sex. But that he should be sitting there in a cheap negro laundry
with absolutely no sentiment of any kind towards the heavy-haired,
freckle-faced country schoolgirl opposite him, from whom he sought
and expected nothing, and ENJOYING it without scorn of himself or his
companion, to use his own expression, "got him." Presently he rose and
sauntered to the table with shining eyes.

"Well, what do you think of Aunt Chloe's shebang?" he asked smilingly.

"Oh, it's so sweet and clean and homelike," said the girl quickly. At
any other time he would have winced at the last adjective. It struck him
now as exactly the word.

"Would you like to live here, if you could?"

Her face brightened. She put the teapot down and gazed fixedly at Jack.

"Because you can. Look here. I spoke to Hannibal about it. You can have
the two front rooms if you want to. One of 'em is big enough and light
enough for a studio to do your work in. You tell that nigger what you
want to put in 'em, and he's got my orders to do it. I told him about
your painting; said you were the daughter of an old friend, you know.
Hold on, Sophy; d--n it all, I've got to do a little gilt-edged lying;
but I let you out of the niece business this time. Yes, from this moment
I'm no longer your uncle. I renounce the relationship. It's hard,"
continued the rascal, "after all these years and considering sister
Mary's feelings; but, as you seem to wish it, it must be done."

Sophy's steel-blue eyes softened. She slid her long brown hand across
the table and grasped Jack's. He returned the pressure quickly and
fraternally, even to that half-shamed, half-hurried evasion of emotion
peculiar to all brothers. This was also a new sensation; but he liked
it.

"You are too--too good, Mr. Hamlin," she said quietly.

"Yes," said Jack cheerfully, "that's what's the matter with me. It isn't
natural, and if I keep it up too long it brings on my cough."

Nevertheless, they were happy in a boy and girl fashion, eating
heartily, and, I fear, not always decorously; scrambling somewhat for
the strawberries, and smacking their lips over the Sally Lunn. Meantime,
it was arranged that Mr. Hamlin should inform Miss Mix that Sophy would
leave school at the end of the term, only a few days hence, and then
transfer herself to lodgings with some old family servants, where she
could more easily pursue her studies in her own profession. She need not
make her place of abode a secret, neither need