ic state in which she would sign
for a book without knowing why. She nerved herself to ward off whatever
insinuating words he should first say, and Eliph', as he studied her
face, sought words that would advance him at one bound deep into the
state of being well acquainted. It was a trying moment for both.

Then, so suddenly that Miss Sally almost jumped from her chair, Eliph'
coughed behind his hand, and spoke.

"It seems like it would be as hot to-day as it was yesterday, if it
don't shower before night," he said, and smiled pleasantly as he said
it.

Miss Sally was taken off her guard, and before she was aware she had
answered, quite as politely as she would have answered the minister
himself.

"It's awful hot," she said. "I guess Kilo's the hottest place on earth
in summer."

"Not the hottest," answered Eliph', leaning forward eagerly. "You
wouldn't say that if you had a copy of Jarby's Encyclopedia of Knowledge
and Compendium of Literature, Science and Art, and studied it up the way
I do. Page 442 gives all the hottest places on earth, with the record
highest temperature of each, together with all the coldest places, where
there is the greatest rainfall, and a chronological table of all the
great famines, floods, storms, hot and cold spells the earth has ever
known, from the time of Adam to the present day, with pictures of the
Johnstown flood, and diagrams of Noah's Ark. This, with the chapter
on the Physical Geography of Land and Sea, telling of tides, typhoons,
trade winds, tornadoes, et cetery, explains why and how weather happens.
All this and ten thousand other subjects, all indexed from A to Z in one
book----"

He paused suddenly, appalled to think that he was already far from his
resolve not to mention Jarby's Encyclopedia, and, as his voice still
hung on the last word he had spoken, the doorbell rang, and Miss Sally
jumped up, happy for any interruption. She merely turned her head to
say:

"I guess I don't want one to-day," and then Eliph' heard her open the
door, and greet the newcomers as she welcomed them into the hall. They
were Mrs. Tarbro-Smith and Susan, and, as Miss Sally hurried them up the
stairs to remove their dusty hats, she leaned back and called to Eliph':

"You can get right out the door," she said, "it ain't shut. I guess I
won't have no more time to spend listenin' to you to-day."

For half an hour Eliph' waited, listening to the chatter of voices, and
then he quietly stole fr