ugh, she was satisfied, and blessed the unlucky pie for amusing
him.

"Oh, Polly, you do tell such interesting things!" sighed Maud, wiping
her eyes.

"I wish I 'd met you, I 'd have given you three cheers and a tiger, for
it must have been an imposing spectacle," said Tom.

"No, you would n't; you 'd have whisked round the corner when you saw me
coming or have stared straight before you, utterly unconscious of the
young woman in the baggage wagon."

Polly laughed in his face just as she used to do, when she said that,
and, in spite of the doubt cast upon his courtesy, Tom rather liked it,
though he had nothing to say for himself but a reproachful, "Now, Polly,
that 's too bad."

"True, nevertheless. You must come and see my pets, Maud, for my cat
and bird live together as happily as brother and sister," said Polly,
turning to Maud, who devoured every word she said.

"That 's not saying much for them," muttered Tom, feeling that Polly
ought to address more of her conversation to him.

"Polly knows what she 's talking about; her brothers appreciate their
sisters," observed Fanny, in her sharp tone.

"And Polly appreciates her brothers, don't forget to add that, ma'am,"
answered Tom.

"Did I tell you that Will was going to college?" broke in Polly, to
avert the rising storm.

"Hope he 'll enjoy himself," observed Tom, with the air of a man who
had passed through all the mysteries, and reached that state of sublime
indifference which juniors seem to pride themselves upon.

"I think he will, he is so fond of study, and is so anxious to improve
every opportunity. I only hope he won't overwork and get sick, as so
many boys do," said simple Polly, with such a respectful belief in the
eager thirst for knowledge of collegians as a class, that Tom regarded
the deluded girl with a smile of lofty pity, from the heights of his
vast and varied experience.

"Guess he won't hurt himself. I 'll see that he don't study too hard."
And Tom's eyes twinkled as they used to do, when he planned his boyish
pranks.

"I 'm afraid you can't be trusted as a guide, if various rumors I
've heard are true," said Polly, looking up at him with a wistful
expression, that caused his face to assume the sobriety of an owl's.

"Base slanders; I 'm as steady as a clock, an ornament to my class, and
a model young man, ain't I, mother?" And Tom patted her thin cheek with
a caressing hand, sure of one firm friend in her; for when he ceased to