"Say, 'Melia," said
he, "should you jest as soon I'd bring in that old shoemaker's bench
out o' the shed? It's low, an' I could reach my tools off'n the floor."
Amelia lacked the discipline of contact with her kind, but she was
nevertheless smooth as silk in her new wifehood.
"Law, yes, bring it along," said she. "It's a good day to clutter up.
The' won't be nobody in."
So, while Enoch laid apart the clock with a delicacy of touch known
only to square, mechanical fingers, and Rosie played with the
button-box on the floor, assorting colors and matching white with
white, Amelia scoured the tins. Her energy kept pace with the wind; it
whirled in gusts and snatches, yet her precision never failed.
"Made up your mind which cow to sell?" she asked, opening a discussion
still unsettled, after days of animated talk.
"Ain't much to choose," said Enoch. He had frankly set Amelia right on
the subject of livestock; and she smilingly acquiesced in his larger
knowledge. "Elbridge True's got a mighty nice Alderney, an' if he's
goin' to sell milk another year, he'll be glad to get two good milkers
like these. What he wants is ten quarts apiece, no matter if it's bluer
'n a whetstone. I guess I can swap off with him; but I don't want to
run arter him.
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