“What was he reading?”
“I don’t know; it was very beautiful. I wonder if he will ever come this way again? If he does—”
“Well, Melissa, and if he does?”
“My scissors want grinding very badly; they won’t cut a bit.”
“Why, Melissa, you don’t mean to fall in love with a tinker?” said Araminta, laughing.
“He is no tinker, I’m sure; but why is he disguised? I should like to know.”
“Well, but I came out to tell you that your father wants you. Come along.”
The two young ladies then returned to the house, but the mystery of the morning was broached more than once, and canvassed in every possible way.
Spikeman, as soon as he had returned to the cottage, took out his writing materials to concoct an epistle. After some time in correcting, he made out a fair copy, which he read to Joey.
“‘I tremble lest at the first moment you cast your eyes over the page, you throw it away without deigning to peruse it; and yet there is nothing in it which could raise a blush on the cheek of a modest maiden. If it be a crime to have seen you by chance, to have watched you by stealth, to consider hallowed every spot you visit—nay, more, if it be a crime to worship at the shrine of beauty and of innocence, or, to speak more boldly, to adore you—then am I guilty. You will ask, why I resort to a clandestine step. Simply, because, when I discovered your name and birth, I felt assured that an ancient feud between the two families, to which nor you nor I were parties, would bar an introduction to your father’s house. You would ask me who I am. A gentleman, I trust, by birth and education; a poor one, I grant; and you have made me poorer, for you have robbed me of more than wealth—my peace of mind and my happiness. I feel that I am presumptuous and bold; but forgive me. Your eyes tell me you are too kind, too good, to give unnecessary pain; and if you knew how much I have already suffered, you would not oppress further a man who was happy until he saw you. Pardon me, therefore, my boldness, and excuse the means I have taken of placing this communication before you.’