this is a jolly party,' I heard some one call out behind me. It
was the grocer, just returning home. 'People who love each other are
fond of teasing each other,' he said. 'Come out, Barbara, don't be
foolish. There's naught amiss in an honest kiss.' But she didn't come
out. I took my leave after having stammered a few words of apology,
scarcely knowing what I was saying. In my confusion I took the grocer's
hat instead of my own, and he laughingly corrected the mistake. This
was, as I called it before, the happiest day of my life--I had almost
said, the only happy day. But that wouldn't be true, for man receives
many favors from God.

"I didn't know exactly what the girl's feelings toward me were. Was she
angry or had I conciliated her? The next visit cost me a great effort.
But I found her amiable. She sat over her work, humble and quiet, not
irritable as usual, and motioned with her head toward a stool standing
near, intimating that I should sit down and help her. Thus we sat and
worked. The old man prepared to go out. 'You needn't go, Father,' she
said, 'what you want to do has already been attended to.' He stamped his
foot on the floor and remained. Walking up and down he talked of
different things, but I didn't dare take part in the conversation.
Suddenly the girl uttered a low scream. She had cut her finger slightly
and, although she didn't usually pay any attention to such trifles, she
shook her hand back and forth. I wanted to examine the cut, but she
beckoned to me to continue my work. 'There is no end to your
tomfoolery,' the old man grumbled; and, stepping before the girl, he
said in a loud voice, 'What I was going to do hasn't been attended to at
all,' and with a heavy tread he went out of the door. Then I started to
make apologies for the day before, but she interrupted me and said, 'Let
us forget that, and talk of more sensible things.'

"She raised her head, looked at me from head to foot, and continued in a
calm tone of voice, 'I scarcely remember the beginning of our
acquaintance, but for some time you have been calling more and more
frequently, and we have become accustomed to you. Nobody will deny that
you have an honest heart, but you are weak and always interested in
matters of secondary importance, so that you are hardly capable of
managing your own affairs. It is therefore the duty of your friends and
acquaintances to look out for you, in order that people may not take
advantage of you. Frequently