f her bonnet, sat down by the fire. At once her sister ceased
in her hovering about the room and sitting also, became to all
appearance her silent shadow.

"Paula has gone up stairs to take off her bonnet," the younger woman
said in a straightforward manner just short of being brusque. "She is a
very remarkable girl, Mr. Sylvester, a genius I suppose some would call
her, a child of nature I prefer to say. Whatever there is to be learned
in this town she has learned. And in a place where nature speaks and
good books abound that is not inconsiderable. I have taken pride in her
talents I acknowledge, and have endeavored to do what I could to
cultivate them to the best advantage. There is no girl in my school who
can write so original a composition, nor is there one with a truer heart
or more tractable disposition."

"You have then been her teacher as well as her friend, she owes you a
double debt of gratitude."

A look hard to understand flashed over her homely face. "I have never
thought of debt or gratitude in connection with Paula. The only effort
which I have ever made in her behalf which cost me anything, is this one
which threatens me with her loss." Then as if fearing she had said too
much, set her firm lips still firmer and ignoring the subject of the
child, astonished him by certain questions on the leading issues of the
day that at once betrayed a truly virile mind.

"She is a study," thought he to himself, but meeting her on the ground
she had taken, replied at once and to her evident satisfaction in the
direct and simple manner that appeals the most forcibly to a strong if
somewhat unpolished understanding, while the meek little Miss Abby
glanced from one to the other with a humble awe more indicative of her
appreciation for their superiority than of her comprehension of the
subject.

But what with Miss Belinda's secret anxiety and Mr. Sylvester's
unconscious listening for a step upon the stair, the conversation, brisk
as it had opened, gradually languished, and ere long with a sort of
clairvoyant understanding of her sister's wishes, Miss Abby arose and
with her customary jerk left the room for Paula.

"The child is not timid but has an unaccountable aversion to entering
the presence of strangers alone," Miss Belinda explained; but Mr.
Sylvester did not hear her, for at that moment the door re-opened and
Miss Abby stepped in with the young girl thus heralded.

Edward Sylvester never forgot that momen