of joy, and love, and sunshine than his own,
until the little fellow with an angry chirp and flirt of the wings flew
onward to the forest where he knew no such unequal contest awaited him.

"Well done, maid!" exclaimed Alden stepping in at the open door. "Thou
hast so outsung the bird that he hath flown."

"Nay, methinks he flew because he saw an owl abroad, and owls are ever
grewsome neighbors to poor little songsters," replied Priscilla dryly,
and, pressing the treadle swiftly she drew out her cobweb thread with
such earnest care that she could not look up at the tall and comely
guest who awkwardly stood awaiting some more hospitable greeting.
Receiving none, he presently subsided upon a stool hard by the
spinning-wheel, and after watching its steady whirl for some moments
said,--

"What a fine thread thou drawest, Priscilla."

"'T is hardly stout enough to hang a man, and yet stout enough for my
purposes, good John."

"Wilt weave it on Master Allerton's loom when 't is done?"

"Mayhap I'll weave it on a pillow into lace, as the maids in fair
Holland are used to do."

"Dost know their art?"

"Ay. Jeanne De la Noye to whom I writ a letter by thy hand, John, she
taught me, and I overpassed my teacher ere I was done. What thinkst
thou, John, would be said or done should I weave some ells of spanwide
lace and trim my Sunday kirtle therewith? Mistress White, nay, Mistress
Winslow that is now, would rend it away with her own fingers."

"And yet Master Winslow weareth cambric ruffs on occasion, and his dame
hath a paduasoy kirtle and mantle, and so had Mistress Carver, and some
others of our company."

"Marry come up! How wise the lad hath grown! Hast been pondering women's
clothes instead of the books the Captain gives thee to study, John?"

A change passed over the young man's face. The careless allusion had
recalled his errand, and moreover linked itself with a memory Priscilla
had willfully evoked. He was silent for a moment, and then pushing his
seat a little farther from the wheel he quietly said,--

"Well do I like thy merry mood, Priscilla, and care not though thou
flout me ever so sharply, but mine errand to-day is somewhat of
importance, and I pray thee to listen seriously."

"Nay, good lad, waste not such solemnities on me. 'T will be Sunday in
three days, and thou canst take the elder's place, and let him learn of
thee how soberly and seriously to exhort a sinner."

"Priscilla, wilt thou be seri