vine that might possibly be Clematis Verticillaris, and both hands
were filled with specimens of every conceivable kind. Incidentally the
mosquitoes and black flies had found him: his face was purple, and,
like that of the lady at the Brick Lane Branch tea-party, "swellin'
wisibly;" and blood was trickling down his well-shaped nose from a
bramble-scratch. He had fallen down once or twice in the bog, with
results to his clothes; and altogether he presented a singular figure
to the view of his parishioners as he strode hastily through the
street. Heads were thrust out of windows, staid eyes rolled in horror,
but the minister saw nothing. He was tired, and absorbed in his new
possessions. It was good to sit down in his study, and spread his
treasures out on the broad table, and gloat over them. A clump of damp
moss rested quietly on his new sermon, "The Slough of Despond," but he
took no note. He was looking for a place to put this curious little
lizard in, and after anxious thought selected the gilt celluloid box,
lined with pink satin, which the Mission Circle had given him on
Christmas for his collars and cuffs. He felt, vaguely, that it was not
the right place for the lizard, but there seemed to be nothing else in
reach,--except the flitter-work pen-box, and Rose Ellen had made that
for him. Ah! if Rose Ellen were here now, how much she could help him!
it was so much easier for two to analyze than one. He at the
microscope, and Rose Ellen corroborating, correcting from the
textbook,--it was a perfect arrangement.

The minister sighed heavily. Mrs. Mellen brought in his tea, for it
was Wednesday evening, and he preferred an early cup of tea, and a
modest supper after the meeting. Food distracted his mind, he was apt
to say, from thought, a statement which his landlady treated with
indulgent contempt, as she had never known him to remark the
difference between "riz" bread and the soda article.

She set the cup down before him, and he promptly dipped a fern root
into it; then started back with a cry of dismay.

"Well indeed, sir!" said Mrs. Mellen, "I should think so, truly! What
did you do that for, and spoil your tea?"

"The--tea--a--that is, it is of no consequence about the tea!" said
Mr. Lindsay, hastily.

"I fear I have injured the root. I thought it was water. Dear! dear!
Miss Mellen was in the habit of bringing me a glass of water when I
brought plants home."

Mrs. Mellen said nothing, but brought the wat