incomprehensible.

On the way, our by no means heroically disposed hero endeavored to be
prepared for an emergency, which he considered almost as a favor of
fortune--that he might not find her at home, or be refused admittance.
He resolved to bear this like a man and make no attempt to bribe or
learn anything from the striped waist-coat. But when the solemn boy
received him with the words: "The young lady is at home and begs the
gentleman to walk in"--it seemed as if it would have been utterly
impossible for him to go away without seeing her.

When he entered the little red parlor, she was standing before the
table at which she appeared to have been writing, and came forward to
receive him with the frankest cordiality, as if he were an old
acquaintance who had been long expected. The repellant coldness had
vanished from her face, only a certain look of abstraction frequently
recalled her former expression. She thanked him for having kept his
promise and even brought her something new again. "But," she added, "I
must not give you any farther trouble, especially if you continue to
act as you did the first time, and leave the books at the outer door.
You can surely make a better use of your time, than in running errands
for a stranger, and I cannot promise you that a closer acquaintance
will repay you for your trouble."

He answered with a few courteous words that betrayed none of the
thoughts passing in his mind. Her presence had again produced so
strange an impression, that he needed a short time to regain his
composure. To-day, in her simple dress of crimson silk, with her hair
wrapped in braids around her head and again utterly devoid of ornament,
she seemed even more bewitching than when he first saw her. Yet there
was a timidity almost bordering upon sadness in her voice and
movements, that was contagious and overawed him more than her former
careless ease.

"You would certainly have gone away to-day too, if I had not expressly
invited you in," said she. "But it would not have required so much
discretion to convince me that you are an exception to the usual rule.
I saw in the first fifteen minutes of our acquaintance, that you were
not like other men, from whose importunity it is difficult for a
solitary girl to protect herself. That is why I am glad to see you
again and thank you in person. I live so entirely alone, and although
it is my own wish, the days are long and the necessity of hearing some
voice excep