but he is assuredly some inches nearer
sanctification than my poor little Salome. Don't you think so? Be
honest, dear."

Miss Jane's hand tenderly caressed the beautiful head; and, as Salome
was too sullen or too much mortified to reply, the old lady
continued,--

"Nevertheless, Ulpian is a true and devoted friend, and can not bear
the thought of your leaving us, for any purpose, much less the one you
contemplate. Last night he said, 'Janet, I am her brother, and think
you I shall allow my sister to go out from the sacred precincts of
home, and become a target for the envy and malice of the better
classes who will criticise her, and for the coarse plaudits of the
pit? Do you suppose I can willingly see her bare feet turned towards a
path paved with glowing ploughshares? Tell her, for me, that if ever
she should carry her unfortunate freak into execution, I shall never
wish to touch her hand again, for I shall feel that it has lost its
purity in the clasp of many to whom she can not refuse it during a
professional career.'"

The orphan lifted her head from the arm of Miss Jane's chair, where it
had rested for some minutes, and striking her palms forcibly together,
she exclaimed, proudly,--

"Tell Dr. Grey I humbly thank him, but the threat has lost its sting;
and if I should chance to meet him years hence, though my hands shall
be pure and clean as Una's, and as unsullied as his own,--so help me
heaven! I will never thrust my touch on his, nor so far forget myself
as to suffer his fingers to approach mine. When I pass from this
threshold, we will have shaken hands forever."

"Dr. Grey's ears are not proof against such elevated, ringing tones of
voice, and he could not avoid hearing, as he came up the steps, the
childish words which he assures you he has no intention of believing
or remembering."

He had tapped twice at the half-open door, and now came forward with
a firm, quick step, to the ottoman where Salome sat. Taking her
hands, he patted the palms softly against each other, and smiling
good-humoredly, continued,--

"They are very white, and shapely, and pure, and I am not afraid that
my little sister will soil them. Her brother looks forward to the day
when they will gently and gracefully help him in his work among God's
suffering poor. I have not forgotten how dexterous and docile I found
your fingers, when I had temporarily lost the use of my own, and I
shall not fail to levy contributions of labor in t