Re-Told Tales of the Hills and Shores of Maine (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1892 edition. Excerpt: ...be over as soon as she can. You'd better," she added sadly, "tell Nora why I can't come. She'll understand about it, and will know how to pacify her mother when she begins to fret f'r me." "I'll do my best," was the reassuring reply, and lifting the carefully packed basket, the young man bade his grateful visitor a cheery adieu, and with only the frosty glimmer of the stars for company, set out upon his lonely walk in the direction of the old church, whose slender spire, faintly defined against the cold blue of the wintry sky, pointed ever Heavenward, as if it would say to all world weary souls below: "Earth's wrongs shall all be righted here." CHAPTER IV. "My slippers, if you please, dear. They're in the north aisle, in the rack in Deacon Goodhue's pew, I believe." And as Nora hastened to bring the desired articles, and kneeling, tenderly fitted them to the small, cold feet, that, in spite of heated bricks and wrappings of warm flannel, never, nowadays, felt warm to her touch, she was glad that the gathering gloom about them hid her tear-stained face from the watchful eyes bending over her. For some reason her heart was strangely heavy to-night, and the bare discomforts of the place seemed emphasized as the cold night drew on apace, and through the uncurtained window over the high pulpit the stars looked in, with hard, pitiless eyes, while the rising wind howled and shrieked through the naked tree tops without. The church was one of the old-fashioned kind, with high pews on either side facing the center, while the middle row dividing the two aisles had been removed, leaving an open space that the present occupants had partitioned off, by the help of quilts and coverlets, into diminutive...