ut not least," said "C;" "but what a contrast to my office! Mine
is all windows, and in cold days like this the wind whistles in until my
very bones rattle! The outward view is fine. As I sit I see a stable, a
carpenter's shop, the roof of the new Town Hall that has ruined the
town, and--"

"Excuse me,"--some one at another office on the line here broke in--and
with more politeness than is sometimes shown in interrupting
conversations on the wire--"I have a message to send," and forthwith
began calling.

At this Nattie resumed her interrupted occupation of bewailing her
spoiled dress, but at the same time she had a feeling of pleased
surprise at the affability of "C" at "X n."

"I wonder," she thought, as she took up her book again, and tried to
bury the remembrance of her accident therein, "I do wonder if this 'C'
is _he_ or _she!_"

Soon, however, she heard "X n" "call" once more, and this time she laid
her book aside very readily.

"You did not describe the principal part of your office--yourself!" "C"
said, when she answered the "call."

"How can I describe myself?" replied Nattie. "How can anyone--properly?
One sees that same old face in the glass day after day, and becomes so
used to it that it is almost impossible to notice even the changes in
it; so I am sure I do not see how one can tell how it really does
look--unless one's nose is broken--or one's eyes crossed--and mine are
not--or one should not see a looking-glass for a year! I can only say I
am very inky just now!"

"Oh! that is too bad!" "C" said; then, with a laugh, "It has always been
a source of great wonder to me how certain very plain people of my
acquaintance could possibly think themselves handsome. But I see it all
now! Can you not, however, leave the beauty out, and give me some sort
of an idea-about yourself for my imagination to work upon?"

"Certainly!" replied Nattie, with a mischievous twinkle in her eye that
"C" knew not of. "Imagine, if you please, a tall young man, with--"

"C" "broke" quickly, saying,

"Oh, no! You cannot deceive me in that way! Under protest I accept the
height, but spurn the sex!"

"Why, you do not suppose I am a lady, do you?" queried Nattie.

"I am quite positive you are. There is a certain difference in the
'sending,' of a lady and gentleman, that I have learned to distinguish.
Can you truly say I am wrong?"

Nattie evaded a direct reply, by saying,

"People who think they know so much are often de