s time he certainly was not mistaken.
The two amused, mischievous faces that suddenly disappeared behind the
curtain as he looked up showed that the incident had not been
unwitnessed. Yet it was impossible that it could have been either of
THEM. Their house was only accessible by a long detour. It might have
been the trick of a confederate; but the tone of half familiarity and
half entreaty in the unseen visitor's voice dispelled the idea of any
collusion. He entered the room and closed the door angrily. A grim
smile stole over his face as he glanced around at the dainty saint-like
appointments of the absent Tappington, and thought what that
irreproachable young man would have said to the indecorous intrusion,
even though it had been a mistake. Would those shameless Pike County
girls have dared to laugh at HIM?

But he was again puzzled to know why he himself should have been
selected for this singular experience. Why was HE considered fair game
for these girls? And, for the matter of that, now that he reflected
upon it, why had even this gentle, refined, and melancholy Cherry
thought it necessary to talk slang to HIM on their first acquaintance,
and offer to sing him the "Ham-fat Man"? It was true he had been a
little gay, but never dissipated. Of course he was not a saint, like
Tappington--oh, THAT was it! He believed he understood it now. He was
suffering from that extravagant conception of what worldliness consists
of, so common to very good people with no knowledge of the world.
Compared to Tappington he was in their eyes, of course, a rake and a
roue. The explanation pleased him. He would not keep it to himself.
He would gain Cherry's confidence and enlist her sympathies. Her
gentle nature would revolt at this injustice to their lonely lodger.
She would see that there were degrees of goodness besides her
brother's. She would perhaps sit on that stool again and NOT sing the
"Ham-fat Man."

A day or two afterwards the opportunity seemed offered to him. As he
was coming home and ascending the long hilly street, his eye was taken
by a tall graceful figure just preceding him. It was she. He had never
before seen her in the street, and was now struck with her ladylike
bearing and the grave superiority of her perfectly simple attire. In a
thoroughfare haunted by handsome women and striking toilettes, the
refined grace of her mourning costume, and a certain stateliness that
gave her the look of a young wi