ke her a little about
it, for she never replied to his question.

CHAPTER XVI

SWEET ALICE

"Oh, don't you remember sweet Alice, Ben Bolt?
Sweet Alice whose hair was so brown,
Who wept with delight when you gave her a smile,
And trembled with fear at your frown?"
_Old Song._

Every person we meet in life makes an impression on us, varying from the
faintest shadow that soon vanishes to a vivid one that lasts as long as
memory.

[Illustration: ALICE]

Alice Page's first impression of Frank Nason did not do him justice. She
thought him a big, good-natured, polite boy, rather conscious that he
was likely to be sought after, and disposed to sulk if he wasn't. His
plea for sympathy on the score that his life of idleness was a bore,
which he made the day they went sleighing, only provoked her derision,
and as she was disposed to judge all men by the standard of her
self-reliant brother, he came near awakening contempt on her part. It
was not until the last evening of his visit that she discovered her
mistake and realized that he had more depth of character than she had
thought. It is likely the keen enjoyment which he seemed to feel when
she sang for him had weight, for we are prone to like those who like us,
and it was natural also that she should feel a little gratitude for what
he had done for her brother.

Her life, hidden away as she was in a by-way corner of a country town,
and seeing no one all the week except her small band of pupils, gave her
plenty of time for thought, and there was no young man in the village
whose company she would tolerate if she could help it. Once a week,
usually on Saturday, she received a letter from her brother, and that,
together with the mild excitement of Sunday church-going, was all that
broke the monotony of her life.

A week after the Christmas visit she received a package containing a new
book, three of the latest popular songs, and a box of candy, and pinned
to the candy Frank Nason's card, on the back of which was written: "For
the girl who wanted to kiss her teacher."

She wrote a polite note of thanks, and then, feeling that she would soon
be forgotten by him, and not caring much whether she was or not, settled
down to the unvarying round of her daily life. It was mid-winter, and
two weeks after her brother wrote that Frank had begun studying law in
his office, when she received a letter from that young man t