Deephaven by Sarah Orne Jewett — Read

When it was known that we had arrived in Deephaven, the people who had / known Miss Brandon so well, and Mrs. Lancaster also, seemed to consider / themselves Kate's friends by inheritance, and were exceedingly polite to / us, in either calling upon us or sending pleasant messages. Before the / first week had ended we had no lack of society. They were not strangers / to Kate, to begin with, and as for me, I think it is easy for me to be / contented, and to feel at home anywhere. I have the good fortune and the / misfortune to belong to the navy, -- that is, my father does, -- and my life / has been consequently an unsettled one, except during the years of my / school life, when my friendship with Kate began.

I think I should be happy in any town if I were living there with Kate / Lancaster. I will not praise my friend as I can praise her, or say half / the things I might say honestly. She is so fresh and good and true, and / enjoys life so heartily. She is so child-like, without being childish; / and I do not tell you that she is faultless, but when she makes mistakes / she is sorrier and more ready to hopefully try again than any girl I / know. Perhaps you would like to know something about us, but I am not / writing Kate's biography and my own, only telling you of one summer / which we spent together. Sometimes in Deephaven we were between six and / seven years old, but at other times we have felt irreparably grown-up, / and as if we carried a crushing weight of care and duty. In reality we / are both twenty-four, and it is a pleasant age, though I think next year / is sure to be pleasanter, for we do not mind growing older, since we / have lost nothing that we mourn about, and are gaining so much. I shall / be glad if you learn to know Kate a little in my stories. It is not that / I am fond of her and endow her with imagined virtues and graces; no one / can fail to see how unaffected she is, or not notice her thoughtfulness / and generosity and her delightful fun, which never has a trace of / coarseness or silliness. It was very pleasant having her for one's / companion, for she has an unusual power of winning people's confidence, / and of knowing with surest instinct how to meet them on their own / ground. It is the girl's being so genuinely sympathetic and interested / which makes every one ready to talk to her and be friends with her; just / as the sunshine makes it easy for flowers to grow which the chilly winds / hinder.