r of his face as he came in!--Mr. Linden
took the effect of it--Faith was partly occupied with her own; and
Reuben, thinking the sooner the quicker--walked straight up to her.

"Miss Faith," he said, trying to speak as usual, "I beg your
pardon--but I was sent here with this,"--and Reuben presented a
moderately large round basket, without a handle.

"Reuben, come up to the fire," said Mr. Linden; while Faith took the
basket and exclaimed, "This! Who in the world sent you, Reuben?--Yes,
come to the fire."

"I am not cold, sir," Reuben said with a look towards where Mr. Linden
stood by the mantelpiece, as if his desire was to get out of the
room--instead of further in, though he did follow Faith a step or two
as she went that way. "I didn't mean to come here to-day, Mr. Linden,
but--"

"Didn't mean to come here?" said Mr. Linden smiling,--"what have you
been doing, to be afraid of me? Faith, has your postman been remiss?"

They were a pair, Reuben and Faith! though the colour of the one was
varying, while Reuben's was steady. Faith nevertheless seized the boy's
hand and drew him with gentle violence up to the fire.

"Who sent you with this, Reuben?"

"Dr. Harrison, Miss Faith. I was off on an errand after church, and one
of his men came after me and told me to come to the house. And there I
saw the doctor himself--and ho told me to bring you this basket, ma'am,
and that he didn't like to trust it to any one else. And--" but there
Reuben hesitated.

"And that you were the only person he knew who would go through fire
and water for him?" said Mr. Linden.

"No, sir, but--I suppose I've got to say it, since he told me to,--Dr.
Harrison said, Miss Faith, that--" the message seemed to stir both
Reuben's shame and laughter--"that he had begged a cake of his sister,
to go with your Thanksgiving pies--and that it was in the basket. And
that I needn't tell anybody else about it."

"Reuben," said Mr. Linden laughing, "you needn't tell him that I shall
eat half the cake."

"No, sir"--Reuben said,--and tried not to laugh, and couldn't help it.

The third member of the trio shewed no disposition at all to much
laughter. She had put the basket down on the table and looked at it
from a distance, as if it had contained the four and twenty live
blackbirds--or a small powder magazine. The effect of his message
Reuben did not stay to see. He went round to Mr. Linden to ask if the
morning orders were unchanged, clasped hands wi