"He ought to be licked, for he stole a knife and then lied about it;
and Miss Howard is real pretty, and you needn't say she ain't, Susan
Bradley."

"Yes, indeed, she's pretty," rejoined a second. "Such handsome eyes,
and little white hands."

"What color are her eyes?" asked the stranger, to which two replied,
"blue," and three more said "black;" while Lydia Knight, who was the
oldest of the group, finally settled the question by saying, that
"they sometimes looked blue; but if she was real pleased, or sorry
either, they turned black!"

The stranger smiled and said, "Tell me more about her. Does she ever
scold, or has she too pretty a mouth for that?"

"No, she never scolds," said Delia Frost, "and she's got the nicest,
whitest teeth, and I guess she knows it, too for she shows them a
great deal."

"She's real white, too," rejoined Lydia Knight, "though pa says she
used to be yaller as saffron."

Here there was a gentle rap upon the window, and the girls starting
off, exclaimed, "There, we must go in."

"May I go too?" asked the stranger, following them to the door.

The girls looked at each other, then at him, then at each other again,