member. I have seen him," said David.

"And so have I," said Violet.

"If you were going to sell them all together, so as not to break it up,
it would be different," said Miss Bethia.

"But I could not do that, even if I wished. Mr Grantly only wants a
small number of them, a list of which he left when he was here."

"The best-looking ones on the outside, I suppose. He could tell
something about them, it's likely, by looking at the names on the
title-page," said Miss Bethia, scornfully.

"But, Miss Bethia, why should you think he would not care for the books
for themselves, and read them, too?" asked Violet, smiling. "Mr
Grantly is a great scholar, they say."

"Oh, well, child, I dare say! There are books enough. He needn't want
your pa's. But, Mrs Inglis," said Miss Bethia, impressively, "I wonder
you haven't thought of keeping them for David. It won't be a great
while before he'll want just such a library. They won't eat anything."

"It will be a long time, I am afraid," said David's mother. "And I am
not sure that it would not be best to dispose of them,--some of them, at
least,--for we are very poor, and I scarcely know whether we shall have
a place to put them. They may have to be packed up in boxes, and of
that I cannot bear to think."

"No. It ain't pleasant," said Miss Bethia, meditatively. "It ain't
pleasant to think about." Then rising, she added, speaking rapidly and
eagerly, "Sell them to _me_, Mrs Inglis. I'll take good care of them,
and keep them together."

Mrs Inglis looked at her in astonishment. The children laughed, and
David said:

"Do you want them to read, Miss Bethia? Or is it only for the outside,
or the names on the first page, like Mr Grantly?"

"Never you mind. I want to keep them together; and I expect I shall
read some in them. Mrs Inglis, I'll give you five hundred dollars down
for that book-case, just as it stands. I know it's worth more than
that, a great deal; but the chances are not in favour of your getting
more here. Come, what do you say?"

If Miss Bethia had proposed to buy the church, or the grave-yard, or the
village common, or all of them together, it would not have surprised her
listeners more.

"Miss Bethia," said Mrs Inglis, gently, "I thank you. You are thinking
of the good the money would do to my children."

"No, Mrs Inglis, I ain't--not that alone. And that wasn't my _first_
thought either. I want the books for a reason I have."