d from her face in an instant. She
clapped her hands. "Oh!" she cried, "new clothes! clean clothes! Let me
go with you."

Even Amelius saw that it was impossible to take her out in the streets
with him in broad daylight, dressed as she was then. "No, no," he said,
"wait here till you get your new things. I won't be half an hour gone.
Lock yourself in if you're afraid, and open the door to nobody till I
come back!"

Sally hesitated; she began to look frightened.

"Think of the new dress, and the pretty bonnet," suggested Amelius,
speaking unconsciously in the tone in which he might have promised a toy
to a child.

He had taken the right way with her. Her face brightened again. "I'll do
anything you tell me," she said.

He put the key in her hand, and was out in the street directly.

Amelius possessed one valuable moral quality which is exceedingly rare
among Englishmen. He was not in the least ashamed of putting himself
in a ridiculous position, when he was conscious that his own motives
justified him. The smiling and tittering of the shop-women, when he
stated the nature of his errand, and produced his two pieces of string,
failed to annoy him in the smallest degree. He laughed too. "Funny,
isn't it," he said, "a man like me buying gowns and the rest of it? She
can't come herself--and you'll advise me, like good creatures, won't
you?" They advised their handsome young customer to such good purpose,
that he was in possession of a gray walking costume, a black cloth
jacket, a plain lavender-coloured bonnet, a pair of black gloves, and
a paper of pins, in little more than ten minutes' time. The nearest
trunk-maker supplied a travelling-box to hold all these treasures; and a
passing cab took Amelius back to his lodgings, just as the half-hour
was out. But one event had happened during his absence. The landlady had
knocked at the door, had called through it in a terrible voice, "Half an
hour more!" and had retired again without waiting for an answer.

Amelius carried the box into the bedroom. "Be as quick as you can,
Sally," he said--and left her alone, to enjoy the full rapture of
discovering the new clothes.

When she opened the door and showed herself, the change was so wonderful
that Amelius was literally unable to speak to her. Joy flushed her pale
cheeks, and diffused its tender radiance over her pure blue eyes. A more
charming little creature, in that momentary transfiguration of pride
and delight, no man's