m a look as he entered which he found it convenient not
to appear to see. The painter felt strongly inclined, at that moment,
to send his adopted child upstairs again directly; but he restrained
himself out of a feeling of delicacy towards his guest--for Mat had not
only seen Madonna, but had hesitatingly advanced a step or two to meet
her, the instant she came into the room.

Few social tests for analyzing female human nature can be more safely
relied on than that which the moral investigator may easily apply, by
observing how a woman conducts herself towards a man who shows symptoms
of confusion on approaching her for the first time. If she has nothing
at all in her, she awkwardly forgets the advantage of her sex, and grows
more confused than he is. If she has nothing but brains in her, she
cruelly abuses the advantage, and treats him with quiet contempt. If she
has plenty of heart in her, she instinctively turns the advantage to its
right use, and forthwith sets him at his ease by the timely charity of a
word or the mute encouragement of a look.

Now Madonna, perceiving that the stranger showed evident signs, on
approaching her, of what appeared like confusion to her apprehension,
quietly drew her arm out of Zack's, and, to his unmeasured astonishment,
stepped forward in front of him--looked up brightly into the grim,
scarred face of Mat--dropped her usual curtsey--wrote a line hurriedly
on her slate--then offered it to him with a smile and a nod, to read if
he pleased, and to write on in return.

"Who would ever have thought it?" cried Zack, giving vent to his
amazement; "she has taken to old Rough and Tough, and made him a prime
favorite at first sight!"

Valentine was standing near, but he did not appear to hear this speech.
He was watching the scene before him closely and curiously. Accustomed
as he was to the innocent candor with which the deaf and dumb
girl always showed her approval or dislike of strangers at a first
interview--as also to her apparent perversity in often displaying a
decided liking for the very people whose looks and manners had been
previously considered certain to displease her--he was now almost as
much surprised as Zack, when he witnessed her reception of Mat. It
was an infallible sign of Madonna's approval, if she followed up an
introduction by handing her slate of her own accord to a stranger. When
she was presented to people whom she disliked, she invariably kept it by
her side unti