oughtful. What I
like is being spontaneous."

"Well, then, my dear, I don't mind saying you are very spontaneous."

"And I detest surprises. If any one wishes to make a lasting enemy of
me, let him surprise me. So I am going to tell you now what I am going
to give you. Do you like that?"

"I like everything you do, my child."

"Well, this time you will like it better than ever. I am going to give
you books. And in order not to disappoint you by giving you books that
you have read before, I want to catechise you a little. Shall you mind
it?"

"Oh no, but I'm afraid you won't find me very frank."

"I shall make you be. If you are not frank, there is no fun in not
surprising you, or in not giving you books that you have read."

"There is something in that," her grandfather assented. "But now,
instead of finding out what I have read, or what I like, why not tell me
what I ought to read and to like? I think I have seen a vast deal of
advice to girls about their reading: why shouldn't the girls turn the
tables and advise their elders? I often feel the need of advice from
girls on all sorts of subjects, and you would find me very grateful, I
believe."

The girl's eyes sparkled and then softened toward this docile ancestor.
"Do you really mean it, grandfather? It would be fun if you did."

"But I should want it to be serious, my dear. I should be glad if your
good counsel could include the whole conduct of life, for I am sensible
sometimes of a tendency to be silly and wicked, which I am sure you
could help me to combat."

"Oh, grandfather," said the girl, tenderly, "you know that isn't true!"

"Well, admit for the sake of argument that it isn't. My difficulty in
regard to reading remains, and there you certainly could help me. At
moments it seems to me that I have come to the end of my line."

The old gentleman's voice fell, and she could no longer suspect him of
joking. So she began, "Why, what have you been reading last?"

"Well, my dear, I have been looking into the _Spectator_ a little."

"The London _Spectator_? Jim says they have it at the club, and he
swears by it. But I mean, what books; and that's a weekly newspaper, or
a kind of review, isn't it?"

"The _Spectator_ I mean was a London newspaper, and it was a kind of
review, but it was a daily. Is it possible that you've never heard of
it?" The young girl shook her head thoughtfully, regretfully, but upon
the whole not anxiously; she was not afraid t