expended. The deacon was only intensely mean and avaricious, while he was
as honest as the day. Not a cent was overcharged; and to own the truth,
Mary was so great a favourite with him, that most of his charges against
_her_ were rather of a reasonable rate than otherwise.




Chapter II.



"Marry, I saw your niece do more favours
To the count's serving-man, than ever she bestowed
Upon me; I saw it i' the orchard."

_Twelfth Night._


On the Sunday in question, Deacon Pratt went to meeting as usual, the
building in which divine service was held that day, standing less than two
miles from his residence; but, instead of remaining for the afternoon's
preaching, as was his wont, he got into his one-horse chaise, the vehicle
then in universal use among the middle classes, though now so seldom seen,
and skirred away homeward as fast as an active, well-fed and powerful
switch-tailed mare could draw him; the animal being accompanied in her
rapid progress by a colt of some three months' existence. The residence
of the deacon was unusually inviting for a man of his narrow habits. It
stood on the edge of a fine apple-orchard, having a door-yard of nearly
two acres in its front. This door-yard, which had been twice mown that