y are all old."

"I think those are the most delightful of books," said Miss March. "I
have been looking over the volumes on your shelves, Mrs Keswick. I am
sure there are a good many of them Mr Croft would like to read, even if
he has read them before. There are lots of queer old-time histories and
biographies, and sets of bound magazines, some of them over a hundred
years old. Would you like me to select some for you, Mr Croft? Or shall
I write some of the titles on a slip of paper, and let you select for
yourself?"

"I shall be delighted," said Lawrence, "to have you make a choice for
me; and I think the list would be the better plan, because books would
be so heavy to carry about."

"I will do it immediately," said Miss March, and she walked rapidly to
the house.

"Now then," said Mrs Keswick, "I'll put a chair out here on the grass,
close to the door. It's shady there, and I should think it would be
pleasant for both of you, if she would sit there and read to you out of
those books. She is a fine woman, that Miss March--a much finer woman
than I thought she could be, before I knew her."

"She is, indeed," said Lawrence.

"I suppose you think she is the finest woman in the world?" said the old
lady, with a genial grin.

"What makes you suppose so?" asked Lawrence.

"Haven't I eyes?" said Mrs Keswick. "But you needn't make any excuses.
You have made an excellent choice, and I hope you may succeed in getting
her. Perhaps you have succeeded?" she added, giving Lawrence an earnest
look, with a question in it.

Lawrence did not immediately reply. It was not in his nature to confide
his affairs to other people, and yet he had done so much of it, of late,
that he did not see why he should make an exception against Mrs Keswick,
who was, indeed, the only person who seemed inclined to be friendly to
his suit. He might as well let her know how matters stood. "No," he
said, "I have not yet succeeded, and I am very sorry that this accident
has interfered with my efforts to do so."

"Don't let it interfere," said the old lady, her eyes sparkling, while
her purple sun-bonnet was suddenly and severely bobbed. "You have just
as good a chance now as you ever had, and all you have to do is to make
the most of it. When she comes out here to read to you, you can talk to
her just as well as if you were in the woods, or on top of a hill.
Nobody'll come here to disturb you; I'll take care of that."

"You are very kind," said