'Twas the first compliment of the kind he had ever paid her, and
questionable as it was, it tended to strengthen her fast forming
belief that her affection for him was returned.

"I can't expect him to do anything like other people, he's so odd,"
thought she, and yet it was this very oddness which charmed her.

At length Nellie, who had returned from Madison, and felt rather
lonely, wrote to Mabel, asking her to come home. This plan Mrs.
Livingstone opposed, but Mabel was decided, and the week before
Christmas was fixed upon for her departure. John Jr., anxious to see
Nellie, proposed accompanying her, but when the day came he was
suffering from a severe cold, which rendered his stay in the house
absolutely necessary. So his mother, who had reasons of her own for
doing so, went in his stead. Carrie, who never had any fancy for
Mabel, and only endured her because she was rich, was coolly polite,
merely offering her hand, and then resumed the novel she was reading,
even before Mabel had left. Anna and 'Lena bade her a more
affectionate adieu, and then advancing toward John Jr., who, in his
dressing-gown and slippers, reclined upon the sofa, she offered him
her hand.

As if to atone for his former acts of rudeness, the young man
accompanied her to the door, playfully claiming the privilege of
taking leave just as his sister and cousin had done.

"It's only me, you know," said he, imprinting upon her forehead a
kiss which sent the rich blood to her neck and face.