discussion about the ham, the tea and the bread, I was
conscious that a pair of big brown eyes, darkly shaded with
long lashes, were staring at me across the table. Whenever I
had the courage to glance that way I observed that they had
been looking at me intently, and were suddenly averted.
These wondering eyes belonged to the only daughter in the
family.

"They've all been boys," said Mrs. Chaffin, "since Hetty was
born."

I thought it strange that the H in her daughter's name was
the only one that the good woman had shown the ability to
manage.

"Hetty is the only one of the lot that takes to books," she
continued. "The head master told me she will make a good
scholar, and dear a me! she does nothing but read books from
mornin' till night." While Hetty and her mother removed the
dishes we drew our chairs about the fire, and Mr. Chaffin, a
blunt, simple-minded man, entertained me with sage
observations regarding politics and the weather. He spoke
rather loudly, and in a key which, as I learned afterward,
he only employed on very special occasions. Presently the
youngest lad in the family, who sat on his father's knee,
demanded a song. The response was prompt and generous. The
selection with which Mr. Chaffin favored us contained upward
of forty stanzas, relating the unhappy story of a fair maid
and a bold sailor, both of whom met a tragic death, in the
last stanza, just before the day set for their marriage. The