till reads the same."

He did not attempt to waltz with her, as he had done with Lucy; he had
tried it once, but she went the wrong way, and he told her there was no
more dance in her than in the kitchen tongs. So now he only wound his
arms around her and kissed her many times, and when she sat down in a
chair, he stood over her and smoothed her hair and thought how gray it
had grown within the year. He had no suspicion that there was any secret
sorrow weighing upon her, but he knew that her life was a hard one,
owing to the peculiarities of his grandfather, and now as he looked at
her, he felt a great pity for her, and there was a lump in his throat,
as he stooped to kiss her again and said:

"Poor auntie, you look so tired and pale. Is grandpa so very sick, and
more troublesome than usual?"

Hannah had not cried in years. Indeed it was the effort of her life to
keep her tears back, but now, at the sound of Grey's sympathetic voice
and the touch of his fresh, warm lips upon her own, she broke down
entirely, and for a few moments sobbed as if her heart would break,
while Grey in great concern, knelt down before her, and tried to comfort
her.

"What is it, auntie?" he said. "Is it because you are so lonely, and are
afraid grandpa will die? I'll take care of you then, and we will go to
Europe together, and you shall ride on a mule and cross the
Mer-de-Glace. I used to think when I was over there how we would some
day go together, and I would show you everything."

At the mention of Europe, Hannah's tears ceased, and commanding her
voice, she said, abruptly:

"Did you go to Wales?"

"Yes, we went there first. Don't you remember?"

Without answering that question, Hannah continued:

"Did you go to Carnarvon?"

"Carnarvon! I guess we did. We spent a whole day at the old castle, and
went all over it, and into the room where the first Prince of Wales was
born. It isn't much bigger than our bath-room. But I tell you those old
ruins are grand;" and with all a boy's enthusiasm over his first trip to
Europe, Grey launched out into a graphic description of what, he had
seen and done, repeating everything ridiculous in order to make his Aunt
Hannah laugh.

"You ought to have heard father try to talk French," he said. "It was
enough to kill one with laughing. He bought a little book and would
study some phrase, and then fire it off at the waiters, screaming at the
top of his voice, as if that would make them understand