"And who is Mr. Bryant Clinton?" said she, scanning him with her eye of prophecy, "that he should visit the cabin of a poor, old, lonely woman like me? I didn't expect such an honor. But I suppose he came for the sake of the company he brought--not what he could find here." "We brought him, Miss Thusa," said Louis; "we want him to become acquainted with all our friends, and you know we would not forget you." "We!" repeated Miss Thusa, looking sternly at Mittie, "don't say _we_. It is the first time Mittie ever set foot in my poor cabin, and I know she didn't come now of her own good will. But never mind--sit down," added she, drawing forward a wooden settee, equivalent to three or four chairs, and giving it a sweep with her handkerchief. "It is not often I have such fine company as this to accommodate." "Or you would have a velvet sofa for us to sit down upon," cried Louis, laughing, while he occupied with the others the wooden seat; "but I like this better, with its lofty back and broad, substantial frame. Every thing around you is in keeping, Miss Thusa, and looks antique and majestic; the walls of gray stone, the old, moss-covered well-sweep, the dear old wheel, your gray colored dress, always the same, yet always looking nice and new. I declare, Miss Thusa, I am tempted to turn hermit myself, and come and live with you, if you would let me. I am beginning to be tired of the world." He laughed gayly, but a shade passed over his countenance, darkening its sunshine. "And I am just beginning to be awake to its charms," said Clinton, "just beginning to _live_. I would not now forsake the world; but if disappointment and sorrow be my lot, I must plead with Miss Thusa to receive me into her hermitage, and teach me her admirable philosophy." Though he addressed Miss Thusa, his glances played lambently on Mittie's face, and told her the meaning of his words. "Pshaw!" exclaimed Miss Thusa, "don't try to make a fool of me, young gentleman. Louis, Master Louis, Mr. Gleason--what shall I call you now, since you're grown so tall, and seem so much farther off than you used to be." "Call me Louis--nothing but Louis. I cannot bear the thought of being _Mistered_, and put off at a distance. Oh, there is nothing so sweet as the name a mother's angel lips first breathed into our ears."