r supposed they really existed, or at least never expected I
should see one with my own eyes. I shall like this place better than
ever, now; it will be so romantic to have a hermit in our vicinity. What
do you suppose he was going to do with his bundles of sticks, Rufus?"

"Use them for firewood, probably," said he.

"But I should have thought he might have obtained that in the forest
where he lives, and not been obliged to travel all the way down here,
this stormy day, to pick up wood from among the snow, and then carry it
two or three miles in his arms," said Edith, in a ruminating tone.

"O, hermits are strange beings, sis!" answered Rufus, whistling a vacant
tune as he stood before the window gazing forth on the dismal storm which
debarred him from his accustomed diversion of skating on the frozen
surface of the river.

While his children were occupied with the preceding conversation, Col.
Malcome had donned his fur-lined overcoat and stepped across the yard to
Deacon Allen's cottage. The good people were quite embarrassed to behold
so smart a visitor in their unostentatious little parlor, but the
colonel, by his gentlemanly grace, soon placed them at their ease. After
a few moments' conversation on general topics, he asked, casually enough,
who was the owner of the fine mansion he had noticed in his rambles about
town, with the appellation "Summer Home" sculptured on its marble
gateway?

"O, that is Major Tom Howard's!" answered Deacon Allen. "His family have
made it their abode for six or eight months every season since they owned
it; and I understand, after their next return, it is to become their
permanent residence."

"'Tis a delightful location," remarked Colonel M.; "a very large mansion.
Has Mr. Howard a family corresponding with its dimensions?"

"O, no, only a wife and one child--a beautiful girl."

"How old is his daughter?" inquired the colonel.

"Well, about fourteen I should say; but seems much older from her matured
growth and manners."

"Has Mr. Howard no sister living with him?" asked the visitor,
carelessly.

"No," answered the deacon.

"And has he not lost one?"

"Not since he came among us; though his wife, I have understood, always
dresses in black. She is a confirmed invalid and seldom seen."

"Then the family do not mingle much in society?" said the colonel.

The deacon shook his head.

"Somewhat aristocratic, probably," remarked the visitor.

"I should judge so," said the