for the sake of being nursed by the young
girl beside him, and he signified his willingness to proceed, while at
the same time his hand involuntarily grasped that of Maggie, as if in
the touch of her snowy fingers there were a mesmeric power to soothe
his pain. In the meantime a hurried consultation had been held between
Mrs. Jeffrey and Theo as to the room suitable for the stranger to be
placed in.

"It's not likely he is much," said Theo; "and if grandma were here I
presume she would assign him the chamber over the kitchen. The wall
is low on one side, I know, but I dare say he is not accustomed to
anything better."

Accordingly several articles of stray lumber were removed from the
chamber, which the ladies arranged with care, and which when completed
presented quite a respectable appearance. But Maggie had no idea of
putting her guest, as she considered him, in the kitchen chamber; and
when, as the party entered the house, Mrs. Jeffrey, from the head of
the stairs, called out, "This way, Maggie; tell them to come this
way," she waved her aside, and led the way to a large airy room over
the parlor, where, in a high, old-fashioned bed, surrounded on all
sides by heavy damask curtains, they laid the weary stranger. The
village surgeon arriving soon after, the fractured bones were set, and
then, as perfect quiet seemed necessary, the room was vacated by all
save Maggie, who glided noiselessly around the apartment, while the
eyes of the sick man followed her with eager, admiring glances, so
beautiful she looked to him in her new capacity of nurse.

Henry Warner, as the stranger was called, was the junior partner of
the firm of Douglas & Co., Worcester, and his object in visiting the
Hillsdale neighborhood was to collect several bills which for a long
time had been due. He had left the cars at the depot, and, hiring a
livery horse, was taking the shortest route from the east side of town
to the west, when he came accidentally upon Maggie Miller, and, as we
have seen, brought his ride to a sudden close. All this he told to her
on the morning following the accident, retaining until the last the
name of the firm of which he was a member.

"And you were once at our store?" he said. "How long ago?"

"Five years," answered Maggie; "when I was eleven, and Theo thirteen;"
then, looking earnestly at him, she exclaimed. "And you are the very
one, the clerk with the saucy eyes whom grandma disliked so much
because she thought