I never knew I was so strong before. That lad was soon on his back crying for mercy, and next minute I left him.
The girl was about seven, but so beautiful and lady-like.
She thanked me very prettily, and we walked on together, I feeling shy. But I summoned up courage after a time to ask her name.
“Mattie Gray,” she replied; “and yonder comes mother.”
To my surprise, “mother” was Nancy, the fisherman’s wife.
I was invited in, and made a hero of for hours, but somehow I could not keep from wondering about Mattie.
I told auntie the story that evening. Now, if there be anything a woman loves in this world it is a mystery, and auntie was no exception. So she and Jill and I all walked over to the cottage next afternoon.
“What a lovely child you have, Mrs Gray! We have not seen her before.”
“No, ma’am, she’d been to school.”