"Will you think me exacting, Miss Dare, if I trespass upon you for another song?"
Adelaide did not think him exacting in the least. She was ready to sing as long as he pleased.
CHAPTER V.
CHARLOTTE EAST'S PRESENT.
Towards dusk, that same evening, Charlotte East went over to Mrs. Buffle's for some butter. After she was served, Mrs. Buffle—who was a little shrimp of a woman, with a red nose—crossed her arms upon the counter and bent her face towards Charlotte's. "Have you heered the news?" asked she. "Mary Ann Cross is going to make a match of it with Ben Tyrrett."
"Is she?" said Charlotte. "They had better wait a few years, both of them, until they shall have put by something."
"They're neither of them of the putting-by sort," returned Mrs. Buffle. "Them Crosses is the worst girls to spend in all the Fair: unless it's Carry Mason. She don't spare her back, she don't. The wonder is, how she gets it."
"Young girls will dress," observed Charlotte, carelessly.
Mrs. Buffle laughed. "You speak as if you were an old one."