Then she saw her father coming into the yard with his arms full of parcels, and she was out of her chair and at the kitchen door to meet him.
Andrew had brought as usual some dainties for his darling.

He watched Ellen unwrap the various parcels, not smiling as usual, but with a curious knitting of his forehead and pitiful compression of mouth.

When she had finished and ran into the other room to show a great orange to her aunt, he drew a heavy sigh that was almost a groan.

His wife coming in from the kitchen with a dish heard him, and looked at him with quick anxiety, though she spoke in a merry, rallying way.
"For the land sake, Andrew Brewster, what be you groanin' that way for ?" she cried out.
Andrew's tense face did not relax; he strove to push past her without a word, but Fanny stood before him.

"Now, look at here, Andrew," said she, "you 'ain't goin' to walk off with a face like that, unless I know what the matter is.