ot think of running in debt.

It was _such_ a pity. We were all so comfortable and happy there, in
that cozy little parlor, with its sunny bow window full of flowers, and
its bright Lehigh fire, and softly cushioned chairs; that cozy parlor,
where the little round table, with its snowy cloth, had been so often
spread; and the fragrant coffee, and delicate tea-biscuit, and racy
newspaper had been so often discussed; where John, in his slippers and
dressing-gown, with his dark hair pushed off his broad forehead, read
to us page after page of some favorite author, while the wind was
welcome to whistle itself dumb outside the threshold, and old Winter to
pile up the snow at the door till he got tired of it.

It _was_ hard!

John walked up and down the floor, with his hands crossed behind, and
Mrs. Harris went round the room, hunting after her spectacles, when
they were comfortably reposing on the bridge of her fine Roman nose.

A knock at the door!

A note for John!

"Enclosed, find $500, to pay Mr. John Harris' house rent for the
coming year.

A FRIEND."

John rubbed his eyes, and looked at his mother; his mother looked at
me; and I looked at both of them; and then we laughed and cried, till
we nearly had regular hysterics.

But who was the "Friend"? That was the question. We were all born
Yankees, and did our best at "guessing;" but it didn't help us. Well,
at any rate, it was very nice, all round. I hadn't to be routed. No,
nor John, nor his dear old mother. And pussy purred round as if she had
as much reason to be glad as any of us; and the canary trilled so sharp
a strain that we were obliged to muffle his cage and his enthusiasm,
with John's red silk pocket-handkerchief.

Mrs. Harris and I had not got our feminine tongues still, the next day,
when John came back, in the middle of the forenoon, with another
riddle, to drive our womanly curiosity still more distracted. He was
requested to call immediately--so a note, he had just received,
read--at Mr. ---- & Co's, and "accept the head clerkship, at a salary
of $1,400 a year; being highly recommended by a person whose name his
new employers decline giving."

That was a greater puzzle still. John and his mother had rich
relations, to be sure; but, though they had always been interfering in
all their plans for making a living, they never had been known to
_give_ them anything except--_advice_, or to call on them _by
daylight_; and it wasn't at al