isited the city.

Luck having been so persistently against him, he had determined to learn
the art of juggling with cards, and purchased a book of instruction in
that line. With this open before him and a pack of cards in his hands he
sat in his daintily furnished room on the night of the election. He
continued to shuffle and cut the cards until near midnight, when he
rose, muttering as he concealed the pack and book:

"I think that practice will make me an expert at cards, and I'll win
next time; but I don't propose to risk much longer the chances of being
caught by Colonel Hornberger. Something has got to happen to those
books, or they will tell on me."

CHAPTER III.

IN SUGAR CAMP HOLLOW.

Gill did not caution Lizzi to keep their engagement secret. He knew she
would, for every true woman enjoys alone for a short time the knowledge
that her love is reciprocated. She does not hasten to tell that she has
had a proposal and accepted it. To her such conduct seems eagerness to
boast of a good bargain. And Gill reckoned rightly when he esteemed
Lizzi a true woman.

He did not speak of his intended marriage to any one but Jim Harker. It
did not occur to Lizzi that he was trying to see as little of her as
possible. Very busy at opening and marking the fall invoice of new
goods, he saw her only when he passed the Block on his way to the
warehouse, or when she came to the store. On these occasions he was very
gallant, and addressed her with a meaning in his tones and looks that
her heart quickly interpreted.

* * * * *

Sugar Camp Hollow was the shortest cut from Three-Sisters to the farm on
which an uncle of Lizzi lived. It was a long, deep ravine, where grew
great towering pines and graceful sugar-maples. These latter gave it the
name. Every spring there was a sugar-boiling at the mouth of the hollow.
In the fall and winter the deer herded in the laurel thickets near the
top of the mountain. A narrow path ran the length of the ravine, and
from a spring near the mountain-top a noisy brook rolled to the
mountain's foot and tumbled into the river.

Lizzi's aunt was ill, and, on the Sunday following her engagement,
Lizzi, with a basket full of good things, went to visit her. The day was
very still, and she enjoyed the deep silence of the woods, broken only
by the rustling of the dead leaves as she stepped lightly on them.
Sometimes she paused to let the quiet rest her.

As she turned