e wished the last battle had been
fought, and the crown already placed on her brow.

Poor Jessie! she is not the first miss who has found it hard work to
overcome Little Impulse, the wizard.

CHAPTER V.

The Broken Mirror.

When Jessie saw Hugh getting ready to go to school, after dinner, she
thought of her notes which were still lying very snugly in her
work-basket. There were four of them: one for Mr. Sherwood, one for
Richard Duncan, one for Adolphus Harding, and one for Norman Butler.
Taking them from beneath her working materials, she held them up, and
turning to Hugh, who was on his way to the door, said--

"Hugh, I want you to do me a little favor!"

"I dare say. You girls are always asking favors. But what now?"

"Not much, Hugh, I only want you to take these notes for me."

"Notes, eh?" said Hugh, taking the neatly folded letters in his hand, and
reading the addresses. After reading them all aloud, he placed them in a
pack and added. "Pretty business, I think, for a young lady like you to be
writing to the boys? Oh, for shame, Jessie Carlton! I thought you were too
modest to do that!"

"There's nothing improper in my notes, master Hugh! Uncle Morris read one
of them, and he says they are very sweet and proper. Will you please take
them for me?"

"Yes, if you will pay me the postage on them. You know that Uncle Sam gets
his pay beforehand, and I must have mine. So hand me over twelve cents,
and I'll carry your notes. Come, be quick! Hand over your money! It is
time I was gone."

"O Hugh, don't tease so," said Jessie.

"Do you call it _teasing_ to ask for your pay when you are going to work
for anybody!" asked Hugh, with a very tantalizing air.

Just then Guy passed through the parlor, and seeing that Jessie was
getting tired with her vexatious brother, he asked what was the matter.
She told him. He took the notes from Hugh, who was only too glad to give
them up, and said--

"I'll take them for you, Jessie."

"You are a dear, good brother, and I love you ever so much," said Jessie,
holding up her lips for a kiss.

Guy kissed his sister and hurried away to school, happy in the thought
that he was contributing to her pleasure, while Hugh went out with a cold,
uneasy heart, and murmuring to himself--

"I don't see why I should wait all the time on Miss Jessie; she's big
enough to carry her own letters."

Could Hugh have exchanged feelings with Guy, he would have learned that
little ac