he said.

"Why?"

"The mental composition must be so admirable! I suppose you have
another corner, where to sleep?"

"Yes," she said, smiling; "the other little room like this at the other
end of the hall. I preferred this arrangement to having one larger room
where I must sit and sleep both. Old habits are hard to get rid of. Now
tell me more about the forests of Maine. I have always had a curiosity
about that portion of the country."

He did gratify her for a while; told of his travels, and camping out;
and of his hunting and fishing; and of the lovely scenery of the lakes
and hills. He had been to the summit of Mount Kataydin, and he had
explored the waters in 'birches;' and he told of odd specimens of
humanity he had found on his way; but after a while of this talk Philip
came suddenly back to his starting point.

"Mrs. Barclay, you are not comfortable here?"

"As well as I can expect," she said, in her quiet, sad manner. The
sadness was not obtrusive, not on the surface; it was only the
background to everything.

"But it is not comfort. I am not insulting you with pity, mind; but I
am thinking. Would you not like better to be in the country? in some
pleasant place?"

"You do not call this a pleasant place?" she said, with her faint
smile. "Now I do. When I get up here, and shut the door, I am my own
mistress."

"Would you not like the country?"

"It is out of my reach, Philip. I must do something, you know, to keep
even this refuge."

"I think you said you would not be averse to doing something in the
line of giving instruction?"

"If I had the right pupils. But there is no chance of that. There are
too many competitors. The city is overstocked."

"We were talking of the country."

"Yes, but it is still less possible in the country. I could not find
_there_ the sort of teaching I could do. All requisitions of that sort,
people expect to have met in the city; and they come to the city for
it,"

"I do not speak with certain'ty," said Philip, "but I _think_ I know a
place that would suit you. Good air, pleasant country, comfortable
quarters, and moderate charges. And if you went _there_, there is work."

"Where is it?"

"On the Connecticut shore--far down the Sound. Not too far from New
York, though; perfectly accessible."

"Who lives there?"

"It is a New England village, and you know what those are. Broad grassy
streets, and shadowy old elms, and comfortable houses; and the sea not
far o