ed to lie in wait for the secret in that confidential
hour which usually preceded going to bed. Therefore, as soon as she had
arrived at their quiet dwelling, she put in operation the most seducing
little fire that ever crackled and snapped in a chimney, well knowing
that nothing was more calculated to throw light into any hidden or
concealed chamber of the soul than that enlivening blaze, which danced
so merrily on her well-polished andirons, and made the old chintz sofa
and the time-worn furniture so rich in remembrances of family comfort.

She then proceeded to divest her brother of his wig and his dress-coat,
and to induct him into the flowing ease of a study-gown, crowning his
well-shaven head with a black cap, and placing his slippers before the
corner of a sofa nearest the fire. She observed him with satisfaction
sliding into his seat, and then she trotted to a closet with a glass
door in the corner of the room, and took down an old, quaintly-shaped
silver cup, which had been an heirloom in their family, and was the only
piece of plate which their modern domestic establishment could boast;
and with this, down cellar she tripped, her little heels tapping lightly
on each stair, and the hum of a song coming back after her as she sought
the cider-barrel. Up again she came, and set the silver cup, with its
clear amber contents, down by the fire, and then busied herself in
making just the crispest, nicest square of toast to be eaten with it;
for Miss Emily had conceived the idea that some little ceremony of this
sort was absolutely necessary to do away all possible ill effects from a
day's labor, and secure an uninterrupted night's repose. Having done
all this, she took her knitting-work, and stationed herself just
opposite to her brother.

It was fortunate for Miss Emily that the era of daily journals had not
yet arisen upon the earth, because if it had, after all her care and
pains, her brother would probably have taken up the evening paper, and
holding it between his face and her, have read an hour or so in silence;
but Mr. Sewell had not this resort. He knew perfectly well that he had
excited his sister's curiosity on a subject where he could not gratify
it, and therefore he took refuge in a kind of mild, abstracted air of
quietude which bid defiance to all her little suggestions.

After in vain trying every indirect form, Miss Emily approached the
subject more pointedly. "I thought that you looked very much inter