The little brown spinning-wheel was brought on
the platform; a heap of flax, at which Priscilla is supposed
to have been working, was piled together in front of it; and
she and Alexander took their places. The curtain was drawn
aside, and a cry of pleasure from the company testified to the
picturesque prettiness of the representation. It was according
to the fact, that Priscilla should be looking in John Alden's
face; it was just at the moment when she is supposed to be
rebuking him for bringing to her his friend's suit and
petition. Thinking herself safe, and wishing to have the
picture as good as possible, Daisy had ventured to direct her
eyes upon the face of Alexander Fish, who personified the
Puritan suitor. To her horror, Alexander, wholly untouched by
the poetry of the occasion, and unawed by its hazards, dared
to execute a succession of most barefaced and disagreeable
winks right at Priscilla's eyes. Poor Daisy could not stand
this. Forgetting her character and the picture and everything,
her eyes went down; her eyelids drooped over them; and the
expression of grave displeasure would have done for a yet more
dissatisfied mood of mind than Priscilla is supposed to have
known at the time.
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