the hook with gay little bows.

The children were very restless; they did much moving about, climbing
in and out of the seat. The mother seemed to find it necessary to
admonish her offspring with frequency, and Arethusa discovered in this
way that the little girl's name was "Helen Louise" and the being in the
straight up-and-down blue garment was a boy infant who answered to the
name of Peter.

At a Junction farther down the line, a Man got on. And as the car was
pretty full by this time, he took the seat just opposite Arethusa; that
seat which Timothy had gallantly turned over for her.

He buried himself immediately in a paper he carried, but when his
neighbor's liquid laugh rang out at some ridiculous antic of Peter's,
he dropped his paper and regarded her mobile face with interest.

He was rather a nice looking man, quietly dressed in well cut clothes
and he had an air of good living about him that was quite attractive.
To any experienced traveller, the neat looking leather cases with the
brass locks, which he carried, would have been quite sufficient to have
immediately told his occupation. He travelled for a notions house, out
of Cincinnati, with a territory covering most of the small towns in
three states. It was a boring business, and offered very little as
diversion on the side; but he hoped before very long to be much better
placed. He liked girls, and the one before him was one of the prettiest
he had ever seen.

They rode facing one another for about five miles, and he watched
Arethusa, without her actually realizing she was being watched. Then
she laughed gayly at Peter once more, as his mother all but saved his
life when he pitched head first off the seat, and her eager grey eyes
caught a glimpse of the brown eyes across from her, smiling in
sympathy.

"Isn't he the funniest little boy!" exclaimed Arethusa, involuntarily,
to the sympathy.

"He is," replied the Man kindly, then he added, after a bit, "Are you
travelling alone, or do you belong with the funny little boy?"

"No, sir,... Yes, sir!" replied Arethusa, suddenly covered with a shy
confusion.

"Which is which?" asked the Man, laughing, and he showed attractive
white teeth.

The friendliness of his brown eyes and his laugh reassured Arethusa of
her momentary feeling of alarm when he had spoken. Her exclamation had
not really expected a reply, and she had been quite startled when the
sympathetic eyes to which she had addressed herself had