bs and flows and ebbs again with pleasant sound and
freshness. Near the houses is a small grave-yard, where a few of the
natives sleep, and not far, the graves of the fourteen Spaniards lost
in the wreck of the ship Sagunto in the year 1813. I used to think it
was a pleasant place, that low, rocky, and grassy island, though so
wild and lonely.

From the little town of Laurvig, near Christiania, in Norway, came
John and Maren Hontvet to this country, and five years ago took up
their abode in this desolate spot, in one of the cottages facing the
cove and Appledore. And there they lived through the long winters and
the lovely summers, John making a comfortable living by fishing,
Maren, his wife, keeping as bright and tidy and sweet a little home
for him as man could desire. The bit of garden they cultivated in the
summer was a pleasure to them; they made their house as pretty as they
could with paint and paper and gay pictures, and Maren had a shelf for
her plants at the window; and John was always so good to her, so kind
and thoughtful of her comfort and of what would please her, she was
entirely happy. Sometimes she was a little lonely, perhaps, when he
was tossing afar off on the sea, setting or hauling his trawls, or had
sailed to Portsmouth to sell his fish. So that she was doubly glad
when the news came that some of her people were coming over from
Norway to live with her. And first, in the month of May, 1871, came
her sister Karen, who stayed only a short time with Maren, and then
came to Appledore, where she lived at service two years, till within a
fortnight of her death. The first time I saw Maren she brought her
sister to us, and I was charmed with the little woman's beautiful
behavior; she was so gentle, courteous, decorous, she left on my mind
a most delightful impression. Her face struck me as remarkably good
and intelligent, and her gray eyes were full of light.

Karen was a rather sad-looking woman, about twenty-nine years old; she
had lost a lover in Norway long since, and in her heart she fretted
and mourned for this continually: she could not speak a word of
English at first, but went patiently about her work and soon learned
enough, and proved herself an excellent servant, doing faithfully and
thoroughly everything she undertook, as is the way of her people
generally. Her personal neatness was most attractive. She wore gowns
made of cloth woven by herself in Norway, a coarse blue stuff, always
neat an