Insensibly her thoughts wandered far away
from the lonely spot whereon she sat, to the stoup [Footnote: The Dutch
word for verandah, which is still in common use among the Canadians.] in
front of her father's house, and in memory's eye she beheld it all exactly
as she had left it. There stood the big spinning wheel, just as she had set
it aside; the hanks of dyed yarn suspended from the rafters, the basket
filled with the carded wool ready for her work. She saw in fancy her
father, with his fine athletic upright figure, his sunburnt cheeks and
clustering sable hair, his clear energetic hazel eye ever beaming upon her,
his favourite child, with looks of love and kindness as she moved to and
fro at her wheel. [Footnote: Such is the method of working at the large
wool wheel, unknown or obsolete in England.] There, too, was her mother,
with her light step and sweet cheerful voice, singing as she pursued her
daily avocations; and Donald and Kenneth driving up the cows to be milked,
or chopping firewood. And as these images, like the figures of the magic
lantern, passed in all their living colours before her mental vision, her
head drooped heavier and lower till it sunk upon her arm, and then she
started, looked round, and slept again, her face deeply buried in her young
bosom; and long and peacefully the young girl slumbered.
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