"Well—almost."
"I am very glad."
"Why are you standing by the door, Mattie? Why don't you sit down and talk a little of this business of ours?"
"Presently."
"Now—just for a little while. Leave Ann Packet to the lower regions—I'm as talkative to-day as an old woman of sixty. Why, you will not balk me, Mattie?"
"No."
"Read this for me—I have been trying if I can write in the dark—my first attempt at a benighted penmanship."
He held a paper towards her, and Harriet left her post by the door to receive it from his hands.
The writing was large and irregular, but distinct. She shivered as she read the words. The story she had seen so plainly, was more evident than ever.
"Sidney Hinchford," she read, "saved from shipwreck by Mattie Gray!"