Ben Sparrow found it hard work to be playful to-day, and Tottie had most of her time to herself. If the anxiety depicted on his face were any criterion, his special cares and sorrows must have been of an overwhelming nature. In the afternoon young Mr. Million came in, spruce and dandified, and handsome as usual. The young gentleman was not an unfrequent visitor at the little grocer's shop, and would often pop in and chat for an hour with Ben Sparrow; he would sit down in the back parlour in the most affable manner, and chat and laugh as if they were equals. Bessie was not at home when he came this afternoon, and he seemed a little disappointed; but he stopped and chatted for all that, and when he went away, the old grocer brightened, and his face looked as if a load were lifted from his heart. His brighter mood met with no response from Bessie, when she came in shortly afterwards. Some new trouble seemed to have come on her since the morning--some new grief to which she hardly dared give expression. She had been stabbed by a few presumably chance and careless words spoken by a neighbour--need it be told that this neighbour was a woman? No weapon can be keener than a woman's tongue, when she chooses to use it to stab. The woman who had uttered the words was young--a year older than Bessie--and it was known at one time that she was setting her cap at Bessie's sweetheart. But she had met with no encouragement from George, who, being wrapt heart and soul in Bessie, had no eyes for other women. George often nodded a laughing assent to a favourite saying of his mother's, that 'One woman was enough for any man; more than enough, sometimes,' Mrs. Naldret would occasionally add. The stab which Bessie received shall be given in the few words that conveyed it. 'So George goes away to-morrow morning,' was the woman's remark to Bessie as she was hurrying home with heavy heart. 'Yes,' sighed Bessie; 'to-morrow morning.' 'Ah,' said the woman, 'he'll be nicely cut up at leaving. I daresay he'd give a good deal, if he could take some one with him.' 'I am sure he would,' said Bessie, thinking that by 'some one' herself was meant. 'O, I don't mean you,' said the woman, seeing the interpretation that Bessie put upon her words. 'Who do you mean, then?' asked Bessie, looking up quickly. The woman laughed and shrugged her shoulders. 'Well!' she exclaimed. 'Some girls _are_ blind! Thank goodness, the best man in the world couldn't blind me so!' 'What do you mean?' demanded Bessie, in an agitated tone, all the blood deserting her face. 'What have you to say against George?' The woman laughed again.