me why Redbud has--"

Verty stopped. He had an undeveloped idea that the subject of nature
and Redbud might not appear to have any connection with each other in
the mind of Miss Sallianna.

But that lady smiled.

"About Redbud?" she asked, with a languishing glance.

"Yes--Miss."

"What of the dear child?--have you fallen out? You men must not mind
the follies of such children--and Reddy is a mere child. I should not
think she could appreciate you."

Verty was silent; he did not know exactly what _appreciate_ meant,
which may serve as a further proof of what we have said above, in
relation to the necessity which Miss Sallianna felt she labored under,
as a tender-hearted woman, to educate Verty.

The lady seemed to understand from her companion's countenance, that
he did not exactly comprehend the signification of her words; but as
this had occurred on other occasions, and with other persons, she felt
no surprise at the circumstance, attributing it, as was natural,
to her own extreme cultivation and philological proficiency. She
therefore smiled, and still gently agitating the fan before Verty,
repeated:

"Have you and Redbud fallen out?"

"Yes," said the young man.

"Concerning what?"

"I don't know--I mean Redbud has quarreled with me."

"Indeed!"

Verty replied with a sigh.

"Come!" said Miss Sallianna, "make a confidant of me, and confide your
feelings to a heart which beats responsive to your own."

With which words the lady ogled Verty.

CHAPTER XXIII.

THE RESULT.

Verty looked at Miss Sallianna, and sighed more deeply than he
had ever sighed before. The lady's face was full of the tenderest
interest; it seemed to say, that with its possessor all secrets were
sacred, and that nothing but the purest friendship, and a desire to
serve unhappy personages, influenced her.

Who wonders, therefore, that Verty began to think that it would be a
vast relief to him to have a confidant--that his inexperience needed
advice and counsel--that the lady who now offered to guide him through
the maze in which he was confounded and lost, knew all about the
labyrinths, and from the close association with the object of his
love, could adapt her counsel to the peculiar circumstances, better
than any one else in the wide world? Besides, Verty was a lover, and
when did lover yet fail to experience the most vehement desire to pour
into the bosom of some sympathizing friend--of either sex--the story
of hi