obedient to her parents, she had gone another way so as to avoid the
meeting.

During that day, Andrew was absent from school. Having twice missed
his gentle friend, he had no heart to enter upon his studies, and so
went listlessly wandering about the streets until nearly twelve
o'clock. Then he repaired to the neighborhood of her school, and
waited to see if she was among the scholars at the time of their
dismissal. In a little while the children came pouring forth, and
among them his eager eyes soon caught the form of Emily. He was by
her side in a moment, saying, as he took her hand--

"Where have you been? I've looked for you these two days."

A crimson flush overspread the face of Emily in an instant, and she
gently disengaged the hand he had taken.

Andrew, who, with all his faults, was proud and sensitive, seemed
startled by this unexpected reception. For a moment or two he stood
gazing upon her downcast face, and then turned from her and walked
rapidly away. As he did so, the little girl lifted toward him her
gentle eyes, that were now full of tears, and stood gazing after him
with a sad expression of countenance until he was out of sight.

"I don't care for anything now!" Such was the ejaculation of Andrew,
pausing, and throwing himself, with a reckless air, upon a
door-step, so soon as he had passed beyond the view of the friend he
had so loved for years, but who now, from some cause unknown to him,
had become suddenly estranged. "I don't care for anything now," he
repeated. "Let them send me to sea, or anywhere else, if they will!