y the charming maiden who serves him and
us so modestly and so gracefully. Fortunately, the Mistress never loses
sight of her. If she were her own daughter, she could not be more
watchful of all her movements. And yet I do not believe that Delilah
needs all this overlooking. If I am not mistaken, she knows how to take
care of herself, and could be trusted anywhere, in any company, without a
duenna. She has a history,--I feel sure of it. She has been trained and
taught as young persons of higher position in life are brought up, and
does not belong in the humble station in which we find her. But inasmuch
as the Mistress says nothing about her antecedents, we do not like to be
too inquisitive. The two Annexes are, it is plain, very curious about
her. I cannot wonder. They are both good-looking girls, but Delilah is
prettier than either of them. My sight is not so good as it was, but I
can see the way in which the eyes of the young people follow each other
about plainly enough to set me thinking as to what is going on in the
thinking marrow behind them. The young Doctor's follow Delilah as she
glides round the table,--they look into hers whenever they get a chance;
but the girl's never betray any consciousness of it, so far as I can see.
There is no mistaking the interest with which the two, Annexes watch all
this. Why shouldn't they, I should like to know? The Doctor is a bright
young fellow, and wants nothing but a bald spot and a wife to find
himself in a comfortable family practice. One of the Annexes, as I have
said, has had thoughts of becoming a doctress. I don't think the Doctor
would want his wife to practise medicine, for reasons which I will not
stop to mention. Such a partnership sometimes works wonderfully well, as
in one well-known instance where husband and wife are both eminent in the
profession; but our young Doctor has said to me that he had rather see
his wife,--if he ever should have one,--at the piano than at the
dissecting-table. Of course the Annexes know nothing about this, and
they may think, as he professed himself willing to lecture on medicine to
women, he might like to take one of his pupils as a helpmeet.

If it were not for our Delilah's humble position, I don't see why she
would not be a good match for any young man. But then it is so hard to
take a young woman from so very lowly a condition as that of a "waitress"
that it would require a deal of courage to venture on such a step. If we
could