s himself with, as he sits upon his balcony, after business
hours, looking down upon the harbor of Marseilles.

"After morning prayers, which are very early, you know, Esther places
the smoking dishes on the table, and New Papa asks a blessing,--always.
Then he says, 'I hope Adaly has not forgotten her text of yesterday.'
And I repeat it to him. Such a quantity of texts as I can repeat now!
Then Aunt Eliza says, 'I hope, too, that Adele will make no mistake in
her "Paradise Lost" to-day. Are you sure you've not forgotten that
lesson in the parsing, child?' Indeed, papa, I can parse almost any page
in the book.

"'I think,' says New Papa, appealing to Miss Eliza, 'that Larkin may
grease the wheels of the chaise this morning, and, if it should be fair,
I will make a visit or two at the north end of the town; and I think
Adaly would like to go with me.'

"'Yes, dearly, New Papa,' I say,--which is very true.

"And Miss Eliza says, very gravely, 'I am perfectly willing, Doctor.'

"After breakfast is over, Miss Eliza will sometimes walk with me a short
way down the street, and will say to me, 'Hold yourself erect, Adele;
walk trimly.' _She_ walks very trimly. Then we pass by the Hapgood
house, which is one of the grand houses; and I know the old Miss
Hapgoods are looking through the blinds at us, though they never show
themselves until they have taken out their curl-papers in the afternoon.

"Dame Tourtelot isn't so shy; and we see her great, gaunt figure in a
broad sun-bonnet, stooping down with her trowel, at work among the
flower-patches before her door; and Miss Almira is reading at an upper
window, in pink muslin. And when the Dame hears us, she lifts herself
straight, sets her old flapping bonnet as square as she can, and stares
through her spectacles until she has made us out; then says,--

"'Good mornin', Miss Johns. You're 'arly this mornin'.'

"'Quite early,' says Miss Eliza. 'Your flowers are looking nicely, Mrs.
Tourtelot.'

"'Well, the pi'nys is blowed pretty good. Wouldn't Adeel like a pi'ny?'

"It's a great red monster of a flower, papa; but I thank her for it, and
put it in my belt. Then the Dame goes on to tell how she has shifted the
striped grass, and how the bouncing-Bets are spreading, and where she
means to put her nasturtiums the next year, and brandishes her trowel,
as the brigands in the story-books brandish their swords.

"And Miss Eliza says, 'Almira is at her reading, I see.'

"'Dear m