matter how hard she tries--don't trust
her, Fuller."

Elsie made a gesture of playful menace and carried Tom off into the
drawing-room, quite regardless of the fact that Elizabeth had, as yet,
found hardly an opportunity of speaking to him.

Mrs. Harrington was excessively cordial to the new comer; as a poor man
she had always liked Tom for his extreme good-nature and willingness to
wait on her caprices to any extent; but now that he made his appearance
in the character of a semi-millionaire, it was perfectly natural that
she should look upon him in a totally different light, being of the
world, worldly.

Tom's awkwardness would only be a pleasant eccentricity now; his
unfortunate taste in dress must pass readily as the carelessness of
wealth, and all his good qualities, which had been quite overshadowed
during his days of poverty, would now be brought to the foreground with
glowing tints.

Not that Tom ever thought of this result to his heirship, he was too
unsuspicious even for a thought of the kind. When people bestowed more
interest on him than before, he would only wonder at their kindness and
think what a pleasant world this was after all, and what scores of
good-natured people there were in it, despite of the grumblers and
misanthropes.

Elsie kept her word; she did not tease Tom in the least, but
deliberately bewildered him with her arts and coquetry--which set
Elizabeth to wondering what her motive could be--but perhaps she had
none at all, and was only obeying the whim of the moment.

Tom produced the gold humming-bird for Elsie's hair, and a lovely little
ornament it was, with the gorget in its throat composed of emeralds and
rubies, and the long, slender bill and delicate wings formed of the most
beautiful enamel.

Elsie perched it among her curls and was happy as a child with her new
toy. Nobody in the world was ever so much delighted with novel
ornaments, and few persons ever allowed the gloss to wear off them so
quickly. In all probability she would rave over Tom's gift for a week,
and by that time, if she did not lose it, would break the wings, by way
of amusement, or tear the bill off to make the point of a stiletto, or
ruin it in some other way, just to gratify her caprice, and an odd love
of destruction which was in her very nature.

Tom Fuller spent the first happy evening he had known for months at
Piney Cove, and he was so deliciously good-natured and noisy in his
pleasure, that he could