spirit, yet the feminine softness; a frou-frou of temperament as well
as of frills; a face of childlike clarity set with two gay eyes; hair
dressed to tempt and cajole; a little figure of thin frailty that gave
her a beautiful delicacy of appearance; little, modish, manicured
hands.

She had such pretty arts; she fluttered about small domestic duties
with a delight dainty to see. She set a man imagining how desirable it
would be to build a nest for this delicate dear bird, and take her to
it, and live deliciously ever afterwards. This is what Osborn Kerr
imagined while--like Rokeby--he watched her. He had never seen her
other than pretty and dainty, than happy and gay; he could not conceive
of her otherwise. He had not the faintest doubt of being able to keep
her so, in that nest which he had built for two on the other side of
town. Whenever it was possible, in the teacup passing, he tried to
touch her hand; he longed for her to look at him; he wanted her all to
himself.

A week seemed over-long to wait.

Mrs. Amber watched him with a resigned and kindly eye. She was sighing
a little, kindly and resignedly, in her mind, and thinking how alike
men were in their courting. And presently, while Julia and Desmond
conversed with a formal hostility on the chesterfield, and the lovers
snatched brief moments for communication in lovers' code, she said:

"Osborn, another present came to-day; it's in the dining-room; Marie
ought to show it to you."

"Will you, Marie?" asked the young man, while his heart leapt, and the