Page:Emma Speed Sampson--The shorn lamb.djvu/68



From the porch at Mill House the Taylors watched the two figures, one a man, the other either a child or a little old woman, as they made their way along the winding red road. At times they disappeared as the road dipped below a hill and then they would come to view again, after each disappearance looming up a little larger and more distinct to the watchers on the porch.

"The man is young," whispered Evelyn to Myra, "and he is dressed like a gentleman. I am sure he is not a peddler."

"A suitor, perhaps!" suggested her father, ironically. The old man was numb with a kind of intense excitement, but he could still find his tongue and use it to the undoing of his daughters.

"The person with him is an old woman. Look at her mourning veil! It hangs way down over her shoulders," commented Myra. "They say it is bad form to wear such deep mourning nowadays, even for widows!"