Roy liked her in black; he had told her so once at Newport, when her dress was silken tissue, and her only ornament a spray of golden-rod twined among her glossy curls. She could not get golden-rod, but she had placed a white rose in her hair, and another upon the front of her dress, and Roy thought what a fine picture she made, with the setting sunbeams falling around her. And this picture might be his for the asking, he was very sure, and his heart gave a throb of something like pleasure at finding her alone. “Why, Georgie!” he exclaimed, coming forward, and offering her his hand; “this is a surprise; I did not expect to find you here.” “Which does not mean, I hope, that I am not welcome?” Georgie said, with one of her rare smiles. “Certainly not; you are always welcome. How is that poor head? better, I hope,” Roy replied, still holding her hand and looking down upon her, while she blushed coyly, and affected to draw her hand away from his. “What makes you have such dreadful headaches, I wonder?” Roy said next, as he took a seat beside her, forgetful entirely of his mother’s shawl, for which he had been sent. Georgie did not know why she was so afflicted, unless it was from having too much time to think; she believed she would be better if she had some aim in life, some interest beside just living for her own gratification. She wanted something to do; something which would be of real benefit to mankind, and she had had serious thoughts of offering herself to the Freedman’s Bureau as a teacher of negroes. That would rouse her up, and she should feel as if she were of use to somebody; now she was not, and she was getting tired of eternally thinking of fashion and one’s self. Georgie talked right along, clothing her sentiments in very appropriate language, and appearing as much in earnest as if she really had been meditating a trial of life among the negroes, whereas she knew in her heart that she would die sooner than sacrifice herself in that way, and that the idea had birth in her brain that very instant when she gave it expression. Accustomed to Roy as she was, she saw at a glance the change in his manner toward her, and always on the lookout for opportunities where he was concerned, she seized the present one and made the most of it.