main object, and, looking up cautiously, said:--

"And mebbe write po'try now and then?" To his great discomfiture, the
only effect of this suggestion was to check his companion's speech for
some moments and apparently throw her back into her former abstraction.
Yet, after a long pause, as they were turning into the lane, she said,
as if continuing the subject:--

"I only hope that, whatever my daughters may do, they won't marry
young."

The yawning breaches in the Delatour gates and fences presently came
in view. They were supposed to be reinforced by half a dozen dogs,
who, however, did their duty with what would seem to be the prevailing
inefficiency, retiring after a single perfunctory yelp to shameless
stretching, scratching, and slumber. Their places were taken on the
veranda by two negro servants, two girls respectively of eight and
eleven, and a boy of fourteen, who remained silently staring. As Mr.
Bowers had accepted the widow's polite invitation to enter, she was
compelled, albeit in an equally dazed and helpless way, to issue some
preliminary orders:--

"Now, Chloe--I mean aunt Dinah--do take Eunice--I mean Victorine and
Una--away, and--you know--tidy them; and you, Sarah--it's Sarah, isn't
it?--lay some refreshment in the parlor for this gentleman. And,
Bob, tell your sister Cynthia to come here with Eunice." As Bob still
remained staring at Mr. Bowers, she added, in weary explanation, "Mr.
Bowers brought me over from the Summit woods in his buggy--it was so
hot. There--shake hands and thank him, and run away--do!"