t, I cannot sign it, but I am with you in spirit. I can see
the course taken by the king is not right or just, and it will fail.
Nothing can succeed in the end that is not right."

"Oh, Ruth, how you shame me. Here I have been fidgeting over the
cutting things some of the girls and their mothers have been saying.
One asked if I expected to bankrupt the East India Company. Another
wanted to know if I was going to wear trousers and vote in town
meeting."

"So mother's afternoon tea-party stands a chance of being the last,
for the present, at least. By the way, do you ever hear from your
cousin, Mr. Walden?"

"No, I have not heard a word since he left us. I should not be
surprised, however, if he were to drop in upon us any day, for I have
written him that the ship is to be launched soon. Father intends to
make it a grand occasion when the Berinthia Brandon glides into the
water. I shall have all my friends present, Ruth Newville chief among
them."

"Count upon me to do whatever I can to make it a happy day," said
Ruth.

VII.

LAUNCHING OF THE BERINTHIA BRANDON.

The pigs had been fattening through the winter, and it was quite time
to send them to market.

"You did so well with the cheese, you may see what you can do with the
shoats," said Mr. Walden to Robert. "It is good sleighing. You can
harness the colt and Jenny, and go with the pung. I want you to take
Rachel along. You can stay a couple of weeks and have a good visit."

There was a glow upon Rachel's face. It would be her first journey.
She would see new things, and make new acquaintances. During the
evenings she had been knitting a hood and mittens of the finest wool,
and would present them to Miss Newville.

It was a resplendent morning, with the eastern sky like molten gold in
the light of the rising sun, and the hoar-frost upon the twigs of the
leafless trees changing to glittering diamonds. The colt, sleek and
plump, was champing his bit and shaking his head in his impatience to
be off. Jenny was staid and sober, but when Robert said, "Now, lad and
lady," the colt pranced a few steps, then settled to a steady trot,
learning a lesson from Jenny.

An hour before lunch-time they whirled up to Captain Stark's tavern in
Derryfield, and before sunset came to a halt in the dooryard of a
relative in Andover. Before noon the next day Rachel was looking with
wondering eyes upon the gleaming spires of the meetinghouses and the
crooked streets of B