It is n't a very pleasant thing to go to a man you have recently refused to marry and ask him for money ; and Melissa and I were both in that predicament . Isaac was a well-to-do old bachelor who had never had any notion of getting married until his sister died in the winter . And then , as soon as the spring planting was over , he began to look round for a wife . He came to me first and I said `` No '' good and hard . I liked Isaac well enough ; but I was snug and comfortable , and did n't feel like pulling up my roots and moving into another lot ; besides , Isaac 's courting seemed to me a shade too business-like . I ca n't get along without a little romance ; it 's my nature . Isaac was disappointed and said so , but intimated that it was n't crushing and that the next best would do very well . The next best was Melissa , and he proposed to her after the decent interval of a fortnight . Melissa also refused him . I admit I was surprised at this , for I knew Melissa was rather anxious to marry ; but she has always been down on Isaac Appleby , from principle , because of a family feud on her mother 's side ; besides , an old beau of hers , a widower at Kingsbridge , was just beginning to take notice again , and I suspected Melissa had hopes concerning him . Finally , I imagine Melissa did not fancy being second choice . Whatever her reasons were , she refused poor Isaac , and that finished his matrimonial prospects as far as Jersey Cove was concerned , for there was n't another eligible woman in it -- that is , for a man of Isaac 's age . I was the only widow , and the other old maids besides Melissa were all hopelessly old-maiden . This was all three months ago , and Isaac had been keeping house for himself ever since . Nobody knew much about how he got along , for the Appleby house is half a mile from anywhere , down near the shore at the end of a long lane -- the lonesomest place , as I did not fail to remember when I was considering Isaac 's offer . `` I heard Jarvis Aldrich say Isaac had got a dog lately , '' said Melissa , when we finally came in sight of the house -- a handsome new one , by the way , put up only ten years ago . `` Jarvis said it was an imported breed . I do hope it is n't cross . '' I have a mortal horror of dogs , and I followed Melissa into the big farmyard with fear and trembling . We were halfway across the yard when Melissa shrieked : `` Anne , there 's the dog ! ''
There was the dog ; and the trouble was XXXXX he did n't stay there , but came right down the slope at a steady , business-like trot .
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