ledger.

Nicholas pushed the ledger aside and laughed. "What foolery! As if
such things could be! The fellow must have bewitched me."

Nicholas crossed to the fire and warmed his hands before the blaze.
"Still, I am glad he is going to marry the little lass. A good lad, a
good lad."

Nicholas must have fallen asleep before the fire. When he opened his
eyes, it was to meet the grey dawn. He felt cold, stiff, hungry, and
decidedly cross. Why had not Christina woke him up and given him his
supper. Did she think he had intended to pass the night on a wooden
chair? The girl was an idiot. He would go upstairs and tell her
through the door just what he thought of her.

His way upstairs led through the kitchen. To his astonishment, there
sat Christina, asleep before the burnt-out grate.

"Upon my word," muttered Nicholas to himself, "people in this house
don't seem to know what beds are for!"

But it was not Christina, so Nicholas told himself. Christina had the
look of a frightened rabbit: it had always irritated him. This girl,
even in her sleep, wore an impertinent expression--a delightfully
impertinent expression. Besides, this girl was pretty--marvellously
pretty. Indeed, so pretty a girl Nicholas had never seen in all his
life before. Why had the girls, when Nicholas was young, been so
entirely different! A sudden bitterness seized Nicholas: it was as
though he had just learnt that long ago, without knowing it, he had