Ariel sat at the top of the steps, and, looking amiably over their heads, talked with such as could get near her.  There were many who could not, and Mamie, occupying the bench below, was surrounded by the overflow.  The difficulty of reaching and maintaining a position near Miss Tabor was increased by the attitude and behavior of Mr. Flitcroft, who that day cooled the feeling of friendship which several of his fellow-townsmen had hitherto entertained for him.  He had been the first to arrive, coming alone, though that was not his custom, and he established himself at Ariel’s right, upon the step just below her, so disposing the great body and the ponderous arms and legs the gods had given him, that no one could mount above him to sit beside her, or approach her from that direction within conversational distance.  Once established, he was not to be dislodged, and the only satisfaction for those in this manner debarred from the society of the beautiful stranger was obtained when they were presented to her and when they took their departure.  On these occasions it was necessary by custom for them to shake her hand, a ceremony they accomplished by leaning across Mr. Flitcroft, which was a long way to lean, and the fat back and shoulders were sore that night because of what had been surreptitiously done to them by revengeful elbows and knees.

Norbert, not ordinarily talkative, had nothing to say; he seemed to find sufficient occupation in keeping the place he had gained; and from this close vantage he fastened his small eyes immovably upon Ariel’s profile.  Eugene, also apparently determined not to move, sat throughout the afternoon at her left, but as he was thin, others, who came and went, were able to approach upon that side and hold speech with her.

She was a stranger to these young people, most of whom had grown up together in a nickname intimacy.  Few of them had more than a very imperfect recollection of her as she was before Roger Tabor and she had departed out of Canaan.  She had lived her girlhood only upon their borderland, with no intimates save her grandfather and Joe; and she returned to her native town “a revelation and a dream,” as young Mr. Bradbury told his incredulous grandmother that night.

The conversation of the gallants consisted, for the greater part, of witticisms at one another’s expense, which, though evoked for Ariel’s benefit (all eyes furtively reverting to her as each shaft was loosed), she found more or less enigmatical.  The young men, however, laughed at each other loudly, and seemed content if now and then she smiled.  “You must be frightfully ennuied with all this,” Eugene said to her.  “You see how provincial we still are.”