and his quiet and dignified
attentions were a source of the keenest pleasure to her, he was so
unobtrusively serene and gentle in all things. They went often to the
theatre. They walked a great deal, and they were already marked figures
about the Hill, they were both so tall and strong and handsome.

They always passed through the Capitol grounds on their way down town,
for it gave them a little thrill of delight to pass the clumps of
trees. On this evening the grounds were specially beautiful. A heavy
fall of damp snow covered every twig and grass-blade. They walked
slowly down the winding path till they reached the open lawn just
before the western gate.

"Wait a moment, Bradley," said Ida. They turned to look back. The
untracked, unstained snow swept in undulating breadth to the deep
shadow of the great building, which rose against the sky as cold, as
seamless, as if it were cut from solid ice. The yellow flare of lamps
about its base only added to its austere majesty. It was at its best,
and Ida and Bradley looked up at it in silence, hearing the jingle of
bells, the soft voices of the negro drivers, the laughter of children
coasting on the mall, and the muffled roll of the "carettes."

"It is beautiful to-night," said Ida softly. "The building is like a
cloud."

"Yes, but I can't think of it without its antithesis, the home of the
workingman and the hut of the poor negro," Bradley replied.

They moved on again in silence. Darky newsboys, shivering with cold,
met them at every corner, holding out to them in their stiffened little
claws their "Styah papahs."

The avenue swarmed with sight-seers, mainly of the West and South.
Every hotel door was like the vent to a hive--black with comers and
goers. The old man with the cough medicine met them again. They could
repeat his singsong cry now, and with a little impulse of fun-making
Ida joined in with him: "_Doc-ter Fergusson's double-ex selly-brated,
Philadelphia cough drops, for coughs or colds, sore throat or
hoarseness; five cents a package._"

They soon struck into the gayer streams of people making their way
towards the theatre; and when they took their seats in the crowded
balcony, poverty was lost sight of.

"There! who says this is not a bright and gay world?" said Ida. "No
poor, no aged, no infirm, no cold or hungry people here."

"This is the bright side of the moon," replied Bradley gravely. They
looked around, and studied the people with a mental c