instinctively felt that shabbiness was not so utterly unbearable after
all, and acknowledged that it had a brightness of its own. Meeting her
at a clan gathering in the camps of the Philistines, one always found
her in excellent spirits, and quite undamped in her enjoyment of the
frequently ponderous rejoicings. In the Bilberry school-room, among
dog-eared French grammars and lead-pencilled music, education did not
appear actually dispiriting; and now, as she sat by the fire, with the
bright, sharp little scissors in lier hand, and the pile of white merino
on her knees and trailing on the hearth-rug at her feet, Griffith found
her simply irresistible. Ah! the bliss that revealed itself in the
prospect of making her Mrs. Donne, and taking possession of her
entirely! The joy of seeing her seated in an arm-chair of his own, by
a fire which was solely his property, in a room which was nobody else's
paradise! He could imagine so well how she would regard such a state of
affairs as a nice little joke, and would pretend to adapt herself to
her position with divers daring witcheries practised upon himself to the
dethroning of his reason; how she would make innocent, wicked speeches,
and be coaxing and dazzling and mock-matronly by turns; and above all,
how she would enjoy it, and make him enjoy it, too; and yet sometimes,
when they were quiet and alone, would drop all her whimsical little airs
and graces, and make such tender, unselfish, poetic little speeches,
that he would find himself startled in life wonder at the depth
and warmth and generosity of her girlish heart. He often found her
surprising him-after this manner, and the surprise usually came when he
had just been most nearly betrayed into thinking of her as an adorable
little collection of witcheries and whimsicalities, and forgetting that
she had other moods. More than once she had absolutely brought tears
into his eyes, and a thrill to his heart, by some sudden, pathetic,
trustful speech, made after she had been dazzling and bewildering for
hours with her pretty coquetries and daring flashes of wit. No one but
Griffith ever saw her in these intense moods. The rest of them saw her
intense enough sometimes but the sudden, uncontrollable flashes of light
Griffith saw now and then, fairly staggered him. And the poor fellow's
love for her was something akin to adoration. There was only this one
woman upon earth to him, and his whole soul was bound up in her. It was
for