How could I help chargin' it up, with that woman cryin' and goin' on about their havin' nothin' to eat nor wear in the house?
I couldn't let 'em starve, could I?
Nor freeze neither ?" "'Twas only last week she did it," protested his partner.

"Folks don't freeze in April, seems to me." "Aw, be still! Don't talk no more about it.

By fire!" with a sudden change of subject and a burst of enthusiasm, "look at that horse, will you! Turned right in at the gate without my pullin' the helm once or sayin' a word--knows as much as a Christian, that horse does." The buggy had rocked and plowed its way over the hummocks and through the sand of the narrow lane and was at the top of a grass-covered knoll, a little hill.

At the foot of the hill was the beach, strewn with seaweed, and beyond, the Sound, its waters now a rosy purple in the sunset light.

On the slope of the hill toward the beach stood a low, rambling, white house, a barn, and several sheds and outbuildings.