And this was the life that might be hers , did she so choose . In reality , her choice was already made , and she knew it . But it pleased her to pretend for a little time that it was not , and to dally tenderly with-the old loves and emotions that tugged at her heart and clamoured to be remembered . Within , in the low-ceilinged living room , with its worn , uneven floor and its blackened walls hung with fish nets and oilskins , four people were sitting . John Cameron and his wife were given the seats of honour in the middle of the room . Mrs. Cameron was a handsome , well-dressed woman , with an expression that was discontented and , at times , petulant . Yet her face had a good deal of plain common sense in it , and not even the most critical of the Racicot folks could say that she `` put on airs . '' Her husband was a small , white-haired man , with a fresh , young-looking face . He was popular in Racicot , for he mingled freely with the sailors and fishermen . Moreover , Dalveigh was an excellent market for fresh mackerel . Nathan Shelley , in his favourite corner behind the stove , sat lurching forward with his hands on his knees . He had laid aside his pipe out of deference to Mrs. Cameron , and it was hard for him to think without it . He wished his wife would go to work ; it seemed uncanny to see her idle . She had sat idle only once that he remembered -- the day they had brought Ned Shelley in , dank and dripping , after the August storm ten years before . Mrs. Shelley sat by the crooked , small-paned window and looked out down the harbour . The coat she had been patching for her husband when the Camerons came still lay in her lap , and she had folded her hands upon it . She was a big woman , slow of speech and manner , with a placid , handsome face -- a face that had not visibly stirred even when she had heard the Camerons ' proposition . They wanted Nora -- these rich people who had so much in life wanted the blossom of girlhood that had never bloomed for them . John Cameron pleaded his cause well . `` We will look on her as our own , '' he said at last .
`` We have grown XXXXX love her this summer .
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