rget when you are gone, and be glad you are only friends. At
any rate it is much wiser to have no promises made; then both are free,
and in a year or two may meet to laugh over the little romance nipped in
the bud.'

'Do you honestly think that?' asked Nat, looking at her so keenly that
the truth had to come; for all his heart was in those frank blue eyes of
his.

'No, I don't!' answered Mrs Jo. 'Then if you were in my place, what
would you do?' he added, with a tone of command never heard in his
gentle voice before.

'Bless me! the boy is in dead earnest, and I shall forget prudence
in sympathy I'm afraid,' thought Mrs Jo, surprised and pleased by the
unexpected manliness Nat showed.

'I'll tell you what I should do. I'd say to myself:

"I'll prove that my love is strong and faithful, and make Daisy's
mother proud to give her to me by being not only a good musician but an
excellent man, and so command respect and confidence. This I will try
for; and if I fail, I shall be the better for the effort, and find
comfort in the thought that I did my best for her sake."'

'That is what I meant to do. But I wanted a word of hope to give me
courage,' cried Nat, firing up as if the smouldering spark was set
ablaze by a breath of encouragement. 'Other fellows, poorer and stupider
than I, have done great things and come to honour. Why may not I, though
I'm nothing now? I know Mrs Brooke remembers what I came from, but my
father was honest though everything went wrong; and I have nothing to
be ashamed of though I was a charity boy. I never will be ashamed of my
people or myself, and I'll make other folks respect me if I can.'

'Good! that's the right spirit, Nat. Hold to it and make yourself a man.
No one will be quicker to see and admire the brave work than my sister
Meg. She does not despise your poverty or your past; but mothers are
very tender over their daughters, and we Marches, though we have been
poor, are, I confess, a little proud of our good family. We don't care
for money; but a long line of virtuous ancestors is something to desire
and to be proud of.'

'Well, the Blakes are a good lot. I looked 'em up, and not one was
ever in prison, hanged, or disgraced in any way. We used to be rich and
honoured years ago, but we've died out and got poor, and father was a
street musician rather than beg; and I'll be one again before I'll do
the mean things some men do and pass muster.'

Nat was so excited that Mrs Jo indul