body wear so well
as Dr. Millar. He might be sixty or fifty--he may live to be a
hundred--I hope with all my heart he will; and I shall not be astonished
if I live to see it. As for Mrs. Millar, it is an insult to call her
middle-aged. It is something quite out of keeping to come across her
with such a tall daughter as you are."

"Yes, I am the tallest of the four," exclaimed May complacently,
diverted from the main topic, as he had intended her to be. "And I have
not done growing yet; my last summer's frock had to be let down half an
inch."

"Is it possible? What are we all coming to? You will soon have to stoop
to take my arm--if you ever condescend to take my arm."

"No," she denied encouragingly, "I am not so far above your shoulder
now," measuring the distance with a critical eye. "I shall not grow so
much as that comes to. You are bigger than father, and you would not
call him a little man; you are hardly even short."

"Thanks, you are too kind," said Tom Robinson, with the utmost gravity.
"But I say, Miss May, if I were you, I don't think I should do anything
to vex and thwart Dr. Millar, though he is so strong and active--long
may he continue so. You know how disappointed he would be if you were to
close your books."

"I am afraid he would," said May reluctantly. "I had almost forgotten
all about it for the last minute or two. But don't you think if you
spoke to him as I came to ask if you would," she continued unblushingly
and coaxingly, "if you were to try and show him--it would be so kind of
you--how comfortable and happy I should be with Phyllis Carey in your
shop--doing my best--indeed, I should try hard to please you and Miss
Franklin, all day--and getting home every evening--he might change his
mind?"

"No, he would not," said Tom with conviction; "and what is more, he
ought not. He would never cease to regret his shattered hopes for
you--which, remember, you would have shattered--and your spoilt life."

"But your life is not spoilt?" she said wistfully, unable to resign her
last hope.

"How can you tell?" he said, with a slight sharpness in his accent. Then
he added quickly, "No, for I am a born shopkeeper in another sense than
because I am one of a nation of shopkeepers."

He gave himself a reassuring shake, and resumed briskly--"I crave leave
to say, Miss May, that I actually enjoy making up accounts, turning over
samples, and giving orders. Sometimes I hit on a good idea which the
commerci