wish to hear anything more, sir?" asked she.

"Yes; won't you turn to the ship-news, and read me the list by the
steamer?" Belle, more fortunate than Kitty, found the place, and
commenced. "At Canton, April 30th, ship Ann Maria, Ray, _d-i-s-c-g_.
What does that mean?"

"Discharging, of course; go on."

"S-l-d--a-b-t 13th," spelt Belle, looking dreadfully puzzled all the
while.

"Stupid!" muttered Mr. Graham, almost snatching the paper out of her
hands; "not know how to read ship-news! Where's Gertrude? Where's
Gertrude Flint? She's the only girl I ever saw that did know anything.
Won't you call her, Kitty?"

Kitty went, though reluctantly, to call Gertrude, and told her for what
she was wanted. Gertrude was astonished; since the day when she had
persisted in leaving his house, Mr. Graham had never asked her to read
to him; but, obedient to the summons, she presented herself, and, taking
the seat which Belle had vacated near the door, commenced with the
ship-news, and, without asking questions, turned to various items of
intelligence, taking them in the order which she knew Mr. Graham
preferred.

The old gentleman, leaning back in his easy-chair, and resting his gouty
foot upon an ottoman opposite to him, looked amazingly satisfied; and
when Belle and Kitty had gone off to their room, he remarked, "This
seems like old times, doesn't it, Gertrude?" He closed his eyes, and
Gertrude was soon aware that he had fallen asleep. Seeing that, as he
sat, it would be impossible for her to pass without waking him, she laid
down the paper, and was preparing to draw some work from her pocket,
when she observed a shadow in the doorway, and, looking up, saw the
person whom she had yesterday resolved to avoid.

Mr. Bruce was staring in her face, with an indolent air of ease and
confidence, which she always found very offensive. He had in one hand a
bunch of roses, which he held up to her admiring gaze. "Very beautiful!"
said Gertrude, as she glanced at the little branches, covered with a
luxurious growth of moss rose-buds, both pink and white.

She spoke in a low voice, fearing to awaken Mr. Graham. Mr. Bruce, in a
whisper, remarked, as he dangled them above her head, "I thought they
were pretty when I gathered them, but they suffer from the comparison.
Miss Gertrude," and he gave a meaning look at the roses in her cheeks.

Gertrude, to whom this was a stale compliment, coming from Mr. Bruce,
took no notice of it, but, rising