all was a source of amazement to him, "and she hasn't let go of him
since she got him. By the way, Judge, you have a first-rate garden spot.
I hear your asparagus is the finest in town. Ours is very poor this
year. I must have a new bed made before next season. Ah, what is it,
daughter?"

"You've forgotten to buy the sugar," said Eugenia, "and Aunt Chris can't
put up her preserves. And you told me to remind you of the whip--"

"Bless your heart, so I did. Sampson lost that whip a month ago, and
I've never remembered it yet. Well, good-day--good-day."

The judge raised his hat with a stately inclination; the general nodded
good-naturedly, still grasping the linen robe with his plump, red hand;
and the carriage jolted along the green and disappeared behind the
glazed brick walls of the church.

The judge regarded his walking-stick meditatively for a moment, and
continued his way. The smile with which he had followed the vanishing
figure of Juliet Burwell returned to his face, and his features softened
from their usual chilly serenity.

He had gone but a short distance and was passing the iron gate of the
churchyard, when the droning of a voice came to him, and looking beyond
the bars, he saw little Nicholas Burr lying at full length upon a marble
slab, his head in his hands and his feet waving in the air.

Entering the gate, the judge followed the walk of moss-grown stones
leading to the church steps, and paused within hearing of the voice,
which went on in an abstracted drawl.