her; "only I don't know where to look for a Dr. Howe or a Dr.
anybody, who will come along and teach you to develop your faculties. I
declare, I believe you'd rather read a dictionary any day than not read
at all."

"I don't know but I would," said Cannie; but she said it to herself. She
was rather afraid of Aunt Myra.

With this strong love of reading, the girl's delight may be imagined
when Mrs. Gray, true to her promise, put into her hands a great
illustrated volume of Longfellow, and left her free to dip and select
and read as long as she chose. She curled herself up on the staircase
bench, and was soon so deep in "The Skeleton in Armor" as to be quite
oblivious to all that went on below. She did not hear the bell ring, she
did not see various ladies shown into the drawing-room, or notice the
hum of conversation that followed. She never lifted her eyes when
Georgie Gray and a friend, who was no other than the identical Miss Joy
of the "Eolus," stood at the staircase foot for some moments and held a
whispered conversation; nor was she conscious of the side glances which
the visitor now and then cast up toward the brown gingham skirt visible
above. It was not till

"_Skoal!_ to the Northland! _skoal!_"

ended the poem, that her dream ended, and she roused herself to find the
callers gone and luncheon on the table.

Mrs. Gray was wont to say that they always had a meal at noon and a meal
at night; and when her husband was at home, the first was called lunch
and the second dinner, and when he was away the first was called dinner
and the second supper; and that the principal difference between them
was that at one there was soup and at the other there was not. Candace
did not particularly care what the meal was called. Under any name she
was glad of it, for sea-air and a morning drive had made her very
hungry; and this time she was on her guard, watched carefully what
others did, and made no serious blunders.

"What are you girls going to do this afternoon?" asked Mrs. Gray.

"Berry Joy has asked me to drive with her," replied Georgie; "she wants
to take her friend over to the Fort to hear the band play. You have no
objection, have you, mamma?"

"No; none at all. And you, Gertrude?"

"I haven't made any particular plan."

"Then suppose you and Candace take a walk on the Cliffs. I have to take
Marian to the dentist; but Cannie has not seen the sea yet, except at a
distance, and you both ought to have