father, sipped his coffee, and ate his toast.

But he finished at length, and then Chi Lu was summoned the table cleared,
and the room restored to its usual order.

Mr. Abbot seldom had met a real gentleman since coming among the
mountains; he had lived chiefly within himself and for his child. But now
he found that he had not lost all interest in the outside world, and he
enjoyed immensely Mr. Heath's account of his travels, and his descriptions
of men and things.

Virgie had not seen her father so bright and animated in all the five
years of their secluded life, and she began to hope that his fears
regarding his failing health were groundless after all. She, too, enjoyed
the young stranger's conversation, although she did not join in it. She
sat by, with her dainty embroidery in her hands, listening, and showing by
her expressive face and shining eyes how rare a pleasure such congenial
society was to her.

But by and by she stole away to her own room, where she lay far into the
night thinking of the handsome stranger--of his eager yet respectful
glances when he looked at her; of the low, rich cadence of his voice when
he spoke to her, and feeling that she should miss him more than she had
ever yet missed anyone during the last five years, when he should go away
on the morrow.

The two men talked some time longer after Virgie left; the Chi Lu was
called again, the pretty lounge was converted into a comfortable bed, and
Mr. Heath was told that the parlor was at his service for the night.