rhaps he didn't intend it, after all. He seemed nice in
some ways, though he was so queer. Very likely it was only a sort of
spasm--an electric, magnetic thing--she had heard of something of the
sort. Yes, and she had felt funny herself that evening--a numb, quivery,
prickly kind of sensation: it may have been the thunder-storm! It was
strange, though; she never remembered to have felt it before. She
wondered whether Mr. Bressant ever had. Perhaps deaf people were more
subject to it. What a pity he should be deaf! It made it so awfully
embarrassing to talk to him sometimes. It must be dreadful for them to
be in love with anybody. Imagine having to talk in that way to a deaf
person! or being--

This time it was the candle which took upon itself the task of warning
and censorship. It flickered, flared, gasped, and went out. It was a
very pathetic, and, it is to be hoped, effective way of remonstrance.
But the last thing seen of Cornelia, she was sitting on the sofa,
leaning carelessly forward, one hand holding her curved, little, booted
foot, the knot still untied, her eyes fixed dreamily on nothing, the
half-smile flickering on her lips, and the womanly contours of her
figure doubtfully lighted and darkly shaded by the uncertain
candle-light.

CHAPTER VII.

PROFESSOR VALEYON MAKES A CALL.

The morning following Bressant's arrival was clear and cool. Professor
Valeyon looked out of the window of his bedroom, which was at the
garden-end of the house, and opposite Cornelia's, and saw the cold,
white mists lying in the valley, and the rough hills, like islands,
lifting their dark shoulders above it.

As he looked, the sun, having climbed a few inches above the eastern
uplands, let a bright glance fall right upon the open spot at the summit
of the professor's favorite hill. A few minutes afterward he poured a
golden flood into the valley, carrying consternation to the delaying
vapors, insomuch that they straightway put themselves into commotion
preparatory to departure. No spare time was allowed them; some were
bundled off into the dark gullies and passes of the hills; others betook
themselves hastily to that side of the valley which was yet in shadow,
to sleep a few moments beyond the legitimate time; others still, finding
escape impossible, rose heavenward like a mighty incense, and were by
the sun converted into something wellnigh as glorious as himself.

"Good simile for a sermon, that! turning persecution