to the house, and ordering one of the costly vases in his room to
be filled with water, he placed the flowers therein, and thought
how carefully he would preserve them for the sake of his unknown
friend.

Meantime Edith kept on her way, pausing once and looking back just
in time to see Mr. Harrington kiss the flowers she had brought.

"I'm glad they please him," she said; "but how awful it is to be
blind;" and by way of trying the experiment, she shut her eyes,
and stretching out her arms, walked just as Richard, succeeding so
well that she was beginning to consider it rather agreeable than
otherwise, when she unfortunately ran into a tall rose-bush,
scratching her forehead, tangling her hair, and stubbing her toes
against its gnarled roots. "'Taint so jolly to be blind after
all," she said, "I do believe I've broken my toe," and extricating
herself as best she could from the sharp thorns, she ran on as
fast as her feet could carry her, wondering what Mrs. Atherton
would say when she heard Richard was blind, and feeling a kind of
natural delight in knowing she should be the first to communicate
the bad news.




CHAPTER III.

GRACE ATHERTON.