"Because he is such a firm friend himself," replied Carry. "Yet some will have it that he is frivolous and unfeeling. The only satirical remark I was ever guilty of, was extorted by an aspersion of this kind. A lady was offended by a playful bagatelle of his; and thinking that I would be a sure medium of communicating her wrath to its object, criticised him unsparingly. She ridiculed his person and manners;--I said nothing. She said he was bankrupt in chivalry and politeness. I smiled; and she blazed out a philippic against his 'disgusting levity and nonsense--he had not a spark of feeling, or grain of sense--intelligent indeed! for her part she had never heard him say a smart or sensible thing yet.'--I put in my oar here--'You will then allow him one talent, at least; the ability to adapt his conversation to the company he is in.' I repented having said it; but it quieted her." "You did not reproach yourself for taking the part of your friend!" "No, but I might have done it in a less objectionable manner. It did not alter her feelings to him, and caused her to dislike me." "How is it, sir, that I hear so much more of this one of your former wards, than of his younger brother?" said Ida to the Doctor. The question was innocently propounded, and for an instant, she was puzzled by the quizzical demureness, with which he glanced at his daughter. "This is a serious charge, Carry. Your predilection for one old play-fellow should not make you forgetful of another." She was looking down, touching the shining tire of the wheel with the tip of her gloved finger. The truth beamed upon Ida; and with it a thousand little circumstances she had been blindly stupid not to understand before. Her intelligent eye said the mystery was explained, but she forbore to say so in words. Dr. Carleton went on in a changed tone. "Arthur is not a whit behind his brothers in sterling worth, or personal graces. He is associated with me in the practice of medicine, and unites a skill and prudence, rarely found in one so young. He is popular, and deservedly so."