thes, child! Do you think I care so much more for your clothes than
for you that I want to hear about them first?" exclaimed Miss Samantha,
with an embrace so long and close that Nannie was quite astonished.

"I didn't know," she answered.

And Miss Samantha said not a word, for she thought if the child really
did not know, there must have been something wrong somewhere. She
smiled a little grimly when she saw the wonderful handkerchief, but she
laid it away as if it were a treasure. Nannie had a nice supper and a
good night's sleep, and felt quite bright when Tommy looked in upon her
the next morning.

"I had an awful time; but your way is a real good one, Tommy, 'cause
she didn't scold a bit," she informed him, confidentially.

"But I guess,--I s'pose,--anyhow, mother says that the best way to
please folks is to do as they want you to, instead of buying 'em
things," said Tommy, feeling that, as he had led her into trouble, he
was in honor bound to give her the benefit of the moral that had been
impressed upon him.

"Y-e-s," answered Nannie, rather vaguely.

But, as the weeks went on, and Aunt Samantha grew so much more gentle
that she couldn't help being more careful not to trouble her, she
thought that handkerchief must be a very precious article.

THE TOWER-MOUNTAIN.

BY GUSTAVUS FRANKENSTEIN.

III.

I wandered about for what seemed to me days and days, but always
cautiously, and never without some hope of escape. At length, becoming
weak, I suppose, I missed my footing from a ledge of rock and fell to a
great distance. I was stunned and bruised, but soon recovered; and
considering the course I must have come, and this last terrible
descent, I felt almost sure that I was far below the surface of the
earth, and that I must try to go up, and must search and search until I
should find some way of ascending. I accordingly moved on, with greater
care than ever, and soon found that I was in a sort of rocky passage
which rose at a slight inclination. I need not say how this discovery
revived my spirits, nor how I was cheered yet more when, after a time,
I came to a level surface again, and discovered that beyond it the
passage continued as before, but much widened.

Keeping close to the wall of rock on my right, I slowly ascended in
what seemed to me a spiral curve. Sometimes I would take a step to the
left, to ascertain if I still had a barrier on that side; by which I
found that there were many