"Oh, I didn't mean that, exactly," returned his sister, holding the
picture off at arm's length, and viewing it critically with contracted
eyes.

Dan could not help laughing. "I don't think it's been near any other
cigar-case," he answered tranquilly.

Minnie looked at it very near to, covering all but the face with her
hand. "Dan, she's lovely!" she cried, and Dan's heart leaped into his
throat As he gratefully met his sister's eyes.

"You'll like her, Min."

Eunice took the photograph from her for a second scrutiny. "She's
certainly very stylish. Rather a beak of a nose, and a little too
bird--like on the whole. But she isn't so bad. Is it like her?" she
asked with a glance at her father.

"I might say--after looking," he replied.

"True! I didn't know but Dan had shown it to you as soon as you met. He
seemed to be in such a hurry to let us all know."

The father said, "I don't think it flatters her," and he looked at it
more carefully. "Not much of her mother there?" he suggested to Dan.

"No, sir; she's more like her father."

"Well, after all this excitement, I believe I'll have another cup of
tea, and take something to eat, if Miss Pasmer's photograph doesn't
object," said Eunice, and she replenished her cup and plate.

"What coloured hair and eyes has she, Dan?" asked Minnie.

He had to think so as to be exact. "Well, you might say they were black,
her eyebrows are so dark. But I believe they're a sort of greyish-blue."

"Not an uncommon colour for eyes," said Eunice, "but rather peculiar for
hair."

They got to making fun of the picture, and Dan told them about Alice and
her family; the father left them at the table, and then came back with
word from Dan's mother that she was ready to see him.

XXX.

By eight o'clock in the evening the pain with which every day began
for Mrs. Mavering was lulled, and her jarred nerves were stayed by the
opiates till she fell asleep about midnight. In this interval the family
gathered into her room, and brought her their news and the cheer of
their health. The girls chattered on one side of her bed, and their
father sat with his newspaper on the other, and read aloud the passages
which he thought would interest her, while she lay propped among her
pillows, brilliantly eager for the world opening this glimpse of itself
to her shining eyes. That was on her good nights, when the drugs did
their work, but there were times when they failed, and the day's ag