Life at high tide Author:William Dean Howells Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: ness! I guess 11l just step down and tell her. Lucky you told me to-night; to-morrow it would 'a' been too late !" Lizzie Graham was sitting in the dark on he... more »r door-step; a cat had curled up comfortably in her lap; her elm was faintly murmurous with a constant soft rustling and whispering of the lace of leaves around its great boughs. Now and then a tree-toad spoke, or from the pasture pond behind the house came the metallic twang of a bullfrog. But nothing else broke the deep stillness of the summer night. Lizzie's elbow was on her knee, her chin in her hand; she was listening to the peace, and thinking—not anxiously, but seriously. After all, it was a great undertaking: Nathaniel wasn't "hearty," perhaps, — but when you don't average four eggs a day (for in November and December the hens do act like they are possessed!); when sometimes your cow will be dry; when your neighbor is mad and won't remember the potato-barrel—the outlook for one is not simple; for two it is sobering. " But I can do it," Lizzie said to herself, and set her lips hard together. The gate clicked shut, and Mrs. Butterfield came in, running almost. "Look here, Lizzie Graham,—oh my! wait till I get my breath;—Lizzie, you can't do it. Because—" And then, panting, she explained. " So, you see, you just can't," she repeated. Lizzie said something under her breath, and stared with blank bewilderment at her informant. "Maybe Josh don't know?" " Maybe he does know," retorted Mrs. Butterfield. " Goodness! makes me tremble to think if he hadn't told me to-night! Supposin' he hadn't let on about it till this time to-morrow?" Lizzie put her hands over her face with an exclamation of dismay. "Oh, well, there !" Mrs. Butterfield said, comfortably; " I don't believe Nat 'll mind after he's been at ...« less