The Queen's Twin by Sarah Orne Jewett — Read

One can never be so certain of good New England weather as in the days / when a long easterly storm has blown away the warm late-summer mists, / and cooled the air so that however bright the sunshine is by day, the / nights come nearer and nearer to frostiness. There was a cold / freshness in the morning air when Mrs. Todd and I locked the house-door / behind us; we took the key of the fields into our own hands that day, / and put out across country as one puts out to sea. When we reached the / top of the ridge behind the town it seemed as if we had anxiously / passed the harbor bar and were comfortably in open sea at last.

"There, now! " proclaimed Mrs. Todd, taking a long breath, "now I do / feel safe. It's just the weather that's liable to bring somebody to / spend the day; I 've had a feeling of Mis' Elder Caplin from North / Point bein' close upon me ever since I waked up this mornin', an' I / didn't want to be hampered with our present plans. She's a great hand / to visit; she 'll be spendin' the day somewhere from now till / Thanksgivin', but there 's plenty o' places at the Landin' where she / goes, an' if I ain't there she 'll just select another. I thought / mother might be in, too, 'tis so pleasant; but I run up the road to / look off this mornin' before you was awake, and there was no sign o' / the boat. If they had n't started by that time they wouldn't start, / just as the tide is now; besides, I see a lot o' mackerel-men headin' / Green Island way, and they 'll detain William. No, we 're safe now, / an' if mother should be comin' in tomorrow we 'll have all this to tell / her. She an' Mis' Abby Martin's very old friends."