liked that girl."

"Yes; isn't she jolly?" said Dan joyously. "She seems to know everybody
here. It's a great piece of luck for me. They're going to take a house
in Washington next winter."

"Yes; I know that stage," said Mrs. Brinkley. "Her aunt's an amusingly
New-York respectability. I don't think you'd find just such Miss Mitford
curls as hers in all Boston."

"Yes, they are like the portraits, aren't they?" said Dan; delighted.
"She's very nice, don't you think?"

"Very. But Miss Anderson is more than that. I was disposed to be
critical of her at Campobello for a while, but she wore extremely well.
All at once you found yourself admiring her uncommon common-sense.

"Yes. That's just it," cried Dan. "She is so sensible!"

"I think she's very pretty," said Mrs. Brinkley.

"Well, her nose," suggested Dan. "It seems a little capricious."

"It's a trifle bizarre, I suppose. But what beautiful eyes! And her
figure! I declare that girl's carriage is something superb."

"Yes, she has a magnificent walk."

"Walks with her carriage," mused Brinkley aloud.

His wife did not regard him. "I don't know what Miss Anderson's
principles are, but her practices are perfect. I never knew her do an
unkind or shabby thing. She seems very good and very wise. And that
deep voice of hers has such a charm. It's so restful. You feel as if
you could repose upon it for a thousand years. Well! You will get down
before we leave?"

"Yes, I will," said Dan. "I'm here after a man who's after a patent,
and as soon as I can finish up my business with him I believe I will run
down to Fortress Monroe."

"This eleven-o'clock train will get you there at six," said Brinkley.
"Better telegraph for your rooms."

"Or, let us know," said Mrs. Brinkley, "and we'll secure them for you."

"Oh, thank you," said Dan.

He went away, feeling that Mrs. Brinkley was the pleasantest woman he
ever met. He knew that she had talked Miss Anderson so fully in order
to take away the implication of her husband's joke, and he admired her
tact. He thought of this as he loitered along the street from Wormley's
to the Arlington, where he was going to find Miss Anderson, by an
appointment of the night before, and take a walk with her; and thinking
of tact made him think of Mrs. Pasmer. Mrs. Pasmer was full of tact; and
how kind she had always been to him! She had really been like a mother
to him; he was sure she had understood him; he believed she had defended
h