ressed very elegantly. She had a scarlet cloth cloak that
came down to the bottom of her gown, and the gown itself was green silk,
with great bishop sleeves lined with buckram, so that they stood out,
and rattled like a drum when they hit against anything. Mary laughed at
her because she could not go through our chamber door without turning
sidewise; but Semantha said they were all the fashion in Boston.

"She was very lively and full of fun that day, though she didn't take
much notice of me. In the evening we had popped corn and apples, and
when we pared the apples and threw down the long coils of peel,
Semantha's took the shape of a letter E. She laughed and blushed, and
pretended to be very much vexed, but she was really as pleased as she
could be. Mary whispered to me not to mind, and said Prudence had given
the peel a sly push with her foot to shape the E; but for all that I
could hardly help crying.

"That night all of us girls slept in the great double-bedded room.
Semantha was with Prudence; and long after Mary was asleep I could hear
them whispering, and every minute or two I would catch Ephraim's name.

"I did not sleep much that night, and in the morning I was almost sick.
Ephraim was very kind, and when Prudence said she was going to invite in
some of the young people of the neighborhood that evening, he wanted her
to put it off; but Prudence said she guessed I would be better,--she
thought people could throw off sickness if they tried to do so. At this
Semantha laughed so disagreeably, and looked over at Ephraim in so
significant a way, that I am afraid I almost hated her.

"The company came in the evening,--five or six merry young girls and
young men. If my head and heart had been right, I could have enjoyed it
too. But my head ached, and for the rest you would have thought it was
Semantha who was engaged to Ephraim, and not I.

"There was a young man there named Elihu Parsons. He was very
handsome,--too handsome for a man,--and what with this and his pleasant
ways he was a great favorite with the girls. I had only seen him once or
twice, but he remembered me, and came and sat by me while the games were
going on. I thought this was very good of him, for nobody was so much
called for as he; but he would not leave me, and was so sociable and
pleasant that I tried to brighten up and entertain him as well as I
could. We were in the midst of our talk, when I happened to glance up
and saw Ephraim looking ove