And the only statues which have that are the Jarley wax-
works, which she does not resemble in the least. There is only
one thing that that girl needs to make her a perfect archer, and
that is to be able to aim better."
This was true. Miss Rosa did need to aim better. Her arrows
had a curious habit of going on all sides of the target, and it
was very seldom that one chanced to stick into it. For if she
did make a hit, we all knew it was chance and that there was no
probability of her doing it again. Once she put an arrow right
into the centre of the gold,--one of the finest shots ever made
on the ground,--but she didn't hit the target again for two
weeks. She was almost as bad a shot as Pepton, and that is
saying a good deal.
One evening I was sitting with Pepton on the little front
porch of the old ladies' house, where we were taking our after-
dinner smoke while Miss Martha and Miss Maria were washing, with
their own white hands, the china and glass in which they took so
much pride. I often used to go over and spend an hour with
Pepton. He liked to have some one to whom he could talk on the
subjects which filled his soul, and I liked to hear him talk.
"I tell you," said he, as he leaned back in his chair, with
his feet carefully disposed on the railing so that they would not
injure Miss Maria's Madeira-vine, "I tell you, sir, that there
are two things I crave with all my power of craving--two goals I
fain would reach, two diadems I would wear upon my brow.
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