d he,
smiling; how could he help it? and every one laughed, none more heartily
than the gay musician herself. I never heard such a laugh before, so
merry, so contagious; such a rich, round, ringing laugh; dying away one
moment, then bursting out again in such a chorus!

All at once she fixed her eyes on me, and starting up, came directly to
me, planting her tall, finely formed, firm-set figure in the midst of
the group around me.

"Come, _you_ must play and sing too. I have no doubt your style will
suit Mr. Linwood's delicate nerves."

"I never play," I answered.

"Nor sing?"

"Only at home."

"You have a face of music, I am sure."

"Thank you. I have a heart to appreciate it; that is a great gift."

"But why don't you sing and play? How do you expect to pass current in
society, without being able to hang on the instrument as I do, or creep
over it with mouselike fingers as most young ladies do? I suppose you
are very learned--very accomplished? How many languages do you speak?"

"Only two at present," I answered, excessively amused by her
eccentricity, and falling into her vein with a facility that quite
surprised myself. "I generally find the English tongue sufficient to
express my ideas."

"I suppose one of the two is German. You will be considered a mere
nobody here, if you do not understand German. It is the fashion; the
paroxysm; German literature, German taste, and German transcendentalism;
I have tried them all, but they will not do for me. I must have sunshine
and open air. I must see where I am going, and understand what I am
doing. I abhor mysticism, as I do deceit. Are you frank, Miss Gabriella?
You have such a pretty name, I shall take the liberty of using it. Lynn
is too short; it sounds like an abbreviation of Linwood."

"If you mean by frankness, a disposition to tell all I think and feel, I
am not frank," I answered, without noticing her last remark, which
created a smile in others.

"You do not like to hear people express _all_ their thoughts, good, bad,
or indifferent?"

"Indeed I do not. I like to have them winnowed before they are uttered."

"Then you will not like _me_, and I am sorry for it. I have taken an
amazing fancy to you. Never mind; I shall take you by storm when we get
to Grandison Place. Do you know I am going home with you? Are you not
delighted?"

She burst into one of her great, rich laughs, at the sight of my
dismayed countenance. I really felt annihilated at the