great many people were either entering the village or already in the
street, but whether they came from the meeting-house, or from a little
beyond it, or where the devil they came from, was more than could be
determined. Certainly, a crowd of people seemed to be there, men,
women, and children, all of whom were yawning and rubbing their eyes,
stretching their limbs, and staggering from side to side of the road, as
if but partially awakened from a sound slumber. Sometimes they stood
stock-still, with their hands over their brows to shade their sight from
the moonbeams. As they drew near, most of their countenances appeared
familiar to Esther and David, possessing the peculiar features of
families in the village, and that general air and aspect by which a
person would recognize his own townsmen in the remotest ends of the
earth. But though the whole multitude might have been taken, in the
mass, for neighbors and acquaintances, there was not a single individual
whose exact likeness they had ever before seen. It was a noticeable
circumstance, also, that the newest fashioned garment on the backs of
these people might have been worn by the great-grandparents of the
existing generation. There was one figure behind all the rest, and not
yet near enough to be perfectly distinguished.

"Where on earth, David, do all these odd people come from?" said Esther,
with a lazy inclination to laugh.

"Nowhere on earth, Esther," replied David, unknowing why he said so.

As they spoke, the strangers showed some symptoms of disquietude, and
looked towards the fountain for an instant, but immediately appeared to
assume their own trains of thought and previous purposes. They now
separated to different parts of the village, with a readiness that
implied intimate local knowledge, and it may be worthy of remark, that,