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62 stormy sky; while the gulls, skimming along close to the water, uttered harsh cries of terror or warning as they fled before the chill east wind.

"It looks set for dirty weather, and that by noon of this day,&quot; said the farmer uneasily. "Molly, my maid, I don't feel right to leave you here your lone; yet you're a brave wench, and a stout one too, and Amariah will be back to-morrow."

"I'm not afraid, father. Why should I be?" replied Molly quietly, as she carefully arranged a hot soapstone in the bottom of the wagon for her mother's feet to rest upon. Her father stepped closer, and spoke in a lower voice:—

"The most that worries me is that money in the secretary yon. If it were not for that, I'd say shut up the house, and go stop at neighbor Hetherford's; but I don't like to leave so much in the house alone, and I don't like any but thee, my lass, to know of it. Reuben is a good enough fellow; but yet"—

"Don't be uneasy, father," interrupted Molly hastily; for Deborah's voice preceded her out of the house like a blast of the shrill east wind:—

"Mary, Mary! Surely thee has forgotten the elder-flower wine I was to carry to Friend Mehitable Barker, and the nut-cakes"—

"They're all in, safely, mother," replied Molly, and hurriedly continued in her father's ear,—

"Nobody will know of the money, whatever hap pens; and I will not leave the house until you return."

"God bless you, my faithful little girl!" muttered