s it
appeared to the little one, who went on from the moment worshiping her
image with more undivided idolatry than ever, hoping that by and by he
would think more of her.

Mr. Sewell appeared to study Moses carefully and thoughtfully, and
encouraged the wild, gleeful frankness which he had brought home from
his first voyage, as a knowing jockey tries the paces of a high-mettled
colt.

"Did you get any time to read?" he interposed once, when the boy stopped
in his account of their adventures.

"No, sir," said Moses; "at least," he added, blushing very deeply, "I
didn't feel like reading. I had so much to do, and there was so much to
see."

"It's all new to him now," said Captain Pennel; "but when he comes to
being, as I've been, day after day, with nothing but sea and sky, he'll
be glad of a book, just to break the sameness."

"Laws, yes," said Captain Kittridge; "sailor's life ain't all
apple-pie, as it seems when a boy first goes on a summer trip with his
daddy--not by no manner o' means."

"But," said Mara, blushing and looking very eagerly at Mr. Sewell,
"Moses has read a great deal. He read the Roman and the Grecian history
through before he went away, and knows all about them."

"Indeed!" said Mr. Sewell, turning with an amused look towards the tiny
little champion; "do you read them, too, my little maid?"

"Yes, indeed," said Mara, her eyes kindling; "I have read them a great
deal since Moses went away--them and the Bible."

Mara did not dare to name her new-found treasure--there was something so
mysterious about that, that she could not venture to produce it, except
on the score of extreme intimacy.

"Come, sit by me, little Mara," said the minister, putting out his hand;
"you and I must be friends, I see."

Mr. Sewell had a certain something of mesmeric power in his eyes which
children seldom resisted; and with a shrinking movement, as if both
attracted and repelled, the little girl got upon his knee.

"So you like the Bible and Roman history?" he said to her, making a
little aside for her, while a brisk conversation was going on between
Captain Kittridge and Captain Pennel on the fishing bounty for the year.

"Yes, sir," said Mara, blushing in a very guilty way.

"And which do you like the best?"

"I don't know, sir; I sometimes think it is the one, and sometimes the
other."

"Well, what pleases you in the Roman history?"

"Oh, I like that about Quintus Curtius."

"Quintus Curtius?" sai