what was that?' said his
friend. 'Begorra, whin the judge axed me was I guilty or not guilty, I
answered, "Was yer grandfather a monkey?" And then he gave me sixty
days.'"

"Well," replied Frank, "that is a good story, but it doesn't answer my
question."

That afternoon when Alice was alone with her brother, he said: "Well,
sis, how do you like my friend?"

"Oh, he means to be nice," she replied, "but he is a little thoughtless,
and it would do him good to have to work for his living a year or two."

Albert looked at his sister, while an amused smile spread over his face,
and then said:

"If you weren't so abominably pretty you wouldn't be so fussy. Most
young ladies would consider the good-looking and only son of a
millionaire absolutely perfect at sight."

"But I don't," she replied, "and if you weren't the best brother in the
world I'd box your ears! 'Abominably pretty!' The idea!"

The two days intervening before Sunday passed all too quickly for the
three young people. One day they drove to a distant country town and had
dinner, and that evening Alice, true to her sex, invited Frank to go
with her to call upon her dearest girl friend. Just why she did this we
will leave to any young lady to answer, if she will. The next day Albert
invited a little party, and that evening they all met at the old mill
pond and had a skating frolic. Secluded as it was, between wooded banks,
it was just the place for that kind of fun, and the young men added
romance to the scene by lighting a bonfire! When Sunday morning came
they of course attended church, and Frank, as promised, found himself
slyly stared at by all the people of Sandgate. He did not pay much
attention to the sermon, but a good deal to a certain sweet soprano
voice in the choir, and when after service Alice joined them, he boldly
walked right away with her and left Albert chatting with a neighbor. It
is certain that this proceeding did not displease her, for no wise young
lady is averse to the assumed protectorship of a good-looking and
well-dressed young man, especially when other girls are looking on.

On the way home she, of course, asked the usual question as to how he
liked the sermon.

"I don't think I heard ten words of it," he replied; "I was kept busy
counting how many I caught looking at me, and whenever the choir sang I
forgot to count. Why was it they stared at me so much? Is a stranger
here a walking curiosity?"

"In a way, yes," answered Al