"No, I thank you," said the girl. "I'm not hungry." And
she proved it by playing with what was on her plate for the rest
of the meal.

Not till the two girls retired did they have an opportunity to
exchange confidences. The moment they were by themselves,
Tabitha demanded, "What made thee so serious to-night?"

"Oh, Tibbie," sighed Janice, dolefully," I'm very unhappy!"

"What over?"

"I--he--Charles--I'm afraid he--and yet--'T is
something he wrote, but whether in joke or--Mr. Evatt said
he insulted me at the tavern--Yet 't is so pretty that--and
mommy interrupted just--"

"What art thou talking about, Jan?" exclaimed Tibbie.

Janice even in her disjointed sentences had begun to unlace
her travelling bodice,--for with a prudence almost abnormal
this one frock was not cut low,--and she now produced from
her bosom a paper which she unfolded, and then offered to
Tibbie with a suggestion of hesitation, asking "Dost think he
meant to insult me?"

Tabitha eagerly took the sheet, and read--

TO THALIA
These lines to her my passion tell,