grow to look
like them, and have such a familiar way of making themselves at home
that their influence is usually greater than we suspect. Thus it
happened, that when Phoebe heard a certain noise in Judge Pyncheon's
throat,--rather habitual with him, not altogether voluntary, yet
indicative of nothing, unless it were a slight bronchial complaint, or,
as some people hinted, an apoplectic symptom,--when the girl heard this
queer and awkward ingurgitation (which the writer never did hear, and
therefore cannot describe), she very foolishly started, and clasped her
hands.

Of course, it was exceedingly ridiculous in Phoebe to be discomposed by
such a trifle, and still more unpardonable to show her discomposure to
the individual most concerned in it. But the incident chimed in so
oddly with her previous fancies about the Colonel and the Judge, that,
for the moment, it seemed quite to mingle their identity.

"What is the matter with you, young woman?" said Judge Pyncheon, giving
her one of his harsh looks. "Are you afraid of anything?"

"Oh, nothing, sir--nothing in the world!" answered Phoebe, with a
little laugh of vexation at herself. "But perhaps you wish to speak
with my cousin Hepzibah. Shall I call her?"

"Stay a moment, if you please," said the Judge, again beaming sunshine
out of his face. "You seem to be a little nervous this morning. The
town air, Cousin Phoebe, does not agree with your good, wholesome
country habits. Or has anything happened to disturb you?--anything
remarkable in Cousin Hepzibah's family?-- An arrival, eh? I thought
so! No wonder you are out of sorts, my little cousin. To be an inmate
with such a guest may well startle an innocent young girl!"

"You quite puzzle me, sir," replied Phoebe, gazing inquiringly at the
Judge. "There is no frightful guest in the house, but only a poor,
gentle, childlike man, whom I believe to be Cousin Hepzibah's brother.
I am afraid (but you, sir, will know better than I) that he is not
quite in his sound senses; but so mild and quiet he seems to be, that a
mother might trust her baby with him; and I think he would play with
the baby as if he were only a few years older than itself. He startle
me!--Oh, no indeed!"

"I rejoice to hear so favorable and so ingenuous an account of my
cousin Clifford," said the benevolent Judge. "Many years ago, when we
were boys and young men together, I had a great affection for him, and
still feel a tender interest in