If it had been the women , however , I would have put on the oldest and ugliest things , consistent with decency , I had . This was what Melissa had done , as it was , and she did look fearfully prim and dowdy , except for her front hair , which was as soft and fluffy and elaborate as usual . I never could understand how Melissa always got it arranged so beautifully . Nothing particular happened the first part of the day . Some few growled and would n't subscribe anything , but on the whole we did pretty well . 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 XXXXX a fortnight .
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