man phenomena, but there he certainly was,
standing quietly by the fireplace with the drawing in his hand, actually
thinking! Mrs. Blyth's amazement at this unexampled change in his manner
so completely overcame her, that she fairly laid down her book to look
at him. He noticed the action, and approached the couch directly.

"That's right," he said; "don't read any more. I want to have a serious
consultation with you."

First a visit from Mrs. Peckover, then a serious consultation with Zack.
This is a night of wonders!--thought Mrs. Blyth.

"I've made it all right with Madonna," Zack continued. "She don't think
a bit the worse of me because I went on like a fool about the muffins at
tea-time. But that's not what I want to talk about now: it's a sort of
secret. In the first place--"

"Do you usually mention your secrets in a voice that everybody can
hear?" asked Mrs. Blyth, laughing.

"Oh, never mind about that," he replied, not lowering his tone in the
least; "it's only a secret from Madonna, and we can talk before _her,_
poor little soul, just as if she wasn't in the room. Now this is the
thing: she's made me a present, and I think I ought to show my gratitude
by making her another in return." (He resumed his ordinary manner as he
warmed with the subject, and began to walk up and down the room in his
usual flighty way.) "Well, I have been thinking what the present ought
to be--something pretty, of course. I can't do her a drawing worth a
farthing; and even if I could--"

"Suppose you come here and sit down, Zack," interposed Mrs. Blyth.
"While you are wandering backwards and forwards in that way before the
card-table, you take Madonna's attention off the game."

No doubt he did. How could she see him walking about close by her, and
carrying her drawing with him wherever he went--as if he prized it too
much to be willing to put it down--without feeling gratified in more
than one of the innocent little vanities of her sex, without looking
after him much too often to be properly alive to the interests of her
game?

Zack took Mrs. Blyth's advice, and sat down by her, with his back
towards the cribbage players.

"Well, the question is, What present am I to give her?" he went on.
"I've been twisting and turning it over in my mind, and the long and the
short of it is--"

("Fifteen two, fifteen four, and a pair's six," said Valentine,
reckoning up the tricks he had in his hand at that moment.)

"Did you ever noti