Behind the house a little tongue of the St. Lawrence gulf ran up between the headlands until the wavelets of its tip almost lapped against Miss Hannah 's kitchen doorstep . Beyond , to the north , was the great crescent of the gulf , whose murmur had been Miss Hannah 's lullaby all her life . When people wondered to her how she could endure living in such a lonely place , she retorted that the loneliness was what she loved it for , and that the lighthouse star and the far-away call of the gulf had always been company enough for her and always would be ... until Ralph came back . When Ralph came home , of course , he might like a livelier place and they might move to town or up-country as he wished . `` Of course , '' said Miss Hannah with a proud smile , `` a rich man might n't fancy living away down here in a little grey house by the shore . He 'll be for building me a mansion , I expect , and I 'd like it fine . But until he comes I must be contented with things as they are . '' People always smiled to each other when Miss Hannah talked like this . But they took care not to let her see the smile . Miss Hannah snipped her white and purple asters off ungrudgingly and sang , as she snipped , an old-fashioned song she had learned long ago in her youth . The day was one of October 's rarest , and Miss Hannah loved fine days . The air was clear as golden-hued crystal , and all the slopes around her were mellow and hazy in the autumn sunshine . She knew that beyond those sunny slopes were woods glorying in crimson and gold , and she would have the delight of a walk through them later on when she went to carry the asters to sick Millie Starr at the Bridge . Flowers were all Miss Hannah had to give , for she was very poor , but she gave them with a great wealth of friendliness and goodwill . Presently a wagon drove down her lane and pulled up outside of her white garden paling . Jacob Delancey was in it , with a pretty young niece of his who was a visitor from the city , and Miss Hannah , her sheaf of asters in her arms , went over to the paling with a sparkle of interest in her faded blue eyes . She had heard a great deal of the beauty of this strange girl . Prospect people had been talking of nothing else for a week , and Miss Hannah was filled with a harmless curiosity concerning her . She always liked to look at pretty people , she said ; they did her as much good as her flowers . `` Good afternoon , Miss Hannah , '' said Jacob Delancey .
`` Busy XXXXX your flowers , as usual , I see . ''
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