The Blithedale Romance by Nathaniel Hawthorne Chapter 16 Page 14

farewell!”

Priscilla, as soon as dinner was over, had betaken herself into a corner, and set to work on a little purse.

As I approached her, she let her eyes rest on me with a calm, serious look; for, with all her delicacy of nerves, there was a singular self-possession in Priscilla, and her sensibilities seemed to lie sheltered from ordinary commotion, like the water in a deep well.

“Will you give me that purse, Priscilla,” said I, “as a parting keepsake?”

“Yes,” she answered, “if you will wait till it is finished.”

“I must not wait, even for that,” I replied. “Shall I find you here, on my return?”