y eyes, and that you were good-looking when you smiled. And am
I like what you expected to see?"

I did not know, I told her. In fact, although I had heard much and
thought some about Helen, she had hitherto possessed no personality
for me except as Mr. Floyd's little girl. And now she impressed me
differently from any person I had ever seen before, and if I had
formed any previous conceptions, they all fled. She seemed, I will
confess, a haughty, aristocratic little creature, with her slight form
and somewhat imperious look, her deliberate, commanding voice and
intense eyes: still, I liked her at once. Mr. Floyd had begged me to
be kind to her, and it seemed easy for me to cherish and protect
her: she appeared to need being taken care of with both strength and
tenderness, for it was such a fragile little hand I held, and, with
all its beauty, such a wan little face I looked upon.

"I hope you will like me, Helen," said I bluntly, "for your father
wants you to enjoy my visit."

She smiled for the first time. "I like you very much already," she
said in the same distinct, melancholy voice; and without more words
she put up her little face to mine and kissed me softly on my lips. I
was unused to caresses, and my cheeks burned; but I followed her, at
her request, to the back lawn, where Mr. Raymond was waiting to see
me.

"Grandfather is not strong," she explained, "and we save him all the
steps we can. It is so sad to be old! Have you a grandfather?"

"No," I returned: "there is nobody in our family but mother and me."

"And I have got grandpa and papa too," said she thoughtfully. "Only
papa is so busy: he is never here but a week at a time."

We had passed through the hall, crossed the rear piazza and
descended the steps, and were advancing along the grassplat toward a
summer-house which faced the sea. I could now for the first time gain
an idea of the extent and grandeur of the place. The house towered
above us solemnly with its towers, pillared arches, cornices and
pediments, while, beyond, the glass roofs of numberless greenhouses
lifted their domes to the warm afternoon sun. All around the lawn
stood lofty trees, their foliage glorious with crimson, russet and
gold, and their shadows crept stealthily toward us as if they were
alive. And beyond house, lawns, gardens and tree-lined avenues was
a pine wood which extended its solemn verdure all round the place,
enclosing it almost to the edge of the bluff. All thi