"Take him off! Let me out of this! He's one too many for me!" cried the wretched young man in comic despair. Being freed with much laughter, he turned and fled, followed by a shower of blessings from Mrs. O'Brien. As they came up again into the pleasant highways, Lennox said, awkwardly for him,-- "The thanks of the poor _are_ excellent things to have, but I think I'd rather receive them by proxy. Will you kindly spend this for me in making that poor soul comfortable?" But Belle wouldn't take what he offered her; she put it back, saying earnestly,-- "Give it yourself; one can't buy blessings,--they must be _earned_ or they are not worth having. Try it, please, and, if you find it a failure, then I'll gladly be your almoner." There was a significance in her words which he could not fail to understand. He neither shrugged, drawled, nor sauntered now, but gave her a look in which respect and self-reproach were mingled, and left her, simply saying, "I'll try it, Miss Morgan." "Now isn't she odd?" whispered Kate to her brother, as Belle appeared at a little dance at Mrs. Plantagenet's in a high-necked dress, knitting away on an army-sock, as she greeted the friends who crowded round her. "Charmingly so. Why don't you do that sort of thing when you can?" answered her brother, glancing at her thin, bare shoulders, and hands rendered nearly useless by the tightness of the gloves. "Gracious, no! It's natural to her to do so, and she carries it off well; I couldn't, therefore I don't try, though I admire it in her. Go and ask her to dance, before she is engaged." "She doesn't dance round dances, you know." "She is dreadfully prim about some things, and so free and easy about others: I can't understand it, do you?" "Well, yes, I think I do. Here's Forbes coming for you, I'll go and entertain Belle by a quarrel." He found her in a recess out of the way of the rushing and romping, busy with her work, yet evidently glad to be amused. "I admire your adherence to principle, Miss Belle; but don't you find it a little hard to sit still while your friends are enjoying themselves?" he asked, sinking luxuriously into the lounging chair beside her. "Yes, very," answered Belle with characteristic candor. "But father does not approve of that sort of exercise, so I console myself with something useful till my chance comes." "Your work can't exactly be called ornamental," said Lennox, looking at the big sock. "Don't laugh at it, sir; it is for the foot of the brave fellow who is going to fight for me and his country." "Happy fellow! May I ask who he is?" and Lennox sat up with an air of interest. "My substitute: I don't know his name, for father has not got him yet; but I'm making socks, and towels, and a comfort-bag for him, so that when found he may be off at once." "You really mean it?" cried Lennox.