Theodore Winthrop

“ She seemed to see a myriad of faces, with go-ahead noses, no mumps, angelic blue eyes, bronzed skins, and truth and courage in every line, looking out of the tree, and signalizing her, “Be brave! be prudent!” ”

“ Womanlike again, she must have the person before her eyes. She must see him, a visible being, — that she could take to her heart with infinite love and pity and hope, — before she could listen to his message of comfort to her.
“He looked pretty old, Miss Lucy. His hair’s grown gray. It oughtn’t to. He’s a boy still, — only a little better than forty. He could make his life all over again yet. ”

“ We must have the house to ourselves to-night.”
“To-night! Lucy’s heart bounded and sunk. Yes, she must be free to-night, or to-morrow would make her a slave.
“Miss Lucy,” whispered Voltaire, “two of ’em was here already before sunrise.”
“Not the ——” She hesitated.
“Not the Major! No; old Sam Galsworthy and Hendrecus Canady. You know ’em. They come to see how the land lay.”
“Mother calls; I must go,” said Lucy, in a tremor.
She gave one look through the window at Kerr, leaning limp against a chestnut-tree. The Skerrett-moustache-colored leaves in myriad pairs shook over him. ”