Then she added, with the respect that was natural to her, and was always expected of the young:
"I think I should much like studying other languages. Grammar pleaseth me; I like right well knowing my own parts of speech."
Parson Kendall looked pleased.
"When could'st thou find time for another study?" he asked. "It is no such simple thing to master a strange tongue."
"I could, sir," was all Maid Sally said in reply.
The parson smiled.
"Could'st which?" he asked. "Find the time or master the language?"
"I meant, sir, I could learn the language, but Mistress Brace might have much to say if I asked for more time, and I must in some way work for the one who teaches me anything new."
"Thou hast the right idea about some things," said the parson, kindly, "but go home now, and fret not about knowing another tongue at present; it is not needed so early in life. But that which is greatly desired sometimes cometh to pass."
There was a twinkle in the good man's eye when he last spoke that Sally liked to see.