ectory--they passed Miss Pillbody's select school. Tiffles
suggested that it would be well to call on that young lady, and pick up
some intelligence of Miss Minford. She might still be receiving lessons
from Miss Pillbody; and might, possibly, be in the house at that moment.
Overtop also thought it would not be a bad idea to call there. He had
heard much from Marcus Wilkeson in praise of Miss Pillbody, especially
of her sensible qualities. Being still in the active pursuit of a
sensible woman, he was moved with a real curiosity to see her.

The servant showed the two callers to the speckless little front parlor;
and, a minute afterward, Miss Pillbody, looking fresh and neat, her
narrow collar white and smooth, and every hair of her heavy brown
tresses in its place, made her appearance.

Miss Pillbody entered the room in that noiseless, sliding way, which
indicates a constitutional diffidence. Her eyelids involuntarily
contracted, so that she might see her callers on a near approach to
them. Fayette Overtop, marking her modest demeanor and her
short-sightedness, immediately announced his name and that of his
companion, and the object of their visit.

At the mention of his name, Miss Pillbody started. She had heard of
Fayette Overtop, Esq., through the newspapers, as counsel for Marcus
Wilkeson; but not as the philosophic friend of Mrs. Slapman. In reply to
questions about Miss Minford, she stated that that interesting young
pupil had not taken lessons from her since the death of her father.

Miss Pillbody here indulged in a little artifice. She produced a
memorandum book, to see when Miss Minford took her last lesson; and, in
order that she might read distinctly, drew out her eyeglasses, and
adjusted them with a graceful movement of the arm and hand. Overtop
thought that she handled the eyeglasses in a most ladylike manner; and
that, when they were astride of her shapely nose, they became her face
wonderfully.

When Miss Pillbody had referred to the little memorandum book, she gave
one short look at Fayette Overtop. That gentleman, conscious that his
face was scrutinized, looked at the wall. Miss Pillbody stole but one
glance, and then shut the eyeglasses prettily, and stuck them into an
invisible pocket of her waist. She had come to the conclusion that Mr.
Overtop was a person of dignified and intelligent appearance. And Mr.
Overtop had settled into the opinion that Miss Pillbody was a near
approach to that imagine