"Wall, then, the supper, Sairay. You must know what you was eatin',
child! Did Mis' Norris use her rale chany that the cap'n brung over, or
only the gold-banded? And did she hev on them queer furrin' presarves,
with ginger an' spices in 'em, or only home-made?"

"Well, let me see. I think they had spices, that is, I'm not quite sure,
for Captain Klister was there, and he got to 'reeling off a yarn,' as he
said, about the mutiny at Benares in '57, when he was buying silks and
shawls there, and I didn't notice just what was served, I was listening
so intently."

At which the poor woman, greedy for news, would flare up and abuse her
stepdaughter roundly, bringing up, each time, every former delinquency,
till Sara either turned under the weight of them and felled her with a
sarcasm, or, more wisely, fled to her attic and her books for solace.

Thus some weeks slipped by, bringing milder and more settled weather;
but, as if winter and spring had roused all their forces to repulse the
irresistible oncoming of the summer, along towards the beginning of May
there was a cold storm of wind and sleet, lasting three days, which
blasted the too confiding and premature fruit-buds, and ruthlessly cut
off the heads of all the peeping, early wild-flowers.

Sara, surrounded by the children, stood looking from the window one
afternoon, soon after this storm broke.

"How glad I am she didn't take baby!" she said, pressing the little
fellow's cheek against her own. "I felt those last two sultry days were
weather-breeders. Do you remember whether she took her heavy shawl,
Molly?"