown and straight parted
in the middle, and combed smoothly over her ears as his taste
regulated; her eyes were black and flashing, instead of being blue,
and downcast. The minute he saw the child, he felt a disapproval of
her rise in his heart, and also something akin to terror. He dreaded
to take this odd-looking child home to his wife Polly; he foresaw
contention and mischief in their quiet household.