“But,” urged the other, “you don’t look strong; indeed, dear, you don’t. Aren’t you very, very tired, sitting so long without any support to your back?”
“Thanks, no; my spine is the strongest part of me.”
“But,” still persisted the inside, changing her voice to a loud whisper, “to be sitting alone with all those men!”
“They mind their business, and I mind mine,” said the little one, reddening; “besides,” she quickly added, “you proposed changing places, I believe!”
“Oh!” returned the other, with an accent impossible to convey in words, “if you like it.”
“I tell you what, ma’am,” snapped the one in possession, “I’ve been all over Europe alone, and was never once insulted except by persons of my own sex.”
This home-thrust ended the colloquy. The first speaker quickly drew in her head, and I remarked a general twitching of muscles on the faces around me. The driver shook his head in silent glee. The little woman’s eyes emitted sparks.
From West Ossipee I drove over to Tamworth Iron Works, where I passed the night, and where I had, so to speak, Chocorua under my thumb.
This mountain being the most proper for a legend, it accordingly has one. Here it is in all its purity: