ted, though he couldn't have explained the nature
of the insult; and he was all the angrier because he was fond of Nan.
She had been very kind to the little boy--kinder, perhaps, than he
deserved, for he had made the impulsive young lady the victim of many a
practical joke.

As Cephas went along, it suddenly occurred to him that he had done wrong
to say anything about his proposed journey, and the thought took away
all his resentment. He whirled in his tracks, and ran back to where he
had left the girls. He saw Eugenia Claiborne sauntering along the
street, but Nan was nowhere in sight. He had no trouble in pledging Miss
Claiborne to secrecy, for she was very fond of all sorts of secrets, and
could keep them as well as another girl.

Nan, she informed Cephas, had expressed a determination to visit him at
his own home, and, in fact, Cephas found her there. She was as sweet as
sugar, and was not at all the same Nan who had drawn herself up proudly
and as good as told Cephas that it was nothing to her that he was going
to see Gabriel. No; this was another Nan, and she had a troubled look in
her eyes that Cephas had never seen there before.

"I came to see if you were still angry, Cephas," she said by way of
explanation. "I wasn't very nice to you, was I?"

"Well, I hope you don't mind Cephas," said the lad's mother. "If you do,
he'll keep you guessing. Has he been rude to you, Nan?"

And it was then that Cephas heard praise poured on his name in a steady
stream. Cephas rude! Cephas saucy! A thousand times no! Why, he was the
best, the kindest, and the brightest child in the town. Nan was so much
in earnest that Cephas had to blush.

"I didn't know," said his mother. "He has been going with those large
boys so much that I was afraid he was getting too big for his breeches."
She loved her son, but she had no illusions about the nature of boys;
she knew them well.

"Are you still angry, Cephas?" Nan asked. She appeared very anxious to
be sure on that score.

"N-o-o," replied Cephas, somewhat doubtfully; he hesitated to surrender
the advantage that he saw he had.

"Yes, you are," said Nan, "and I think it is very unkind of you. I am
sorry you misunderstood me; if you only knew how I really feel, and how
much trouble I have, you would be sorry instead of angry."

"I'm the one to blame," said Cephas penitently. "Gabriel says you
dislike him, and I thought he was only guessing. But he knew better than
I did. I had no