f this kind of praise.
However, he said to himself, "It doesn't matter. She means well, and
jolly little Johnnie won't be harmed by a few days of it."

Jolly little Johnnie would not have been harmed, but the pale,
sentimental Johnnie left behind by the recently departed intermittent
fever, decidedly _was_. Before Miss Inches had been four days in Burnet,
Johnnie adored her and followed her about like a shadow. Never had
anybody loved her as Miss Inches did, she thought, or discovered such
fine things in her character. Ten long years and a half had she lived
with Papa and the children, and not one of them had found out that her
eyes were full of soul, and an expression "of mingled mirth and
melancholy unusual in a childish face, and more like that of _Goethe's
Mignon_ than any thing else in the world of fiction!" Johnnie had never
heard of "_Mignon_," but it was delightful to be told that she resembled
her, and she made Miss Inches a present of the whole of her foolish
little heart on the spot.

"Oh, if Papa would but give you to me!" exclaimed Miss Inches one day.
"If only I could have you for my own, what a delight it would be! My
whole theory of training is so different,--you should never waste your
energies in house-work, my darling, (Johnnie had been dusting the
parlor); it is sheer waste, with an intelligence like yours lying fallow
and only waiting for the master's hand. Would you come, Johnnie, if
Papa consented? Inches Mills is a quiet place, but lovely. There are a
few bright minds in the neighborhood; we are near Boston, and not too
far from Concord. Such a pretty room as you should have, darling, fitted
up in blue and rose-buds, or--no, Morris green and Pompeian-red would be
prettier, perhaps. What a joy it would be to choose pictures for
it,--pictures, every one of which should be an impulse in the best Art
direction! And how you would revel in the garden, and in the fruit! My
strawberries are the finest I ever saw; I have two Alderney cows and
quantities of cream. Don't you think you could be happy to come and be
my own little Curly, if Papa would consent?"

"Yes, yes," said Johnnie eagerly. "And I could come home sometimes,
couldn't I?"

"Every year," replied Miss Inches. "We'll take such lovely journeys
together, Johnnie, and see all sorts of interesting places. Would you
like best to go to California or to Switzerland next summer? I think, on
the whole, Switzerland would be best. I want you to form