"
"Well, there's one thing, Robert, I can write: you won't object to
that?"
"Object! I'm proud of it! Write all you like, and be as learned as you
please. The world may know you as a sage and a philosopher; but I,--ah!
how little they guess what you are to me, my little princess by the sea!
And now, if all your objections have been properly overruled, will you
give me the answer I desire?"
"Yes," said Sara, "if"--
"There! You have said all that is required," laying his finger on her
lips, "don't spoil it with conjunctions. A simple affirmative is quite
enough; I'll imagine the rest," and Sara, only too happy to be thus
overmastered, attempted no more objections to demands so sweet.
* * * * *
From this dream of bliss Sara plunged directly into a deep vortex of
house-cleaning, for she was determined that the premises should be in
perfect order upon the Macons' arrival. For four days chaos reigned,
with the broom and scrubbing-brush for prime ministers. Morton took
refuge at the store, but poor Sam, not so fortunate, had to face it all;
and he felt as if the deluge had come again, with some new and harrowing
accompaniments, in which woman's rights and demands were prominent.
Then, on the fifth, they rested from their labors in the clean, soap-
charged atmosphere--walking gingerly over spick and span carpets, laying
each book and paper demurely in place, and gazing, at a proper distance,
through diamond-bright windows; and on the sixth the Macons arrived.
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