She smiled as he appeared. The ascent to the brow of the hill was so sharp that first you saw a hat in movement, then a head, then shoulders, body, legs, and feet. She ran quickly down the road to meet him, and took his arm.
“You couldn't catch the noon train?” she said. “Captain Wells stopped at the door a little while ago to see what time we should be down to get the deed, and luckily I told him that we might not be down until into the evening. He said he 'd stay at home and wait till we came.”
“Delia,” said David, when he had seated himself in the house, “I 've got bad news to tell you, and I may as well out with it first as last.”
“You have n't shipped for another whaling voyage?”
“No; that would be nothing,” he said.
Delia stood and looked at him.
“Well,” she said, “didn't you get as much as you counted on?”
“Yes,—twenty more.”
“It isn't anything about the children? I expect them home every minute.”
“No.”