to go, and to take the children. I think they will keep still. We
will sit near the door, and I can take them out if they get tired."

Her words were very simple, but she spoke them with a quiet grace
all her own, while pulling her glove over a hand that seemed too
small and white for any of the severer tasks of life. As she stood
there in her pretty summer costume, a delicate bloom in her cheeks
relieving the transparent fairness of her complexion, she seemed to
him, as Amelia Stone had said, perfect indeed--and the young girl
could not suppress a smile at the almost boyish frankness of his
admiration.

"You gave me a pleasant surprise, also," he said, flushing deeply.

"I?" with a questioning glance.

"Yes. You have brought about a pleasant change, and made breakfast
something more than eating. You have made me feel that I might be
less nigh of kin to Jotham than I feared."

"I shall imitate your frankness," she replied, laughing; "you are
not near so nigh of kin to him as I feared."

"I have not forgotten that you thought me identical with him," he
could not forbear saying.

"I did not mean to hurt your feelings," she answered, with deepening
color.

"Oh, you were not to blame in the least," he said good-naturedly.