Page:Salem - a tale of the seventeenth century (IA taleseventeenth00derbrich).pdf/183

 eyes, smiling beneath their finely arched brows, had left unimpaired the almost childlike tenderness of the sweet lips.

"Good-morning, Sister Browne," said the brother, stepping out upon the veranda, and bending over her with the stately courtesy of the times, he pressed a light kiss upon her fair, round cheek.

"Good-morning, Jonathan," responded the matron, offering her hand in hospitable greeting.

"Husband not come home yet, Hannah?" inquired the visitor.

"Not yet," she replied. "The colonel is later than usual very often nowadays. They are about fitting out two of their vessels, and my husband is often detained at the store quite beyond the usual hour. The times are so out of joint at present that it is almost impossible to procure the necessary labor. Every body seems to be taken out of themselves, and all work is neglected, while these terrible trials are occupying all minds."

Judge Corwin made no answer, but lounged carelessly up to a little table at the back of the veranda, which held a massive silver