bringing such things here to stain the cushions with?"

"Oh, never mind the cushions," answered the gentleman, lifting Isabel
up with a toss, and landing her on the front seat, while Mary stood
trembling by his side, with her eyes fixed ruefully on the wreath
which surrounded the crown of her companion's Leghorn flat.

"Oh, what will become of us when she sees that?" thought the child in
dismay.

But she was allowed no time to ask unpleasant questions, even of
herself, for Enoch Sharp took her in his arms and set her carefully
down opposite Mrs. Farnham, whose glance had just taken in the unlucky
wreath.

"My goodness, if the little wretches have not destroyed that love of a
hat with their trash! Oh, dear, put a beggar on horseback and only see
how he will ride! Mr. Sharp, I did hope that the child could
appreciate an article of millinery like that; but you see how it is,
no just medium can be expected with this pauper taste; a long course
of refinement is, I fear necessary to a just comprehension of the
beautiful. Only think! two of Jarvis' most expensive marabouts crushed
into nothingness by a good-for-nothing heap of, I don't know what,
tangled about them! Really, it is enough to discourage one from ever
doing a benevolent act again."

Judge Sharp strove to look decorously concerned, but spite of himself
a quiet smile would tremble at the corners of the mouth, as he looked
at the two marabout feathers flattened and crushed beneath the
impromptu wreath.