ing keys.

A few days after that prayer meeting the student happened to be in the
post-office. It was a small, rough place; a wooden partition shut off
the public from the postmistress and her helpers. He was waiting for
some information for which he had asked; he was forced to stand outside
the little window in this partition. He listened to women's voices
speaking on the other side, as one listens to that which in no way
concerns oneself.

'It's just like her, stuck up as she is since she came from school,
setting herself and her family up to be better than other folks.'

'Perhaps they were out of them at the store,' said a gentler voice.

'Oh, don't tell me. It's on the sly she's doing it, and then pretending
to be grander than other folks.'

Then the postmistress came to the window with the required information.
When she saw who was there, she said something else also.

'There's a parcel come for Miss Torrance,--if you happen to be going up
that way,' the postmistress simpered.

The student became aware for the first time that his friendship with
Miss Torrance was a matter of public interest. He was not entirely
displeased. 'I will take the parcel,' he said.

As he went along the sunny road, he felt so light-hearted that, hardly
thinking what he did, he began throwing up the parcel and catching it
again in his hands. It was not large; it was very tightly done up in
thick paper, and had an ironmonger's label attached; so that, though he
paid small attention, it did not impress him as a thing that could be
easily injured. Something, however, did soon make a sharp impression
upon him; once as he caught the parcel he felt his hand deeply pricked.
Looking closely, he saw that a pin was working its way through the thick
paper. After that he walked more soberly, and did not play ball. He
remembered what he had heard at the post-office. The parcel was
certainly addressed to Miss Torrance. It was very strange. He remembered
with displeasure now the assumption of the postmistress that he would be
glad to carry this parcel.

He delivered the pound of pins at the door without making a call. His
mind had never come to any decision with regard to his feeling for Miss
Torrance, and now he was more undecided than ever. He was full of
curiosity about the pins. He found it hard to believe that they were to
be used for a base purpose, but suspicion had entered his mind. The
knowledge that the eyes of the little public were u