If it had been a missionary subscription we should have fared worse ; but when it was something touching their own comfort , like cushioning the pews , they came down handsomely . We reached Daniel Wilson 's by noon , and had to have dinner there . We did n't eat much , although we were hungry enough -- Mary Wilson 's cooking is a by-word in Jersey Cove . No wonder Daniel is dyspeptic ; but dyspeptic or not , he gave us a big subscription for our cushions and told us we looked younger than ever . Daniel is always very complimentary , and they say Mary is jealous . When we left the Wilson 's Melissa said , with an air of a woman nerving herself to a disagreeable duty : `` I suppose we might as well go to Isaac Appleby 's now and get it over . '' I agreed with her . I had been dreading that call all day . 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 XXXXX Melissa were all hopelessly old-maiden .
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