as
her thoughts flew back to the happy times when a little lad rode a
little lass in a big wheelbarrow, and never spilt his load,--when two
brown heads bobbed daily side by side to school, and the favorite play
was "Babes in the Wood," with Di for a somewhat peckish robin to cover
the small martyrs with any vegetable substance that lay at hand. Nan
sighed, as she thought of these things, and John regarded the battered
thimble on his finger-tip with increased benignity of aspect as he
heard the sound.

"When are you going to make your fortune, John, and get out of that
disagreeable hardware concern?" demanded Di, pausing after an exciting
"round," and looking almost as much exhausted as if it had been a
veritable pugilistic encounter.

"I intend to make it by plunging still deeper into 'that disagreeable
hardware concern;' for, next year, if the world keeps rolling, and John
Lord is alive, he will become a partner, and then--and then--"

The color sprang up into the young man's cheek, his eyes looked out
with a sudden shine, and his hand seemed involuntarily to close, as if
he saw and seized some invisible delight.

"What will happen then, John?" asked Nan, with a wondering glance.

"I'll tell you in a year, Nan, wait till then." and John's strong hand
unclosed, as if the desired good were not to be his yet.

Di looked at him, with a knitting-needle stuck into her hair, saying,
like a sarcastic unicorn,--

"I really thought you had a soul above pots and kettles, but I see you
haven't; and I beg your pardon for the injustice I have done you."

Not a whit disturbed, John smiled, as if at some mighty pleasant fancy
of his own, as he replied,--

"Thank you, Di; and as a further proof of the utter depravity of my
nature, let me tell you that I have the greatest possible respect for
those articles of ironmongery. Some of the happiest hours of my life
have been spent in their society; some of my pleasantest associations
are connected with them; some of my best lessons have come to me among
them; and when my fortune is made, I intend to show my gratitude by
taking three flat-irons rampant for my coat of arms."

Nan laughed merrily, as she looked at the burns on her hand; but Di
elevated the most prominent feature of her brown countenance, and
sighed despondingly,--

"Dear, dear, what a disappointing world this is! I no sooner build a
nice castle in Spain, and settle a smart young knight therein, than
down it come