gine he owed the appointment to his
merits.] that he was to command the army of Italy, probably made less
ado about it.

Mrs. Belding made haste to murmur her congratulations. "Very
gratifying, I am sure,--at your age;" to which Alice responded like a
chorus, but without any initiative warmth, "Very gratifying, I am
sure."

Furrey went on at some length to detail all the circumstances of the
event: how Mr. Lathers, the president of the bank, had sent for him,
and how he complimented him; how he had asked him where he learned to
write such a good hand; and how he had replied that it came sort of
natural to him to write well, that he could make the American eagle
with pen and ink before he was fifteen, all but the tail-feathers, and
how he discovered a year later that the tail-feathers had to be made by
holding the pen between the first and second fingers; with much more to
the like innocent purpose, to which Mrs. Belding listened with nods and
murmurs of approval. This was all the amiable young man needed to
encourage him to indefinite prattle. He told them all about the men in
the bank, their habits and their loves and their personal relations to
him, and how he seemed somehow to be a general favorite among them all.
Miss Alice sat very still and straight in her chair, with an occasional
smile when the laughter of Mr. Furrey seemed to require it, but with
her eyes turned to the moonlit night in vagrant reverie, and her mind
in those distant and sacred regions where we cannot follow the minds of
pure and happy girls.

"Now, you would hardly understand, if I did not tell you," said Mr.
Furrey, "how it is that I have gained the confidence----"

At this moment Alice, who had been glancing over Mr. Furrey's shoulder
for a moment with a look of interest in her eyes, which he thought was
the legitimate result of his entertaining story, cried:

"Why, there comes Mr. Farnham, mamma."

"So it is," said her mother. "I suppose he wants to see me. Don't move,
Mr. Furrey. Mr. Farnham and I will go into the house."

"By no means," said that gentleman, who by this time had mounted the
steps. "I was sitting all alone on my porch and saw by the moon that
yours was inhabited; and so I came over to improve my mind and manners
in your society."

"I will get a chair for you," said Mrs. Belding.

"No, thank you; this balustrade will bear my weight, and my ashes will
drop harmless on the flower-bed, if you will let me finish my ciga