turn that
picture that was in his coat pocket or keep it until the original should
be his own. He entered the room, took another picture and another
envelope and came slowly downstairs. His crime at first had been
unpremeditated, but his persistence was deliberate felony.

"Now there are four left," said Alice, as Quincy entered the room.

"Just four," he replied. "I counted them to make sure." He sat at the
table and wrote. "Will this do?" he asked: "Miss Bessie White, care of
Borden, Waitt, & Fisher, Boston, Mass.?"

"Oh, thank you so much," said Alice.

At this moment Mandy appeared at the door and announced dinner, and
Quincy had the pleasure of leading Alice to her accustomed seat at the
table.

"I took the liberty while upstairs," said Quincy, "to glance at a book
that was on your bureau entitled, 'The Love of a Lifetime,' Have you
read it?"

"No," replied Alice. "I commenced it the night before I was taken sick."

"I shall be pleased to read it aloud to you," said Quincy.

"I should enjoy listening to it very much," she replied.

So after dinner they returned to the parlor and Quincy read aloud until
the descending sun again sent its rays through the parlor windows to
fall upon Alice's face and hair, and Quincy thought to himself how happy
he should be if the fair girl who sat beside him ever became the love of
his lifetime.

Alice finally said she was tired and must have a rest. Quincy called
Mandy and she went to her room. A few moments later Quincy was in his
own room and after locking his door sat down to inspect his plunder.

Alice did not rest, however; something was on her mind. She found her
way to the bureau and took up the pictures.

"Only four," she said to herself, after counting them. "Let me see," she
continued, "the photographer gave me thirteen,--a baker's dozen he
called it. Now to whom have I given them? 'Zekiel, one; Uncle Ike, two;
Mrs. Putnam, three; Stella Dwight, four; Bessie White, five; Emma
Farnum, six; Mr. Ringgold, seven; Mr. Fisher, eight. That would leave
five and I have only four. Now to whom did I give that other picture?"

And the guilty thief sat on the other side of the partition and exulted
in his crime. There came a loud rap at his door, and Quincy started up
so suddenly that he dropped the picture and it fell to the floor. He
caught it up quickly and placed it in his pocket. As he unlocked the
door and opened it he heard loud rapping on the door of Miss
Petten