fresh cheek, the young
man's eye fell upon the words the girl was reading, and forgot to look
away again. Books were the desire of his life; but an honorable
purpose and an indomitable will kept him steady at his ledgers till he
could feel that he had earned the right to read. Like wine to many
another was an open page to his; he read a line, and, longing for more,
took a hasty sip from his neighbor's cup, forgetting that it was a
stranger's also.

Down the page went the two pairs of eyes, and the merriment from
Debby's seemed to light up the sombre ones behind her with a sudden
shine that softened the whole face and made it very winning. No wonder
they twinkled, for Elijah Pogram spoke, and "Mrs. Hominy, the mother of
the modern Gracchi, in the classical blue cap and the red cotton
pocket-handkerchief, came down the room in a procession of one." A low
laugh startled Debby, though it was smothered like the babes in the
Tower; and, turning, she beheld the trespasser scarlet with confusion,
and sobered with a tardy sense of his transgression. Debby was not a
starched young lady of the "prune and prism" school, but a frank,
free-hearted little body, quick to read the sincerity of others, and to
take looks and words at their real value. Dickens was her idol; and
for his sake she could have forgiven a greater offence than this.

The stranger's contrite countenance and respectful apology won her
good-will at once; and with a finer courtesy than any Aunt Pen would
have taught, she smilingly bowed her pardon, and, taking another book
from her basket, opened it, saying, pleasantly,--

"Here is the first volume if you like it, Sir. I can recommend it as
an invaluable consolation for the discomforts of a summer day's
journey, and it is heartily at your service."

As much surprised as gratified, the gentleman accepted the book, and
retired behind it with the sudden discovery that wrongdoing has its
compensation in the pleasurable sensation of being forgiven. Stolen
delights are well known to be specially saccharine: and much as this
pardoned sinner loved books, it seemed to him that the interest of the
story flagged, and that the enjoyment of reading was much enhanced by
the proximity of a gray bonnet and a girlish profile. But Dickens soon
proved more powerful than Debby, and she was forgotten, till, pausing
to turn a leaf, the young man met her shy glance, as she asked, with
the pleased expression of a child who has shar