h no hearts to perplex us and no
great temptations to try us," she said to herself as she rested a minute
in a quiet nook while her partner went to get a glass of water. Right
in the midst of this half-sad, half-sentimental reverie, she heard
a familiar voice behind her say earnestly: "And allophite is the new
hydrous silicate of alumina and magnesia, much resembling pseudophite,
which Websky found in Silesia."

"What is Mac talking about!" she thought, and, peeping behind a great
azalea in full bloom, she saw her cousin in deep conversation with the
professor, evidently having a capital time, for his face had lost its
melancholy expression and was all alive with interest, while the elder
man was listening as if his remarks were both intelligent and agreeable.

"What is it?" asked Steve, coming up with the water and seeing a smile
on Rose's face.

She pointed out the scientific tete-a-tete going on behind the azalea,
and Steve grinned as he peeped, then grew sober and said in a tone
of despair: "If you had seen the pains I took with that fellow, the
patience with which I brushed his wig, the time I spent trying to
convince him that he must wear thin boots, and the fight I had to get
him into that coat, you'd understand my feelings when I see him now."

"Why, what's the matter with him?" asked Rose.

"Will you take a look and see what a spectacle he has made of himself.
He'd better be sent home at once or he will disgrace the family by
looking as if he'd been in a row."

Steve spoke in such a tragic tone that Rose took another peep and did
sympathize with Dandy, for Mac's elegance was quite gone. His tie was
under one ear, his posy hung upside down, his gloves were rolled into a
ball, which he absently squeezed and pounded as he talked, and his hair
looked as if a whirlwind had passed over it, for his ten fingers set
it on end now and then, as they had a habit of doing when he studied or
talked earnestly. But he looked so happy and wide awake, in spite of his
dishevelment, that Rose gave an approving nod and said behind her fan:
"It is a trying spectacle, Steve yet, on the whole, I think his own odd
ways suit him best and I fancy we shall be proud of him, for he knows
more than all the rest of us put together. Hear that now." And Rose
paused that they might listen to the following burst of eloquence from
Mac's lips: "You know Frenzal has shown that the globular forms of
silicate of bismuth at Schneeburg and Johanng