midnight
The sum intrusted to him by Captain Kittridge had been more than doubled by the liberality of Zephaniah Pennel , and Moses had traded upon it in foreign parts with a skill and energy that brought a very fair return , and gave him , in the eyes of the shrewd , thrifty neighbors , the prestige of a young man who was marked for success in the world . He had already formed an advantageous arrangement with his grandfather and Captain Kittridge , by which a ship was to be built , which he should command , and thus the old Saturday afternoon dream of their childhood be fulfilled . As he thought of it , there arose in his mind a picture of Mara , with her golden hair and plaintive eyes and little white hands , reigning as a fairy queen in the captain 's cabin , with a sort of wish to carry her off and make sure that no one else ever should get her from him . But these midnight dreams were all sobered down by the plain matter-of-fact beams of the morning sun , and nothing remained of immediate definite purpose except the resolve , which came strongly upon Moses as he looked across the blue band of Harpswell Bay , that he would go that morning and have a talk with Mr. Sewell . Miss Roxy Toothache was seated by the window of the little keeping-room where Miss Emily Sewell sat on every-day occasions . Around her were the insignia of her power and sway . Her big tailor 's goose was heating between Miss Emily 's bright brass fire-irons ; her great pin-cushion was by her side , bristling with pins of all sizes , and with broken needles thriftily made into pins by heads of red sealing-wax , and with needles threaded with all varieties of cotton , silk , and linen ; her scissors hung martially by her side ; her black bombazette work-apron was on ; and the expression of her iron features was that of deep responsibility , for she was making the minister a new Sunday vest !