will lose some precious volume one of these days."

"Oh, I fold them in the rugs, and they are all right. Now, here is your
volume. Sit down there and read it."

"That means also, 'and keep quiet,' I suppose?"

"I don't imagine you are versatile enough to read and talk at the same
time. Are you?"

"I should be very tempted to try it this afternoon."

Miss Earle went on with her reading, and Morris pretended to go on with
his. He soon found, however, that he could not concentrate his attention
on the little volume in his hand, and so quickly abandoned the attempt,
and spent his time in meditation and in casting furtive glances at his
fair companion over the top of his book. He thought the steamer chair
a perfectly delightful invention. It was an easy, comfortable, and
adjustable apparatus, that allowed a person to sit up or to recline at
almost any angle. He pushed his chair back a little, so that be could
watch the profile of Miss Katherine Earle, and the dark tresses that
formed a frame for it, without risking the chance of having his
espionage discovered.

"Aren't you comfortable?" asked the young lady, as he shoved back his
chair.

"I am very, very comfortable," replied the young man.

"I am glad of that," she said, as she resumed her reading.