er noticeable clothes. His mother had changed her mind about his
being a bruiser, though there isn't a doubt he had a Derringer in one or
another of his pockets. No, she was proposing to make him a doctor--"a
surgeon," she said; "and thin, if there bees another war"-- She was
for making every edge cut.

She did us the honor to stop the carriage, and drive up to the
curb-stone for a little chat. Her spirits were up, for Colonel Ristofalo
had just been made a city councilman by a rousing majority.

We expressed our regret not to see Raphael himself in the family group
enjoying the exquisite air.

"Ha, ha! He ride out for pleasure?"--And then, with sudden
gravity,--"Aw, naw, sur! He's too busy. Much use ut is to be married to
a public man! Ah! surs, I'm mighty tired of ut, now I tell ye!" Yet she
laughed again, without betraying much fatigue. "And how's Dr. Sevier?"

"He's well," said the clergyman.

"And Mrs. Richling?"

"She's well, too."

Kate looked at the little rector out of the corners of her roguish Irish
eyes, a killing look, and said:--

"Ye're sure the both o' thim bees well?"

"Yes, quite well," replied he, ignoring the inane effort at jest. She
nodded a blithe good-day, and rolled on toward the lake, happy as the
harvest weather, and with a kind heart for all the world. We walked on,
and after the walk I dined with the rector. Dr. Sevier's place was
vacant, and we talked of him. The prettiest piece of furniture in the
dining-room was an extremely handsome child's high chair that remained,
unused, against the wall. It was Alice's, and Alice was an almost daily
visitor. It had come in almost simultaneously with Laura's marriage, and
more and more frequently, as time had passed, the waiter had set it up
to the table, at the Doctor's right hand, and lifted Goldenhair into it,
until by and by she had totally outgrown it. But she had not grown out
of the place of favor at the table. In these later days she had become
quite a school-girl, and the Doctor, in his place at the table, would
often sit with a faint, continuous smile on his face that no one could
bring there but her, to hear her prattle about Madame Locquet, and the
various girls at Madame Locquet's school.

* * *

"It's actually pathetic," said Laura, as we sat sipping our coffee after
the meal, "to see how he idolizes that child." Alice had just left the
room.

"Why don't he idolize the child's"--began her husband, in un