eak of those
things that were most natural to a brother and sister who so much loved
each other, and who had not met for five years. My grandmother had
managed so well as to prevent all interruption for an hour, if we saw
fit to remain together, while to others it should seem as if Patt had
dismissed me in a few minutes.

"Not one of the other girls suspect, in the least, who you are," said
Martha, smiling, when we had got through with the questions and answers
so natural to our situation. "I am surprised that Henrietta has not, for
_she_ prides herself on her penetration. She is as much in the dark as
the others, however."

"And Miss Mary Warren--the young lady who has just left the room--has
she not some _small_ notion that I am not a common Dutch music-grinder?"

Patt laughed, and that so merrily as to cause the tones of her sweet
voice to fill me with delight, as I remembered what she had been in
childhood and girlhood five years before, and she shook her bright
tresses off her cheeks ere she would answer.

"No, Hugh," she replied, "she fancies you an _uncommon_ Dutch
music-grinder; an _artiste_ that not only grinds, but who dresses up his
harmonies in such a way as to be palatable to the most refined taste.
How came Mary to think you and my uncle two reduced German gentlemen?"

"And does the dear girl believe--that is, does Miss Mary Warren do us so
much honour, as to imagine that?"

"Indeed she does, for she told us as much as soon as she got home; and
Henrietta and Ann have made themselves very merry with their
speculations on the subject of Miss Warren's great incognito. They call
you Herzog von Geige."

"Thank them for that." I am afraid I answered a little too pointedly,
for I saw that Patt seemed surprised. "But your American towns are just
such half-way things as to spoil young women; making them neither
refined and polished as they might be in real capitals, while they are
not left the simplicity and nature of the country."

"Well, Master Hugh, this is being very cross about a very little, and
not particularly complimentary to your own sister. And why not _your_
American towns, as well as _ours_?--are you no longer one of us?"

"Certainly; one of _yours_, always, my dearest Patt, though not one of
every chattering girl who may set up for a _belle_, with her Dukes of
Fiddle! But, enough of this;--you like the Warrens?"

"Very much so; father and daughter. The first is just what a clergyman
should