a programme of my future studies.
But scarcely had we started when a chilling process commenced.
The man erstwhile so effusive was silent, cold, impassive,--a marble
statue of his former self. I scarcely got three sentences out of
him during the journey, and these were of the most commonplace kind.
Could it be the same man?

There was something almost frightful in being alongside a man who knew
so much. When we reached our destination the horse had to be put away
in the stable. I jumped up to the haymow to throw down the provender.
It was a very peculiar feeling to do so under the eye of a man who,
as he watched me, knew every muscle that I was setting in operation.

A new chill came on when we entered the house and I was presented
to its mistress.

"So you 're the boy that's come to work for the doctor, are you?"

"I have come to study with him, ma'am"' was my interior reply,
but I was too diffident to say it aloud. Naturally the remark
made me very uncomfortable. The doctor did not correct her,
and evidently must have told her something different from what
he told me. Her tone was even more depressing than her words;
it breathed a coldness, not to say harshness, to which I had not
been accustomed in a woman. There was nothing in her appearance
to lessen the unpleasant impression. Small in stature, with florid
complexion, wide cheek bones that gave her face a triangular form,
she had the eye and look of a well-trained vixen.

As if fate were determined to see how rapid my downfall should be
before the close of the day, it continued to pursue me. I was left
alone for a few minutes. A child some four years old entered and
made a very critical inspection of my person. The result was clearly
unfavorable, for she soon asked me to go away. Finding me indisposed
to obey the order, she proceeded to the use of force and tried to
expel me with a few strong pushes. When I had had enough of this,
I stepped aside as she was making a push. She fell to the floor,
then picked herself up and ran off crying, "Mamma." The latter soon
appeared with added ire infused into her countenance.

"What did you hit the child for?"

"I did n't hit her. What should I want to strike a child like
that for?"

"But she says you hit her and knocked her down."

"I did n't, though--she was trying to push me and fell and hurt
herself."

A long piercing look of doubt and incredulity followed.

"Strange, very strange. I never