ess, always the same, yet always
looking nice and new. I declare, Miss Thusa, I am tempted to turn hermit
myself, and come and live with you, if you would let me. I am beginning
to be tired of the world."

He laughed gayly, but a shade passed over his countenance, darkening its
sunshine.

"And I am just beginning to be awake to its charms," said Clinton, "just
beginning to _live_. I would not now forsake the world; but if
disappointment and sorrow be my lot, I must plead with Miss Thusa to
receive me into her hermitage, and teach me her admirable philosophy."

Though he addressed Miss Thusa, his glances played lambently on Mittie's
face, and told her the meaning of his words.

"Pshaw!" exclaimed Miss Thusa, "don't try to make a fool of me, young
gentleman. Louis, Master Louis, Mr. Gleason--what shall I call you now,
since you're grown so tall, and seem so much farther off than you used
to be."

"Call me Louis--nothing but Louis. I cannot bear the thought of being
_Mistered_, and put off at a distance. Oh, there is nothing so sweet as
the name a mother's angel lips first breathed into our ears."

"I'm glad you have not forgotten your mother, Louis," said Miss Thusa,
her countenance softening into an expression of profound sensibility;
"she was a woman to be remembered for a life-time; though weak in body,
she was a powerful woman for all that. When she died, I lost the best
friend I ever had in the world, and I shall love you and Helen as long
as I live, for her sake, as well as your own. I won't be unjust to
anybody. _You've_ always been a good, respectful boy; and as for Helen,
Heaven bless the child! she wasn't made for this world nor anybody in
it. I never see a young flower, or a tender green leaf, but I think of
her, and when they fade away, or are bitten and shrivelled by the frost,
I think of her, too, and it makes me melancholy. When is the dear child
coming home?"

Before the conclusion of this speech, Mittie had risen and turned her
burning cheek towards the window. She felt as if a curse were resting
upon her, to be thus excluded from all participation in Miss Thusa's
blessing, in the presence of Bryant Clinton. Yes, at that moment she
felt the value of Miss Thusa's good opinion--the despised and contemned
Miss Thusa. The praises of Helen sounded as so many horrible discords in
her ears, and when she heard Louis reply that "Helen would return soon,
very soon, with that divine little blind Alice," she