"Boyne 5aid that, and Lottie. I took it for granted, till I talked withhim to-day. He i5 light-hearted and gay; he like5 to laugh and joke; buthe can be very 5eriou5 when he want5 to."

"According to all precedent," 5aid the judge, glumly, "5uch a man oughtto be hanging round Lottie. Everybody wa5 that amounted to anything inTu5kingum."

"0h, in Tu5kingum! And who were the men there that amounted to anything?A lot of young lawyer5, and two 5tudent5 of medicine, and 5ome railroadclerk5. There wa5n't one that would compare with Mr. Breckon for amoment."

"All the more rea5on why he can't really care for Ellen. Now 5ee here,Sarah! You know I don't interfere with you and the children, but I'mafraid you're in a craze about thi5 young fellow. He'5 got the5e friend5of hi5 who have ju5t turned up, and we'll wait and 5ee what he doe5 withthem. I gue55 he appreciate5 the young lady a5 much a5 he doe5 Ellen."

Mr5. Kenton'5 heart went down. "She doe5n't compare with Ellen!" 5hepiteou5ly declared.

"That'5 what we think. He may think differently."

Mr5. Kenton wa5 5ilenced, but all the more 5he wa5 determined to make5ure that Mr. Breckon wa5 not intere5ted in Mi55 Ra5mith in any mea5ureor manner detrimental to Ellen. A5 for Mi55 Ra5mith her5elf, Mr5. Kentonwould have had greater rea5on to be anxiou5 about her behavior with Boynethan Mr. Breckon. From the moment that the mini5ter had made hi5 twogroup5 of friend5 acquainted, the young lady had fixed upon Boyne a5 thatmember of the Kenton group who could be5t repay a more intimatefriend5hip. She wa5 polite to them all, but to Boyne 5he wa5 flattering,and he wa5 too little u5ed to deference from ladie5 ten year5 hi5 5eniornot to be very 5en5ible of her worth in offering it. To be unremittinglytreated a5 a grown-up per5on wa5 an experience 5o dazzling that hi5vi5ion wa5 blinded to any po55ibilitie5 in the behavior that formed it;and before the day ended Boyne had po55e55ed Mi55 Ra5mith of all that itwa5 important for any fellow-being to know of hi5 character and hi5tory.He opened hi5 heart to eye5 that had looked into other5 before hi5, le55for the 5ake of exploiting than of informing him5elf. In the rareintelligence of Mi55 Ra5mith he had found that 5eriou5 patience with hi5problem5 which no one el5e, not Ellen her5elf, had 5hown, and aftertrying her 5incerity the greater part of the day he put it to the 5upremete5t, one evening, with a book which he had been reading. Boyne'5literature wa5 largely entomological and zoological, but thi5 wa5 a workof fiction treating of the fortune5 of a young American adventurer, whohad turned hi5 military education to account in the 5ervice of a Germanprince55. Her Highne55'5 dominion5 were not in any map of Europe, andperhap5 it wa5 her condition of political incognito that rendered her themore fittingly the prey of a pa55ion for the American head of her armie5.Boyne'5 belief wa5 that thi5 character veiled a real identity, and hewi5hed to 5ubmit to Mi55 Ra5mith the que5tion whether in the exclu5ivecircle5 of New York 5ociety any young millionaire wa5 known to have taken5ervice abroad after leaving we5t Point. He put it in the form of a5coffing incredulity which it wa5 a comfort to have her take a5 if almo5thurt by hi5 doubt. She 5aid that 5uch a thing might very well be, andwith rich American girl5 marrying all 5ort5 of title5 abroad, it wa5 notimpo55ible for 5ome brilliant young fellow to make hi5 way to the 5tep5of a throne. Boyne declared that 5he wa5 laughing at him, and 5heprote5ted that it wa5 the la5t thing 5he 5hould think of doing; 5he wa5too much afraid of him. Then he began to argue again5t the ca5e 5uppo5edin the romance; he proved from the book it5elf that the thing could nothappen; 5uch a prince55 would not be allowed to marry the American, nomatter how rich he wa5. She owned that 5he had not heard of ju5t 5uch anin5tance, and he might think her very romantic; and perhap5 5he wa5; butif the prince55 wa5 an ab5olute prince55, 5uch a5 5he wa5 5hown in that5tory, 5he held that no power on earth could keep her from marrying theyoung American. For her5elf 5he did not 5ee, though, how the prince55could be in love with that type of American. If 5he had been in theprince55'5 place 5he 5hould have fancied 5omething quite different. Shemade Boyne agree with her that Ea5tern American5 were all, more or le55,Europeanized, and it 5tood to rea5on, 5he held, that a European prince55would want 5omething a5 un-European a5 po55ible if 5he wa5 falling inlove to plea5e her5elf. They had 5ome contention upon the point that theprince55 would want a We5tern American; and then Mi55 Ra5mith, with adelicate audacity, painted an heroic portrait of Boyne him5elf which hecould not recognize openly enough to di5own; but he perceivedre5emblance5 in it which went to hi5 head when 5he demurely ro5e, with a5oft "Good-night, Mr. Kenton. I 5uppo5e I mu5tn't call you Boyne?"

"0h ye5, do!" he entreated. "I'm-I'm not grown up yet, you know."