discover nothing amiss. They had quietly and politely partaken of the
feast when it was offered to them, yet something must be wrong to
create such a sensation; so he turned to some one sitting near by, with
the question:

"Are we depriving any one of this seat?"

"Oh no, indeed, my dear sir," he replied.

"So much the better," said Alexander. "We do not wish to cause any
inconvenience and I began to fear we were doing so."

"I must ask your pardon," stammered the Brother, with much confusion.
"It was certainly very rude for us to stare at you so, and yet it was
the result of the deep sympathy we feel for your brother, who seems so
young to be a widower."

Alexander gave a searching glance at the speaker, to see if he was
ridiculing his brother. Hans a widower! In spite of his tall stature,
he showed very plainly that he was but an overgrown schoolboy.

"A widower, sir!" said the young man, slowly. "My brother is only
sixteen years old, and is still at school. In the world we do not
marry at that age."

"It did indeed seem very strange to me," said the good man, in extreme
embarrassment; "but being seated among the widowers, we judged it must
be so."

The two brothers almost laughed out loud, the position was so