in particular, about a trifle. May I see that again? I mean--


'Little things
On little wings
Bear little souls to heaven.'


'Oh! that was only a quotation,' said Amy, turning over the definitions
again with him, and laughing at some of the most amusing; while, in the
mean time, Philip went to help Laura, who was putting some books away
in the ante-room.

'Yes, Laura,' he said, 'he has thought, mind, and soul; he is no mere
rattle.'

'No indeed. Who could help seeing his superiority over Maurice?'

'If only he does not pervert his gifts, and if it is not all talk. I
don't like such excess of openness about his feelings; it is too like
talking for talking's sake.'

'Mamma says it in the transparency of youthfulness. You know he has
never been at school; so his thoughts come out in security of sympathy,
without fear of being laughed at. But it is very late. Good night.'


The frost turned to rain the next morning, and the torrents streamed
against the window, seeming to have a kind of attraction for Philip and
Guy, who stood watching them.