Then a new load of boxes came, with two trunks, and several more pieces
of furniture. The latter were left standing in the hall. The garret had
been a sort of fetich with Elizabeth. There were dried herbs hanging to
the rafters in their muslin bags, so as not to make a litter and mostly
for the fragrance. There was not a cobweb anywhere. On one side of the
sloping roof were ranged their own trunks and chests, two of cedar, in
which woollen clothes and blankets passed the summer, securely hidden
from moths. In one gable were miscellaneous household articles, a few
chairs good enough to be repaired, a more than century-old cherry table,
spinning-wheels, a bedstead piled high with a feather bed, and
numberless pillows, for Elizabeth thought it her duty to make a new pair
every year, as they kept a flock of geese that spent their days in a
small cove on South River.
The interloper boxes could make a row down the cleared side. That left
the centre, the highest part, clear for drying clothes, which probably
would not be needed until winter. But careful Elizabeth planned ahead
for every emergency. True, the emergency did not always fit the plans,
but it gave her tense spirit a rest.
The Salem air was fragrant, with all manner of sweet springtime
odors--the ship was not. Things that had been stored in the hold came up
with a certain old smell and a little mustiness. First, Cynthia held her
nose and made a wry face. But it was delightful to run about and
exchange greetings with the sailors, who seemed merry enough over their
work.
"Well, missy," said the captain, catching her in his arms as she ran,
"how do you like living on dry land? You haven't lost your sea legs yet,
that's plain."
"It's very queer. There are just tiny leaves coming out on the trees,
and a few curious white flowers, little bells, coming up in the garden,
and crocus in pretty colors. But I don't like it very much. Miss Eunice
is nice and has such a soft voice. And the houses are so funny and shut
up, and there are no servants about, nor any one praying on the corners
and holding out a basin for rice; and no piles of fruit for sale."
"No; this isn't the time of year for fruit;" and there was a funny
twinkle in the captain's eye. "Just wait until August and September."
Cynthia considered. "That is three and four months away. Father will be
here then;" with a child's confidence.
"And there are berries earlier, and cherries, and then some sugar pears.
Oh, you will be feasted. And you'll like Cousin Leverett, when you come
to get acquainted with him. You will go to school, too, and know lots of
little girls. You won't want to go back to India."
"Unless father shouldn't come. Oh, he surely will, because, you see, I'm
praying ever so many times a day."
"That's right;" with a cheerful nod.
"When are you going back?"
"In about a month, I calculate."
She sighed and looked out over the great stretch of waters. "What is
that long point down there?" she asked suddenly.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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