st
at the operation, and was equally delighted with its neatness and
tenderness, as well as equally convinced of the necessity of asking the
performer first to wash his hands and then to eat his breakfast, both
which kind proposals he accepted with diffident gratitude, first casting
a glance around the apartment, which, though he said nothing, conveyed
that he was profoundly struck with the tokens of occupation that it
contained. The breakfast was, in the first place, a very hungry one;
indeed, Bessie had been too ravenous to wait till the surgery was over,
and was already arrived at her second egg when the others appeared, and
the story had again to be told to the mother, and her warm thanks given.
Mrs. Curtis did not like strangers when they were only names, but let
her be brought in contact, and her good nature made her friendly at
once, above all in her own house. The stranger was so grave and quiet
too, not at all presuming, and making light of his services, but
only afraid he had been trespassing on the Homestead grounds. These
incursions of the season visitors were so great a grievance at the
Homestead that Mrs. Curtis highly approved his forbearance, whilst she
was pleased with his tribute to her scenery, which he evidently admired
with an artistic eye. Love of sketching had brought him to Avonmouth,
and before he took leave, Mrs. Curtis had accorded him that permission
to draw in her little peninsula for which many a young lady below was
sighing and murmuring. He thanked her with a melancholy look, confessing
that in his circumstances his pencil was his toy and his solace.

"Once again, that landscape painter!" exclaimed Bessie, with uplifted
hands, as soon as both he and Mrs. Curtis were out of earshot, "an
adventure at last."

"Not at all," said Rachel, gravely; "there was neither alarm nor
danger."

"Precisely; the romance minus the disagreeables. Only the sea monster
wanting. Young Alcides, and rock--you stood there for sacrifice, I was
the weeping Dardanian dames."

Even Grace could not help laughing at the mischief of the one, and the
earnest seriousness of the other.

"Now, Bessie, I entreat that you will not make a ridiculous story of a
most simple affair," implored Rachel.

"I promise not to make one, but don't blame me if it makes itself."

"It cannot, unless some of us tell the story."

"What, do you expect the young Alcides to hold his tongue? That is more
than can be hoped of mortal lands