om his love and protection would make a
paradise. It did occur to him, occasionally, that the picture he was
drawing might not be quite correct, and at those times he would seek
Mrs. Sims, and ask a few questions of this oracle by way of adjusting
his own ideas to the truth. Poor Mrs. Sims, between her extreme honesty
and her desire to see the schoolmaster, whom she really loved, assured
of future comfort, had much ado to be 'tactful' and say the right
thing. She naturally regarded comfort as pertaining solely to the outer
man, and fully believed that this marriage was the best step he could
take; so her answers, when they could not be satisfactory, were vague.

'How can you doubt, sir, that you'll be much happier with a wife to cook
your meals regular, and no more bother about changements all your life?
I'm sure if I were you, sir, I wouldn't hesitate between the joys of
matrimony and single life.'

'Perhaps not, Mrs. Sims; but I, being I, do hesitate. It is a very
important step to take, just because, as you say, there will be no more
change.'

'And it's just you that have been telling me that the very thing you
dislike most in this world is change. And there are other advantages,
too, in having kith and kin, for it's lonesome without when you're old;
and just think how beautiful for a wife to weep over you when you're
a-dying--and she'll do all that, Miss Blakely will, sir; I'm sure, as
her friend, I can answer for it.'

'The wills above be done,' murmured the schoolmaster, 'but I would fain
die a dry death.'

Time pressed; the schoolmaster procrastinated; the very evening before
the widow's departure had arrived, and yet nothing was done. Then it
happened, as is frequently the case when the mind is balancing between
two opinions, that a very small circumstance determined him to write the
all-important note. The circumstance was none other than his having a
convenient opportunity of sending it; for to him, as to many other
unpractical minds, the small difficulties in the way of any action had
as great a deterring power as more important considerations. Miss
Blakely happened to live on the other side of the town, and though the
master walked much farther than that himself every day, he felt that in
this case it would hardly be dignified to be his own messenger.

It was early in the evening, and the master's window was open to the
soft spring air that came in full of the freshness of young leaves and
the joyous