"Oh, she's young yet, an' she'll outgrow it," observed Betsey as
sincerely as she had made the opposite remark some minutes before. "A
soft heart is mo' to be pitied than blamed, an' it'll soon harden into
shape now she's settled down to matrimony."
"I ain't never seen a female with an ounce of good hard sense except
you, Mrs. Bottom," replied Solomon. "Thar's a contrariness in the rest
of 'em that makes 'em tryin' companions to a rational critter like man,
with a firm grip on his heart. To think of gittin' a husband like Abel
Revercomb--the risin' man in the county--an' then to turn aside from the
comforts of life on o'count of nothin' mo' than a feelin'."
"Well, it ain't as if she'd taken a fancy to a plain, ordinary kind of
man," remarked Betsey. "Thar's somethin' mo' elevatin' about a parson,
an' doubtless it's difficult to come down from a pulpit to common earth
when you've once lifted yo' eyes to it. Thar warn't no shame about her
cryin' out like that in church. They ought to have broke it to her mo'
gently."
"I warn't thar," said old Adam, "but how did Abel conduct himself?"
"Oh, he just got up an' led her out sort of gently, while she was cryin'
an' sobbin' so loud that it drowned what Mr.
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