ence the
young painter drew back the curtains and placed his subject first on
the sofa and then in an arm-chair, and again standing by the sash, and
once more leaning over the window-sill; but in no position could he
get what he wanted.

"Suit yourselves, then," said the Judge, "and pick out your own place,
and make yourselves as comfortable as you can--only don't hurry over
it. I shall not be back for a month, and if that is not time enough,
why, we have all summer before us. As to your other comforts, my dear
Adam--and I rejoice to see you know a good bottle of wine when you
taste it--I have given Bundy express orders to decant for you some of
the old Tiernan of '28, which is a little dryer than even that special
bottle of the Madeira you liked so well. My only regret is that I
cannot share it with you. And now one word more before I say good-by,
and that is that I must ask you, my dear Gregg, to do all you can to
keep Mrs. Colton from becoming lonely. You will, of course, as usual,
accompany her in her afternoon rides, and I need not tell you that my
own horses are at your disposal. When I return I hope to be welcomed
by two Olivias; one which by your genius you will put on canvas, and
the other"--and he bowed grandiloquently to his wife--"I leave in your
charge."

The young painter took the first opportunity to discharge his duty--an
opportunity afforded him when the Judge, after kissing his wife and
shaking hands with Adam the morning he left, had stepped into his gig,
his servant beside him, and with a lifting of his hat in punctilious
courtesy, had driven down between the lilacs. It may have been
gallantry or it may have been the pathetic way in which she waved her
handkerchief in return that roused the boyish sympathy in his heart:

"Don't worry," he said in a voice full of tenderness. "He won't be
long gone--only a month, he says; and don't be unhappy--I'm going to
do everything to cheer you up."

"But I'm never lonely," she answered with an air of bravado, "and I
try never to be unhappy. I always have Phil. And now," and she broke
out into a laugh, "I have you, and that makes me feel just as I did as
a girl when one of the boys came over to play with me. Come upstairs,
right away, and let me show you the big garret. I'm just crazy to see
you begin work, and I really believe that's the best place, after all.
It's full of old trunks and furniture, but there's a splendid
window----"

"On which side of the