be idle."

"What you say relieves my mind of a suspicion, which at first I
harbored, that the firing of that mischievous pistol was not wholly
accidental. I now see you wish to live and work. But why had you such a
weapon about you? Are you accustomed to fire-arms?"

"The mischief this one did me shows that I am not; and my having it
about me came from a fear I had of its doing worse mischief in the hands
of Mr. Hurst."

"Are affairs so desperate with him?"

"Please don't question me. I cannot answer you satisfactorily. Mr. Hurst
is in trouble, and the least that is said or known about him is the
best. And yet you wonder, no doubt, that I should interest myself about
a man who is compelled to act the part of a culprit. Well, I cannot tell
you why at present; and it would be a great relief to know that you
thought nothing more about it." This last she uttered rather petulantly,
which warned me that this conversation was doing her no good.

"Believe, then," I said, "that I have no interest in your affairs,
except the wish to promote your welfare. And I think I may venture to
affirm that everybody in the house is equally at your service when you
wish to command him or her."

"Thank you all; but I do not deserve your kindness; I have been so
ill-tempered. The truth is I cannot afford to have friends; friends pry
into one's affairs so mercilessly. Mrs. Mason tells me there is a new
boarder," she said, suddenly changing the subject.

I assented, and gave what I intended to be an amusing account of the
new-comers' conversation and manners.

"Was there anything said about me at dinner?" she asked, with a painful
consciousness of the opinion I might have of such a question.

"I do not think there was. We were all so taken up with the latest
acquisition that we forgot you for the time."

"May I ask this favor of you, to keep the conversation away from me as
much as possible? I am morbidly sensitive, I presume," she said, with a
poor attempt at a smile, "and I cannot keep from fancying, while I lie
here, what you are saying about me in the dining-room or parlor."

Of course, I hastened to disavow any disposition on the part of the
family to make her a subject of conversation, and even promised to
discountenance any reference to her whatever, if thereby she would be
made more comfortable; after which I bade her good-night, having
received the assurance that my visit had relieved her mind of several
torturing apprehens