The officer of the day had playfully asked her to name it, and
in honor of the patriotic citizens of the capital who had lent to the
empty treasury the money needed to equip and supply the force of
militia the governor had ordered out, she had given "The Merchants of
Boston." Scarcely believing that so simple a formula could remove this
formidable obstacle from her path, she repeated it in a tremulous
voice. "Pass on," said the sentry, and the way was clear. Now turning
out of the main street, she made her way slowly and pantingly, rather
wading than walking up the less trodden lane leading to the Hamlins'
house, through whose windows shines the flickering light of the fire
on the hearth within, the only species of evening illumination
afforded in those days save in the households of the rich.
She pulls the latchstring and enters. The miserable fittings of the
great kitchen denote extreme poverty, but the great fire of logs in
the chimney is such as the richest, in these days of wasted forests,
cannot afford, and the ruddy light illumines the room as all the
candles in Stockbridge scarcely could do. Before it sit Elnathan and
his wife and Reuben. The shawl which Desire wears is thickly flecked
with the snow, through which she has stumbled, and instinctively her
first motion on entering the room is to open and shake it, thereby
revealing to the eyes of the astonished family the toilet of a
fashionable beauty.
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