e table, and she should choose, not only from which of them
our entertainment should be drawn, but the very subject that should
furnish it. Mr. Arlington vehemently applauded this proposal, and then
urged that he must himself tie the handkerchief, as no one else, he
feared, would make it an effectual blind. Annie submitted to his demand,
though she professed to feel great indignation at his implied doubt of
her honesty. No one else, we believe, would have taken so much time for
the disposal of this screen, or been so careful in the arrangement of
the bands of hair over which, or through which, the handkerchief was
passed; and the touch of no other hand, perhaps, would have called up so
bright a color to the cheeks, and even to the brow, of our sweet Annie.
When permitted to exercise her office, Annie, to my great pleasure,
without an instant's hesitation, while a mischievous little smile played
at the corners of her mouth, placed her hand on Mr. Arlington's
portfolio, and drew from it a paper, which, on being exhibited, was
found to contain the pencilled outline of many heads grouped together in
various positions, some being apparently elevated considerably above the
others.

"Ah, Miss Annie!" exclaimed Mr. Arlington, with considerable
satisfaction apparent in his voice and manner, "you must try again, and
I think I must trouble you, ladies, for another handkerchief. This seems
to me to have been scarcely thick enough."

"I appeal to the company," cried Annie, "whether this is in accordance
with Mr. Arlington's engagement. Was he not to accept any thing I should
draw from his portfolio as the foundation of his sketch?"

"Ay, ay," was responded from every part of the room.

"But pray, my good friends," persisted Mr. Arlington, "observe the
impossibility of compliance with your demand. How can I possibly hope to
entertain you by any thing based upon that memento of an idle hour in
court, which I should long ago have destroyed, had I not fancied that I
could detect in those sketchy outlines--those mere profiles--very
accurate likenesses of the heads for which they were taken?"

"Those heads look as though they might have histories attached to them,"
said Annie, as she bent to examine them more narrowly.

"Histories indeed they have," said Mr. Arlington.

"Give them to us," suggested Col. Donaldson.

"You have them already. These are all men whose histories are as well
known to the public as to their own families. T