ne of them might have
reached out and almost touched the hand of the others.

"Yes, Fanny has agreed to go South with me," he answered briefly.
"You're looking well, Mrs. Worthington."

"Oh, Law yes, I'm never sick. As I tell Mr. Worthington, he'll never
get rid of me, unless he hires somebody to murder me. But I tell you
what, you came pretty near not having any Fanny to take away with you.
She was the sickest woman! Did you tell him about it, Fanny? Come to
think of it, I guess the climate down there'll be the very thing to
bring her round."

Mrs. Dawson without offering apology interrupted her friend to inquire
of Hosmer if his life in the South were not of the most interesting,
and begging that he detail them something of it; with a look to
indicate that she felt the deepest concern in anything that touched
him.

A masculine presence had always the effect of rousing Mrs. Dawson into
an animation which was like the glow of a slumbering ember, when a
strong pressure of air is brought to bear upon it.

Hosmer had always considered her an amiable woman, with rather
delicate perceptions; frivolous, but without the vulgarisms of Mrs.
Worthington, and consequently a less objectionable friend for Fanny.
He answered, looking down into her eyes, which were full of
attentiveness.

"My life in the South is not one that you would think interesting. I
live in the country where there are no distractions such as you ladies
call amusements--and I work pretty hard. But it's the sort of life
that one grows attached to and finds himself longing for again if he
have occasion to change it."

"Yes, it must be very satisfying," she answered; for the moment
perfectly sincere.

"Oh very!" exclaimed Mrs. Worthington, with a loud and aggressive
laugh. "It would just suit you to a T, Lou, but how it's going to
satisfy Fanny! Well, I've got nothing to say about it, thanks be; it
don't concern me."

"If Fanny finds that she doesn't like it after a fair trial, she has
the privilege of saying so, and we shall come back again," he said
looking at his wife whose elevation of eyebrow, and droop of mouth
gave her the expression of martyred resignation, which St. Lawrence
might have worn, when invited to make himself comfortable on the
gridiron--so had Mrs. Worthington's words impressed her with the force
of their prophetic meaning.

Mrs. Dawson politely hoped that Hosmer would not leave before Jack
came home; it would distress Jack beyon